Flying In An Airplane

It's time to tick another goal off of my 2011 Goals! I've been doing pretty well so far. I got my Blue Belt in Jiu Jitsu. I also ran my first Half-Marathon. This goal requires a little bit of explaining. First, here's what I originally wrote:

5) Fly in a Fighter Jet (I don't know why, but I feel the need to capitalize Fighter Jet)
This is definitely the most exciting and most difficult goal I have. I'm not even 100% sure how I'm going to accomplish this goal, and I even contemplated leaving it off. Then I figured at the very least I'd have some fun stories to tell. So, my plan of action is to start asking if people know someone (who knows someone?) that might be able to do something in the way of riding in a Fighter Jet. I also need to decide how much money I'm willing to spend to accomplish this goal.

After asking around a bunch I learned that this goal is pretty much impossible to accomplish in today's society. If I pursued this goal before September 11, 2001 I actually would have stood a pretty good chance. However, since then all such rides have been almost 100% banned. Bummer.

So, I decided to modify this goal to something more reasonable. I wanted to fly a small airplane. Even if I only got to man the controls for 30 seconds, that would be enough of a thrill.

On Friday I got to do just that. It all started at a Willamette career event. I was supposed to be doing quick mock interviews for students to help them gear up for the year ahead. The first person sat down, named Scott, and we began talking. I noticed him wearing an Air BP shirt. Interesting. I glanced at his resume and saw he had an internship with Air BP. More interesting. So I asked the logical question, "Did you get to fly in a small airplane during your internship?" The answer was no, but his father, who lives in Corvallis, had his pilot's licenses, so he got to go flying a lot. Mega interesting!

At this point in time I ditched the mock interview process and straight up asked about getting a ride. Scott said he had to check with his father - fair enough. After some emails back and forth, and one false start due to a mechanical issue, we got in the air last Friday. Boom!

We flew around Corvallis, Philomath and Albany for about an hour. At one point, I even got to man the controls - what a blast! The city sure does look different when up in the air.

Time for a graphical tour of the area.

Here I am wearing my headset. Very official looking. ha ha. I've been working with my dad to create a call sign. So far, the front runner is "TC". T stands for Top from Top Gun (the best movie of all time). The C stands for Cheese from Macaroni and Cheese (the best food of all time).

Reser Stadium. Home of the Oregon State Beavers.

Our church - Northwest Hills Community Church. Not much happening on a Friday afternoon.

HP's Corvallis Site. It really is a large place. I can see why it's a big deal to the community. I think next summer Jessi and I should try to float down that river.

See that blue house with the white-ish roof in the center just above the field? That's our house.

Many thanks to Scott and his father for helping me accomplish one of my goals this year. It was very nice of them to allow me to ride along. Thank you!