Today's Therapy

[Wicked Stick]

(A little background)
I've been sick for the last two weeks. Not quite sick enough to stay out of work, but sick enough not to fly due to the hacking cough and severly stuffed up sinus congestion. Last weekend the weather here was simply perfect, and I had spent it in the house sick and resting.

Today, I had a fairly stressful day at work, and to top it off, ended up having to stay late because of delays in getting equipment back up and running, as well as troubshooting files for print. 5:45 rolls around and I finally get to leave. To top it off, I jump in the car only to discover that my rear view mirror had fallen off (unglued) and was hangin by the electrical cord. Grrrrrrrrrrrrr.

In that very instant, I said to myself that it was time for some therapy of the RV kind. So, I drove to the airport, pre-flighted, and decided to take the new kid who works at the FBO for a ride since he gets off work at 6:00.

We had a 1/2 hour of pure RV fun. He had never been in an RV, so he was really grinning and in awe of it's performance. (he's going for his private pilot license in a Cesnna 152) I did my "stay in ground effect" take-off to the end of the runway and then a 2G pullup for him.
Then we headed Northeast to an area where we did some rolls and a loop, and some Crazy 8's. I let him fly it for a while and he really liked the lighter, more responsive feel it has over the 152 .

Then we headed back, and I asked for a low approach into 23. I brought her in at about 10 feet above the runway and we were clipping past the tower at about 210 mph. I then pulled it up at the end and we were at pattern altitude in just about 5 seconds So I banked it into the crosswind to downwind and called midfield shortly thereafter.

After taxing in and putting her back in the hangar, Paul (the fbo kid) was still grinning ear to ear and thanking me for such and awesome ride.
I hopped into the car and suddenly the rear view mirror sitting on the passenger seat didn't seem to bother me as much anymore.

It's amazing how a 1/2 flight can just wash away all the troubles of the day for me.

[captain_john]

Cool!

Maybe we have a new builder in the area?

CJ

[Spike]

Excellent!! That does so many wonders for me as well, though in a slightly slower plane. I got an hour of stick in an 8A last week though, boy was that fun. I couldn't wait to get back home to keep working on the 9.

[dons]

Great story, a ride I bet Paul will never forget. I agree completely with the therapy aspect, when I first got my license I was working a job where I did between 60 and 70 hours a week (only got paid for 37.5, but I was young, keen, and enjoyed the work/stress). A flight even for less than an hour had such a calming affect, especially at night, it really did make so many things seem minor.