The Bucket List: Fly in a Small Airplane

After a 2 year wait, I was able to take Lisa (backseat) and my aunt (front seat) in a Cessna 172 for their first small airplane flight EVER! My aunt had been on 2 airline flights but never in a small airplane! After Lisa saw the move "The Bucket List" she was determined to make her own, of which having her first airplane ride ever was included. She has NEVER been on an airplane, airline or otherwise.

We took off in a Fly Carolina Cessna 172 from Rock Hill Airport in South Carolina then headed southwest to fly over their hometown of Sharon, SC and over York, SC enroute back to land.

I ALWAYS try to get my passengers involved, whether that's reading checklists or just doing SOMETHING to help me out. My aunt was a great help in the checklists for the runup. I tried to fly as smooth as possible, but they still got a little sick even with coordinated turns. All that looking outside and on camera phones can really worsen that. I saw a video from Steve at in an aerobatic flight (   • Advanced Aerobatics - Extra 300 - part 2 -...   at about 4:04 and    • Flying with Passengers - the good, the bad...   ) where the PIC used a percentage in determining how the passengers were feeling. I really tried to use that this time and will on all other flights to determine how they are feeling. You'll notice that right after take off they were both at about 99% and after the turns and viewing, came down to 75 and 79%, respectively. I will start using this method in all future flight to make sure everyone is doing ok becuase "I'm ok" doesn't always mean that they're actually OK.

A long video, but there was a lot going on and I hope you get to watch the full flight!!

Hope you enjoy as much as we did! Please share if you'd like.

Enjoy the views and excitement of a first time flight!

Michael

Highlight Times:

"Preflight" and "Interviews" : 0:00-3:15
Start Up Sequence: 3:20-5:37
Taxi to Run Up: 5:37-8:48
Runup Checklist: 8:48-10:44
Take-Off Sequence: 11:27-12:25
Enroute Views and Passenger Cockpit Talk: 13:18-21:10
Small Cars and Cows: 18:15
Views of York, SC: 17:22-17:53 , 18:38-18-43
Views of Sharon, SC: 21:10-21:48
Circling around Maw-Maws: 24:21-26:05
View of York, SC: 28:32-29:12
Enroute to Rock Hill Airport: 27:30-31:40
Is it like driving a car? 29:13-29:54
Lake Wylie and Charlotte, NC: 31:30
Landing Sequence Start at Downwind Turn: 32:30
Turning Base: 33:28
Turning Final: 34:16
Almost Touchdown: 35:30
Taxi to Parking and Shutdown: 36:45 - 38:28
After Flight Interview: 39:22 - 40:14
Surprise for Me, 2 Year in the Wait: 40:15 - 42:00

Aircraft:
Fly Carolina Cessna 172M (www.http://flycarolina.org/)
N65741

Camera:
3x GoPro Hero 3 Black

Still Camera:
Nikon D3 with 24-70

Audio Recorder:
Sony ICD-AX412

Editor:
Sony Vegas Pro 12.0 using color correction, curves, saturation adjust and unsharp mask at various settings.