First Passengers

While Kate was my very first passenger during training, I was now a real pilot and could fly with pretty much anyone. I was honored to have my dad as my first official passenger as a real pilot. I don’t know if he is crazy to fly with a newbie, or if he just has faith in his son, but he didn’t seem nervous at all.  Dad said: “I was very comfortable and very proud of my son.”

My father-in-law, Chuck Stika, was in town and he wanted to fly as well. There are technically four seats in the Cessna 172, yet it would be for 4 very small people (maybe children). None of us would fit into the "small" category, so we would have to split up the flight. The plan was to leave Nashville International Airport (BNA) at about 1 pm with Dad and fly just west of Nashville to John Tune Airport (JWN). From there, I would pick up Chuck and fly back to BNA.

The weather had been looking bad days leading up to the flight, but when I woke up it was clear and sunny. I checked the weather and thunderstorms were due to hit at about 2-3pm (during our flight). Kate suggested I see if the plane would be ready early, and to my surprise, it was available! So I changed the flight to 11am.

At 11am, the clouds were at 12,000 feet, visibility was greater than 10 miles and winds were a gentle 4 knots. Perfect for a flight!

I pre-checked the Cessna 172 (5146R), gave a passenger brief, contacted Nashville clearance and then Nashville ground control for taxi instructions to runway 20C. When we got to the runway and I contacted Nashville Tower, they informed me that there had been a bird strike on that runway and they redirected me to the 11,000 foot runway 31. We took off with no problems and headed over downtown at 2,500 feet MSL towards JWN.



Ready for flight!



Don't you just hate traffic jams



Ready for Takeoff



We Have Lift Off



Nashville at 2,500 feet

 Once we had the airport in sight, I switched over to JWN’s frequency and announced our location. We flew past the airport and just did a little exploring, all while keeping the airport in sight. Dad was able to put his hands on the yoke and really feel what it is like to fly. Finally, we did one touch and go and smoothly landed on runway 20. Success!





  
 

Dad is having fun

 Next was Chuck’s turn. After another passenger brief and an abbreviated pre-check we were ready to fly. At this point, clouds had lowered to 4,600 feet and it was apparent the storm was coming. Without delay we headed back to BNA. While flying through Nashville, ATC alerted us to some radio towers in our flight path. We saw them with no problem, and we were a couple of miles away from them. Chuck was surprised by how high these towers were. We also flew under a small raincloud and through some light rain.



BNA (Green), JWN (Red) and the towers (Orange)



We landed on runway 20C for my third landing of the day. Within 30 minutes, we had torrential downpouring.

Both Dad and Chuck expressed their excitement over the experience. Sharing the joy of flying with others is one of the parts of being a pilot that I looked forward to. It was awesome to see it through their eyes.  Dad said: "This was truly a great experience and one that I will treasure forever. I look forward to being able to fly with my son again."



Thanks Dad and Chuck for a great Flight!

Flight Time: 1.6 hours