Colin Stodd

Since I can remember, It’s been a dream of mine to become a pilot and be able to get in my plane and fly to the beach or mountains. I have been playing Microsoft SimulatorX and now X-plane for years. But I saw a Groupon pass for a discounted introductory flight at a nearby airport, and because it was the same time as my birthday (October 15th, go Libras) I decided that it was time.

I have a healthy fear of heights, so I was a bit nervous about how I would react to such a small and turbulent plane. But also because I felt like this was going to be a make or break moment on if I could realistically fulfill a lifelong dream… Well, I’m here to report that after my first flight, I’m still not 100% sure I’ll be able to continue on. It really freaked me out. I was better toward the end of the flight and my instructor said I did great. But make no mistake, I was terrified.

My instructor insisted that we “do all the scary stuff first to get it out of the way so that it only gets easier after that”… Not sure if this was the best route to go, but when you are free falling the first time you are flying a plane, you really start thinking how sweet it is to sit behind a computer all day. Anyway, I’m hoping he’s right and that it will get easier from here.

I will be posting more on my experiences of becoming a pilot, so please check back or subscribe to follow along with the journey.

I’m going to do better about vlogging the experience, but here is a video of some of the airport traffic after my flight. I promise these will get better. At the time of shooting this video, I was just happy to be on the ground safely.