Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Safe, sound, and back on the ground..

There was a moment when I thought, "Are you crazy? Back out, back out now!" but the rest of me thought "Who passes up the chance to fly?
I am writing a character who flies in a Cessna and I can't write it if I don't know it. Youtube just wasn't doing the trick. Some things you have to experience.
Before the flight I was getting inundated with instructions, but you can see from our faces I was mostly thinking, "Huh. So I'm gonna get in that thing and risk my life? Huh." and the girls were thinking, "Huh. It was nice having a mother..."


Here's my instructor, Matt. He's been flying since the year I was born. He's pretty comfy in a little plane. Maybe a little too comfy. He kept telling me to take the controls- the stick, the rudders, the trim, the ailerons. I did some climbs and dives and pitched turns all by myself. (um, if you don't count the fact that he was at the ready to save our lives).  A few times I got scared and he laughed and said, "you can't hurt a plane." Really? I'm not so sure about that.

The only time I got sweaty palms was when I told him I needed to experience a stall for my book.
"You want me to stall?" he asked. "I don't teach that until much later. But if you want me to..."
It took some insane courage to lie out my teeth and say, "yes" because I actually don't like airplanes that I am in to fall out of the sky.
But stall we did.
And fly I did.
It was pretty amazing. And I learned so much more about my characters and their experiences.
So to sum up-
Worst part: Thinking I might die.
Best part: getting to say "tango whiskey" and "copy that" on a headset.

Yep, that's me, in the pilot seat. If I can do it... well, you know the rest of the sentence.
I hope you all soar high today.




8 comments:

  1. Wahoo! What a great occupation...a writer. I should be one. I would write about going to a foreign country, like maybe Australia or New Zealand...'cause you know, you've gotta experience it to write about it :) Looks like fun, glad you didn't fall out of the sky!

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  2. Tapper! You are amazing. Or crazy. Or crazy amazing. And (I'm so shallow) I adore that yellow blouse! Here you are, experiencing flight and awesomeness, and all I can think is, "I wonder if that comes in my size?"

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    1. Oh, my friend, I love a girl who knows a good yellow when she sees it. If something is yellow and pretty and fits right, I grab it because it happens so seldom. I'm going to go check the tag to tell you the brand...
      okay, back now. It's a Merona, so I must have found it at Target. Cheap and pretty? Double score. :)

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  3. Pretty awesome! Congrats on tackling your fears. Looking forward to your next book :)

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  4. That last picture of you is my absolute favorite picture of you ever. Glad you survived! ;)

    BTW - how are you afraid of small planes but not afraid of motorcycle or horse riding accidents. Aren't those three things the tri-fector of danger??

    luvs, aby

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  5. that so totally rocks and I am so jealous!!!! miss you!!!

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  6. What a great adventure. I can hardly wait to see it in the pages of your next book. Happy writing!

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  7. I finally got to see the pics. Awesome...with capital A.
    I admire you so much my dear. And yes, the yellow shirt...one of my favorites. Luv ya to pieces.

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