Pilot Life: Taking My Friend, Amanda Flying!

This morning, I got up early to take Amanda, another one of my friends flying; this was one flight I've been planning to do for a few weeks now, but we haven't been able to go because of scheduling issues between the two of and other things coming up, that is, until today! After arriving at the airport, we headed over to the hangar and I immediately began pre-flight inspections. After the pre-flight was complete, I had play a quick game of "musical airplanes" to get the Katana I reserved out of the hangar.

I took Amanda flying in N968CT!

Once I towed the Katana out of the hangar, we hopped in and I got the engine started and then hooked up my iPad to the Katana's Stratus. I taxied us a short ways to the run-up pad and did the routine engine run-ups. After verifying a gauges were in the green, we were ready to continue taxiing over to Runway 30. But first, we took a selfie!

Obligatory selfie before takeoff!
(Photo credit: Amanda Schwicht, my lovely passenger!)

I taxied us over to the runway and held short for another Katana that my flight instructor was flying in. Once the final approach and departure ends were visually cleared, I taxied onto the runway and commenced takeoff roll and we got airborne. We gained altitude and I turned us southbound towards I-15. Once we were above the Interstate, I followed it and invited Amanda to take the controls of the airplane with me, which she accepted. I walked her through some gentle banks as we flew south towards the Payson and Santaquin areas.

Over Santaquin, I retook the controls and executed a rapid descent and turned back towards the north. Of course, I was setting up to circle the Payson LDS temple! After descending 1,000 feet, I set us up for turns around a point and circled the Payson Temple a couple of times so Amanda could get a few shots of it with her phone. After we were done, I resumed navigation northbound and climbed in altitude again. I asked Amanda if she wanted to feel what a stall feels like and she gave me the go-ahead. I first did some clearing turns, then a power-on (departure) stall followed by power-off (landing) stall.

After demonstrating those maneuvers, we headed back to the airport to call it quits. I descended and got us set up at pattern altitude for Runway 30 by entering the left-45 downwind. From there it was standard airport pattern work. I set up for a touch-and-go landing. I had to execute a slip on final approach because I came in high, but I was able to get a smooth landing as a result! I throttled forward and got us back in the air again for one last circuit in the patter, this time setting up for a full-stop landing; again, I had to do a slip on final approach, but I got another smooth landing in!

I cleared the runway and taxied the plane back over to the ramp, just in time for the next student and instructor to go flying. After parking the plane, I shut the engine down and conducted a brief post-flight before calling it another successful and fun outing! And I'm happy to say that my passenger had a good time!