Pilot Life: Taking My Friend, Connor Flying!

After a few days of lousy weather, things finally started clearing up during the afternoon, just in time for a flight with my friend, Connor that I've postponed until today. It was raining out when we arrived but by the time the plane was ready to go, the weather cleared out it was a good day to go flying! I conducted the pre-flight in the hangar before playing a quick game of "musical airplanes" to get the Katana I was flying out!

Another flight in N992CT!

After I pulled the airplane out on the ramp, we hopped in and I got the engine started. I taxied the plane a short ways to do run-ups. After engine gauges indicated that all was well, I taxied over to Runway 30 and briefly held short. Once ready, I taxied us onto the runway, did my final cross-checks, and began takeoff roll before getting airborne. Once airborne, I made a left-crosswind departure to the south. From there, I invited Connor to take the controls for a little bit to feel what it's like to fly the airplane; for a first-timer, he didn't do too bad!

We continued southbound towards Payson and Santaquin and used I-15 as a reference point. Once over Santaquin, I executed a rapid descent until we were 1,000 feet off the ground as I set us up to do turns around a point over the Payson LDS Temple and allow for my passenger to get a good look at (and take a few pictures for himself!). After completing the maneuver, I decided to take us into Provo to show what it's like to fly into a towered airport.

As always, I tuned into the ATIS frequency to get the current weather information and then I called up the tower. I was instructed to enter the right-downwind for Runway 13 and report in midfield, which I did. I set us up for a touch-and-go landing and let's just say it wasn't my best landing; it's been getting warm in the valley recently and there's been quite a few updrafts in random places, making things bumpy here and there. And we did get bumped around on final approach! After touching down, I throttled forward and got us back up in the air. Provo tower cleared us for a straight-out departure.

Once out of Provo's airspace, I tuned into Spanish Fork's AWOS again and noticed that the winds shifted in favoring Runway 12. I maneuvered the plane to the northeast a little ways so I could set up to enter the left downwind for Runway 12, watching out for other aircraft in the process. Once again, I set up and configured the plane for landing. And I got a much smoother landing in the process! We rolled out and I taxied the plane off the runway at the next available taxiway and proceeded to taxi over to the fuel pumps, where I shut the engine down. Once that was done, Connor took a selfie!

Obligatory selfie after landing!
(Photo credit: Connor Holman, my passenger!)

We hopped out of the plane, cleaned out our belongings, and then I added some fuel to the plane for the next person who would be flying it. After refueling was complete, I towed the plane over to the hangar where it would be out of the way. We called it a successful flight and I introduced yet another first-timer into the world of General Aviation!