A while back, I mentioned to my dad that I might want to get my pilot’s license eventually. It’s something I really wanted to do as a kid. I grew up hearing all about legendary pilots – especially female ones. Amelia Earhart was a hero of mine.

SO for my birthday, I got flying lessons!

Well, more accurately, a collection of training materials in the hopes that I can learn on my own and skip ground school. But last Sunday, we actually went flying and it was fun. The last time I rode in this plane, I was too short to see over the sides. This time I brought my camera, though I didn’t get to take many pictures, since my dad actually expected me to, you know, fly it. (I only almost stalled it once! Yay me!)

This airplane is a PT-17 Stearman Biplane - used during WWII to train Navy pilots. It’s especially exciting given my love of all things from that era.

The prop is made from wood.

I honestly don't know what that ribbon is for. Maybe to see if you're actually flying when you're up in the air? *shrugs*

Shiny!

While I can’t find much information about it on the Internet, I believe the Stearman is a rag-wing plane – meaning the frame of the wings is made out of fabric and painted over. Kind of like paper-mache, if you will. If you look closely (wish I had taken a picture), you can see the individual strips of material with pinked edges. I always got a kick out of that when I was a kid.

Planes are surprisingly light - you can easily pull/push it out of the hangar by yourself.

The passenger sits in the front seat, and can see the pilot via a rear-view mirror.

That's my dad. Obviously.

I'd like to point out that I was not given a briefing of what these instruments mean. At one point, he said "What does your altimeter say?" I wanted to reply, "I don't even know where it is, let alone how to read it." Except I couldn't, because it's very loud and the headset didn't work very well.

Both the rear and front seats have controls and instruments, but the rear has a more complete set.

All of the boats were doing loop-d-loops on the lake.

The Wausau airport is next to Lake Wausau. The runway we took off from (actually we took off from the grass; it’s better for the tires if I recall correctly) takes you immediately over the water.

The large hill in the background is Rib Mountain.

If I had snapped a picture just a few seconds earlier (and you could see through the trees), you’d be able to see the house I grew up in. It was across the river/lake from the airport, so the sound of airplanes taking off and landing became white noise.

When I was a kid, I really liked how the struts were N's for Natalie.

The large mountain hill in the background is Rib Mountain.

Not all of Wausau is picturesque from the sky, unfortunately.

It was fun, and I’m looking forward to next time. Hopefully by then I’ll know a thing or two more about what to do and how to do it

I plan on blogging about the process – who knows how long it’ll take; I’m not really going to devote myself to it full-time (for now).