First Passenger

My mom was in town not too long ago. She comes out periodically to check up on the Monkeys and get a little Nana Time with them. While she was in town I screwed up the courage to ask her if she wanted to go for an airplane ride.

Actually, I was totally going to chicken out and not offer the ride and just go up for some practice but I when I mentioned it to the Flying Fish he called me on my cowardice. As he said, I could either have a regular old Saturday like any other sunny Saturday OR I could have an exceptional Saturday that would if nothing else be completely memorable. Well, he had me there. So I sucked it up and called my Mom and asked if she wanted to go have lunch on Orcas Island.

She chickened out. Then, after talking to my Dad who must have said something similar to her, she called me back and asked what time I would be at the airport and what she should bring.

We met at Boeing Field where I'd reserved a DA20 for the day. As I went through my pre-flight checklist and got my mom settled in the right seat she asked, "Have you ever flown before with someone who doesn't know anything about airplanes?" I showed her where the canopy latch was and ensured she had her seat belt properly adjusted. Then I said, "Mom, I promise not to kill you in the airplane" and I fired up the plane and off we went.

We flew up over familiar territory, over the tulip fields in Skagit Valley which were green as could be. There were a few farms with flowers, they might have been growing crocus bulbs given the season. It was a beautifully clear day as we flew along the foothills of the Cascade range. Across the sound the Olympics were in full view.

We cut across the north side of Whidbey's naval base airspace and headed out for a little tour of the San Juan islands. We circled over Decatur and then headed over to Orcas and came in low over the water to land runway 16. After we'd pulled into a parking space and popped the canopy I tuned to my mom and said, "You were my first passenger." Big grin.

Here's mom, happily landed on Orcas.



We had a nice walk to Eastsound for lunch spent a little time perusing the shops. Then we hopped back in the little plane and headed south down the length of Puget Sound back to Boeing Field in Seattle.

On the return trip, mom relaxed a little (and so did I) and in between keeping a lookout for traffic in the skies she snapped a few photos.

Departing Orcas.

The San Juan islands - that's Waldron Isl. in the center.

Seattle, with the Olympics beyond. Flying over Lake Washington.