Thursday, June 22, 2006

The Flight


Hello,

I remember when my friends dad mentioned Freedom Field. I really didn't respond. I'm not exactly sure about the reasoning of this strange behavior, but for some reason, It just wasn't a big deal. Boy I was wrong.
School was school was still in session and I didn't have much time to spend on flight. I remember one week I wanted to learn more about this Freedom Field (from now on I'll refer to it as FF) thing. I realised that it was somthing to check out. Every day of that week I remember getting homework done and looking forward to look it up, but then I would look at the clock, and it would be too late.
The day I found the site (freedomfield.com) , I was quite impressed. Every nook and corner of the site was explored. That day I also sent off an email to Ray Mello. Ray is the owner and instructer of the field. I explained about how I loved flying, flight simulator, my grandfather, and probably my life story. I was more than happy, yet I had no patience for a responce back.
Ray's responce was worth gold (it actually had some value). He said that since I seamed to love flight, he would give me a free introductory flight! It felt like my heart skipped a beat. I was soo excited, and was blown away from the big sign that said FREE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I gave him my phone number so we could set up a date.
After a couple of days Ray and I had set up a time. Saturday at 10:00 am was when the magic was about to hapen. My mom was my transportation, so instead of printing directions, I decided to make a CD for her with audio directions. This would keep me intertained on the way to the strip and not driven crazy by the 6 hour drive that actually takes 30 minutes. I was ready.
Once arriving, I saw the aircraft all ready to be flown, so I knew I was in the right place. I got out of the van to find an empty hangar. How strange, where's Ray? Just about then was the time where Ray made his entrance screeming (not him, the bike) on a dirtbike. That was the moment where I realised that I would have a really fun flight! It got even better when he told me it was an acrobatic plane. HAhaHaha! I was ready to have a blast.
The takeoff roll took only 150'. My mom was on the ground taking pictures, but she didn't get too many shots, because the thing was soo fast. The sport aircraft was amazing. We flew to the Lincoln airport and back. He basicly gave me the controls the whole time, so I could get the most out of the flight. I even did the landing and take off at Lincoln.
On our way back, Ray said "Hey, do you want to see somthing cool?" Of course I said yes. He said the following manuver is really good when you want to turn in a hurry. He pointed the nose straight up till it stalled, when he gave it a little right rudder. The plane literally pivited around the right wing as if you were to nail it to a wall with the nail on the tip of the wing and then swing the plane around that point. This manuver is called a hammerhead, and it was really cool. Strangely enough, I really didn't feel it. Everything else I felt, but not this.


You can check out a video of this amazing manuver here.

We feathered to the ground and rolled back to the hangar. It would be a long time untill I would fly again. My mom and I talked to him for something like 20 minutes afterwards. He has so many great stories to tell and he's truely a great guy.

What a great way to start,
With a cross country flight,
To Lincoln airport,
During the day,
Not at night,

We felt the thermals,
We felt no drift,
We felt that pillow of lift.


Live with Freedom,
Mark Zinkel

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