What It Feels Like To Fly for the First Time

I first got a hold of an airplane’s flight controls in 2014. I fly in the Philippines and it has been amazing for me. In my case, I learned how to fly a plane before even learning how to drive a car — that’s not rare for most pilots nowadays. One can start learning how to fly at a very young age.

On my very first flight, I met up with my flight instructor, who now works for a major airline company in my country. He then did the briefing for the flight, he showed to me how the pre-flight check is done (although it has been taught during the ground course), he gave all the necessary information I might be needing for my first flight.

Once you get inside the plane (I fly a Cessna 152 and a 172 for my training), you go through all the items on the checklist and once everything goes smoothly, you are good to go!

I was kind of having a rough time learning how to maneuver the plane on the ground for the first time — in aviation, we call it “taxiing”. Unlike a car, you control and maneuver the plane by the use of your feet which is directly connected to the rudder of the plane.

My flight instructor told me that he’d let me takeoff the plane and that he would just guide me as I go through. I thought to myself, “how can someone with literally ZERO flight hours get this metal airborne?”. So I trusted my guts and rolled the plane on the runway for the very first time. Believe me, the acceleration was very very unusual for me, and it felt really good. Although the plane was dancing and not on the centerline, it was still worth the effort.

Taking off was probably the highlight of my first flight, when we got to our desired cruising altitude, we then started our basic maneuvers lesson and so on and on and on.

After tackling all the lessons for the flight, we then returned for landing but this time my flight instructor did it.

 

Most students usually feel the same way when they first start out, and it’s just fun and interesting to know one’s flight experience, especially the first ones. 

How was your first time as a student pilot? Was it fun? Was it nerve-wracking? Or was it as playful as the wind? One thing is for sure — it was worth remembering.