January 25, 1975. In response to an ad in the Kentucky Kernel, the student newspaper at the University of Kentucky, I drove out to Bluegrass Field KLEX. For $10 and the coupon in that ad, I was going to take an introductory flight.

Let's wind back about 15 years.  I remember watching "Sky King" reruns Saturday mornings on TV.  If you are unfamiliar with this black and white series, Skyler (Sky) King was a rancher who would chase down bad guys, rescue hikers, and even save America from evil spies using his twin Cessna, the "Song Bird", from his Flying Crown ranch.  Sky King  was my hero (along with Tarzan).

I grew up on a farm in northeastern Kentucky.  I spent my summers in the hay and tobacco fields and would watch every airplane flying over until they were just a speck.  I remember looking up, wondering who was in that airplane, where they were going and what kind of adventure they were on.  It was in those fields I promised myself, that if I ever got the chance, I was going to learn to fly.

Now was my chance to fulfill that promise.  In the office of the flight school I shook hands with my instructor, Herb, and we headed out on the ramp. N5568F was a 1963 Cherokee 140. As the instructor and I walked around the airplane, he explained each part and what it was for.  It was January but I barely felt the cold.  I was about to fly an airplane!

Cherokees have one door located on the right side of the aircraft.  I climbed up on the wing, opened the door and slid into the left seat - the pilot's seat. There I found a bewildering array of dials, gauges, knobs and levers. "Will I ever be able to learn all this?" I remember asking myself as the instructor explained the need for each.  Finally he told me to open the little window on my side and yell, "clear!"

I turned the key and the engine sprang to life.  Herb radioed the tower for our clearance to taxi.   It was hard for me to understand the controller's instructions from the small speaker somewhere in the headliner of the little Cherokee but Herb pointed which way to go and told me to steer with my feet on the rudder pedals. I thought to myself this is just like driving the tractor back home on freshly tilled ground using its differential brakes to steer. "Piece of cake," I muttered under my breath.  That would be the last time that thought crossed my mind for the duration of the flight.

At the end of the runway Herb led me step by step through the pre-takeoff checklist. "We use checklists to make sure we don't forget anything important," he said. I remember thinking that sounded like a good idea. Once the checklist was completed, Herb used the radio to get our takeoff clearance and I taxied out to the center line of runway 22.

"Push in the throttle, use your feet to keep her on the center line and pull back a little when your airspeed hits 60" instructed Herb.  That was the last moment I felt in control.  Soon it looked to me like all the dials and gauges started spinning in the opposite directions.  I wasn't Sky King, It felt more like this was the Six Million Dollar Man's flight that caused him to need, well, that $6,000,000 makeover.

In 1975 instructional aircraft, for the most part, did not have intercoms and headsets. My instructor's method was to gain my attention by tapping me on the shoulder with his his folded sectional chart, then pointing to some offending instrument with his pencil while yelling some short statement like "Hold your altitude! Maintain your airspeed! Get back on heading!"  Here I was, trying, but unable to do something of which I had always dreamed. My mood was sinking lower than a snake's belly in a wagon rut.

"Let's head back" said Herb.  I didn't even know which way back was.  Herb pointed over my left shoulder and there was the airport, probably only 10 - 12 miles away. 

"I'll land her," he shouted. "Just follow through on the controls."

"Gladly," I thought as we turned back to the airport realizing again how inept I had been.

Back on the ground Herb let me taxi to the ramp and shut the Cherokee down.  Walking away from the airplane the January air now felt bitterly cold.

"OK," Herb said "How many hours do you really have?"

"What do you mean?" I asked. "I don't have any hours."

"Really? I thought you must have had a few hours. Boy, you really have a knack for flying!" Herb said as we walked into the warm office his words bringing me back from the agony of defeat to the thrill of victory.  He went on to explain a few people with pilot time were taking advantage of the introductory price to rent the airplane for roughly the cost of the instructor.  Now, buoyed by his compliment I was happier than a bull in a field full of heifers as we recorded my first flight in my first log book.  From then on I was, is, and forever will be what was inscribed in gold lettering on that Pilot Log Book.

That was 35 years and 2500 hours ago.  During that time I took lessons, ran out of money, earned money, took lessons, soloed, ran out of money, took lessons, joined a flying club, passed my Private Pilot checkride, got married, built a house, didn't fly for 6 years, earned my instrument ticket, bought an airplane, got my commercial, CFI, CFII, multi-engine ratings and had many, many adventures. As I fly over the fields and farms I often look down to see if there is a farm boy looking up, wondering who is in my airplane, where am I going and what adventure I am on.

Likely your first flight will be different from mine.  You can be better prepared by looking around LearntoFlyHere.com. Your training aircraft will most likely be equipped with an intercom to facilitate instructor/student communications.  The flight school may let you borrow a headset for your first few lessons.  Don't get discouraged if your instructor seems to dwell on the things you are doing wrong.  After all, during the lesson while you are trying to learn to fly, he or she is just as concerned about not getting killed as well as making you a competent and safe pilot.  Soon things will start to make more sense, your coordination will develop, you will solo, earn your license and strike out on adventures on you own.

Fly safe, stay focused, discover you inner Sky King!