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Private Flight to Brainerd

May 28, 2009 Travels

Matthew Dreher, Vice Chairperson of the Aero Club, took me on a private flight from Saint Cloud to Brainerd.

Dreher is a certified private pilot, allowed to fly solo for long distances under certain conditions. As he was interested in logging a few more flight hours and both of us were out, he asked me if I would like to join him for a flight. I’ve told him before when I first met him that I would like to go up in the sky as well, and Dreher isn’t the type of person to forget a friend either.

He took me to Saint Cloud’s airport and picked the Cessna 172 Skyhawk, which is a small single propeller four-seat plane. While he was preparing the plane, he explained the consoles and all the meters there as well. He said that to enjoy a flight as much as possible, it’s always important to know the basics. It helps the experience, which I cannot help but to agree wholeheartedly.

As it was only the two of us, I became his “co-pilot” of sorts. I got a pair of headphones earlier from the Aero Club office just for the flight, and I got the opportunity to listen in on the transmissions between the planes and the Control Tower.

We were heading to Brainerd, which is a small city about 50 miles north of St Cloud. As we were taxiing on the taxi (the strip of pavement beside the take-off strip), Dreher had me learn how to control the plane’s directions using my foot. It was unbelievably exhilarating as I twitched my foot and felt the plane swerve left and right.

I have not been any small Cessna planes before. I’ve heard that they can be terribly bumpy, a very scary ride and I’ve seen my fair share of crash scenes on TV.

However, Dreher’s piloting skills must have been unbelievably good if that was the case because it wasn’t nerve wrecking for me at all. In fact, I enjoyed the take-off tremendously. I was less concerned about this take-off than I am with huge commercial flights (my imagination can run wild).

When we were up in the sky, Dreher had me learn the controls of the plane. He had me learn how to steer the plane and he actually had me “flying” the plane a fair bit too. He probably just said it because he’s my friend, but he said I was exceptionally good at it. If you asked me, I would have just told you that I wanted to stay out of trouble (trouble meaning a crash).

The flight was awesome, to say the very least. I had a “tour” of sorts from the sky. The wind was pretty unstable and strong today though, and the whole ride was generally bumpy. But not at any point in time was I worried. I was very relaxed and at ease in the small Cessna. Piloting the plane felt wonderful as well.

Dreher didn’t land at Brainerd however. All he did was do a touch-n-go there. It was quite an experience too when he did that because before he landed, he lowered the flaps (if I still remember the terms correctly) a notch and there was a sudden drag to it. By the time he lowered it to the third (and lowest) notch it seemed like we were barely staying aloft and the plane seemed to have stalled.

The landing was smooth as well, even though we took off immediately after that.

Unfortunately for me however, I began to feel the effects of vertigo, or air-sickness, on the way back and we had to cut our trip short. At first I was pretty sure I could handle it, but I informed Dreher anyway. He told me that he’s going to cut straight back (We originally planned to go to Milaca for a land as well) because it will only get worse.

True enough, the last ten minutes before I landed I was on the verge of throwing up. I believe it was partly because of the heavy turbulence and also because I flew on a semi-empty stomach filled with sour lemonade. Not a good combination.

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