Flying on an airplane in this day in time is enough to give most people a panic attack.

I on the other hand could fly all day everyday and still not get enough. I still remember the first time I flew an airplane and that is all it took to get me hooked. I was in the seventh grade and the Young Eagle Association invited me to visit their open house. I remember arriving at the airport to see about four airplanes lined up on the ramp and about 20 adults and students walking around them. I recall being very nervous as I walked up since I had never been on an airplane much less flown one. The plane that I was going to fly was a Cessna 172, which is a small high wing single engine airplane. The instructor walked up to me, introduced himself, and told me I was going to do most of the flying. I stopped in my tracks, and thought is he crazy I have no idea how to fly an airplane, and started to feel more nervous. First, I he told me that I had to do a preflight walk around inspection and remove the chocks. We then climbed into the cockpit and I sat in the pilots seat. The instructor showed me how to set all the instruments and controls, and we buckled up, I remember so excited it felt like my heart was going to jump out of my chest. It was finally time to start the plane; I opened the window and shouted clear, then started the engine. The moment the engine started, I thought what have I gotten my self into, but at the same time, I had this huge rush of energy and could not wait to get in the air. We had to contact clearance to get permission to fly in the airspace, and then set our radios. Next, it was time to contact ground control so we could Taxi to the runway. When I first throttled up to start moving, there was just an awesome feeling that moved though me and I could feel the power of the airplane. We taxied to the ramp and waited for the tower to clear us for takeoff. Once the tower cleared us to takeoff, I positioned the airplane

in the center of the runway. I moved the throttle to max, we started moving, and the faster the plane got the more excited I grew. When the plane reached the point it started to float about the runway my instructor told me to pull back on the yoke, well I was so excited I pulled back to hard and almost stalled the plane out, but that was the best feeling in the world. We flew round the valley for a while and did some turns and maneuvers which was a rush. I was having so much fun I could have stayed there all day long but it was time to land. Landing is a lot more difficult than taking off and flying, so my instructor told me that he would land. He took the controls and we entered the flight pattern. Once we lined up with the runway I started to see what was so difficult about landing, as we were doing multiple things at one time. I pulled the throttle back and added full flaps and we started to decent to the runway, as we got closer and closer to the runway a felling of pure joy went thru my body. Finally, the wheels touched the runway and we had landed the plane and the flight was over, it was at that moment I knew I had to do that again and I was hooked for life to flying.