Flying: To YAK or not to YAK........

When I found out that my brothers friend, Mary, owned a YAK 52 - I YAK YAK YAKED in his ear about getting me a ride in the plane. For those of you who don't know - a YAK 52 is a 1980's Soviet jet pilot trainer.

Finally the day came! I headed off to the east bay to spend Christmas with my brother - armed with the best presents ever. I should probably admit that I was also armed with a detailed list (which included but was not limited to; web sites, maps, charts, graphs and hand puppets) of presents that I wanted. I am not shy about presents. Noooo. None of that "oh, you shouldn't have" for me! - I am more of a "wadidya get me" and a " ooooo, gimmie gimmie" kind of a gal.

So, now I am up at my brothers and Mary is at the airport. We gotta go, now, now, now. We zip off to the airport and I am sooo excited!

sidenote: Our father had his pilots license and owned several plane while we were growing up. So, my brother and I grew up around small planes and small airports. I can't even remember the first time I was in a plane - I was so young. My brother, Damon, now has a Cessna 195 (she's a looker) and I love going up in small planes!

and BTW - there are only 3 reasons that people are afraid of small planes
1) The Buddy Holly Story
2) La Bamba
3) Sweetdreams (the story of Patsy Cline)

Which means that there is only 1 real reason that people are afraid of small planes. Really bad made for TV movies about 1950's rock stars that took off in bad weather and crashed into a mountain while on their way to some big charity rock festival.

I meet Mary and she opens the hanger door! The plane is so cute! I am so excited! but wait - there is a problem - the retractable landing gear seems to be leaking pressure. NO! I try to hide my disappointment but my heart is sinking....... After some consideration we decide that we can go up. Yippppeeeeeeeee!

We take off and do a little wing jiggle to say goodbye to Damon on the ground. The plane is so reponsive and quick. The Cessna is like a nice luxury car, all floaty and comfy. The YAK is like a little red Porshe (sp?)

We buz around for a while and Mary says, "Do you wanna fly?" "On, no", I say. I don't think it is a good idea to risk her plane. Mind you I am not thinking "what if I crash and we die in a big ball of flames like Buddy Holly and pals" - I am thinking "what if I hurt her plane."

She assures me it is fine and that she is right there. So, I am at the controls. We bank, we turn, we go up, we go down, we do rolls, we.......... okay, okay we didn't do rolls. But Mary did so some wing overs and I just giggle and giggle - those things crack me up they are so fun!

We concidered buzzing some cows but Mary says she has heard that some of the farmers have been shooting at the planes when they are buzzing. So, we decide maybe we should skip it. I mean I woudn't want to die over a little cow fun.

Finally we head for home and land safely but I don't think I have really come down yet. Now I am determined to get my pilots license and figure out the rest later.

Stay tuned - there are more cows to be buzzed by this girl..........