Flynlow: Flying My New PPC

Yesterday was a long, stressful day. I left work at 3PM, hoping to get a flight in my new PPC. Travis was already at the airport when I arrived. He had checked the field and determined it wasn't muddy (it really was!).

If you read my other post, you know that this is my new-to-me Pegasus and I had to move my risers around as they were on backwards and just really messed up. I'm always nervous when flying a new plane or PPC, but this time was much worse. Not only had the risers been changed, it was unqualified me that did it! I was really sweating it.

When we got setup, the wind was from the East... this is the worst possible direction for our field as it's short and puts us taking off directly toward the runway. We setup toward the NorthEast and planned to turn North after we took off. Then a couple of planes showed up and decided to use runway 17 - coming toward us! We just had to time our departure right.

I took my time setting up, double and triple-checking everything. Travis got warmed up and took off. Seeing him have no issues with the slight crosswind gave me a little comfort. So I was sitting there, with my engine idling, waiting for two planes to takeoff, thinking about hitting the mags as soon as something didn't look right...

When the second plane was off, I smoothly pushed the throttle forward. I thought I had something wrong when my parachute dipped a little to the right, but I pumped it once and it straightened out. I did a long rolling-preflight and it looked great! I added a little power and I was off!

Once in the air, I made a few gentle turns and it was great! It flew very well. Now I can relax a little!

After all of this, I didn't take a single photo of my PPC!! I told you I was nervous!