Noah's First Flight

Last Thursday morning I had planned to meet a friend of mine, Dr. Jeff Johnson, in Madison for some work related paperwork. Before leaving the house Jeff called me and asked if I wanted to go flying for a little bit. Now I have gone flying with Jeff before, but this invitation was special. He had his son David with him and he asked if I would like to bring Noah along. I was a little concerned as to how Noah would do as he had never flown in anything before, but when I asked him if he wanted to go of course he said yes. He does have my DNA...

We drove over to the Huntsville International Airport and met Jeff and David at the Signature Flight Support FBO. They had already pulled his aircraft, a very nice Piper Cherokee 235, out of the T Hangar and completed the preflight. After putting Noah's car seat and David's booster in the rear seats and getting them all belted in Jeff started up and off we were. Noah was careful to secure Buster, his stuffed puppy dog, in between he and David stating that Buster had his seat belt on too. As we taxied to runway 18L Noah was all smiles and I of course was bursting with pride that my little buddy was enjoying just being in an airplane even more than I. After getting clearance from the tower we pulled onto the active and away we went. Noah was grinning from ear to ear as he watched us leave the ground and David exclaimed "we're flying!" I don't know which one was cuter. It was great to see those young boys enjoying flight so much.

We climbed out and flew over the west side of Madison and took a northwesterly route toward Athens. Noah was a little pro already adjusting the volume controls on his headset and sounding like an experienced aviator. I called Becky to let her know we were only about five minutes out from the house. We flew just south of the square and over to the west side of town and then spent the next several minutes circling our home. I took pictures of the house from the air as Becky stood out in the front yard taking photos of us from the ground. Noah thought it was cool to see mommy from so high up. We then went back east flying along the north side of Athens within site of Noah's Aunt Jean's and GiGi and Grandy's house.

We picked up vectors to the ILS for 18L and got clearance to land. We flew the length of the city of Madison and Jeff made a beautiful landing as always. As we taxied back to the T Hangars I felt so fortunate to have experience this day with Noah. Thanks to Dr. Johnson I had gotten the opportunity to introduce my oldest son to the freedom and thrill of powered flight. One day I hope to do the same with Jackson. Maybe one day one of them will be taking me flying...

Thank you, Jeff, for the incredible gift of taking Noah on his first flight! I will always be grateful.