Update and a Little History

Wow, I haven't posted in a while... I haven't gone away - just not much flying has been happening lately. :-( So, for a bit of history, I'll blog about the first time I sat in the cockpit of an airplane.

Back in Poland, in third grade, our class took a field trip to the Warsaw Okecie Airport. We went through the airport's domestic terminal like a regular passenger would, complete with checkin, luggage check, and a tour of the gate areas. (Of course, back in those days, few people flew domestically within Poland, so that type of a field trip was actually possible.) But, the best part of the trip was yet to come: our entire class got to board a LOT Polish Airlines Antonov An-24 aircraft, where we sat down in the cabin and got a safety briefing. Then, in groups of three, we got to go into the cockpit where I sat in the first officer's seat. One of LOT's pilots was on hand to explain what was going on there, but unfortunately all that I remember was that it is really important for pilots to keep an accurate track of time, so that's why there were multiple clocks in the cockpit. Our group didn't have too many questions, so we didn't get to stay in the cockpit for that long -- I wish I had gone in with the teacher; that group seemed to stay in the cockpit forever, because apparently the teacher was asking all sorts of interesting questions!

So that's when I decided I someday wanted to be a pilot, too. I fulfilled that dream in April, 2002, when I got my Private Pilot Certificate!