Cessna Ride, 1994

I was recently going through boxes of old photos when I ran across pictures of my first plane ride. In October 1994, my aunt and uncle (who live in Pella) arranged for me to ride in a Cessna 172 Skyhawk piloted by a friend of theirs. The flight was only about 30 minutes long, but it was a lot of fun and very memorable. It was a on a very still autumn evening just before sunset, perfect for flying and taking pictures.

My Grandma Brackin and my sister Abby are in the lower right corner of this photo:

I'm standing in the doorway of the plane and my dad is right behind me. My uncle rode along with me and my dad stayed behind. He's not a fan of flying.

My mom taking pictures of my dad taking pictures of the plane taking off. Everything was documented in full detail, we got it covered:

During the flight I saw a barn burning, so we circled it for a few minutes so I could take pictures:

Then we flew out over Lake Red Rock:

And that's it; those are the only surviving pictures of that experience. If I remember correctly, there were at least two rolls of film with pictures from that evening, but this is all that's left. It's enough, though! We buzzed around over Pella and along Highway 163, before circling back and making a steep landing on the small airstrip. We made a very rapid descent onto the runway; I think the pilot was having fun with us. It was worth every minute.