Learning To Fly - Bakersfield!

It's been a few weeks since my son flew. Last weekend, he and his instructor went over the flight plan for their trip up to Bakersfield, in a classroom near the hanger. That took about an hour of time and when we left the classroom, to go to the plane, we found out that in the hour that had passed, the wind had picked up and it was blowing a gale outside. So no flying went on last week.
Saturday, we meet at the hanger and we see that all the hangers have notices saying that they will be moved next week. We knew this was coming, but had kind of hoped that it would be later, rather then sooner. All that is in the hanger, is the plane today. No couch or tables, refrigerator or anything. This was a BIG hint, that I was not staying in the hanger, waiting for them today. Good thing that I did not bring any work to do. So they pull the plane out and start the preflight. I go sit down under my favorite plane and immediately begin shooting pictures of planes. Lots of little planes and almost no big ones. A couple of stunt planes took off in tandem and that was fun to watch. Being it is another windy day in Van Nuys, they take off on 34 Right, which is right in front of me. They wait for forever and then FINALLY, off they go to Bakersfield. I get up and go to my car and decide that, instead of just reading a book for an hour, I would use the time wisely. I go find a store to do my weekly shopping at. 15 minutes later, I find a Vons Grocery Store and do my food shopping. They told me that they would be back around 2:30P, but I like to get back in position about a half hour early. I do exactly that and as I am walking to the hanger, there is a plane flying right to left, on the opposite pattern. I figure, since that would be how they fly, coming back from Bakersfield, it might possibly be them, coming around for a landing. So I sit under the plane and keep an eye on that plane and then yes, it lands and pulls up toward my area and there they are. Early and exactly when I expected them. My son tells me that he flew up to Bakersfield and as they approached the airport, his teacher took the wheel, did a quick touch and go and then my son navigated on the way back. That way he gets flying time and learns how to navigate with the map, to find out where they are as they fly through the sky. As they flew over our home town of Santa Clarita, they took a quick detour, turning at Hubby's place of business and then flying over his drill team practicing in the park. Some of the kids figured out it must have been him, flying over them and they got a kick out of it. :-)

Next week is touch and goes and a flight plan for their next cross country trip. Carlsbad, in northern San Diego County.