I went flying today with others from the Adventure Club in a rented Piper Arrow.  It was my first time in a small plane since I was about 12.  We took off from the Charles Wheeler airport downtown and headed along the west side of downtown, turned along the south side, then did a couple circles around the Plaza.

The view from Hanger 6B

The view from Hanger 6B

My chariot awaits: a 1974 Piper Arrow

Here we go!

The Plaza in the center, looking toward downtown

Next it was up to Liberty, then south across Blue Springs, Lees Summit, Grandview, and Martin City before turning north back to the airport.

Lakes Blue Springs and Jacomo

Lakes Jacomo and Prairie Lee

Longview Lake

This is about where my camera battery started failing.  I let it rest for a few minutes but by then we were on our approach to the airport.

Headed for runway 21

The pilot – Kevin – let me fly for a few minutes between Liberty and Blue Springs.  According to the passenger in the back seat I didn’t do a very good job, though she didn’t puke 🙂  There’s an awful lot of gauges and stuff to look at and I should have just been looking ahead out the window.

It was a great way to spend a couple hours.  I’ll see the west side of town next time.