Another Recollection - Flying High

I was about 21 and working at a bank, when one of our co-workers was telling a bunch of us at lunch how she was learning to fly. She said she kept the books for a small charter company at the Detroit City Airport in exchange for the lessons. She went on and on about how great it was and when some of us seemed curious, she said she'd talk to her boss about a free flying lesson if we liked.

My wife at the time was not interested at all, so Connie (a girl who worked for me) and I carpooled down to the airport. It's funny now (the airport is about halfway between my house and Mom's) but at the time, having only lived in Mt. Clemens, it seemed like a very long trip!

Now, the interesting thing about this "airline" was that it was started by an ex-Playboy Playmate. In her photo spread, she was posed (in various stages of undress, I suppose - I never saw it) in a little plane. That got her interested in planes and she used the money she made to buy one.

So, we arrived, parked and she came out of the hangar. She was a drop-dead gorgeous and certainly well-endowed blond about 6 feet tall. Picture the prettiest Swedish woman you ever saw and then picture her in boots, tight jeans, a brown leather bomber jacket and a long white scarf, wrapped once around her neck and then hung fashionably down and you'd get the idea.

Connie said I should go first (it was just a two-seater Piper Cub) so we climbed in and she took off. The rules then (and maybe still now) said the licensed pilot had to take off and land, but after that the passenger could fly the plane. So, that's what we did. At first I was nervous and when she told me to turn the plane, I did so, very cautiously. She laughed and said, "No, try it like this" and banked it so much that when I looked straight out the passenger window, I was looking at the rooftops of houses!

I eventually became a mite braver and by the time my half-hour was up, I was madly in love with both her and the idea of flying...

But, the cost for the lessons was prohibitive, I had just bought a house and really didn't have the time, and so, like a lot of things, that dream dwindled away...

I wonder what flying lessons cost these days?