Long Time Reader, First Time Blogger

So, while we were in Hawaii, I got to do the coolest thing ever.  Unfortunately, since Alanna is afraid of heights and motion sickness, she didn't come along.  And now (the nerve!), she adamantly refuses to write about my adventure.  So, I decided to sneak out, steal the keys, and take this ol' blog for a spin.

I read a tour guide before we went to Hawaii, and the author raved about a these amazing little vehicles called trikes.  He said it was one of the coolest things you could ever do.  He turned out to be right. 

Basically, imagine an over-sized two-seat go cart . . . that flies!

That's a 30 foot hang-gliding wing holding us up.  It's called a weight-shift aircraft since the way that you steer is actually by shifting the weight of the trike back and forth.

So cool!

My brother and I woke up early on our second day there (which wasn't hard to do since we were six hours behind east coast time.)  We drove all the way across the island to Dillingham Airfield and took a 45 minute "flight lesson."  (I found out later that it has to be called a flight lesson since, technically, trikes are not to be used for commercial or charter purposes.) 

Basically, the student sits in the back seat, with the instructor in the front seat.  You drive out onto the runway, go really fast, and then . . . you fly!

I think take-off was my favorite part.  Have you ever had that dream where you could fly? 

Did I mention that this was awesome?

We flew out to the far west point of the island, gradually gaining altitude the whole time.  My instructor, Denise, pointed out that she always tries to have enough altitude to make it back to a safe landing area if there were ever a problem.  We turned around at that point and headed east along the North Shore.  Since this was a lesson, I got to take the controls for a while and try to fly in a straight line.  It turns out that trikes are very stable in turns, but not so much when they fly straight - I haven't really figured out why that is.

Notice the full-circle rainbow in the background.  You can only see that from the air.  Most rainbows are arcs because the ground gets in the way.

Me taking the controls.  Directly below is the western-most tip of the island.

 Along the way, Denise pointed out all sorts of cool things to do along the North Shore.  She also talked about how she and her husband (my brother's pilot) had met - base jumping off a bridge in West Virginia, and how he had proposed - base jumping off a 2,000 foot waterfall.  They're quite the couple, to say the least.  We got as far as the new windmill farm that they are putting in near Haleiwa and then headed back.  On the way there we had a head wind and were only going about 40 miles per hour.  On the way back with the tail wind, it was more like 80 miles per hour.  I could really feel the difference.

We got up to nearly 3000 feet.  Here we are flying around clouds.

Overall, I would say that this is probably about the most bird-like kind of flight a person could ever experience.  Totally Awesome!

I took the controls again at the end.  This is me lining up for landing - she did the actual landing, though.

So, if this whole Teaching Thing doesn't work out, I now know what our Plan B is . . .  If I could just convince Alanna to get over her acrophobia.