Last Friday I had the experience of a lifetime. Greg gave me a Groupon certificate as an anniversary present to fly a helicopter! Ever since I was a little kid, I have dreamed of being a helicopter pilot for the President. Well, that dream will not come true, but flying around in one for an hour did!

Leading up to my flight time, I was nervous. The entire day it was on my mind and leading me to take a few trips to the bathroom – um, I think Nester coined the term “bossy intestines” and I’m gonna stick with that. {also on Friday I was trying to keep track of Nester & Gussy’s travels to Tanzania – please make sure you read their blog posts this week – inspiring!}

We arrived at Schaumburg Regional Airport and we met Ryan, the pilot. I signed a consent form and then waved goodbye to my family and followed him out to the tarmac. {Greg and the kids were hoping to watch, but the helicopter was in a spot where you couldn’t see it from the terminal.}

I finally got a glimpse of the helicopter.

It’s tiny.

While Erma {I named her – clearly this helicopter is a she, right? Dainty, but powerful. Like my grandmother, Erma} was getting fueled up, Ryan showed me how to buckle the shoulder/lap harness and the proper way to get in. As soon as I was buckled in, the nerves stopped. I was excited and thrilled for this opportunity.

Look closely, you’ll see there are no doors attached. It was a lovely 70 degree day, so Ryan said that’s why the doors were off. I was wearing a t-shirt & jeans, secretly wishing I had brought my jacket that I had inconveniently left in the car. Oh well.

Ryan gave me a headset and he started her up. It took about 5 minutes for her to warm up before he turned on the rotor blades. The tower announced we were clear for takeoff and we slowly lifted off the pad.

I was immediately awestruck and that lasted the entire time we were in flight.

Ryan told me we were going to be flying with some wind turbulence and to let him know if it bothered me. I completely expected to be bothered by the turbulence because when I fly in airplanes, I hate it! To my surprise, the turbulence didn’t make my tummy turn. I mentioned that to Ryan and he told me a very scientific reason for that – something like the rotor blades are flexible and airplane wings are not and turbulence still impacts a helicopter but it’s not as harsh. Like that scientific explanation? I tried to remember word for word what he said, but my brain was focused on the scenery and not technical stuff.

I had to be careful taking pictures – there weren’t doors attached, remember? I kept my elbows at my side but if I put my right elbow out 2 inches, it was out the window.

Ryan asked if I was ready to fly Erma? {Ok, he didn’t call her Erma, but I should have told him that’s what I named her in my head}. Yes! Please!

He told me to put my right hand on the cyclic a.k.a. joystick. Push it forward, the nose of Erma points down & her speed increases. Pull it back, the nose points up & her speed slows down. Gentle movements to the left & right and you go in that direction. All very subtle movements. Ryan said you are constantly making adjustments, especially on a windy day like today. He told me to follow the straight road that was 1,200 feet below us. Simple enough, right?

Maybe on a day with 0 mph wind, I could have stayed straight. Maybe. He kept encouraging me that I was doing a good job but it was very difficult to keep her in line with the road & with the wind pushing us this way and that. He said, “as long as the blades are on top, you’re doing good.” I sorta laughed.

I “flew” her for about 5 minutes. His hand was always on the cyclic on his side correcting my mistakes but I was flying her. Crazy pants!

I learned that it’s hard for me to control my verbal responses to the mistakes I was making. I’m sure I annoyed Ryan with my “Oh…” & “Dah!” & “Oh My!” responses as I tried to keep her in line with the road and making adjustments due to the wind resistance. One big wind gust came and we were way off the mark and I told Ryan to take over and get us back on the original flight plan! I also needed to catch my breath! It wasn’t until I let go of the controls that I realized my arms were covered in goose bumps! I looked at the temperature gauge of the outside air and it said 59 degrees.

He flew us back to the airport and safely landed Erma back on her 10 x 8 foot platform.

It will be a while before I forget how I felt that day. It was so much fun. I could fly around for hours in a helicopter. Well, I know this is only my 2nd time (1st time on our honeymoon in Arizona) and I know it may be naive of me to say this, but flying in a helicopter is so much fun. I have always said that my nervousness about flying in an airplane would be significantly less if I could be in the cockpit and see where I was going and watch the controls. I think that’s why I wasn’t nervous in the helicopter. I could see in every direction except behind me. I could watch Ryan move the cyclic and see the direction we were going. Such an amazing experience for me.

Greg could see the excitement on my face when I was done and out of curiosity, he asked Ryan how much it costs & how many hours do you need to get your helicopter license. Oh, only about 40-50 hours of flight time at $300/hr. Hmmmm. That’s not going to happen any time soon, but I am extremely thankful to Greg for giving me the opportunity to check this off my bucket list.

Let’s face it, I probably would fail the course because of all of the science involved & the technical elements that go into flying a helicopter, but I would never turn down an opportunity to be a passenger. Know any pilots looking for passengers, send them my way. I’ll bring Nanney & maybe we can start a business? You fly while I take pictures. Deal?

Now, for your viewing pleasure, a short video:

p.s. it is a little difficult for me to take an iPhone video when I’m excited & when I’m trying to keep my iPhone from flying out of the cockpit!