Since I was "beside-myself" excited about my Discovery Flight in two days, I decided to take a trip to the local airport, which is Santee Cooper Regional just outside Manning, SC. A great little strip just off of Lake Marion. I have stopped by there a few other times and previously and have met the FBO who seems to be very nice as well. I also met Pilot Harold, a super nice, retired Marine who operates an aerial photography business.
The trip to Santee Cooper Regional (KMNI) turned into a flying opportunity. I had taken my middle child with me and when we arrived we met up with Pilot Harold, who was assisting his hangar neighbor with a small repair project. The second gentleman, Pilot Bill was the owner of a nice Mooney aircraft. My daughter and I met Pilot Bill and upon completion of the project he was about to take a short trip in the extended local area. Pilot Harold stated that Pilot Bill was looking for someone to ride along and he got us hooked up with a ride in the Mooney.
Pilot Bill was an excellent teacher (of sorts), he's not a CFI, but he showed me the Mooney checklists and verbally walked me through the taxi and run up checklists before we turned onto Runway 2 for a departure enroute to Summerville, SC. My daughter sat in the back and I manned the copilot seat. Pilot Bill told me everything he was doing and "how" he was doing it. It was a great flight on a clear day across Lake Marion and south to Summerville. We landed at Summerville, sat on the taxiway for a few minutes while other aircraft were landing and preparing for take off. Once airborne again we headed back north to MNI and landed on Runway 2. This preface to my Discovery Flight was a solid confirmation that I was ready to venture into this new world of general aviation. Now to get my wife to see it the same way as me, might be another story...
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