Parker's First Flight

It was a cool autumn morning in September with light air traffic and a low marine fog at the Livermore Municipal Airport. Parker was up at the crack of dawn to take his first flight in a Cessna Skyhawk with Bob, a friend from church. Pulling up to the fuel pumps, Bob maneuvered the Cessna towards the terminal while Parker and I watched from the observatory deck. After checking out the plane and refueling, Parker was geared up to go. Bob did his pre-flight checkup and Parker put on his headset. In a matter of a few minutes, I watched Parker fly away through the low cloud cover. I can only imagine the thrill Parker had while taking off in his first flight. It’s really exciting to watch your kids explore.

I'm very thankful for having mentors like Bob in our life. He is a very nice man and dedicates his time to flying people in need of healthcare on a volunteer basis. This is the organization that he belongs to: http://www.angelflight.org/.

Bob informed me that I could watch their flight on http://flightaware.com/. By punching in his tail number, 736KD, I could get real-time updates on the progress of their flight. You can be certain, I drove right home to check it out. How cool is that.

Parker and Bob flew with IFR to Paso Robles and stopped for brunch. Parker texted me that they landed. Of course, I knew that already. They flew on to Burbank to replace the oxygen in the plane as Bob is flying up to Oregon next week and needed to ensure he had sufficient coverage as they navigate around Mt. Shasta.

Parker returned home around 4 with a smile from ear to ear. He absolutely loved it. I’m quite sure that if Parker decides he wants to get a pilot’s license that he will achieve that goal. With diabetes you need to petition the FAA for a private license. Keep on exploring Parker!