This was a nice flight--just flying around with Chris (elder son). It was also something of a milestone, because Chris was my first non-pilot passenger.
Mot of the time we just flew around, looking at the scenery--in spite of the haze that knocked the visibility down to six or eight miles.
First we flew west to get away from the airport and then turned south Chris flew us around for about 20 minutes, or so, and did very nicely at holding the heading and altitude. He did some nice turns, too.
While he was flying, I tried out a new toy.
Just last evening I had bought a Palm Pilot app called "FlyingPilot" that displays airports, VORs, and cities; lets you plot a course; and uses GPS data to display your location on a moving map. You connect the GPS to the Palm Pilot, and--voila!--you have a moving map that fits in your shirt pocket.
I had plotted a course from FCI to Petersburg airport--only a few miles, but far enough to see that the program works just fine.
Later we flew north again, climbed to 5,000 feet to see how high a layer of scattered clouds was About 6,000 feet.
The only time Chris loked uncomfortable was when I demonstrated an emergency descent--85 knots, with throttle off and full flaps. He said later that having the nose pointed down so steeply made him nervous. Oddly, a 2,000 foot per minute slip didn't seem to bother him at all, even though we were coming down nearly twice as fast.
We crossed the James and flew west along it, looking at our familiar canoe-outing route and the islands where we often picnic, and on to the prison where Carol teaches. Then we flew east again, coming down to 1,200 feet, and circled our house. Couldn't see it, though, because of the trees.
Finally we returned to the airport and landed. Chris seemed to
have enjoyed the flight, and I certainly did. It was a pleasant outing
with good company, and I'm glad that flying with my first real passenger
went so nicely.