Aircraft: C172
Registration: C-GYWN
Dual Time: 0.6 Total: 18.9
Solo Time: 0.0 Total: 2.2
It has been almost 2 years to the day that I have not touched the controls of a small Cessna so I felt great to know that not only would I be back into flying but it would be the day I take my kids up for their very first flight! Jessica had gone up in a Cessna 172 back in 1992 however at that time she was still in her mother’s womb. That flight was provided by the EAA Young Eagles program back when I was in high school. Since that time neither kid has been interested in flying. Mikey would say “I’m afraid of heights Dad”, Jessica would tell me that she just didn’t like airplanes. It was only this year that I talked them into going up with me.
Mikey was nervous, and Jes was too but I kept them informed, advised and up to date on everything and kept them at ease. We ran into some poor weather prompting a short flight but all told, it was a great time had by all.
We arrived at CYRO (Rockliffe Airport) for an 11:00 appointment with Andrew. Since James had long gone off to the military to fly the big iron I needed to meet and fly with a new instructor. Andrew is a young professional pilot and he seems to handle the aircraft well. Time will tell if we are compatible but things today look positive. The kids wanted to go flying but we managed to see something interesting, the cars of the Pointts company. Funny that a company funded primarily by speeding tickets, has lamborghini cars! 
That said we came to fly. Since all aircraft require a pre-flight walk Around. I took this opportunity to teach the kids about how an airplane works. 
The aircraft we would be flying today is a 1977 Cessna 172N model. It was in really nice shape for its age and flew nicely. This aircraft must be a she as her name is “GYWN”. Here is the view that my young fliers would be privy to if they were the pilot!
Today, Dad is the pilot! gimme dem keys! 
Jes thinks WHAT??!!! 
Mike thinks REALLY?? 
But we lined up with runway 09 and pressed the throttle forward. After 55 knots we were into the air…. 
We decided ahead of time to do a quick tour of the city then head out to the practice area to do some sightseeing. Little did we realize how cloudy the air would be. The weather forecast was for broken clouds at 1500 and a ceiling at 5500. Andrew had stabilized the aircraft on downwind when he handed me control. As he was contacting Ottawa on the radio he asked me to begin a climb to 2200′ We were lucky to make it to 1600 feet when bamo right into cloud! 
Andrew pressed the yoke forward immediately to take us back into VFR. I thought, “That was wild!!” but at the time it never dawned on me that it’s seriously bad form to just fly on in. I have since recognized that flying into cloud=bad news!
Clouds won’t hurt the airplane in any way but you are not allowed to fly VFR unless you can see the ground. So we proceeded to fly back towards the airport to see if there was anywhere else we could go.
Mikey might have let the circulation back into Jessica’s hand by now… 
Almost home! Andrew performed the landing today but left this Dad wanting some more… Let’s see what adventure comes next!
Thanks for sharing in the joy of flying with me today Jessica and Michael, I hope that it taught you that there is more to life than you might imagine! I am very proud of you both for not being afraid to try something new.