There was a wine on engine spooling up and an airplane jumped into the air.
“Whoa!” my sister yelled as she covered her ears just as a 757 climbed into the air.
Now I knew we were at the Boeing/King Field in Seattle, Washington. This brought me right back to the memory of being at Bradley International Airport Museum in Winsor Locks, Connecticut, when a 737 took off right next us. That day at Bradley International Airport taught me what flying truly about and how much fun it might be to fly.
My sister my mom and I spent a day at the Boeing/King Field Museum. We visited all of the exhibits and walked around the inside and outside of the 1962-1998 Air Force One. We also walked around the first prototype of the 747, and the now retired British Airways Concorde. I had never been in a 707, 747 or a Concorde before so it was a memorable experience.
We went to have lunch and after words we went to the simulators. These rides simulate aircraft. The attendant briefed my sister and me on the controls and weapons, for we were going to be flying a military mission in an F-14D Tomcat. My sister and I climbed into the simulator which opened like a big white clam shell and was on giant rollers. My sister and I strapped ourselves into the seats.
“Are you ready?” asked the attendant.
“Yes,” my sister and I answered, and the attendant closed the hatch and the screen turned on. I felt myself rise a little as the simulator moved and a virtual projection of a carrier deck came on. I eased the throttle up and taxied to the catapult. I saw a bunch “people” around the deck getting ready to launch the aircraft. I hit the switch for the launch bar, the bar that hooks onto the catapult, to go down, and then the countdown to takeoff began. “3, 2, 1,” a voice said, and we were pinned to our seats as the aircraft lurched forward abruptly. At the end of the carrier deck, I pulled back on the control stick and my sister and I climbed away from the carrier.
A MIG 28 was heading right for us and it screamed past us. I pulled the control stick to the left until we were at 90 degrees. The simulator went to 90 degrees too. I yanked back on the stick to turn around. We felt like the simulator was trying to throw us out. My sister yelled, “Chris, what are you doing?!”
“We have to blow up that airplane, right?!” I yelled back.
I aligned us up for missile lock, and when the H.U.D turned red, I told Sarah to launch a missile. We heard the roar of a rocket engine and the missile shot from the airplane toward the MIG. The plane exploded with a deafening BOOM. Then, on the radar screen I saw hundreds of tanks. I flew low and fast and my sister never stopped launching the missiles. We heard roar after roar and explosion after explosion. Then on the radar screen there was a bright red dot. It was a battleship 10 miles out and closing fast on our carrier. I banked us to the right and I went to full throttle and kicked in the afterburners. A couple seconds later, we heard a loud crack as we broke the sound barrier. Thirty seconds later, we had a lock with the anti-ship missile and Sarah hit the trigger to fire the missile. The missile spiraled away from the aircraft and hit the boat. Now we were able to go back to the carrier to land.
We were at a steady speed and altitude as we were going in for a landing on the carrier. Then I heard, “Pilot control transferred.”
“Yes!” my sister exclaimed.
She now had control of the simulator. The first thing she did was to pull the control stick all the way to the left and stopped when we were upside down. She surprised herself so much that she hit the kill switch and the simulator turn right side up and then back down to its starting position. The hatch opened and the attendant asked,
“Was that fun?”
“Oh yea,” my sister replied.
“You bet,” I chimed in.
My sister and I went to find my mom.
“Thant was fun my sister excitedly blurted out.
That is when I realized what flying was. Flying is to have fun with family and friends doing what you like to do best. That day still inspires me to study for my pilots` licenses so I can do what I like to do best.