An unexpected lesson in flying

The pilot strode past us purposefully as we sat at our gate on the tail end of a very long travel day.

My companion caught his eye and waved. The pilot waved back, continued down the jetway and then popped back out.

“Hey,” he said. “Do you want to tour the cockpit?”

We did, of course, but until our young man sat in the pilot’s seat, I did not realize how cool the whole experience would be.

Unbeknownst to me, my companion had done his homework.

“I was reading about the different kinds of planes United flies,” he said. “Is this a CRJ-550?”

The pilot seemed impressed and let my companion settle into his chair. They had a lively discussion about various types of aircrafts and the pilot walked his eager protégé through the whole process of getting the plane ready for takeoff.

“Do you want to turn the engine on?” he asked.

He did and, much to my astonishment, the 14-year old clicked the buttons and pulled the knobs as instructed to ready the plane for takeoff.

“I think I recruited a new pilot,” our new friend said to his co-pilot.

We thanked them profusely and then made our way to our seats.

As we buckled in, our pilot friend addressed the plane with the usual information about our cruising altitude and estimated flight time. Then he thanked my companion by name for his assistance in the cockpit.

We headed home in the airplane but we could have walked on air. We were both so excited about the unexpected flight lesson.

It’s amazing, really, how many ways there are to teach a kid how to fly and how generous people are in their willingness to do so.