Come fly with me

I can only imagine the expression on my wife's face.

Here was the phone conversation:

ME: So Bill's flying into town and he's gonna take the kids and me up his plane!

HER: (Silence, and probably a not-so-nice look on her face.)

My godfather came into town recently, and he traveled the way he prefers - in his Grumman Tiger four-seat prop plane. He was going to fly into Aiken and let us ride with him to Augusta, where he would leave his plane. It made perfect sense to me. My wife? Not so much.

I explained to her that Bill was a seasoned pilot.

She knew that.

I explained to her that Bill and my father had flown to Alabama just a few weeks ago.

She knew that.

I explained to her that nothing would happen.

She told me I didn't know that.

Eventually, we came to this agreement: We would fly, and we would duly note that my wife thought I had the judgment of a peanut.

News flash: Peanuts have awesome judgment, as evidenced by the fact that I am safely on the ground writing this column.

When we arrived at the airport, my son was really excited about flying. My daughter told me that she was still considering her options.

Translation: Time to overcome some fear.

Eventually, my daughter braved up and decided she would fly. (Oh, and my sister told her she would take her shopping if she flew.)

Inside the plane, it was close quarters. We all had headsets on, so we could communicate with each other during the flight. Just before we took off, I reminded the kids that every time they spoke, their microphones came on, so some conversations were not necessary, such as:

ALLIE: Hey, Parker?

PARKER: Yeah?

ALLIE: My headset comes on when I talk!

PARKER: Mine, too!

ALLIE: Let's see if it does it again.

PARKER: Yeah.

ME: STOP IT!

We left the Aiken airport and banked over the city. Once I got my bearings in the sky, I started trying to identify various landmarks. The first one we were able to identify was the Aiken Standard, which I was able to locate by first finding Aiken High's stadium. The kids said they saw it, but I think they may have just been saying that to be nice. I also found our house and the mall, which the kids also pretended to see.

The flight itself was smooth as could be. We flew at about 2,500 feet, traveling around 125 mph. Every so often, I'd look back at the kids and see their noses to the window, trying to identify various things on the ground. Parker at one point said he saw a plot of land that looked like the Millennium Falcon. Bill caught only the last part and said, "You just saw the Millennium Falcon?" We all agreed that would have been really cool.

Before we knew it we were making our descent to Augusta. The kids loved the flight and never showed an ounce of fear in the plane. When we landed, I remarked to them that we were going to now do the most dangerous thing we would do all day: drive home.

Despite my wife's initial hesitation, she concedes that she is glad that we went. The kids had a memorable experience on their afternoon adventure. I can't imagine what her expression will be when I ask her about skydiving.