14th Birthday [Joshua Burke]

For my 14^th Birthday my parents worked out a great surprise. I didn’t know what I was going to do for it until we got there. Dad woke me up at 6 A.M. I was a bit grouchy when I woke up. I don’t like to get up until 8. For some reason we had to get wherever we were going early. When we were all in the car we headed off. On the way I drew up in my mind what I was probably going to do. Could it be a movie, go-carts, a jungle adventure? When we arrived the mystery location it was not even on my list. We had arrived at the Phuket private airfield; I was going to fly a plane!

The airfield was made out of grass, and there was a huge hanger for the many small aircraft that they had. There was a six-setter propeller plane that an instructor and I were going to fly the family up around Phuket. An aerobatic plane, a small helicopter and small planes of all sizes were also inside the hanger. After getting briefed on some physics and all the controls on a plane we were ready to take off. When we got clearance from Phuket air control my instructor flew during takeoff. But once we were up 400 ft. I got to take command of the controls. Flying is actually the easiest part of it, all you have to do is control speed, flaps, and most importantly be aware of your surroundings. You actually look at your gauges very little while flying. Flying around Phuket was tons of fun. We went eye-to-eye with the Buddha, went over a number of beaches, and flew over the gym that I was training at. In Phuket airspace, you must be above 400 ft. when flying above people’s homes so you don’t “peek into their houses”. Seeing Phuket from a different angle was pretty amazing. We flew for about an hour before landing.

Ready for takeoff!

One of the many beaches.

Flying round the Buddha

Doing a turn. 

The next and last plane I flew was a red two-setter trainer plane. My safety instructor was a Thai who spoke really good English. I chose to go fly around the nearby, tropical islands. Before takeoff we tested the fuel on the plane because in a humid environment that we are in, the fuel could get wet and that would ruin the fuel. Takeoff was easier with this plane since it was lighter then the six-seater. The controls were easier too. You flew with a joystick to the right of you and there were fewer gauges. Flying was exciting since you didn’t have to fly strait, like in a passenger plane. I did a figure eight around two islands and flew threw through a valley with a river below us. It was so fun that it unfortunately cannot be described in words. You have to stay ten miles away from the Phuket airport because you could possibly fly into the path of a 747. Landing is easily the hardest part of flying so the safety instructor did the landing.

Testing the fuel.

Coming in for landing

Thanks for Reading

Joshua Burke