“Is everyone ready?”
“Does it matter if I say NO?”
That’s the exchange I had with pilot Kyle just before the little eight seater headed down the runway. I looked at all the analog buttons and dials and the map of the island. I craned my neck to see over the nose of the little plane and I watched the white stripe down the middle. The Piper lifted up into the air, tipped its wings just a little this way and that, and the island was underneath us, red dirt and papaya, asphalt and grass.
For the second day in a row I ducked my head as I boarded a little eight seat plane. Yesterday, I left Oahu for Moloka’i on a tiny bird, today I flew down to Kalaupapa. What you might not know is that this is kind of a big deal, you see, I get motion sick driving around the block and I really hate to fly.
Only apparently, I don’t. The three short flights I’ve taken have been stunning, gorgeous. The low altitude means the white caps on the blue waters are close enough to see the spray, the crops are recognizable. And yes, the plane jumped a little when it moved out over the edge of the cliffs, but I expected that jump in my belly and then, it was all done, the stripe was back, we were on the ground.
“My breakfast is still inside me!” I said with great enthusiasm to Kyle the pilot, who indulged me as much as you’d expect from a pilot wearing flip-flops. And on the return trip, I thanked him before entering the airport. “I’m going to have to shut the hell up about how I hate to fly, aren’t I? That was amazing!”
“It’s not the size of the plane,” Kyle the pilot said, “it’s the skill of the pilot.”
I’m here as a guest of Hawaii Convention and Visitor’s Bureau. All my travels, stays, and transportation are sponsored by the HCVB.
Bet Kyle became a pilot so he could say that last sentence on any occasion possible. The only think better than flying on an 8-seater is flying up front with the pilot on a 4-seater and the door not working properly, so you have to hold it shut and can open it up and look right down into the treetops when you are on a curve (following pilot’s instructions of course). You are right, you will have to stop saying you don’t like flying…
I thought flying on the TINY 4-seater plane from Skidegate on the Haida Gwaii (the one that lands/takes off from the water, no less) was going to be the end of me – and I normally have no trouble flying. But it was the SMOOTHEST ride. In fact, at one point I was so focused on something we were all looking at out one of the side windows that it wasn’t until I looked forward again that I noticed, “Hey! We’re sideways!” And I didn’t feel a thing. Amazing.
Sounds fabulous.
But it’s the size of the plane too, I reckon. Well, it is for me. Big planes? Terrified (which in recent years has weathered to a manageable kind of spine-tingling hatred of my whole life for the duration of the flight). Small planes? Love ’em. Have taken the controls of a couple. Loved it.
However – flying in Hawaii? Well, that’s another thing entirely. I suspect I haven’t lived.
LOVE THIS and can totally identify! Felt same way after boarding and successfully flying on teeny tiny puddle jumpers in Belize. We saw stingrays in the clear water below. Phenomenal.
That’s so great that you didn’t get sick!!! I love flying in those little planes. I took a couple when I was in Belize and it was just incredible.