Shades of COANDA Henri

Raluca Tarcea is one of the two Plymouth State University MBAs from Romania presently here with us in New Hampshire.  As our mutual Facebook friends will remember from our August trip to the Portsmouth Air Show, Ralu is decidedly air-minded, as opposed to air-headed.  (Ralu arrived in Plymouth a brunette and is now quite blonde, but the change has not yet turned her into an air-head.)

John and Ralu at the preflight briefing.

Sunday, 20 February, was a gorgeous day.  Bright blue skies, cold, and breezy.  I called Emerson Aviation at the Laconia Municipal Airport to see if I could book an hour of dual instruction, as I had not logged any hours of piloting since 1994(!).  Then I asked Ralu, who happened to be sitting at her laptop across the table from me enjoying our new Jotul Black Bear wood stove while playing around the Internet, whether she would be interested in coming along.  Her instantaneous adrenaline rush led to a change of my plans.  Raluca logged the hour of dual (0.8 of actual airtime), not I.  Here are the pictures I took from the back seat, during Ralu's first flying lesson, with instructor pilot John Anderson. 

Meredith Bay on Lake Winnepesaukee

See why they call it The Lakes Region?

Ralu flew a 360 over our home in Campton.  (Shirl and Alex McD. look on from the driveway.)

We turned final to Runway 26 just before sunset.

Shades of Henri Coanda: a Romanian pilot blooms.

That is the good news.  The bad news: I still have not logged any flight time since 1994 ;-).