::insert digital sounding green quartz-clock-looking characters popping up onto the otherwise black screen::
Saturday, November 30. Winds Calm. Skies Clear. Visibility greater than 10 miles... KFRG.

I had my choice of aircraft; the Piper Archer, Cirrus SR22, or itty bitty Tecnam P92 Light Sport Aircraft (LSA). I've flown the Archer before and the SR22 is a great aircraft for getting from point A to point B in just about any weather conditions, but rarely do the conditions scream "just go and have some fun today," so the LSA was my aircraft of choice.

Of course, one doesn't just rent the LSA. One must first endure the barrage of snickers and jokes from the front desk and rampys. "I've seen the way that thing's built," one said, as he shook his head. "But look at all the entries in its logbook," we replied, pointing at the dozen or so signatures. "Those are from the last TWO YEARS!" they laughed.

Having 'connections' at the flight school at least has its merits; a free golf-cart ride to the aircraft parked off taxiway Charlie -- far away from the more prestigious fleet of the school (a mix of Cessnas, Pipers, and Cirruses).

The pre-flight took about 0:00:30 seconds. The engine took about 0:30 minutes to warm up on this near-freezing (but safely very dry) day. Without much ado, we were holding short, runway 14, for straight out VFR departure.

The cockpit was tight; shoulder-to-shoulder with that awkward whose-arm-gets-in-front-of-whose feeling -- like fighting over the armrest in a commercial aircraft. Nonetheless, cockpit was, to my inexperienced standards, comfy enough. Nothing fancy on board this kite; steam gauges and a simple moving-map GPS. There was more technological power in the pilot-supplied suction-cup and Velcro TWAS and ADS-B receiver linked up to our iPad.

Cleared for takeoff... and we're taking the runway. CAREFUL! with no more than the taxi speed as we aligned with runway 14 and a little back-pressure on the stick, we could have lifted the nose-wheel! With a rolling start, we applied full power and ... practically before power was fully available, we were airborne -- if you didn't pay attention, you would have missed it. We climbed straight out for about two thousand five hundred feet and headed to the South Shore. Then it got silly. . .

"Ok, after we cross the shoreline, turn east." Piece of cake, right? Sure, when everything is what it's expected to be. Only problem is, with the HSI, I was looking at 090 / E being to the right; so I begin the right turn... "My plane!" -"huh?" -"East is a left turn!" -"No it's not," pointing to the HSI. Then he points to the mag comp and GPS... 150... Yeah, we did depart 14, after all... East was LEFT. After correcting the mis-aligned HSI, I innocently proclaim "Where's the B button when you need it?"

Ok... now what? We cruised Eastbound (for sure, now) along the south shore while checking the traffic and ATIS at KISP, our nearest regional commercial airport. We requested the touch and go, and they oblidged, offering us a heading to enter right downwind, runway 15L. There was a bit of VFR traffic in & out at the time; we were number 3 and another aircraft was being guided to the visual approach behind us. We made it to 1 mile final and heard "[random callsign], number two following the ... cherokee ... one mile final, runway 15L cleared to land." I look frantically out the glass in all directions... Aren't WE on 1 mile final?!? -"Uhhh Islip tower, Light Sport 28HV is one mile final runway 15L, just want to make sure we're not in anyone's way!?!" -"Light sport 28HV... thank you." "[random callsign], that traffic is a light sport, short final runway 15L." ... WHEW! Goes to show you how rarely these LSAs get any appreciation on Long Island.

Time for some real fun... We complete the touch and go and request VFR to the north. We kept (almost) to the pattern until turning slightly away from KISP and headed for the north shore this time. At the shore, there's a large well-known (to the VFR pilots) house on a small peninsula. This was our queue to begin the fun. We dropped to 500' and gave the Tecnam a good tight turn around the peninsula, then followed just off-shore at 500'. The Tecman was screamin... 105 KIAS! lol. We bobbed and weaved eastbound along the jagged shoreline until we were outside of the KISP controlled airspace. "TRAFFIC! twelve o'clock high opposite direction," I shout as I push the nose down. Damn, where'd he come from!? He crossed just above us! Never a dull moment.

More fun... Now that we were getting comfortable with the LSA, we took it up to altitude... sorta... 3,500. Now, we put it through some intermediate maneuvers. First up, steep turns. One to the left... Holy cow... 60 degrees feels like 90 if you're not used to it. Now one to the right. Much easier, and fun now! I must have gone through at least 720 degrees of circling at 60 degrees before figuring this was getting old. We decide to make an about-face and take it westbound up to 4,500 (gotta stay right-for-direction, right?).

It gets better... "My plane" -"your plane," as the nose rises and the right wing drops to the ground... yep... 90 degrees. Well, that was unexpected! We had just done a wing-over! Makes you realize how NOT like FSX it is. You actually FEEL stuff. Positive Gs, lateral Gs, disorientation if you're not paying attention, adrenaline... show me any of these flying FSX, I dare you. It got a little scary, knowing that maneuvering speed was 93 knots, and we exceeded 110 on that first attempt. "Should I try again?" -"Yeah, but watch the speed this time." Awesome!

How about the slow stuff? The checklist indicates full-flaps stall speed is 38 knots... Yes, thirty-eight! So, we cut the throttle, pull back, and wait... and wait... and wait... FINALLY, the wings give up and the nose falls. Hahaha this thing barely stalls. We did it again, same thing. Smooth, easy, predictable break and VERY fast recovery. I doubt we lost 100 feet, though I was admittedly paying more attention outside the windshield.

Ok, enough fun, let's head home. We headed for the "stacks," a VFR reporting point for KFRG tower, and called them up. They gave us a heading and traffic to look for. Looking... Looking... Looking... where's the red text above everyone's aircraft?! That would have come in handy here. Finally, "IN SIGHT, twelve o'clock, 2 miles!" -"Where?" -"Right there," I point futilely. I lower the nose and descend another 200 feet until the glimmer of a wing at our twelve o'clock low rises with respect to the horizon. Now he sees it.

Though getting crowded with VFR arrivals, the pattern and approach are pretty uneventful, especially when compared to the maneuvers we were pulling earlier! The plane takes quite a bit of control input to keep it headed where you want at low speed, though. It's also easy to misjudge the flare when it's only your first time landing this aircraft; thanks for some last-second control input from the PIC. The biggest dilemma was remembering which parking space we took the plane from. lol

In summary, I definitely feel the LSA was the right choice for today's flight. I remain extremely thankful for a brother who has taken to this hobby and achieved what remains but a dream for me.
When I asked him if it ever gets routine/boring/old/etc, his reply: "Every flight is different, every mission poses its own challenges. That feeling you've got right now (pointing to me, knowing I was enjoying every moment of the flight)... I still get that feeling every time I fly."

-WT (yes, AK, WT :P)