However, I have been with my present wife since 1994 in December of that year. So, likely when my wife's stepfather was in his early 80s around 2000 to 2002 he flew me in his V Tail Beechcraft Bonanza plane which is a low wing aircraft to Ventana Wilderness as I was interested in seeing where the fire had burned in this area. It was also amazing to see the coast on the way down there too. Then we flew back to the Airport nearest my home on the Coast and he was going to drop me off there and fly back to Santa Barbara where he lived then until he passed away then in 2017 there.
The main reason I'm bringing all this up actually is that I soloed in a Cessna 152 myself at Watsonville Airport in 1989 myself. So, from this point of view I am also a pilot and know what it takes to take off and land a plane and to fly by myself in the air in a plane. However, what I should say here is that mostly I flew high wing aircraft like the Cessna 152s and the Cessna 172s. But, what you need to know is that their wings are not as strong generally speaking as low wing planes which can reinforce their wings better under the fuselage better than high wing planes can. So, I knew what would keep high wing aircraft flying but not as much experience flying low wing aircraft. Also, I liked the high wing aircraft because you can see below your plane because there is no wing there to occlude your view of everything below you either. So, I felt safer in a high wing plane just because you can see better to land in them.
The disadvantage of a high wing plane is that you might not see planes flying above you and into you but you would see planes flying up into you better and to avoid these planes better. Though planes are supposed to fly at different altitude when going different directions the problem becomes when planes are ascending or descending when they could accidentally run into each other especially if they are flying VFR or (Visual Flight rules) as opposed to IFR (Instrument Flight Rules). ON IFR you are instructed by Air Traffic Controllers but that takes extra training to be certified as that kind of pilot. Most private pilots are only flying VFR not IFR.
So, as my father in law was planning to land at an airport near where I live we were at around 5000 feet or more and I was wondering why he hadn't dropped in altitude for landing.
Then all of a sudden we just slowed down and dropped like a rock about 4000 feet simply by slowing down where we stayed level but just started majorly losing altitude. I was scared because you couldn't get away with doing this with most high wing planes that weren't set up as stunt planes or something like that.
So, I wondered if he was going to kill us doing what he was doing. So, I was white knuckling it all the way as we suddenly dropped 4000 feet in altitude very quickly.
At the last possible moment just before we hit the ground he brought the nose up for landing and there was at least 2 gravities we felt when he did this but at least we didn't crash into the ground from descending so fast. He did a perfect 3 point landing and I realized that he was just trying to show me what a great pilot he was and what a great plane he owned too.
I was just glad to be alive and said my goodbyes and thanks for flying me that day.
So, yes, he was a great pilot and his plane was great too but he scared the living daylights out of me too. But, at least I didn't have a heart attack or stroke that day from what he had done.
All's well that ends well.
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