Me in the back seat of the Cessna 172S single engine aircraft flying over the Granite Dells of Prescott.

The type of aircraft I flew in with Granite Mountain in the background.

One of the unique advantages of attending Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University is the ability to do free observer flights in small aircraft. Although I am almost half-way through my fourth year at this university, I had never taken advantage of this opportunity. After mentioning this to my friends, I was surprised to find out how few of my fellow non-flight student friends had actually taken an observer flight.

Since I was staying on campus for Thanksgiving, and I had a day off (a rare occurrence for seniors studying engineering), I decided to give the observer flight a shot.

I arrived at the flightline at 9 a.m. on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, the time recommended by the dispatcher on duty. Due to the low amount of traffic on the holiday weekend, I waited until 10:45 a.m. when an instructor and student agreed to allow me to fly with them.

The flight I observed was a one hour private pilot training flight with student Stan Westerman and instructor Lorne Trapani in a single-engine Cessna 172S.

Before my observer flight, the smallest aircraft I had flown in was a regional airliner. I’d heard several things about the difference between commercial flights I’d taken and what to expect from a small aircraft. I’d heard that I was going to be crushed in the back seat and that a commercial flight with turbulence was going to be nothing compared to what I’d experience in a single-engine aircraft.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that in my experience, neither of those cases were true. There was plenty of leg room and I found the level of turbulence about equivalent to a commercial flight. The flight in general was very enjoyable.

After a quick passenger briefing, I buckled my seat belt and eagerly awaited take-off. The instructor and student pilot adjusted the flaps and discussed cross wind as they prepared for the flight. As I sat in the back of the plane, I couldn’t help but think that it didn’t feel very different from sitting in an idling car.

The plane left the runway into a cloudless blue sky. Just after take-off we were flying over the university with beautiful views of the Granite Dells and Granite Mountain. We then banked to fly over Glassford Hill and approached Mingus Mountain. Our horizon quickly became the red rocks of Sedona and the snow-covered peaks of Flagstaff as we flew over Mingus Mountain.

I wasn’t really ready when the plane touched back down; the flight could have lasted another hour. The vistas were well worth the wait.

A View of Campus from the air.

The Granite Dells and Willow Creek across from campus

Glassford Hill between Prescott and Prescott Valley

Granite Mountain from just after take off.

In the foreground you can see Mingus Mountain. Behind that, you can see the red rocks of Sedona. In the distance you can see the white-capped mountain of Flagstaff.

One of the other big differences between Houston and Prescott is the humidity.  Houston is very humid, causing the heat index to soar in the summer.  Prescott, on the other had is much dryer.

The first experience that I had with a dry environment was when my family took a road trip vacation in the west. We drove from Houston to Los Angeles and stopped to see many sights in-between.  It was the summer and uncomfortably hot, but a most peculiar thing was happening.  As we looked out at the Petrified Forest of northern Arizona, our sweat actually started to evaporate.

“It may be hot, but at least it’s a dry heat,” my Dad told my family. We bought him a t-shirt with skeletons laying in the desert and the saying “But, it’s a dry heat.”

Prescott is considered to be high desert which results in an interesting mix of desert areas and forested areas, where the climate transitions from a Phoenix-like desert and the forests of Flagstaff.  Prescott is just about right in the center of the state of Arizona and just about halfway between Phoenix and Flagstaff, giving it an interesting mix of landscapes.

Living somewhere without humidity meant changing a few of my daily habits.  I fully anticipate that I will lose any male readers in the next couple paragraphs.

When I lived in Houston I never really needed Chap Stick or lotion.  If I used them, it was to make lips look glossy or because it smelled good.  When I moved to Prescott, my lips were almost instantly chapped and my skin got dry for the first time in my life.  During the winter of my freshman year, my skin got so dry that it began to crack and bleed.  “What on earth is going on?” I thought to myself.  Since then, I’ve learned to carry Chap Stick and lotion with me all the time.

The dry weather isn’t all bad though.  I could never get my curly hair to settle down in the humidity of Houston.  Most days I would just tie my hair back in a pony tail. In the dry weather of Prescott, every day is a good hair day. Even on windy days, my hair still looks great – it just has better volume.  When I tried to straighten my hair in Houston, it would be wavy again by the time I got to school.

I went through a phase sophomore year where I straightened my hair every day and it actually stayed straight all day.   The only downside is that I have to switch shampoos every time I go between Texas and Prescott.  Moisturizing shampoos for dry hair in Arizona and volumizing shampoos for normal hair in Texas.

I look at the climate difference as something to learn from.  I could have gone to Daytona Beach where the climate is very similar to home, but I came here because the climate is so different, and somewhat because snow is quite a novelty to me.  The season confusion is definitely something I can cope with as I learn to appreciate the experience that the different climate has to offer.

Living somewhere where it snows was an entirely new concept to me.  It just doesn’t snow in Houston, and if it does, it melts before it hits the ground.  My parents have some footage of a thin millimeter-thick layer of snow on the ground in my backyard when I was a baby, but I don’t ever remember seeing snow.

As a child, I was a little like the children in the original King and I who didn’t believe in snow.  As far as I knew it was something out of books and movies and it was so alien to me that I would have had no trouble believing that someone had simply made it up.

The first time I saw snow was when my high school took a winter break trip to Colorado.  We stayed in Keystone and visited Breckenridge.  It was like stepping into a movie.  I remember stomping around in my hiking boots fascinated by how the snow moved and sounded under my feet.  The southerner in me expected snow to feel like walking on piles of freshly picked cotton (I did actually play in piles of freshly picked cotton once as a child).  The crunch I felt when my boot first touched the snow was completely unexpected. The trip seemed magical.  Maybe that whole snow thing was real after all.

My first snow day was at Embry-Riddle freshman year.  I told my family that although, technically I was an adult now, it was definitely not too late to experience the magic of a snow day for the first time in my life.  One of my freshman roommates was from Florida, and also fascinated by the snow day. She took one of the signs that said “Class Canceled Until 12:40” and put it on the wall in her room.

First time I saw in snow in Prescott - Finals December 07

AXFAB covered in snow

My Texan Ford covered in snow

Me super excited about a light dusting of snow freshman year

Since freshman year, as I’ve spent less and less time back home, I’ve gotten used to and grown to love the weather in Prescott.  If you’d asked me where I wanted to move after graduation at the end of my sophomore year, I’d have told you Houston – so I can get the heck out of the cold.  Now, I am very open minded about where I go and I’m excited to experience different climates and cultures.