Me neither. Until a friend of mine told me about it a couple of months ago.
I was surfing the net looking for extreme adventures to kickoff my 35th with a bang, so to speak.
I had so many options: skydiving, bungee jumping, paragliding... you can see where I'm going here. ;)
The thing is, all of them are so expensive! I know these activities are way out of my budget but there's no way I would let such triviality get in the way of my #birthdaygoals :D
Lucky for you, my dear readers, I am not one who gives up easily.
When I heard there's a place in Pampanga (a huge province in Central Luzon) that allows you to fly a plane even if it's your first time and has zero knowledge of Pilotry (I came up with that just now, not a real term!), of course I had to check it out!
Yes, I am not kidding: You get to fly an aircraft all by yourself -- okay, granting there will be a licensed pilot sitting beside you the entire time and you'll only get to take control of the plane for a few minutes but still! All this for a measly fee of 2500 pesos (roughly around $50) for a quarter of an hour. That, my friends, is not bad at all.
But what is an ULTRALIGHT PLANE you ask? Well let me break it down for you: Imagine your 12-year old kid wanted to build a plane because kids are optimistic AF and they still have that illusion that they can do anything as long as they work hard and put their heart in it. I digress.
So, your kid wants to build a plane. You help them source out the materials: curtain rods to use as the skeletal frame? Check. More metal rods for stirring and pedals? Check. Maybe a tarpaulin for the wings? Sure. An old fan blade as a propeller? Okay. Add a couple of old chairs and you're all set. Basically, it looks like a science fair project and I'm pretty sure you'll agree with me after seeing this photo:
I kid. I kid. I'm pretty sure there's a lot of complex mechanics involved in putting together such a magnificent aircraft.
Anway, when it was time for me to hop on that thing (I was really hesitant at first because I'm used to flying in an airplane where all the walls are intact -- you know with floors, and toilets, and oxygen masks and parachutes in case of an emergency), I am not gonna lie: I WAS NERVOUS AF. Hahaha! But after a few minutes of getting myself familiar with the controls (left pedal is to go left, right pedal to turn right, pushing the gear stick forward makes the aircraft fly higher and pulling it down lets you go lower) with the help of my co-pilot, I kind of eased into it.
When it was time for us to take-off, I was already feeling super excited. The moment the plane lifted off the ground and rose to about 600 feet (I'm guesstimating here), it was EXHILARATING!
The feeling is completely different from flying in a regular plane because like I said, there were no walls or floors to hinder your view. And my gosh, THE VIEW WAS AMAZING.
We were flying near Mt. Arayat with the widest view of the rice fields. I can perfectly see the clouds forming on top of the mountain, and I even waved hello to the farmers below us.
It felt like Mother Nature was giving me a big, cold embrace and telling me: Look at my beauty. Soak it all in. And that's exactly what I did.
What an amazing experience! If ever you find yourself in the Philippines, I highly recommend that you try it. Pampanga is more or less a couple of hours drive from Metro Manila. All the instructors are very capable, they are all highly trained, and they would even encourage you to take up a flying course if you're really interested in becoming a pilot yourself!
That's all for now. Hope you guys enjoyed reading about my Ultralight adventure. Too bad I can't post videos. Will edit once my youtube channel is up. I'll be sharing videos of my adventures on there so do stay tuned for that. :)
Keep on steeming!
