“I am afraid.” I look my trainer straight in the eye and tell him this. There is no REAL reason to be afraid. I’ve watched many people come out of the flight chamber and they are all smiling and giving each other high fives. They look like they had a blast. I am working with one of the sales guys at iFly and I’ve asked him all sorts of questions about the experience. I trust what he’s told me. I don’t think I’m going to get hurt. I think it’s going to be fun. But, for whatever irrational reason, I am still afraid.
My trainer has logged 5,000 hours in the chamber. He stops, looks directly at me, raises the eye shield on my helmet and says: “I’m going to be RIGHT THERE WITH YOU.”
Okay, we’re in this together. I can do this. I step into the chamber.
First rule I learn in the chamber. “The more I struggle, the less control I have.” My instructor is Zen and trying to get me to chill out a bit. (Notice his arm around my leg in the photo, trying to get me in the correct position to fly.)
I start to relax a bit. I am FLOATING. I’m sort of almost flying! This is really cool! I leave feeling triumphant. I conquered a fear today. We’ll definitely be back.
My husband and I have a late lunch at a place called Harvest on Hudson, before we head back to the city. We’re in between lunch and dinner, so the place is nearly empty inside. We eat fancy salad and Garlicky pizza at the bar and then take a walk outside, where you can see lots of geese and the city FAR away in the distance. Neither of us has ever been to Croton-on-Hudson, even though it is so close to NYC. Another first. It’s a good day to be an entrepreneur. Learning to fly.
