Wanna Go For A Ride?

“Amongst my Superpowers are my ability to find creative solutions, my ability to wait, my ability to look listen and learn, my ability to modify the flight plan ensuring a successful outcome, PLUS consider IMPOSSIBLEs only stepping stones to success.”

Michelle Bassanesi
Rome, Italy

This quote was in response to a female pilot’s question to the other gals in the 99′s (women’s aviation group) – “What are your superpowers?”

I loved her answer.  It doesn’t just apply to piloting, but to life.



Wanna Go For A Ride? – 5″ x 7″ Watercolor & Sharpie

This is another great reference from KreativeK at WetCanvas.com.  I had fun simplifying it and showing the joy in it.   This is the third of three paintings I got to do last Saturday.

I went to McAlester yesterday afternoon and took their Cessna 172 out for some solo touch and gos.  I really had a good time.  My instructor wants me to do my long solo “cross country” this Saturday.    Of course it will depend on the availability of the plane and a last look at the weather.  I’ll fly from Muskogee, OK to Fort Smith, AR, to McAlester, OK then back to Muskogee.  Fort Smith is in controlled airspace which means I have to talk to and receive instructions from a control tower.  I am nervous about that, but have been listening to LiveATC.net, to get comfortable with that radio environment.  The links show satellite views of the airports. 

Michelle Bassanesi

If you click on that link it will tell you a little more about Ms. Bassanesi.  She seems like a wonderful lady.

The Ninety Nines

OUR MISSION –The Ninety-Nines is the international organization of women pilots that promotes advancement of aviation through education, scholarships, and mutual support while honoring our unique history and sharing our passion for flight.

Established in 1929 by 99 women pilots, the members of The Ninety-Nines, Inc., International Organization of Women Pilots, are represented in all areas of aviation today. And, to quote Amelia, fly “for the fun of it!”

Flying Over Oklahoma

“Nothing will ever equal that moment of exhilaration which filled my whole being when I felt myself flying away from the earth.  It was not mere pleasure; it was perfect bliss…”
–Professor Jacques Alexandre Cesare Charles

“Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve.”
–Napoleon Hill

Well, I guess you may have figured out that I had my first solo flight in a Cessna 172 yesterday!  It was wonderful!  I dreamed it, I achieved it and nobody can ever take it away from me.  Now, on to soft field landings and cross country training.  That first cross country (3 full stops at different airports, at least 50 miles apart) by myself will be huge!  A good pilot never stops learning and I still have a long way to go, but the first solo has now been accomplished.  YAY!!!!!




Flying Over Oklahoma
Four 4″ x 6″ Watercolor  & Acrylic Postcards

I painted this in November, 2009, from a sketch I did, looking out an airplane window on my way to Port Townsend, Washington for an acrylic workshop.  I painted it in my hotel room, while I was there.  I thought it would be appropriate for today’s post. 


Professor Jacques Alexandre Cesar Charles wrote this after the first free flight in a manned hydrogen balloon, December 1, 1783.  Note:  The exact adjective used by Professor Charles to describe the emotions is not “exhilaration” but “bilarite”, which can be translated exactly as ecstasy, exhilaration, joy and/or excitement.

See my shirt tail on Facebook!

In American aviation lore, the traditional removal of a new pilot’s shirt tail is a sign of the instructor’s new confidence in his student after successful completion of the 1st solo flight. In the days of tandem trainers, the student sat in the front seat, with the instructor behind. As there were often no radios in these early days of aviation, the instructor would tug on the student pilot’s shirttail to get his attention, and then yell in his ear. A successful first solo flight is an indication that the student can fly without the instructor (“instructor-less” flight). Hence, there is no longer a need for the shirt tail, and it is cut off by the (often) proud instructor, and sometimes displayed as a trophy.