Flying with my Cousin Shawn Bagley

This weekend we had a last minute visit from my cousin Shawn Bagley. We grew up pretty close to eachother and were really close. But as years have gone by and we moved to St. George we've only seen eachother like 2 times in the last 5years. So when he called me up and told me he was headed to Kingsman for some tests and training for becomming a flight instructer, he said he was gonna stop in St. George and wondered if he could stay with us. So of course I was excited to pick him up from the airport and have him stay with us thursday night. Then yesterday around 5pm he gave me another call and said he was in St. George again because the weather didn't look very good for him to fly clear to Idaho, so of course I was happy and excited to have him stay with us again. We went out to dinner and then hung out at my parents house because all my dad's sisters and two of my cousins were all in town visiting as well. So we all hung out and played some wii! Then this morning at 7am before General Conference Shawn took me, Paige, Josh, and my dad for some plane rides. Shawns been around flying all his life, because my uncle has a lot of planes, a plane musuem in Rexburg, Idaho and does air shows, races, and all that stuff. So Shawn has been flying for a really long time and got his piolets license the second he could so I trusted him to take us out on some rides. I have never riden in a small plane before, let a lone a two seater, so I was a little nervous. While we were getting ready for me to go for the first ride, we decided to have Paige ride with me. It was the cutest thing ever. Paige and I just sat in the back seat and she snuggled up to me so tight. During the whole ride she sat there motionless and silent. She had a slightly scared look on her face, but I really think she didn't know what to think about what was going on. While we were in the air Shawn took us UP and then ROLLED! So we did a full turn in the air and went upside down. I thought Paige would have reacted to that, because my tummy felt it and I know hers did too, but she just sat there still not changing her expression. It was so fun to just watch her the whole time. Below is a video of how Shawn came in for our landings. I had never seen anyone land like this before. We were comming in slanted and I'm in the back thinking to myself, aren't you supposed to be straight and horizontal to land, but then at the last minute he straightens the plane out and lands. It was pretty neat! To my suprise the ride was very smooth and the weather was perfect. The take off was a lot smoother and not so scary then it is in a big airplane. After our ride was over and Paige got out of the plane she was acting all giddy and happy, like she just had a great time!!

Paige and I getting ready to go!! Like my sweet earphones!

Paige and I posing by the plane! Now the picture on the right makes me laugh everytime! That was basicly the expression Paige had on her face for the whole entire flight.

Next, Josh went for a ride and of course his was a little more thrilling. Josh sat in the front seat rather then the back, so he got to start the plane and help Shawn with other things. Then right after take off Shawn said "Ok Josh control the plane, it's all yours" Josh said he didn't think he was ready to control the plane, but he did it. It made him focus more on his artifcial horizon then looking at the actual scenery, but he had a lot of fun. When the flight was over you could see the imprint of his hands on the stick handle because he was holding it so tight. In flight, Shawn did some fun tricks with him. He would go straight up till the plane almost stalled, then right before it would stall he would turn the tail router so it would turn the plane to where they were going straight back down (there's a video of that below). They flew upside down for a little ways, and did some fun flips and turns. Then he did a lot of the same things with my Dad.

It was a really fun and great experience and I want to thank Shawn being such a great cousin and taking us out on those rides!