A Cessna 172 to be exact. After a week or two of trying to figure out what would work best for me to shoot aerial photos out of, the Cessna won out. The other options were a helicopter or a Cirrus SR22. The helicopter would have been the best option, but things didn’t come together to make that happen. The Cirrus - although the sexiest of the bunch by FAR, was too fast and also had the additional handicap of the low wing. Shooting out of that aircraft would require a steep bank for me to be able to see the ground clearly without the wing in the way. The Cessna was a high-wing craft which only had a small, thin strut underneath it’s high wing that was easy to shoot around. It’s low stall speed of 59 knots increased the chances of getting some sharply focused shots. There was some haze in the air that I was hoping to reduce with my polarizer but the light angles weren’t really coming in at a direction where it would have been much benefit. After an uneventful flight (the best kind) and getting the photos I needed, I was offered control of the plane. Back in the day, I used to play around with Microsoft’s Flight Simulator. As funny as that sounds, it really helped. As a matter of fact, this particular Cessna model I was in was one of the first ones replicated in the simulator. Aside from the navigation (which I never really thought too much about in the sim), the mechanics of flight were pretty straightforward. After adjusting the trim via a wheel in the center of the dash, pushing the wheel forward made you go down while pulling back made you climb. Turning the wheel banked you left and right. The pilot kept control of the rudder so I wouldn’t have too much to do and think about all at once. After about 10 minutes of turning and going to different altitudes, it was time to land. The pilot took back over and got us back on the ground smoothly. A few years ago, I had toyed with the idea of taking flying lessons. It might be time to put that on the front burner.