Piedmont

  My father was leading a Sunday School conference at a Baptist Assembly in Kentucky.  He asked me if I wanted to go with him.  I was around 10 years old.  I said yes, because it would be my first airplane ride.  

 We left from Asheville, NC to Louisville, KY., and we were flying on Piedmont Airlines.  This plane was not exactly the nicest plane, but I didn't know any better.  Between Asheville and Louisville, we landed at every airstrip along the way.  Some were in the middle of nowhere with mountains on either side.  When we finally got to Louisville, it had been snowing and drifts were up to my waist.

 We spent a few days at the conference and then went back on Piedmont to Asheville.  This time, it was at night.  I don't know if the pilot knew where he was going or just wanted to have fun, but we banked very sharply through the mountains.  So much so that the flight attendants were having trouble standing up. We also stopped at every runway between the two cities. They served a meal going back which consisted of green roast beef.  I didn't eat it because of safety concerns.

 Thankfully, we made it back to Asheville in one piece.  My first flight was kind of scary.  Normally, that experience would put one off from flying anymore.  I have flown many times since then with very few mishaps.  I would just rather not have had a daredevil for a pilot that night.