Laura Driscoll - I Want to Be a Pilot

Bump!
Our plane touches down
on the runway.
We are here! I say to Aunt Ro.

I love airports.
I love airplanes.
I love everything about flying.

But today, the best part
is where we are going.

We are going to the Air Fair,
I tell the flight attendant.
It is a huge festival
all about air travel.

I want to be a pilot! I say.
Just like Aunt Ro.
She flies an Air Force jet.
The flight attendant asks,
Do you want to meet our pilot?

Everyone else gets off the plane.
We go up to the front.
The pilot shows us the cockpit.
There are so many buttons
and switches.

You know what all of them do?
I ask.
That is my job, the pilot says.
I do more than steer!

Before the flight, I check the weather,
the pilot says.

I plot the flight path.

I do safety checks
on the whole plane.

And I make sure I have some of these.
The pilot gives me a pin
my own set of wings!

Soon we arrive at the Air Fair.
There are planes
as far as I can see!

We see a huge cargo plane.
We meet the cargo pilot.
My plane transports things
instead of passengers,
the pilot says.

Most of our flights are at night,
the pilot tells us.
It is just me, my copilot,
and a plane full of stuff.

I sit inside a tiny seaplane.
The pilot is from an island.
I fly people to the mainland,
he says.
I am like a cab driver
in the sky!

Aunt Ro wants to see
the military planes
and meet other military pilots.

One pilot flies a transport plane.
It can carry tanks, trucks
even helicopters! he says.

Then we meet a Navy jet pilot.
She can land her plane
on the deck of a ship!

And we meet a test pilot.
He test- drives new airplanes
to see how fast they can go!

We see many helicopters.
One is an air ambulance.
It takes patients
to the hospital fast!
Air ambulance pilots
need to stay calm
in emergencies, the pilot says.

We take a hot air balloon ride.
To steer, the pilot rides the wind.
He has to know
which way it is blowing.

I look down over the fair.
I have met so many kinds
of pilots!

Aunt Ro takes me to meet
one more pilot.
Im a flight instructor, she says.
I teach pilots how to fly.

Aunt Ro smiles at me.
Are you ready for your lesson?
Aunt Ro asks.

I cant believe it.
I am taking a flying lesson!
Will I like it?

I guess I will find out...
right now!