March 10, 2011-- I'm not going to lie, I had been giddy as a school girl in anticipation of my ride in a $14 million dollar "bird"- the UH-60 Blackhawk. This was the perfect adventure to literally lift my spirits and get me excited about chalking off another adventure on my bucket list.
This past summer I had the opportunity to help an ROTC students at the university and his commanding officer said he was going to extend a special invitation as a sign of his appreciation. To be honest, I thought he was going to forget his offer but at the end of February, true to his word I received an invitation to fly in a Blackhawk helicopter.
I was nervous my slow knee rehab would prevent me from flying but I made enough progress since my surgery to participate in the once-in-a-lifetime experience.
Two Army UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters spent the day on campus as part of ROTC drills and instruction and at the end of the Cadet experience the Army took up the two "birds" one last time for a group of us 14 civilians.
As my group was receiving instruction my family got to climb around the helicopters and talk to some of the crew.
Finally, after all the safety checks it was time for lift off.
We flew from the soccer field at Weber State University over Lagoon/Farmington where we did a tight spin maneuver than continued down to Salt Lake City.
After circling Temple Square and the "U" we flew back to Ogden.
Even though the whole adventure lasted more than 45 minutes, it was completely surreal and before I knew it it was over. I ended up a little motion sick but it was all totally worth every stomach turn. It's amazing what this machine can do and I couldn't help being completely impressed with the young men and women flying the bird and protecting the skies. If there was one word to describe this adventure it would simply be... AWESOME!
