We did a "discovery" flight yesterday in the C172 and got the first hour of ground time. There are several flight terms I need to learn more about, and a few concepts I had already read up on. Since it was Rusty & I together we shared the ground lessons but only one of us could pilot the first leg.

I nominated Rusty to be the first one to go. I'm already ramped up and eager to get this going.

The instructor did take-off and landing. Rusty was in control for the most part though. We did some turns, some figure 8's, went down, went up, we did a tight nearly 2G turn, and even experimented with a stall. I was in the backseat the whole time but without a headset, I missed the lesson because I couldn't hear anything.

I took lots of pictures not only to share on my blog but also to serve as a visual aid for learning. According to Rusty, it's busy work making the airplane do stuff. There are foot pedals, knobs to pull out, and of course the yoke.
Lessons I learned aside from pre-flight checks and some basic ground lesson concepts: don't wear a skirt because you can't check the fuel without flashing someone and wear your hair back if you have gobs of it like me. Taking a water bottle isn't a bad idea either. My first flight will be Thursday in the plane pictured below.