First Passengers

Today was going to be an exiting day. I was going to take up my first passengers! I went and retrieved my brother and his son to go to Amarillo for lunch. Checked the weather, and there was a cloud layer over Amarillo. So much for that idea. We just decided to stay around Lubbock and go sightseeing. I got to the airport, and my plane had bald tires on the mains. I told the mechanic and said that he would check into it. Sure enough, the plane was slated for tires, he just hadn't done it, yet. He said to give him about thirty minutes, and she would be ready. We went to go grab a bite to eat and came back a little later. The plane was on the flight line and ready to go. We loaded up after preflight and attempted to start the thing. No luck. The battery made about one good effort and that was all she wrote. I went and got the owner and told him that she was dead in the water. He rounded up a ground power unit, and we finally got her lit. Everything from there was a non event. We headed out to the Southeast practice are and just went sightseeing for a while. After we got back, and I was on final approach, we caught a thermal right over the runway and got pushed back into the air a good deal. Just kept the nose down and made a good, notice I said good, not great landing that was just a little long, and a touch flat. Other than that, it was a good flight, and I rather enjoyed the day.