November 11th 2012: Flying a Helicopter in North Andover

Today, I had an appointment with a friend to go try out flying a helicopter in the town of North Andover at the North Andover Flight Academy, situated at the Lawrence Municipal Airport.

The airport itself borders the town of Lawrence, and the wide open space offers expansive views of the surroundings.

The airport

After giving us an overview about how to fly a helicopter, much of which I definitely did not remember. It was time to do the real thing itself. While our instructor checked out the helicopter to ensure everything was working fine, I took a few pictures of it.

The cockpit itself was pretty small, with lots of pretty interesting gadgets on the dashboard.

After further explaining how the helicopter worked and what all the meters on the dashboard were, we were off. Thankfully, I did not need to do the lifting off part. Here are some pictures my friend took of me from the ground heading away from the airport and up into the sky, and the photos I took from inside the cockpit itself.

Pictures from the ground

Heading into the distance

On the runway

Views of the town of Lawrence

Piloting the helicopter itself was actually pretty difficult, as the controls were very sensitive to my touch, and any slight movements would send the helicopter veering one way or the other. There was also a lag time between my move and the helicopter's response, and jerky movements were an absolute no-no.

Me piloting the helicopter

Thankfully, I was able to handle the aircraft moderately well, although my instructor had to constantly hold on to the stick to guide me in the right direction. Finally we headed back to the airport, where the instructor took back control and we landed safely. I would not have been able to do it myself. Definitely not something I would venture to do again by myself, considering the cost of learning how to fly a helicopter, the cost of the helicopter itself, and the danger involved with flying one.

With that, my friend went up next, and after he was done, we headed into town to have some brunch at the Good Day Cafe, a nice deli where I had a groupon to use.

I ended up getting a raspberry scone and a roast beef club sandwich with smoked salmon added on, while my friend got a roast turkey cafe sandwich wrap. I throughly enjoyed my meal, with the smoked salmon addition a definitely good choice on my part to make.

Raspberry scone

Roast Beef Club Sandwich

Roast Turkey Cafe Sandwich Wrap

After our meal, my friend and I parted ways, and I explored North Andover a little more before heading into Cambridge, where I had an appointment to meet up with my friends at Shabu-Ya, a Japanese steamboat place.

One High Street,
High Street and Water Street

Veterans Memorial Park,
Bradstreet Road and Greene Street

Stevens Memorial Library

St. Paul's Episcopal Church

First-Calvary Baptist Church

Trinitarian Congregational Church

With that, I headed back to Cambridge, where I parked near the Harvard Lampoon Building before walking around in the Harvard Square area for a bit, exploring more Harvard University buildings and the Cambridge Common area.

Old Harvard Square Theater,
10 Church Street

First Church of Christ, Scientist

Lesley University Doble Campus

Littauer Building, Harvard University

Austin Hall

Hemenway Gymnasium

Wasserstein Building

Langdell Hall

Hauser Hall

Cambridge Common

John Bridge

Memorial

Entrance to the Common

Christ Church Cambridge

First Church Cambridge

Finally, it was time to head to Shabu-Ya. This restaurant, located on the second floor at 57 JFK Street, looks pretty catered to the teeny bopper club, with lots of bright colors and simple furniture in the restaurant.

I had to wait for a bit for my friends to come as the Anderson Memorial Bridge traffic was terrible as always, and it was hard for them to find parking as well. When they finally arrived, we immediately got down to ordering. For 5 people and $50 to spend, we got the Seafood Platter and Lamb and Beef Combo with the beef broth and the vegetarian mushroom broth, which were both complimentary.

The soup

Seafood Platter

Lamb and Beef Combo

Complete Setup

On the side, we also got the Beef Topokki (rice cake with sweet & spicy sauce), which came with Korean side dishes as well.

Beef Toppoki

To be honest, the portions for the shabu shabu dishes were all so small that I was still feeling hungry at the end of the meal. However, I had a meeting to rush to, so I had to bid farewell to my friends early and head home. Thankfully, I was only a few minutes late in the end.