At 9:45 am, we checked in at Silverhawk Aviation Academy (located at the Caldwell Executive Airport) for our one-hour flight in a Cessna 172. This was a flight school, and tourist flights such as this allowed the (more advanced) students to earn some more time towards their credentials... without having to pay to rent the plane themselves. Zack was our pilot.
Our plane
Sean climbs aboard in back ... I got the front with all these controls! Halfway throught the flight, Zach allowed me to do a few small maneuvers, such as turn to the right and left, as well as up and down.
The flight checklist
Take-off!
The town of Caldwell below
We left the city limits and headed for the hills.
Black Canyon Dam & Reservoir on the Payette River
The concrete dam was completed in 1924 and re-constructed in the early 1950s. It is 183 feet high and 1,902 feet long.
A spillway is a structure used to provide the controlled release of water from a dam.
At Little Gem Cycle Park, recreational vehicles roamed the hills.
Note the trampoline (left photo) and horses (right)
