Cross Country Flying Adventure with Captain Mike Panik and Nigel Richards

Friday afternoon, Nigel and I sat in the plane waiting to take off while Mike Panik got his flight plan ready. We were in a Tiger low wing plane which had a fighter-plane style slide back top. The four seater was about the same size as inside a car. We were watching this amazing sunset, and talking about how free it felt to know we were going to be up in the air soon, not at the whims of airport security or any of the woes endured when using commercial airlines. It was getting dark, so I knew I wouldn't get any aerial photos yet, but I was still excited.

Once up in the air, it was dark and pretty cold and windy. Mike handled this well, even when we flew through snow, which he had never done before. Nigel flew for awhile too, with Mike helping him along the way. The strobe lights illuminated the snow falling which gave an eerie glow on the snowflakes. Overall it made me a little anxious, but it was still a great adventure nonetheless.

We arrived at Richmond Jet Center in Richmond, Virginia, and the guys did their post-flight procedures. The promoter/DJ Mikel Panda showed up and commented on how he had never picked up a DJ from a plane they had flown themselves in on! We headed to the guy's house to rest a bit for the show.



Photo by Leah


The club was conveniently attached to a wonderful Thai Restaurant. Nigel and Mike both ordered the Chicken with Peanut Sauce. From their choices of Mild, American Hot or Thai Hot, they chose Thai Hot. DJ B-Styles couldn't stay away from it because he said "it hurt so good." Let's just say it cleared his sinus problem that he had been complaining about.

After dinner we headed upstairs to the party called "RobotRok" and schmoozed. A new scene was exciting to me. Mikel Panda was spinning and the place started to fill up. We had a few drinks, were bought a few drinks, and hung out with some people. Nigel discussed his DJ strategy with us. He then went up on the decks and worked the crowd as usual. It got more and more crowded, and Nigel played some seriously cool tracks as we played the "Do you have this record?" game. At one point, he took a bathroom break and Mike and I played with the kill switches and crossfader on the mixer. Someone told me I was awesome for this, which was funny because I wasn't really doing anything but cut-outs and timed level kills. Nigel came out of the bathroom and also said it sounded good. He put a few techno songs down just for me and Mike, then went back into the weird, dark, and sinister electro. The crowd went nuts as he dropped John Starlight's "John's Addiction."

The RobotRok crew was happy with the show, and said that there were more people there than the weekly usually drew. The promoters asked if all three of us would come back for another show, with all of us spinning! We headed back to rest, and the guys ate some more of their spicy Thai food before bed.




The next morning we went back to our plane and loaded up for the second leg of the trip. Nigel flew for most of the way to Winston-Salem, North Carolina to visit his grandfather Carl and step-grandmother Arden. Hor d'ourves and cocktails awaited us. We relaxed and talked. After a quick nap, we went out to dinner at a Japanese restaurant. Nigel and I stayed up late chatting and watching "Jaws" on TV. (I couldn't sleep.)

Sunday morning we awoke to a wonderful brunch made by Arden, our lovely hostess. Fully refreshed and excited for the warm and clear day, we were ready to head back to Philadelphia. Nigel did the whole flight back home from take-off to landing. He did a fine job, although I thought he was flying smoothly when they decided to put Nigel "under the hood." This is some crazy blindfold type device that simulates flying through a canopy of clouds. There is a small notch right over the eyes so you can only see the instruments in the cockpit. Nigel did quite well! I don't think I could have stomached that at all.





I loved trying out my new camera! Check out the great shots I got from the plane!
For the best aerial photos, click here!


For ALL of the pictures from the flights and pictures from Robot Rok, click here!



Overall it was an absolute blast. I have never had an experience like this before in my life, and it was fun to share it with two of the coolest guys I know in Philadelphia. :)