A Japan Airlines Boeing 747 passed in front of me as I was taxiing to the runway in my rented Cessna 172. "Saipan Tower. 230. Request takeoff clearance," I said, trying to sound as if I had been doing this all my life.
A Pacific Island Aviation plane landed, and my instructor and I were cleared for takeoff. I taxied to the runway, lined up on the centerline and applied full throttle. When we had sufficient speed I gently pulled back on the control yoke. We tilted slightly to the left as we ascended, because of what I later learned were forces stemming from the clockwise movement of the propeller. Otherwise, it seemed like not too bad a takeoff.
I had come down to Saipan (a part of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, around three hours by plane south of Tokyo) to learn how to fly. I found, with help from a friend who flies helicopters on Saipan, an excellent instructor: Hiroaki Nishio, a 39-year-old Japanese whom everyone simply called "Hiro." Part owner of Saipan Flight Academy, Nishio is a certified flight instructor with around 5,400 flight hours under his belt.