A year ago, Amy and I took Alex on his first trip to Cape May. That was just a day trip. This year it was an overnight; Alex's first by air.

On the way back, Amy and Alex spent - with me, of course - their first 30 minutes in IMC. It was nice and wet, with drops flowing up the windscreen. I got to show Amy a bit of a lesson from my CFII: while the drops move, all is well. It's bad if they stop.

As you can see, though, Alex wasn't in the mood for lessons. He was busy showing confidence in his Father's piloting...or perhaps his Father's CFII.

We passed over Newark outbound at 5000 feet. Amy (and I, I confess) enjoyed hearing airliners being held at 4000 until passing undeneath us. At one point, the exchange was:

ATC: <Some airliner> Skyhawk 12 o'clock, 5000, amazingly, you're overtaking it

...

ATC: N63017, DC-10 6 o'clock 4000, passing underneath.

Me: DC-10 6 o'clock, and he's managing to overtake me?

ATC: Unbelievable, isn't it?

As we'd travelled a little further, though, they were permitted to pass over us. It was still fun for us both, as we were following the same route (intercepting the 350 radial out of Colt's Neck).