Well, sad to say, today was my last day of flight instruction. I decided that I was never going to be as proficient as I was at age 40, when flying a plane was like driving a car. Hardly had to give things a second thought. Now, as a "rusty pilot" trying to complete my "Flight Review" which includes both flying and ground instruction, I am finding that everything takes longer to sink in, and I study and then after a week, forget some of the things that I should remember. I am not at risk of having an accident at all, it's just that in some situations I am "task saturated" and end up "behind the airplane." That means I need to catch up by thinking ahead more, and I find that difficult. This has been an amazing experience! I have had two of the best flight instructors around. I started working on my flight review on March 6, 2023. And now it is 10 months later and I have learned a tremendous amount and have gotten really good with my "stick and rudder" skills, which means flying the airplane and making doing really good landings. The tricky part is to fly into a busy airport, like Long Island MacArthur and to talk to busy, fast talking air traffic controllers and to hear their instructions and immediately read back their instructions and then to fly the headings and altitudes and turns they give, in order to land. I have flown in the day, and in two memorable flights, at night, and landing in the dark on lighted runways was magical. So I will really miss my Wednesdays at the airport, and I will miss the learning and the feeling good as I got better, and I will miss the camaraderie with Michael, my instructor. We have a nice relationship and joke with each other when it is appropriate, and the laughter is really nice. Flying is not so serious all the time, that we can't share a laugh once in a while. We had a really good workout today with some radio navigation, and then entering the traffic area of a busy airport and doing takeoffs and landings as controllers issued a lot of quick instructions. It felt good to be able to do that!
And since we finished late in the day, we also had this beautiful scene of clouds with a late afternoon sun behind them. It was a wonderful day, and it was a bit of a sad day as well.
5 comments:
It is a great photo of you, your instructor and the plane. I commend you for putting so much work into studying and learning to fly again after a long break. It gave you some renewed experiences. It is not like "riding a bike again". You never gave that up! :-)
Joan
I am sorry that your flight instructions have ended. I know you have really looked forward to flying every week. I commend you for taking on all the studying. I have certainly enjoyed all the photos and stories along your “journey”. Betsey
No doubt your decision to end your goal of flying solo again was not easy but I think you should take comfort knowing that you earned your pilots license years ago and enjoyed many hours by yourself at the controls. How many people have done that - not many.
I'm sorry too that the flight lessons have ended. The photos have been interesting with great views of the plane and from the sky. Age and time put limitations on all of us and how difficult it can be to accept them, but I know that from the blog and all the photos of so much over the years, that it is praiseworthy how much enthusiasm and zest you put into living life. Trace
You're going to miss it, I know, Ken. Good memories for sure.
Post a Comment