It's a cold, rainy day here in Waco so I'm doing some work at home today. It occurred to me this morning that I hadn't blogged in forever. I'm actually surprised that I remembered the password. Anyway, I'll make this kind of an update of what's been going on for the past two months.
What a fall it's been! It feels like just yesterday I was giving my first intro flights and now I've given almost 80 hours of flight instruction. I began 2009 with less than 200 flight hours and will end it somewhere near 500.
I've flown into airports I've never been to before. I've given an Instrument Proficiency Check to an 8,000 hour pilot with tons of Citation and Learjet time (and been amazed by watching his work on raw-data approaches after he told me he'd been spoiled by the FMS/Flight Director). I've figured out how to teach students with very different learning curves (yes, it is possible to give the exact same lesson two days in a row and have both versions of it look completely different). I've parked N2150G next to EAA's WWII B-17 bomber. And, I've become so comfortable in the right seat the flying from the left just feels downright weird!
I've picked up two primary students (working on their private pilot licenses), and it looks like I'll be adding 2 or 3 more in the spring. From an operational standpoint, that means I'm going to be very busy if everything pans out. Not that the past couple of months haven't been great. Between flight and ground, I've given between 30-40 hours of instruction in October and November. Not stupid-busy, but certainly better than you'd expect in Waco, Texas when two other flight schools already exist.
And, your humble flight instructor has accepted a part-time faculty appointment at Baylor! I'll be teaching the same aviation history class as a part-time lecturer that I taught last spring as a TA. There are 13 students registered so far---should be great!
When I finally got my freedom from my caustic former work environment almost one year ago (16 December), Alisa and I agreed that we wanted to make 2009 a year that we'd look back on and say "wow---what an amazing, productive year," and it's happened.
The Lord has blessed us with great friends and family and an unparalleled opportunity for me to provide for us by doing my dream job. We can't wait to see what 2010 has in store! In the mean time, we're going to celebrate this Christmas season knowing that the faith involved in this leap of faith was well-placed. I'll try to post some pictures soon---in the mean time, blue skies!
Post script: If you read this and you're on Facebook, become a fan of Waco Flight Training. We're only 6 away from 100 fans!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment