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!
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Under the Wire Fly-In
When I was about 11, this guy named Robbie showed up at a fly-in with a Stearman biplane he'd restored. We got to know him, and when it came time to re-cover the fabric on our J-3 Cub in the winter of 1991, he got the job. That next fall, I went to my first fly-in at his little grass strip in Louise, Texas (T26).
The fly-in was called (jokingly at first) the Under the Wire Fly-In. This was because there was a powerline that went directly across the runway at midfield. I never really thought it was a challenge for my Uncle (I always rode to the fly-in with him in the Cub) or any of the other pilots---it was just interesting.
This past weekend, Alisa and I went to the 20th annual Under the Wire Fly-In. It really occurred to me on the flight over that so many things have changed over the years, yet so many things have stayed the same. And they're all important.
The wire has been gone for years now. I doubt that more than a handful of the attendees know why it's called "Under the Wire." Many fixtures of the southeast Texas aviation community are gone: Warren Ball and his airport (where I learned to fly) are now history, Glenn Jeffries, who kept Ball Airport and all our planes running, is gone, as is Robbie's dad, my grandmother Colleen, and so many others who used to turn out for stuff like this.
I've gone from being a once-a-month pilot to a professional flight instructor. And, for the past 6 years I've been bringing my fiancee/wife to the fly-in. My sister Amy has also added to the fly-in, bringing her guy Wesley at first as a wide-eyed spectator and now as a professional ag pilot.
Just as important as the changes are the things that have stayed the same. There are the people who you only see once a year at the fly-in. There are the airplanes that return year after year (sometimes even after changing owners). There's the same dedication to "old school" aviation. This may be the largest concentration of people who can hand-prop an airplane and land a taildragger in a crosswind to gather anywhere in our area. And, there's the same reinvigoration of why we care so much about aviation.
Life got in the way a few times, but I haven't missed many fly-ins. One of the more underrated blessings of my leaving Baylor is that I don't have to be on my way out of town to recruit "smarties" over the fly-in weekend. In fact, that was the only thing that was a negative about taking that job---I knew I wouldn't always be at the fly-in.
Some things are too important to miss. The Under the Wire Fly-In transcends all those changes and continues to hold a special place in the hearts of those of us who love to fly.
I have an album from the fly-in at http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2277219&id=9210527&l=8b4876891b. You can access it even if you're not a member of Facebook. Enjoy!
The fly-in was called (jokingly at first) the Under the Wire Fly-In. This was because there was a powerline that went directly across the runway at midfield. I never really thought it was a challenge for my Uncle (I always rode to the fly-in with him in the Cub) or any of the other pilots---it was just interesting.
This past weekend, Alisa and I went to the 20th annual Under the Wire Fly-In. It really occurred to me on the flight over that so many things have changed over the years, yet so many things have stayed the same. And they're all important.
The wire has been gone for years now. I doubt that more than a handful of the attendees know why it's called "Under the Wire." Many fixtures of the southeast Texas aviation community are gone: Warren Ball and his airport (where I learned to fly) are now history, Glenn Jeffries, who kept Ball Airport and all our planes running, is gone, as is Robbie's dad, my grandmother Colleen, and so many others who used to turn out for stuff like this.
I've gone from being a once-a-month pilot to a professional flight instructor. And, for the past 6 years I've been bringing my fiancee/wife to the fly-in. My sister Amy has also added to the fly-in, bringing her guy Wesley at first as a wide-eyed spectator and now as a professional ag pilot.
Just as important as the changes are the things that have stayed the same. There are the people who you only see once a year at the fly-in. There are the airplanes that return year after year (sometimes even after changing owners). There's the same dedication to "old school" aviation. This may be the largest concentration of people who can hand-prop an airplane and land a taildragger in a crosswind to gather anywhere in our area. And, there's the same reinvigoration of why we care so much about aviation.
Life got in the way a few times, but I haven't missed many fly-ins. One of the more underrated blessings of my leaving Baylor is that I don't have to be on my way out of town to recruit "smarties" over the fly-in weekend. In fact, that was the only thing that was a negative about taking that job---I knew I wouldn't always be at the fly-in.
Some things are too important to miss. The Under the Wire Fly-In transcends all those changes and continues to hold a special place in the hearts of those of us who love to fly.
I have an album from the fly-in at http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2277219&id=9210527&l=8b4876891b. You can access it even if you're not a member of Facebook. Enjoy!
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Teaching in the clouds (literally)
As we executed our assigned missed-approach procedures off of the VOR 17 approach at McGregor, the ground rapidly faded from view. Passing through 3,500 feet, we were now in actual IMC (for you non-pilots, we were in the clouds). This definitely wasn't my first time in IMC, but there was a difference. Now, I was in the right seat. I was the instructor.
As we climbed into the cloud, the day's convection gave us a couple of "spikes" on our Vertical Speed Indicator. In this situation, if you pay too much attention to this and too little attention to your Airspeed Indicator and Altimeter, you'll let yourself get fooled into thinking you're in a climb. Push the nose over, start building excessive airspeed and/or mistrusting your instruments, and you're in trouble.
I'll admit that as we got ready to go I was thinking about a colleague in Houston who got a little cocky and took an instrument student up in weather that was down to minimums on lesson #1. He was rewarded for his hubris with a case of the "leans" (where you basically don't know which was is up). They survived it, but I've seen the flightpath on flightaware.com and it wasn't pretty.
Shortly after entering the clouds, my student (who is, by the way, progressing well) had a moment of fixation on the VSI and I could tell he was beginning to get the leans. He didn't panic, but I think he got a little overwhelmed. It surprised me how quickly I was able to get the airplane straightened out and calm him down, all while keeping us on the assigned leg of the approach.
To be fair, he really didn't freak out on me---he stayed really calm, and although I knew he was pretty concerned and he admitted later that I'd taken over exactly when he needed me to, I think this was a good experience for him. He knows what fixation looks like in real-world flying, and what the leans feel like. The importance of the instrument scan never had a better demonstration. Maybe yesterday will keep him alive someday.
I'm not trying to make a big deal out of what really was a minor event. I've just always harbored this suspicion that my first time instructing in actual IMC would be some kind of defining moment for me as a pilot. And I think I was right.
I talked to a fellow instructor yesterday---I almost feel cheesy calling him a "fellow" instructor because he has 1800 hours in the right seat---who told me that at 1800 hours he's still trying to figure out what kind of instructor he is. I'm sure I'll be the same way. We always have to adapt to the student, the conditions, and the airplane. But moments like yesterday nudge me in the right direction, proving to me that I'm good at this and I'm meant to do this.
I'm flying with the same student again tomorrow, and I'm ready to go back into the clouds with him.
As we climbed into the cloud, the day's convection gave us a couple of "spikes" on our Vertical Speed Indicator. In this situation, if you pay too much attention to this and too little attention to your Airspeed Indicator and Altimeter, you'll let yourself get fooled into thinking you're in a climb. Push the nose over, start building excessive airspeed and/or mistrusting your instruments, and you're in trouble.
I'll admit that as we got ready to go I was thinking about a colleague in Houston who got a little cocky and took an instrument student up in weather that was down to minimums on lesson #1. He was rewarded for his hubris with a case of the "leans" (where you basically don't know which was is up). They survived it, but I've seen the flightpath on flightaware.com and it wasn't pretty.
Shortly after entering the clouds, my student (who is, by the way, progressing well) had a moment of fixation on the VSI and I could tell he was beginning to get the leans. He didn't panic, but I think he got a little overwhelmed. It surprised me how quickly I was able to get the airplane straightened out and calm him down, all while keeping us on the assigned leg of the approach.
To be fair, he really didn't freak out on me---he stayed really calm, and although I knew he was pretty concerned and he admitted later that I'd taken over exactly when he needed me to, I think this was a good experience for him. He knows what fixation looks like in real-world flying, and what the leans feel like. The importance of the instrument scan never had a better demonstration. Maybe yesterday will keep him alive someday.
I'm not trying to make a big deal out of what really was a minor event. I've just always harbored this suspicion that my first time instructing in actual IMC would be some kind of defining moment for me as a pilot. And I think I was right.
I talked to a fellow instructor yesterday---I almost feel cheesy calling him a "fellow" instructor because he has 1800 hours in the right seat---who told me that at 1800 hours he's still trying to figure out what kind of instructor he is. I'm sure I'll be the same way. We always have to adapt to the student, the conditions, and the airplane. But moments like yesterday nudge me in the right direction, proving to me that I'm good at this and I'm meant to do this.
I'm flying with the same student again tomorrow, and I'm ready to go back into the clouds with him.
Monday, September 21, 2009
The true test of a job...
...is when you love it on your first day back from vacation. My job passed the test :).
Germany was awesome, as always. I think I got my Schnitzel, Wurst, and Bier quotas for the year filled (well, maybe not completely, but close). The weather was perfect, and it was great hanging out with Frank, Nat, and the girls.
Saw a few new towns and lots of old ones. We did get to go back to Munich, which has turned into a perennial haunt for Alisa and I, for a few days. The Marienplatz is still one of the coolest spots in the world. We got to hike around Lake Eibsee at the base of the Zugspitze, the highest mountain in Germany. If anyone tells you it's just 4 miles around, they're lying to you. Look it up on Google Earth.
We ate dinner in a cafe in Garmisch and watched a massive herd of sheep walk down the Hauptstrasse (main street).
And of course, we went back to our favorite cafe in Eulenbis and visited the Stemlers (www.fewo-stemler.de). You won't find food or hospitality in Germany any better than this place.
Alisa tells a more complete story about the trip, if you're interested, with her photo album on her Facebook account, so I won't try to reinvent the wheel.
The one thing missing in Germany is general aviation. User fees have all but priced it out of existence, and we could suffer the same fate here if we let our guards down. Once again, general aviation has been a whipping boy of late of the media and some politicians. If you're a pilot or aviation enthusiast and you're not an AOPA member, you're not pulling your weight. 'Nuff said.
Good to be back home, and good to be back in the air!
PS: If you're not a fan of Waco Flight Training on Facebook, you need to be!
Germany was awesome, as always. I think I got my Schnitzel, Wurst, and Bier quotas for the year filled (well, maybe not completely, but close). The weather was perfect, and it was great hanging out with Frank, Nat, and the girls.
Saw a few new towns and lots of old ones. We did get to go back to Munich, which has turned into a perennial haunt for Alisa and I, for a few days. The Marienplatz is still one of the coolest spots in the world. We got to hike around Lake Eibsee at the base of the Zugspitze, the highest mountain in Germany. If anyone tells you it's just 4 miles around, they're lying to you. Look it up on Google Earth.
We ate dinner in a cafe in Garmisch and watched a massive herd of sheep walk down the Hauptstrasse (main street).
And of course, we went back to our favorite cafe in Eulenbis and visited the Stemlers (www.fewo-stemler.de). You won't find food or hospitality in Germany any better than this place.
Alisa tells a more complete story about the trip, if you're interested, with her photo album on her Facebook account, so I won't try to reinvent the wheel.
The one thing missing in Germany is general aviation. User fees have all but priced it out of existence, and we could suffer the same fate here if we let our guards down. Once again, general aviation has been a whipping boy of late of the media and some politicians. If you're a pilot or aviation enthusiast and you're not an AOPA member, you're not pulling your weight. 'Nuff said.
Good to be back home, and good to be back in the air!
PS: If you're not a fan of Waco Flight Training on Facebook, you need to be!
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Out of the gate
I'm sitting here at the airport this morning, having a cup of coffee and listening to chatter on the control tower frequency. This is going to be another good day.
As of today, I've been a CFI/CFI-I for two weeks. I'm actually much busier this early in the game than I thought I'd be. So far, I've given about 6 introductory flights, 2 flight reviews, and have one full-time student. The full-time student is working on his instrument rating, so doing the CFI-I is definitely paying off. It's still weird to think that I was working on that rating less than 6 months ago!
I think it's made a huge difference just being here to answer the phone, and we're seeing more business already because of it. We're getting an ad ready for October's issue of the Wacoan, and expect to see more business out of that too. Really, this is a matter of doing discovery flights and bringing students on until we reach a critical mass---for me that would mean flying 8 hours a day---and I expect that should happen sometime near the end of this year.
And, my demand is building at more than one airport! I've already given one flight review in Victoria, and the Cub will be ready very soon for me to begin giving tailwheel endorsements. I'm seeing some good, serious interest in that already, and I think that will only increase.
So far, I've seen some beautiful mornings and some equally beautiful sunsets, flown with some interesting people, and some interesting airplanes (the flight review in Victoria was in a Cessna 175 Skylark---very cool airplane if you've never seen one). And we're just two weeks in!
Alisa and I leave on the 5th for a much-needed vacation. She's put up with a lot this year, and I've done nothing but work since January between grad school and making my seemingly ridiculous progression through my pilot ratings. We're going back to Germany to see some of our best friends, and it's going to be great! What will be even greater is that fact that, this time, I can actually look forward to what I'm coming back to. It will make the vacation even more of a vacation!
I'm off now to walk down to the FBO (Texas Aero's office) to meet another prospective student for a discovery flight. It's clear outside today, and not blazing hot yet, so it should be fun. With any luck, I'll get a student out of it!
"All flying involves risk. That is part of the glamour of flight, but reducing the risk does not reduce the glamour."
-Sparky Imeson
As of today, I've been a CFI/CFI-I for two weeks. I'm actually much busier this early in the game than I thought I'd be. So far, I've given about 6 introductory flights, 2 flight reviews, and have one full-time student. The full-time student is working on his instrument rating, so doing the CFI-I is definitely paying off. It's still weird to think that I was working on that rating less than 6 months ago!
I think it's made a huge difference just being here to answer the phone, and we're seeing more business already because of it. We're getting an ad ready for October's issue of the Wacoan, and expect to see more business out of that too. Really, this is a matter of doing discovery flights and bringing students on until we reach a critical mass---for me that would mean flying 8 hours a day---and I expect that should happen sometime near the end of this year.
And, my demand is building at more than one airport! I've already given one flight review in Victoria, and the Cub will be ready very soon for me to begin giving tailwheel endorsements. I'm seeing some good, serious interest in that already, and I think that will only increase.
So far, I've seen some beautiful mornings and some equally beautiful sunsets, flown with some interesting people, and some interesting airplanes (the flight review in Victoria was in a Cessna 175 Skylark---very cool airplane if you've never seen one). And we're just two weeks in!
Alisa and I leave on the 5th for a much-needed vacation. She's put up with a lot this year, and I've done nothing but work since January between grad school and making my seemingly ridiculous progression through my pilot ratings. We're going back to Germany to see some of our best friends, and it's going to be great! What will be even greater is that fact that, this time, I can actually look forward to what I'm coming back to. It will make the vacation even more of a vacation!
I'm off now to walk down to the FBO (Texas Aero's office) to meet another prospective student for a discovery flight. It's clear outside today, and not blazing hot yet, so it should be fun. With any luck, I'll get a student out of it!
"All flying involves risk. That is part of the glamour of flight, but reducing the risk does not reduce the glamour."
-Sparky Imeson
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Livin' the dream
Well, I did it! I have officially packed about 3 years of flight training into less than 8 months!
This morning went well---I don't know that I got to demonstrate very much to the examiner, because he's all about showing you how to do stuff his way. The oral was about an hour, and he was on the phone with a fellow Continental pilot for a good 20 minutes of it. Very basic.
We split the flight up into two parts: the maneuvers in a C-172R, and one takeoff and landing to demonstrate proficiency in a complex airplane using a C-172RG. The flight did have an interesting moment; thinking that it wasn't enough that I'd earned my spin endorsement (see previous blog post) in an aerobatic Decathlon airplane, he proceeded to spin me not once, not twice, but three times from about 2,500 feet.
Is that the real world? Most definitely---it'll happen with my students, too. Is that the safest thing for an Examiner to do? Absolutely not. The PTS (Practical Training Standards) pretty much spells out that an Examiner shouldn't be touching the controls unless the student does something unsafe or becomes incapacitated. I digress.
In the end, we taxied in, cooled off, and he handed me my temporary airman certificate adding "Airplane Single-Engine Land" to my Flight Instructor privileges. That's good enough for me :).
I noticed when I logged into the blog account today that this will be my 41st post. That's a lot of damn writing about a topic that probably sounds like a heap of jargon to most of you. Thanks for riding it out. Just in case you haven't been keeping up with your scorecard at home (you're all good baseball fans, right?), I thought it would be fun to look at the past 7 months and 12 days by the numbers.
In 2009, I have:
-Flown 162 hours (almost doubling my aeronautical experience in the span of 8 months)
-Performed upwards of 60 Instrument Approach Procedures (IAPs)
-Flown 7 different types (make and model) of aircraft
-Operated into and out of 30 different airports
-Flown with 4 different instructors
-Taken 5 FAA written exams
-Taken 4 FAA checkrides
-Earned 2 new certificates and 2 new ratings
This last part of the process, actually becoming a CFI, began on June 1. Gary was a good mentor, but there's no such thing as a fast track to becoming a flight instructor. If you see one of these somewhere and you think you want to be a CFI, take it with a grain of salt. Come to think of it, add about 2 months to that estimate. You'll preserve your sanity!
It's been a long fun ride, and it isn't over yet. I'm going to try and keep up with this blog as a I start instructing (which will happen very quickly---I have two Discover Flights with possible students scheduled already, and several people lined up for tailwheel endorsements). I've tried to thank a lot of people publicly on this blog and I know I've missed a few. I've you've had a direct impact on me getting all this done, you know who you are, and I'm grateful.
I'm going to go pack my stuff now, go spend some time with Alisa, convert our dining room back to its original configuration from the little temporary flight school I had to set up, and sleep in my own bed. And, of course, live the dream.
I know I have gotten into the habit of ending on a quote, but today I think this signature is just as cool as any quote!
Aaron Dabney, M.S.Ed, CFI, CFI-I
This morning went well---I don't know that I got to demonstrate very much to the examiner, because he's all about showing you how to do stuff his way. The oral was about an hour, and he was on the phone with a fellow Continental pilot for a good 20 minutes of it. Very basic.
We split the flight up into two parts: the maneuvers in a C-172R, and one takeoff and landing to demonstrate proficiency in a complex airplane using a C-172RG. The flight did have an interesting moment; thinking that it wasn't enough that I'd earned my spin endorsement (see previous blog post) in an aerobatic Decathlon airplane, he proceeded to spin me not once, not twice, but three times from about 2,500 feet.
Is that the real world? Most definitely---it'll happen with my students, too. Is that the safest thing for an Examiner to do? Absolutely not. The PTS (Practical Training Standards) pretty much spells out that an Examiner shouldn't be touching the controls unless the student does something unsafe or becomes incapacitated. I digress.
In the end, we taxied in, cooled off, and he handed me my temporary airman certificate adding "Airplane Single-Engine Land" to my Flight Instructor privileges. That's good enough for me :).
I noticed when I logged into the blog account today that this will be my 41st post. That's a lot of damn writing about a topic that probably sounds like a heap of jargon to most of you. Thanks for riding it out. Just in case you haven't been keeping up with your scorecard at home (you're all good baseball fans, right?), I thought it would be fun to look at the past 7 months and 12 days by the numbers.
In 2009, I have:
-Flown 162 hours (almost doubling my aeronautical experience in the span of 8 months)
-Performed upwards of 60 Instrument Approach Procedures (IAPs)
-Flown 7 different types (make and model) of aircraft
-Operated into and out of 30 different airports
-Flown with 4 different instructors
-Taken 5 FAA written exams
-Taken 4 FAA checkrides
-Earned 2 new certificates and 2 new ratings
This last part of the process, actually becoming a CFI, began on June 1. Gary was a good mentor, but there's no such thing as a fast track to becoming a flight instructor. If you see one of these somewhere and you think you want to be a CFI, take it with a grain of salt. Come to think of it, add about 2 months to that estimate. You'll preserve your sanity!
It's been a long fun ride, and it isn't over yet. I'm going to try and keep up with this blog as a I start instructing (which will happen very quickly---I have two Discover Flights with possible students scheduled already, and several people lined up for tailwheel endorsements). I've tried to thank a lot of people publicly on this blog and I know I've missed a few. I've you've had a direct impact on me getting all this done, you know who you are, and I'm grateful.
I'm going to go pack my stuff now, go spend some time with Alisa, convert our dining room back to its original configuration from the little temporary flight school I had to set up, and sleep in my own bed. And, of course, live the dream.
I know I have gotten into the habit of ending on a quote, but today I think this signature is just as cool as any quote!
Aaron Dabney, M.S.Ed, CFI, CFI-I
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Take 'er for a spin
I've been in Houston again the past week and a half, preparing for the CFI add-on checkride. This adds to my certificate the privileges needed to train Private, Commercial, and theoretically, single-engine ATP pilots. Sounds like it would be a difficult checkride, but in the real world this one is done with a Designated Examiner, not the FAA. If you follow that train of thought, the DE knows that you've already showed you the feds that you have the "right stuff," so this is really your ticket to lose. It may in fact be one of the easiest rides in my career.
Show up on time, look professional, don't screw up too bad, act like every piece of advice the DE gives you is the most awesome thing you've ever heard, and then taxi back in to shake hands and accept your temporary certificate. Maybe I'm exaggerating a little, but not too much if I take any stock at all in the words of the two colleagues who have just completed this ride with the same DE I'm using.
That checkride is tomorrow, and I'll post the results here. I expect to have a good day :). After that, it's open for business.
Onto spins. On Friday, I did my required CFI spin training at Harvey-Rihn Aviation in La Porte (near Galveston and Kemah). Most pilots are scared of spins for the same reason they're scared of other things---they're the unknown. At Harvey-Rihn, we went up in a Decathlon (a 180 HP aerobatic plane---I want one!) and explored every aspect of spins, including the feared accelerated spin. I did very well and loved it, so much in fact that we had time to throw in some introductory aerobatics. The picture at the top right of my blog page is right after we landed, and I think the grin attests to how the flight went.
I now have my "inverted wings" after performing my very first barrel roll with the instructor's "hands-off" the controls. I'll be back for more of that. I think that some further aerobatic training and some casual (Introductory Level and then maybe down the road Sportsman Level) competing may be in my future.
Harvey-Rihn, incidentally, is co-owned by Debbie Rihn-Harvey, who has more aerobatic awards than I can list here. I'll do a seperate blog at some point later about meeting her at a fly-in in La Grange where we saw her put on an impromptu performance.
That's all for now...I have some last-minute chores to get done for tomorrow. After tomorrow, maybe I'll have to change the blog name to "Keeping the dream on track!"
"Keep the ratio of happy airflow to pissed-off airflow acceptable."
--James, an aerobatic/spin instructor at Harvey-Rihn
Show up on time, look professional, don't screw up too bad, act like every piece of advice the DE gives you is the most awesome thing you've ever heard, and then taxi back in to shake hands and accept your temporary certificate. Maybe I'm exaggerating a little, but not too much if I take any stock at all in the words of the two colleagues who have just completed this ride with the same DE I'm using.
That checkride is tomorrow, and I'll post the results here. I expect to have a good day :). After that, it's open for business.
Onto spins. On Friday, I did my required CFI spin training at Harvey-Rihn Aviation in La Porte (near Galveston and Kemah). Most pilots are scared of spins for the same reason they're scared of other things---they're the unknown. At Harvey-Rihn, we went up in a Decathlon (a 180 HP aerobatic plane---I want one!) and explored every aspect of spins, including the feared accelerated spin. I did very well and loved it, so much in fact that we had time to throw in some introductory aerobatics. The picture at the top right of my blog page is right after we landed, and I think the grin attests to how the flight went.
I now have my "inverted wings" after performing my very first barrel roll with the instructor's "hands-off" the controls. I'll be back for more of that. I think that some further aerobatic training and some casual (Introductory Level and then maybe down the road Sportsman Level) competing may be in my future.
Harvey-Rihn, incidentally, is co-owned by Debbie Rihn-Harvey, who has more aerobatic awards than I can list here. I'll do a seperate blog at some point later about meeting her at a fly-in in La Grange where we saw her put on an impromptu performance.
That's all for now...I have some last-minute chores to get done for tomorrow. After tomorrow, maybe I'll have to change the blog name to "Keeping the dream on track!"
"Keep the ratio of happy airflow to pissed-off airflow acceptable."
--James, an aerobatic/spin instructor at Harvey-Rihn
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