Wow, haven't made a post since November. I'm getting good at this procrastination thing. Eight long months have passed and so much has changed and so much has remained the same. I still am not a licensed pilot. Unfortunately, working a full time job with the availability of only flying on the weekends creates a limited schedule. Throw in summer's heat and storms and the chances of flying drop down even further. However, there have been some exciting changes:
Ground Instructor Certification. That's right. I'm not a licensed pilot, but I happen to be the holder of a shiny new Advanced Ground Instructor certificate. This came about by an opportunity of creating accessibility to aviation for others who may not have the time to come to a seated class. I wanted to create an opportunity to transition ground school work to an online format, and as a result, I had to earn my ground instructor rating. After about 20 hours of studying, I passed my two tests and a few weeks later, I had my new certificate. The online class has been a challenge. To some extent it is easy, but the hours that are required to put into it for grading papers, creating quizzes and tests has been tiresome. Best of all, I get to do all of this after my 8 hours in the office.
New Technology, new plane. Since the previous post, no longer do I fly the slow "Pinto of the skies" C-152. Although most of my training hours have been accumulated in the 152, I am now proud to say that I fly a Cherokee 140. While I'm not crazy about the increase in the hourly rate, I am quite happy with improved power, cruise speed, and stability. It seriously feels like driving a Cadillac after hours in the 152. Furthermore, flying the Cherokee has influenced my preference in aircraft. If it's not a low wing, I probably don't want to fly it.
Aside from the new airplane, I also upgraded a bit of my technology. I purchased an NFlightCam, so I now have the ability to review my flight as well as what is said between myself, my instructor, and air traffic control. I think it's an invaluable piece of technology to review your mistakes and celebrate your accomplishments for today, especially when you nail your soft field landing. I never get in the airplane without my cameras now. Furthermore, an upgrade to Final Cut Pro X on my Macbook Pro allows me to shoot different angles and edit my frames together to make a decent looking video. I'm still trying to get things figured out there, but I'm enjoying the ride thus far.
Finally, I can sat that I'm now in the final stretch. After nearly two years of work and flying, I have scheduled my private pilot checkride. If successfully completed, I will be a certificated private pilot. This has been a long endeavor and a costly one, but I have no regrets. Learning to fly has been one of the greatest challenges and greatest accomplishments of my life to date. From here, I plan to fly intermittently, while saving money to being working towards an instrument rating. I am also determined that it will not take me as long to finish this next rating as long as it has taken me to finish the current one I am working on.
