Hello, this is your pilot-in-command speaking...

Yup, after about three months of fighting weather, planes, school, and gophers, I have finished my private pilot's license training and received my license this afternoon around noon.  And damn, it feels good.

I woke up at a ripe 6:30am to make sure I could either drive my car, or get it towed out, of my icy street and to the airport.  Upon arrival, I got asked if I was nervous, to which I replied that last night, the only darn thing I was nervous about what getting my car out of the garage and to the airport in one piece.  Flying a plane is easy =P  And boy, did I learn how to drive in bad conditions today!  Thumbs up for having stick shift

There's two parts to the checkride that I had this morning: oral and flight
The oral part consisted of the FAA-approved "reviewer", Mike, and I sitting and verbally going over flying.  We began by talking about how I got into this, what he's learned in his years, and what's to become of the aviation world.  He asked me some basic questions about what's needed in an airplane and on me when I fly and general rules of the sky.  Then, he mainly focused on stuff that I don't necessarily need to know all the time, but stuff he felt it might be good for me to know of.  We also went over more complex fundamentals of flying and planning.  His view was that I was a competent engineer and pilot and knew what was going on when an alternator failed...heck, that's my major pretty much.  So instead of wasting time, he wanted to teach me insights and tricks of the trade he had learned over the years, and make sure I knew deeper stuff that I will need to know later down the road in my training.  When I sat in on the other oral, he said he wasn't there to grill, he was to make sure the future pilot knew the basics, knew where to look up the complex stuff, and fill in any gaps.  Today, it never even crossed my mind as a "grill session", but instead, one of the best side learning experiences I've had.

Flight: At this point, we hop in the plane.  He had me plan a trip to Norfolk (to make sure I know how to plan a flight), but diverts after about 15min of flight and makes me land at the nearest airport (Louisa).  There, we practiced different types of take-offs and landings.  He gave me great pointers on emergency situations during landings, and great new views of landing.  He is the first person to get me to visualize a landing, and flying in general, from the kinetic physics approach.  Since I'm a physics kid, I picked up quite quickly instead of someone just saying "stay high", he said, "think about the potential energy you're losing if you lose altitude".  Gave me a whole new approach on flying.  Then we practiced stalls and basic maneuvers.  Then, came the fun part.  He made me put on the cone of shame and had me recover from an unusual attitude (closed my eyes, he made the plane turn and descend, I opened my eyes and corrected).  I think he thought I was bored, so after him making a near vertical turn (without a single G either), he told me to close my eyes and fly.  Turns out, I was pretty decent.  Then, told me to go home.
All in all, the flight wasn't perfect, but the point is, I stayed safe and knew how to recover if I was in trouble.  I had one slightly big "oops", but again, I trusted my instinct and recovered.  He used it to teach me another lesson of landing without instruments, at which I did just fine, and he used it all to remind me to always ask myself "is this right??" if something fishy is going on, take a second and think, then react.  Unless I'm 100 feet off the ground, I have a second or two to think.

So, we touch down in Charlottesville, I taxi over, stop the plane.  He says great job, it was a pleasure flying with you, congratulations.  Big sigh of relief and great big smile!

I finished in 3 months and right under 45 hours, which is apparently really, really good.  Now I join the big ole brotherhood of private pilots, and I drove the entire way home with a giant smile on my face.

Next up: taking willing-passengers =D  I need to accumulate some more hours and really get used to the plane to start my instrument.  I also may have to change the blog's title =D

Quote of the Day: "Tell her to keep the pointy end forward, and the dirty side down"