I'm a pilot now

I’ve got to share the news. Last Thursday I passed my flying test and am now a licensed pilot!!!! Yes, in that exact plane you are looking at (450 Alpha Foxtrot, or as I usually call it when I talk to ATC, zero alpha fox). I really can’t tell you how excited it has made me feel, I’ve really been acting pretty goofy since then. I think it’s because at our age there isn’t much left that is truly new and different and this was. Plus, I haven’t had to really work that hard at something in a while, then take a test that is absolutely not guaranteed you will pass. Yes, I am still euphoric. It was pretty funny back at the hangar after I passed. My instructor and the Chief Instructor just happened to be there along with about 6 other folks and they all gave me congratulations and we talked a bit. Eventually they all started heading out to whatever they were going to do, i.e., give a lesson, go home, etc, but I wanted to stay and, you know, talk airplane stuff! Eventually the secretary looked up at me like "don't you have some place to go to?" So I eventually shuffled out and went to work.

Here is a little rehash of the process in case any of you all decide to do this. I did my first flight in November and I have logged almost 100 hours, much more than the minimum requirement, but when you can only fly on weekends and then every once in a while go a few weeks without flying it is tough to stay current. I passed the written test a few months ago and then finished the training two weeks ago. The weather has been not so good for flying lately here, but I was able to schedule this morning with the examiner. He had had me show up with a planned flight to Fayetteville, NC from Charleston airport. I had to sit in room and answer about 30 minutes of questions covering the airplane, aerodynamics, regulations, weather, etc, etc, then he said, “let’s go fly”. The weather was still iffy, but I preflighted the plane and he said let’s go. Basically it was talk to ATC to get out of Charleston airport behind a Southwest Airlines jet, start the course to NC using only VOR (older navigation, not GPS even though we have it), then divert to a different airport, then fly for a while with foggles on (funny glasses that only let you see the instruments), then he pulled the power and I had to find a place to land quickly and do all those things (we did land okay), then power off stalls, power on stalls, steep bank turns (45 degrees) for two full circles, slow flight on the edge of stall, turns around a point, S turns down a straight line, short field landing, soft field landing, short field takeoff, soft field takeoff, and then a few other things.

This picture is a simulation of how serious I looked during the test (the pic is actually from a few flights ago)

It really was exhausting, but also exhilarating. All those things need to be done with tight tolerances also, like never losing or gaining 100 feet of elevation during any maneuver, never letting your heading change plus/minus 5 degrees unless intentional and so on and so on. But as we headed back to Charleston he said “okay, if you can do one more landing you made it”!


I don’t know what exactly I’ll do now except just enjoy the feeling for a while. The biggest thing might be that at my age your medical license to fly is only good for 2 years and then you have to get another physical. Plus, I am out of money after the lessons. Time to go do a little celebrating downtown. Cheers!