Last Thursday, almost a year to the date of beginning flight lessons, I officially joined the pilot world by passing my checkride! I have dreamed of having a pilots license since I was 17 years old and it is finally done. What an exciting journey! I woke up pretty nervous on Thursday morning. Got the kids ready for the day and cleaned out the van to keep my mind off what was coming up soon. I checked the updated weather, calculated new cross-country headings, time between checkpoints and fuel burn based on those numbers. I went out to the airport at noon and talked to the two flight instructors who took me through the "learning to fly" process. They gave me some encouragement and with that sent me off to meet the FAA examiner.
Barb Mack, the FAA examiner did a really good job of calming me down and getting me focused on the information and skills she wanted demonstrated. An hour and a half on the ground passed pretty quickly. Then we departed KANE westbound. I timed and checked my checkpoints, calculated ground speed and then she had me divert to the northeast. Then on to slow flight, power on and off stalls, steep turns, s-turns, engine failure, hood time and back to KANE for soft field takeoff and landings and short field takeoff and landings. WHEW! By the time she told me to taxi back to her hanger my brain was mush! So we walked up to her office and I heard those magic words..."when I test people I look for competence, confidence and good decision making skills. I saw all three so with that I am sending you home with a license to learn." I wanted to jump out of my seat and give her a hug but I refrained.
When I taxied back to the flight school my wife was waiting with a request for a ride. So, off we went for a half hour. What a day.
I want to thank my flight instructors Wade Baribeau and Greg Krantz at Twin Cities Aviaiton for their endless patience and constant direction in getting me to this point. Also, thanks need to go to my AOPA mentor and double RV offender Tom Berge for his generosity in helping me understand difficult concepts, filling in all the mental holes, flying me in circles until I understood the pitch/airspeed, power/altitude concept, and being a really professional example of how a competent pilot should fly. He just got his CFI so anyone looking for an excellent teacher and transition trainer in Minneapolis should look up Tom Berge at
http://www.rvtransition.com or
http://www.mnwing.org. Last and DEFINITELY not least, my wife deserves a hero award for managing three little tots by herself while I was out "flitting around the sky" as she called it. She was ALWAYS supportive and continues to encourage me to fly. I know I am a lucky dude to have a wife like that. I am so happy to be a part of the flying and RV community. Next step...RV-7A
Passed my checkride!!!
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