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The Road to Flight, Part II

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It’s been a long road and the end is not yet in sight. But the story is now able to continue today, as I received my pilot’s certificate! Actually, I should say I had it renewed, but after about 8 years of it being expired, it’s like new again. There was a lot of trouble this time in getting it, and the fact they kept shipping my papers to an old address in New Jersey didn’t help expedite the situation.

The Story so Far…

It all started when I was 15 years old starting my flight training at a little airport in New Jersey. I got my first certificate when I was 16. In Jersey, at the time, the age to get your license was 17 (now it’s 18). You can only have gotten your permit at 16, so I was soloing airplanes before I was even allowed to drive a car (even supervised driving). What sense that makes, I know it not.

I took a short break from flying after my flight instructor got a better job flying private jets. I started it up again when I moved down to Virginia to attend school at Virginia Tech for my bachelor’s degree. Virginia Tech actually has an airport on campus, so it was very convenient. However, my new flight instructor wasn’t very friendly and on a student’s salary I couldn’t afford it.

Fast-forward six years and here I am now, with a newly issued certificate and ready to pick up where I left off on my training. Except now, gas prices are 50% more than what they were and I have to train in Cessnas (which are ugly airplanes). My home airport is not the Virginia Tech airport anymore but instead it’s the New River Valley (NRV) Regional Airport (PSK), which is about 30 minutes south of Blacksburg (near the NRV Community College, if you know where that is). It might take me another 10 years to get my license, but I’ll eventually get it!

So, now on to the cross country flights and studying all my flight text books again! I should have my actual license by this time next summer if all goes well.

Keep the blue side up!

5 Comments on “The Road to Flight, Part II”

  2. Samantha,

    You should really take lessons at your local airport. Even if it’s just a demo flight to see how you like it. I suggest everyone take a demo flight, in a helicopter or airplane. They’re cheaper than skydiving, last longer, and they let you fly the plane almost the whole time. It’s really a lot of fun and there’s a real sense of accomplishment after your first time flying. There’s really not reason not to and flight schools are more than happy to take you up.

    I prefer the Piper Cherokee 140s. Their wings are lower and they look like a typical airplane, not a toy.

    Some videos I found on the 140:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bneAdtBeDh8

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8Fcby_DobY

    Thanks for the comment!

  3. I think I’ll do that. I can’t sit in the little planes without vomiting but if I was controling the plane, I’d probably be ok. 🙂

  4. Nice Mike, congrats. Gotta tell you – listening to you over the last few weeks talk about getting this has gotten my juices flowing again about getting my license. Just might need to get my butt in gear. Congratulations – enjoy it!

  5. There are several things that make an airplane fly, and that is time and money. The old adage about keeping the “Blue Side Up” is baloney. Flying a World War II trainer for an hour in north Jersey several years ago will dispel any notion of “KEEPING THE BLUE SIDE UP”. When you tell the instructor to make me puke, he tries to do just that. He never did, until the smell of 100 octane fuel filled the cockpit, and nausea was just a heartbeat away. The T-6 Texan, is a 600 horsepower bundle of energy, and will do anything you tell it to do, including fly upside down. You can only do that for a short period of time, because the 600 H.P. engine is gravity fed, and very soon the engine runs out of fuel if you spend too much time looking up at the ground. A split fuel line is what caused the leakage of fuel into the cockpit. Although the “barf bag” was in hand, it was put back into it’s original place of containment. The canopy was opened and the parachute, which is mandatory, was double checked. The whole episode was recorded on tape so there absolute proof that this story is true. On landing, the other T-6 Texan was being hosed out. Took about a half hour to do so, because the slurry of once digested food and drink, now becomes flying debris in the event that the “barf bag” was not procured in time. This is especially prolific when the splattering of material occurs in the upside down position and it tends to find every nook and cranny in the airplane, and then drips back onto the occupants as the plane is righted back to normal flight. So, if you get a chance to do some acrobatics, make sure you have a handy “barf bag” and don’t tell the instructor to make me puke