Misadventures in Studentpilotism

In the months since my last post I’ve been up in the friendly skies just once- for an insurance checkout at an FBO I planned on renting from. It was your standard intro to the aircraft, policies and procedures. It had been over two months since I had last flown and I did admit to feeling a little insecure but in no time I had found that yes, I am a pilot and that yes, I can still fly.

Minor mental crisis over we worked through basic procedures and headed to a little grass strip belonging to an airline captain my instructor knew about. The last and only time I had ever been on grass was when I was just starting with lessons in 2005 and we made a precautionary landing to avoid fog at home. I sat and watched as my then CFI set the C152 down with ease and quickly arrested our forward movement just short of a corn field. I had always been told that grass will eat your power and drag you to a halt abruptly upon touchdown, so of course I milked the stall warning horn halfway down the field before letting rubber meet turf. Surprisingly it was a gentle touchdown and I could feel the struts bobble up and down with the imperfections on the strip. I just kept aft elevator and a little power in during our taxi and in no time we were back up for emergency practice and then a full-stop back at the airport.

As much as I missed flying this summer I did have a great opportunity to take time to focus on my other life pursuit: horses. I had an internship at an eventing farm here at home and through the generosity of a great group of people I was able to become a better rider and compete at my first recognized horse trials. I had a blast and wouldn’t trade the experience for anything.

Hagen and I on cross-country at Wayne DuPage Horse Trials- 4th place!

Now I’m back at school starting work on my CFI- and what a difference the right seat is! My handling resembles that of an intoxicated four-year-old: this is definitely going to be a challenge. The whole sight picture I’ve worked to perfect over the past seven years is out the window and it’s almost as if I’m learning to fly all over again. Thankfully we have several months and many flights to get it all sorted out but I still sleep eyes wide open at night thinking about tomorrow’s flight.

The coolest opportunity I have with flying this semester is Air Carrier Operations Practicum; that’s right, I get to play airline pilot!  We essentially fly the University Cessna 340A and 421c RAM on scheduled in-house charter flights around the state with a charter pilot. So far I’ve had a hop up to Springfield in the 421 with a quick, one engine still running drop off and return. I flew cruise on the way up and the entire flight on the way home, sitting right seat meandering all over Kansas City Center’s radar as I tried to stay straight and level in the clouds. Landing was only slightly unnerving- I had help lining up center line and touchdown was smooth as glass thanks to the trailing-link landing gear.

Procedures throughout every phase of the flight were remarkably different than the typical flight training practices. In training we fly to meet performance numbers, like airspeed or rate of climb, and sacrifice smoothness or comfort a little. Charter teaches you to fly in the safest, most efficient manner possible while keeping passenger comfort a very high priority. I honestly think it’s going to be a great experience and look forward to picking up my high-altitude endorsement here in the next couple of weeks.