Journal entries in 'Flying Lessons' for August, 2007

Before I go into detail, I suppose I should first just say that my checkride went splendidly and I'm now the proud possessor of a private pilot's certificate with 42.5 logged hours. Surprisingly, I find that I'm actually more excited about this accomplishment than I was when I graduated from college. I suppose that might be indicative of misplaced priorities, but college felt like something that I simply had to do. Sure, when I was done I had put in a lot of work and succeeded at something difficult, but it had been something that was practically a requirement, so it wasn't all that remarkable that I did it. Nobody gives you a ceremony when you properly raise your kids, although I'm sure that's not an easy task. But it's just something that's expected of you. Learning to fly, on the other hand, was a mountain that I climbed willingly and purely because I wanted to, and I guess that's why there's a greater sense of reward when I reach the peak. Besides, my college degree doesn't let me do anything nearly as fun as flying an airplane. (OK, maybe indirectly it does).

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Earlier this week I completed all of my training prerequisites other than the overall 40 minimum hours of flight time, so for the past few days I've been working with Mike on reviewing my landings (soft-field, short-field, etc) and maneuvers (slow flight, stalls, 45°-banked turns, turns around a point, etc). Yesterday he decided that I was ready, coincidentally just as I reached exactly 40.0 hours in my logbook.

Before you can schedule an FAA practical test (known as a 'checkride'), Fly By Knight makes you go up with a different instructor than the one you trained with, who plays the part of an FAA examiner makes you run through the maneuvers and landings that the real examiner will make you do. That instructor decides whether you're ready for the checkride itself — if he gives you a thumbs-up, you can go ahead and schedule the official test. If he gives you a thumbs-down, then you need to spend a few more flights with your instructor reviewing things a little more.

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