Air Time

Last night two Yaks flew into Sheridan to attend the CAF meeting.   They had to leave a little early in order to beat the darkness, and as they flew off into the clear sky with the sun going down and shades of pink on the few clouds, I was jealous.  Driving home in my Explorer looking at the calm sky I felt an actual pang.  It's not like I don't fly.  I've put in over 60 hours in the last few weeks.  But I'm missing the warbirds and taildraggers. And just me, not instructing or hauling people.  It'll have been seven months since the BBQ Bash which is I think the last time I flew the T-6.

My student is off on his checkride now as I type this.  He's only doing two or three landings so it shouldn't take very long, The winds are gusting up to 16-18 at the moment.  I think he's got it--that's why I went up with him yesterday and made him do it when it was almost a direct crosswind higher than that...but man I don't want him to have to go back for Round Three.

This morning I got his books ready, his airplane plugged in, his headset ready, and then got myself ready to go to St. Louis, where I'm currently sitting.  It was a nice clear morning, a nice breezy crosswind landing here in St. Louis too, and while it was still below freezing cold this morning, at least the sun is out.

While I was in St. Louis I got an email from Kaylee's play practice people, who wanted the parents to attend a brief meeting at 8:20 tonight.  So you let us know via Facebook and email that you want us to come to a meeting in a few hours.  Mmmm.  And then I make it, and as of 8:35 there was no meeting and I was one of the only parents there.  MMmm.  And then the meeting, when it does start, is about nothing but what she already told us by Facebook and Email earlier this week.  MMMM.  I don't like my time being wasted by anyone but me!  ;)

It took longer to do the checkride than I thought it should have, which is not good on a getting-older-lady's-heart. ;)  Finally he sent me a text with a thumbs-up icon.  At that point I realized I was hungry and could finally go eat lunch and relax.  I'd been watching the winds and they weren't too far off the runway, but it was bumpy and windy.  He said his landings went just about perfectly, that the examiner was highly complimentary and impressed.  Good for him.  I can tell you when it happened.  About two flights ago something switched in his brain, and he decided to be in charge of the airplane.  Like I've said before, you can feel it when it happens. I told him I could see it.  So when I kind of made him go up on a less than pleasant day, and he decided to be in charge of the airplane, and it worked out pretty well, that was it, he now had a little confidence to go with it.  He took that and ran with it this morning, and nailed it.

Kaylee is finishing up writing a speech for tomorrow.  She is presenting information about her "Living Biography", which is about Nathan.  She wrote a four page paper on it, added a couple of photos, and wrote an introductory speech about it.  The school did not let us know ahead of time that this wasn't just a paper, but an actual presentation, and that parents and the subject of the paper could attend, have refreshments, and the subject and kid would go up on stage together and talk a bit.  Well, I find this out at 9 pm on Wednesday night as she finally gets home and starts doing her homework and pulls out the page from the school with the times of stuff on it for tomorrow.  Steve has a student, I have a student but I should be able to cut it short and make it, and Nathan works and had no heads-up time.  Woulda been good to know this earlier.  At least I can make it though.

And here's how this works around here.  I just finished typing that when I looked at the paper Kaylee gave me again that I was about to throw out, and it says "Monday, May 12th".  Kaylee insists it's tomorrow.  The paper says "May 12th" three times in a row.  Her project was DUE tomorrow, the presentation isn't until the 12th.  She didn't even know when it was, and she almost had me cutting a lesson short, driving to Greentown, and showing up at the Performing Arts Center at the school, waiting for a Presentation that DIDN'T EXIST yet.  I'm really glad I found this out tonight! Sometimes the school and play stuff really get on our nerves because there is no good way to know when everything is happening.  They hand out papers now and then that you hope your kid gives to you in a timely manner, but otherwise we're always finding out about stuff at the last minute.  It's not just us, either, other parents tell me the same thing... I am glad it's not just me though!

The Twin Beech thing is getting closer.  They will put in a bid for it on Friday morning, I believe, and they've lost two other instructors for it, so right now they've got me and one other guy who they don't want to have to use.  There are actually two Twin Beeches up for reassignment.  This first one, with the two hours on the engines over 30 years, and a second one that has one high-time engine on it but that has been flying.  So if we don't get one, we may get the other.  Both have their challenges obviously.  We'll see how it goes...