Still a whirlwind around here. Many days I"m still not getting home until after 10 pm, and I think I made it to lunch one day. Yesterday I ate lunch at 4:30 pm...and that was after I canceled one student who I just could not fit in after all.
Thursday I had a Discovery Flight with a 16 year old girl, who looked about 13, and was so short she couldn't reach the rudders while sitting in the pilot seat all the way up. She said her first experience in a small plane was really scary and she was definitely scared. When the engine started, her window which was open, opened wider, and she screamed and curled into a ball on the seat. I thought...uh oh! So I did the take off and just climbed straight up and out, nice and easy. Within 5 minutes she was looking around and talking about how beautiful it all was, and soon after that I convinced her to try it, and she flew around, held her altitude, and started doing steep turns and loving them. She looked over and said "This is so much better than Driver's Ed! And my Driver's Ed teacher keeps grabbing and yanking things and shouting, too. This is a lot better." She gets on the ground, and her poor mom was so scared too. Her mom can't stand flying, won't get into a plane, but let her daughter try it again because the daughter really wanted to try it one more time. The daughter said "Well, you've probably seen worse reactions than someone screaming when the engine started." I said "There was no crying, throwing up or wetting of pants, so I think you did great." She laughed, and her mom said "Well, all those things might have been happening down here." But the Mom is supporting her, and says she'll be back to start lessons after they gather some finances. I always admire that in parents...like my Mom who wasn't, and maybe still isn't real thrilled about all the things I've done/do, but always supported me being me. I always try to be that for Kaylee, too, let her live her way and be a safe place for her. Right now she is off camping somewhere for the weekend, and that's all I know about it. :)
We barely had a weather window to get that flight in. After that, the clouds came down and my new T-6 guy had to cancel. So that gave me the chance to finally make it to the store and get some other things done.
Friday was an airplane shuffle day. First thing in the morning, Jerry Long and I flew the 172RG over to Muncie, where I picked up the Aerostar and flew it home. From there I had a problem, in that all the planes were busy except one 172, so Jerry and I flew the 172 all the way to Aurora, Illinois. That took awhile. Got there and I picked up the 340, and flew it home. By the time I got home, I had 20 minutes to run to town and get a cheeseburger, before flying with my 4-6 guy, then my 6-8 pm guy. Had to spend some time with him afterwards, then do things like get gas and drop off mail and pick up Japanese for late dinner. ;)
I was right back out there first thing Saturday morning, and went on a long IFR cross country with a guy. We went to Louisville, Kentucky, back to Indianapolis (except they waived us off because they were swamped with traffic and had one runway shut down), so diverted over to Mt. Comfort, then back to Kokomo. It took 3.6 hours, shot three approaches. I had to cancel my Chief tailwheel guy because I didn't have time to fit him in, and my 1:30 student was there and waiting. Flew with her, and then my student who has a checkride today was there and waiting, so I went through his logbook, checked his endorsements, and signed him off for his checkride. By then it was 4:30 pm. I couldn't eat a lot because we were going down to Indy for dinner, but I couldn't not eat anything, because I hadn't eaten all day yet. So of course I hit Taco Bell to get one little soft taco. Just enough to tide the hunger without influencing dinner. ;) Back to the airport in time to get the 340 back out and ready to go.
MBros had donated a ride to dinner at a charity event, and the winning couple needed flown down to Eagle Creek to eat at Rick's Boatyard. That's got some good food, so my plan was to maybe do carry-out while they ate, or take Steve with me and we'd go separately. We called in and they weren't taking any reservations though, they were packed out. I didn't want to wait with this couple we didn't know, separately, it felt too awkward. So AE met us down there and we ate somewhere else, Union Jack's I believe it was called. It was no Rick's Boatyard, but it had nice ambiance including live music, and my pizza was good. We got back to the airport, and a pilot let us in even though the FBO was technically closed. We only waited about 15 minutes, and the other couple was back and ready to go. I flew them home, and we got in fairly late again.
Sunday morning I was awake at 6 am, mostly because I have this fellow going on a checkride at 8 am, so I needed to be awake by then in case there was an issue and he needed to call me. I'm a little worried about him. He's in his 80s, and he's a very good man. He'll be a fine pilot, and he knows his own limitations. I believe in him as a pilot. But he has trouble doing all the maneuvers exactly like you're supposed to all in a row all at once. So my fingers are crossed for him today, that he can do what he needs to do to pass this test, achieve this accomplishment, and be able to fly his wife to visit grandbabies nearby, as they both desire most.
And that's what been going on around here the last few days.
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