I met Ana and her dad out at the airport at 9 am. They flew in in his C-170A, and she and I went up and flew for about two hours. Stalls, steep turns, 3-point landings, wheel landings, engine outs, go-arounds, all the stuff. She was having trouble with the wheel landings, and asked me to demo one. I laughed and said I hadn't done one from over here so mine might be worse than hers, and she laughed and said "At least you're honest!" But then I did one and it was pretty so I was saved. ;) She made me laugh though, because she said "You're so smooth when you fly an airplane--it's like a ballet!" I laughed because they don't all look like that. :D But I appreciated it.
My student Morgan also did her first IFR flight in the actual clouds today, for almost 2 hours on the way to N. Dakota, and she texted me that she was nervous but thought about it for a minute and knew she could, so she did, and she even feels cool now. I'm proud of her, too. She's off and running on the Women's Air Race, what used to be called the "Powder Puff Derby", been running for decades, and all-women air race across the country. Morgan is on the Purdue University flight team. The race actually starts in like two days. Exciting stuff.
Our friend J has throat cancer. He hasn't told a lot of people, but more since he got into the radiation and chemo. He had to have a feeding tube placed in his belly because his throat was too raw and messed up to be able to eat or drink. He also ended up with a bleed on his brain. He's concerned about getting his medical back for flight. His family doesn't care, they just want him healthy, but I understand his fears, so we'll talk about the medical, requirements, what to do to work on getting it back when the time is right, options he has, etc. Today he came out and I took him up flying for the first time in months. He did the flying actually, worse himself out. He wanted to do more but I could tell he was fading, so I called it and I put his plane away. He texted me later that he couldn't believe how exhausted he was just from getting out, getting in a plane, sitting in a chair, and being outside. But that it was awesome and he was so glad he did it. I told him we'll get him back up soon.
The Conquest II was supposed to be done (this last time) this weekend. But it hasn't test flown yet, had a couple more things not go right, and then the weather tanked. So they're hoping to test fly it tomorrow, and then we're supposed to go get it asap, and the check pilot is supposed to be available to finish my checkout this coming week. So...we'll see how it goes. I keep trying to read the info on it and I keep glazing over. I need to study but I can't focus on it. Too much info there and not sure what I will or won't need on this one.
My logbook came up with a thing that I did 103.2 hours in the last 30 days. That's a lot of flying, and I haven't even started the new client/airplane yet. :o
Me & Ana in the 170
Pretty little taildragger.
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