1/17/12

One of my boyhood dreams is going to become a reality for me in 2012.  I'm going to earn my Private Pilot's license.  As a kid I spent countless hours building model airplanes and using just about anything available to serve as my own pretend airplane.  Couches, beds, forts, clubhouse, and climbing trees morphed into my fantasies of flight.  The irony is that as a child I hated to fly in actual airplanes.  I was the kid with the barf bag whenever there was turbulence.

As I got older my physical reaction to turbulence in flight eventually turned into more of a mental battle.  I no longer got sick, but I would work myself up into a pretty good cold sweat.  In my late teens I began thinking that learning how to fly an airplane would help me battle my irrational fear of flying.

Fast forward to graduate school circa 1995 in Illinois and I almost pulled the trigger to get my license.  I had met and interviewed instructors and had found a deal nearby Western Illinois University.  In the final analysis I realized that I didn't have sufficient funds to finish, so I postponed and promised myself I would get to it once I was working full-time.  I soon realized in my first semester as a graduate student that I was also lacking in the "free time" department.  It was a good decision.

Discovery Flight pic of
the San Ramon Campus

Fast forward to March 2011.  I had been researching flight schools in the East Bay area and had decided to take a discovery flight with Ahart Aviation in Livermore.  I met my flight instructor, Clint, and we headed out to the ramp to take out one of the school's four Cessna 152's.  After preflighting, which was me watching Clint inspect the plane, he told me to get in the left seat (there are only two seats in a 152) and the checklist continued.  Clint suddenly stopped what he was doing and asked me how much I weighed.  Turns out our combined weight surpassed the allowable weight limit for a Cessna 152 with full fuel.  No problem.  A quick phone call and 30 minutes later and we were all set to taxi away in a Cessna 172, which is the next larger model in the Cessna line-up and can easily accommodate our combined weight and more.  Clint talked me through the take off as I took the controls and we were off for our 45 minute loop out over discovery bay and the foothills of Mt. Diablo.

I was exhilarated, freaked out, and totally hooked.  I started taking lessons the following month.  My goal was to get my license by the end of the year.

Pic of Me during 1st Solo

One thing you learn quickly in aviation is that you do not determine when you fly.  The weather determines when you fly.  There have been numerous days and planned flight flight lessons that were cancelled due to less than desirable weather conditions.  While I did not meet my goal to get my license in 2011, I am getting really close.  I only have a few more requirements to meet prior to being able to take my FAA Check-Ride: 1) 5 hours of solo cross country, 2 more hours of general solo flight time, take and pass the written exam, pass my Stage 3 check with Ahart (a mock Check-Ride), and then pass the actual check-ride.  I have about 50 hours of flight time accumulated thus far.  The minimum required is 40, but the average is between 65-75.  I'm thinking I'll be in the 60-65 range when I'm finished.

This last Saturday was a classic example of how a planned flight doesn't end up taking place.  I had been weathered out of the previous five or six planned attempts at completing my solo cross country flights.  This past Saturday it finally looked like the weather was in my favor.  I ended up having to select a different destination (KSAC - Sacramento Executive) than I had planned (KMER - Castle) due to some central valley fog, but I was still going...I was excited as I headed out of the office with my signed-off flight log and headed out to my rented plane, Cessna 234QF (model 172R).  I conducted my preflight, ended up adding a quart of oil, and contacted the tower for taxi instructions.  As soon as I pulled the plane out onto the taxi way I noticed something wrong with the pilot side tire.  It wasn't flat.  It was wobbling and squeaking so loud that I could hear it above the engine noise.  The plane was pulling to the left in a slow taxi and the wheel was causing the plane to wobble.  I contacted the tower and requested taxi instructions back to the ramp due to a tire problem.  Sigh, no flying for me that day either.  I was not comfortable taking the plane with the tire issue (it had been flown with it the day before) and there were no there other planes available.

The weather outlook this next weekend looks terrible...heavy rain.  Now I wait for the skies to clear.