A Week of Flight Exams

Hello friends.  How has your week been?

Ours has been an absolute whirlwind.  As you know, Martin and I have this “itsy bitsy” project going on; he’s teaching me to fly.  The last two weeks have been the make or break point.  I found myself wanting to earn a pilot’s license more than anything.  And you know what?  For the first time, I didn’t want it for anyone except just ME.  I didn’t want to pass my tests to please my family or my airplane-loving husband, and I didn’t want to pass just to be the “safety backup” in case of an emergency in the air.  I wanted to be Katie, The Pilot.  haha!

Learning how to fly isn’t a subject that comes naturally to me.  It involves so much physics and mechanics, and my mind cannot grasp these concepts as quickly as, say, Martin.  Most women can’t because on average, men are more interested in engines and airplanes than women.  I’m sure that’s why there are so few females in aviation.  I don’t know about what you did, but you can bet that once I met the science requirements for college, I was done.  Done!  (bleck!)

The last two weeks, Martin and I have been doing so much flying and documenting (my skills and flights, Martin’s certifications, the airplane’s certifications…).  I can’t even tell you when the last time was that I slept through an entire night without solving some sort of flying procedure in my dreams.

I feel so technical.  I feel like my entire self is in the clouds – not in the dazy, doffy way – it’s more like the sky is feeling like home.  Maybe it’s part of the reason I love living in the country mountains so much.

navion

Here’s the play-by-play since I saw you last:

Saturday:  I took a 2 1/2 hour written exam.  (We had to fly 1 1/3 hours to get to the FAA approved test center.)  Martin and an iPod waited in the lobby of the little general aviation airport while I took the test.  Some questions were easy like identifying parts of the wings.  Other questions were enormous math problems based on maps like the one over Dallas Fort Worth.  This test was the easy part after weeks of prep work – I aced it!

Sunday:  Out sick.  No flying.  Poor studying.  Just needing to come to terms with the stress and bad colds that have hit our house.

Monday:  A second solo cross country flight.  I had to work with two (TWO!) different control towers at larger airports.  I didn’t get stuck in “airliner rush hour” like my last solo tower experience… I learned to relax on the radio.

Tuesday:  Moved out of the Tire House after a long morning of flying around the valley, practicing difficult flight maneuvers.  Yep – Sept 1 marked our second temporary return to living in a hangar.  I guess if I’m dreaming of airplanes, I might as well sleep twenty feet from one.  That way, I even get the airplane smell.  We also spent about three hours preparing “homework” and flight plans for my second exam…

Wednesday:  Flew 1 1/3 hours to take a practical exam.  The very basics of my exam:  2 1/2 hour one-on-one questions from an examiner, 1 1/2 hour flight exam, and 30-minute review of why I made decisions I did, where I wasn’t knowledgeable, and ways I impressed the examiner (like my TOWER radio work!  Oh wow.)  Martin sat in with us during the final review.  I had no idea if I passed or not.  I’d done so many things very well, but I was not perfect.  I kept thinking, “One mistake.  That’s all it takes.”  The test wasn’t like a grade – either you can do what you need to be a proficient pilot or you can’t.

Then after much discussion about my entire test performance, the examiner reached out his hand.  ”Congratulations, Katie.  I’m going to give you your private pilot’s license.”

You know how I responded?  Totally like a girl!  I had tears in my eyes.

I guess I can do that, right?  After all (insert huge grin, walking-on-air, feeling)… I am a pilot now.

(Image of me at the airport in a Navion Airplane a few years ago)