Walking though my wife's flower garden, carrying my grandson, I stopped to watch a bee browse swaying yellow blooms. I'd recently completed my private license training at Aviator Air and had learned to appreciate gusty winds in the landing pattern and here was a bug not just handling gusts, but landing on a moving field! That bee was just following joyless instinct where I had come to the realization of a lifetime's dream. What a great year I'd had: birth of my grandson and then a few months later my pilot's license. Neither had come any too soon, but the wait for my flying had, of course, been solely my doing, or rather, not doing.
When at last I decided to start moving my dream in the general direction of reality, I took a discovery flight at Aviator Air. I soloed 46 days later. But then more delay: family trips, holidays, weather, long intervals between flights, etc., etc and my check ride slid out another two years!
Altogether I had five instructors at Aviator Air all of whom made special, lasting contributions and not just to my flying. Brett started me out and soloed me. Germain was there for me whenever I needed his help. Ren stressed fundamentals and toiled to polish my efforts. John made sure I understood the difference between the unexpected and the unprepared for. Dick flew with me, monitored my progress, and built my confidence. They never seem far away when I'm in a cockpit now and I couldn't have better company.
What kept me going? Encouragement from all quarters: instructors, friends, family, and by no means the least, from my wife. My primary lessons learned (there's nothing new here) are:
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Get started now, don't wait
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Fly often and don't allow long interruptions in your instruction
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Have a schedule that's in a logical order and stick to it
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Hang in there
I regret having waited so long but I don't waste much time thinking about that; there's too much to enjoy right now! I learned in a Cessna 172 with traditional flight instruments and look forward to qualifying on the glass cockpit. Other aircraft beckon like light sport, high performance and complex. There are family flights and cross country trips to take. I can have my cake and eat it too.
So I look upward to the the airplane that has just came overhead and I hug my baby boy. The day is not that far away when I'll walk him down the flight line just as his dad and I once did. But right now that bee is reminding me that it's been too long since my last landing.
See you at the airport.
Jay Swindle, Private Pilot, 2011
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