mtsu_av8er
Well-Known Member
Well, after an hour-long drive to Murfreesboro for Chemistry class and a two-hour long drive back to Nashville (due to an overturned tractor-trailor), I got to the airport for a short afternoon. My first student and I did some ground training, and we had a grand old time talking about ATC clearances, clearance limits, void times and cruise clearances. Got the lad sent on his way, and started prepping for a sight-seeing flight at 1600.
A little background on this flight - a woman called in last week and said that she wanted to buy her friend an hour in the plane. Apparently, this woman had learned to fly a while ago, but hasn't flown in a few years. This was to let her get into the airplane again.
Well, 1600 comes and the woman and her friend arrive at the airport. Turns out that this was part of a little celebration. You see, 60 years ago today, this woman had her first flight lesson. Humbling - truely.
We climbed into that 172SP, complete with moving map, GPS and autopilot, and she flew better than half of my primary students. Great sense of feel, and completely in control of the airplane. The technology in the cockpit really threw her for a loop ("When I learned to fly in a Cub, we didn't have any of this fancy stuff....goodness, we didn't even have radios! I don't need a headset...i'll let you handle all that" /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif).
We flew around (well, she did) and just had a ball it was a little hazy, but she handled the plane just fine. Considering that she hadn't flown in many, many, many years, she even handled the traffic pattern well and landed us wonderfully (with a little 'guidance'.. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif ).
TICKLED PINK!!! I think she had the time of her life. I'm glad to have played a role in the day.
As an extra treat, I discovered during a little post-flight conversation that her friend that bought the flight (Ms. Mitchell) flew a Maule from Nashville to Moscow in 1998 (read more here ). I was humbled further.
For all of you that whine and complain about flight instructing and how horrible it is, shut up. For all of you that aspire to become flight instructors, keep your heads up. We have a responsibility to motivate those that can't motivate themselves and inspire those that dream of flight. Every now and then we have the opportunity to touch somebody in a way that they've never been touched. We're the people that they remember when they don't want to remember much else.
Just wanted to share with you guys that I'm pretty proud to be a flight instructor. It's a full circle, and we've gotta keep folks going around it.
After that flight, I had a discovery flight with a fella that's been dreaming of learning to fly for years. Not only did we make it a real lesson, we're scheduled again for next week, and he's an official student now.
It's what you make it.
A little background on this flight - a woman called in last week and said that she wanted to buy her friend an hour in the plane. Apparently, this woman had learned to fly a while ago, but hasn't flown in a few years. This was to let her get into the airplane again.
Well, 1600 comes and the woman and her friend arrive at the airport. Turns out that this was part of a little celebration. You see, 60 years ago today, this woman had her first flight lesson. Humbling - truely.
We climbed into that 172SP, complete with moving map, GPS and autopilot, and she flew better than half of my primary students. Great sense of feel, and completely in control of the airplane. The technology in the cockpit really threw her for a loop ("When I learned to fly in a Cub, we didn't have any of this fancy stuff....goodness, we didn't even have radios! I don't need a headset...i'll let you handle all that" /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif).
We flew around (well, she did) and just had a ball it was a little hazy, but she handled the plane just fine. Considering that she hadn't flown in many, many, many years, she even handled the traffic pattern well and landed us wonderfully (with a little 'guidance'.. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif ).
TICKLED PINK!!! I think she had the time of her life. I'm glad to have played a role in the day.
As an extra treat, I discovered during a little post-flight conversation that her friend that bought the flight (Ms. Mitchell) flew a Maule from Nashville to Moscow in 1998 (read more here ). I was humbled further.
For all of you that whine and complain about flight instructing and how horrible it is, shut up. For all of you that aspire to become flight instructors, keep your heads up. We have a responsibility to motivate those that can't motivate themselves and inspire those that dream of flight. Every now and then we have the opportunity to touch somebody in a way that they've never been touched. We're the people that they remember when they don't want to remember much else.
Just wanted to share with you guys that I'm pretty proud to be a flight instructor. It's a full circle, and we've gotta keep folks going around it.
After that flight, I had a discovery flight with a fella that's been dreaming of learning to fly for years. Not only did we make it a real lesson, we're scheduled again for next week, and he's an official student now.
It's what you make it.
