mtsu_av8er
Well-Known Member
Awesome CFI\'ing Experience!!
Well, I was on the schedule this afternoon for a discovery flight - well, kind of. Here's the story.
A woman called the flight school a while back and said that her Dad had gotten his PPL many years ago, before he went off to Vietnam. He came back, and didn't get back in another airplane. Married, had kids, and ran his farm.
Well, 5 or 6 eyars ago, he started flying again and logged 20 or 30 hours, but stopped again because of work. Owns the farm, and he and his wife run it. They're successful and money wasn't the biggest issue - it was the time.
Well, today was his 36th wedding anniversary, and she wanted to buy him a flight lesson. I got the airplane ready, and met them at the door. The gentleman, his wife and his daughter. Since it was a surprise, the daughter was the only one that knew it was happening!!
I introduced myself, grabbed them some headsets and took them out to the airplane. The daughter wasn't going to go, but we talked her into it and we loaded up. I gave them a tour of the aircraft and it's safety features and off we went.
He didn't want to do the takeoff, but as soon as we were about 500 AGL, he was ready to go. We climbed out and headed to the west of the airport for a few miles, and let him feel the plane out. Keep in mind that the newest plane he'd ever flown was a 70's 172 with the bare equipment, so the moving-map was really blowing him away!! And he thought I was trying to trick him when I showed him the autopilot... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
Well, after a few minutes of toying around, his wife said jokingly that we should fly over their farm. They laughed until I told them that we could do that with no problem. So, we turned south and got BNA approach to guide us through the edge of the class C and around to the south of the city about 15 or 20 miles. We flew and the fellow navigated us right over his property. His face lit up when we spotted his home, so I took the plane, descended and began to do orbits at about 1500 feet while they showed me where the fields were, and where they were building their new home.
After about 10 minutes of looking, we headed back up toward Tune and he was asking me why I insisted on using flight following even though we could skirt the class C and avoid everybody (you know, back in his day.... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif). Just before I could explain, Approach gave me advisories for a Learjet, 2 King Airs and a 737 heading into BNA. That answered his question.... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif
We got up toward Tune and he spotted the airport before I did - really - and I asked him if he wanted to do the landing.
"ABSOLUTELY!!!" /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
So, I took us into the pattern and stayed with him on the controls while he gaves us an OK 3-wire! Well, felt like we made one (Navy guys know what i'm talking about /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif).
We got on the ground, taxied and shut the plane down. I took them back inside, chatted for a little while and before he left, he thanked me about 20 times and went on to celebrate the rest of his anniversary.
I think the gleam in that old man's eyes was well worth the BS I've put up with up to this point!!!
Just wanted to share that with you guys.... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif
Well, I was on the schedule this afternoon for a discovery flight - well, kind of. Here's the story.
A woman called the flight school a while back and said that her Dad had gotten his PPL many years ago, before he went off to Vietnam. He came back, and didn't get back in another airplane. Married, had kids, and ran his farm.
Well, 5 or 6 eyars ago, he started flying again and logged 20 or 30 hours, but stopped again because of work. Owns the farm, and he and his wife run it. They're successful and money wasn't the biggest issue - it was the time.
Well, today was his 36th wedding anniversary, and she wanted to buy him a flight lesson. I got the airplane ready, and met them at the door. The gentleman, his wife and his daughter. Since it was a surprise, the daughter was the only one that knew it was happening!!
I introduced myself, grabbed them some headsets and took them out to the airplane. The daughter wasn't going to go, but we talked her into it and we loaded up. I gave them a tour of the aircraft and it's safety features and off we went.
He didn't want to do the takeoff, but as soon as we were about 500 AGL, he was ready to go. We climbed out and headed to the west of the airport for a few miles, and let him feel the plane out. Keep in mind that the newest plane he'd ever flown was a 70's 172 with the bare equipment, so the moving-map was really blowing him away!! And he thought I was trying to trick him when I showed him the autopilot... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
Well, after a few minutes of toying around, his wife said jokingly that we should fly over their farm. They laughed until I told them that we could do that with no problem. So, we turned south and got BNA approach to guide us through the edge of the class C and around to the south of the city about 15 or 20 miles. We flew and the fellow navigated us right over his property. His face lit up when we spotted his home, so I took the plane, descended and began to do orbits at about 1500 feet while they showed me where the fields were, and where they were building their new home.
After about 10 minutes of looking, we headed back up toward Tune and he was asking me why I insisted on using flight following even though we could skirt the class C and avoid everybody (you know, back in his day.... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif). Just before I could explain, Approach gave me advisories for a Learjet, 2 King Airs and a 737 heading into BNA. That answered his question.... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif
We got up toward Tune and he spotted the airport before I did - really - and I asked him if he wanted to do the landing.
"ABSOLUTELY!!!" /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
So, I took us into the pattern and stayed with him on the controls while he gaves us an OK 3-wire! Well, felt like we made one (Navy guys know what i'm talking about /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif).
We got on the ground, taxied and shut the plane down. I took them back inside, chatted for a little while and before he left, he thanked me about 20 times and went on to celebrate the rest of his anniversary.
I think the gleam in that old man's eyes was well worth the BS I've put up with up to this point!!!
Just wanted to share that with you guys.... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif
