Fun and Disappointment…

One of the things I wanted to do this Summer while in Baton Rouge was get my pilot’s license. I had about six or seven weeks to complete my training. That’s plenty enough time, finances and weather permitting. My instructor and I set the target date for my checkride with an FAA Examiner as July 22nd, hopefully leaving me some time to relax before my departure for Asia. Things were going well. Among other things, I had come to terms with my fear of performing maneuvers in the various aircraft I was flying. I think those fears were based on my lack of imperical evidence that the plane could actually do all of the things I was trying to make it do, without breaking in half or falling out of the sky. Silly, I know… Once I overcame my initial uncertainty and discomfort, it’s been quite a hoot. I’ve flown like six or seven different airplanes, each of which is the same, but just a little bit different (Kind of like the McDonalds in France – think “Pulp Fiction”) . In addition to the joy of just flying around, the flight planning is technically stimulating, and radio communications challenges me to focus on concise, accurate and intelligible transmissions, not something I’m universally known for ;-) Of course, it didn’t help when the Cessna 150 (C-150) I was flying lost all electrical power, making it quite an interesting landing once we got back to Baton Rouge Metro Airport. That episode, combined with a significant fuel leak, finally drove me to no longer accept instruction in that plane. After that, I bounced around between about 4 other aircraft over the course of the remaining three weks of my training: Three different Cessna 172′s, another C-150, a Piper 140 9the one with a malfunctioning airspeed indicator (Can we get a plane where evrything works? Please?!!) and today, a high performance Piper Cherokee six-seater (That was fun!) Anyway, as I was saying, things were going well, but I needed my third class medical certificate to continue the solo portion of my training. Unfortunately, an issue popped up with my medical certificate, and although I’ve continued with the dual portion of the necessary flight training (“dual” means with an instructor), I’ve been unable to pursue the necessary solo training. While the issue keeping me from my medical is nothing serious, and is likely to be resolved, my inability to complete my training and get my pilot’s license this Summer has been a BIG disappointment.