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| I gotta tell you my friend, the wife and I have been having the
most incredible vacation ever! The Sporty’s Academy people were waiting to meet us at
the airport when we arrived, with gorgeous leis for Charlene and me. Every member of the
staff at Sporty’s seems to have a great attitude, and we’ve been having a lot of
fun together. From that first moment at the airport, I’ve been impressed with the
professionalism of the instructors and administrative staff, and with the structure that
underlies the whole flight training program. These people really know what they’re
doing! |
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| The first night I was here, my personal instructor, Dave, took us
out to eat at this little Japanese restaurant on the lagoon in the middle of town. Over
dinner, I told Dave about how I’ve dreamed of flying since I was a kid, but always
figured it was sort of in the same class as growing up to be an astronaut, or a
professional ball player. And now here I was, about to finally realize that dream. Dave
laughed, and said he heard that a lot. I guess a lot of people share the impression that I
used to have: that getting a license is too expensive or too difficult for any but a
privileged few. Am I glad I looked into it further! |
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| When I registered for the course, Sporty’s had sent me out
their superb twelve-volume video course, so although I had yet to take my first lesson in
an airplane, I really felt ready to get started. I headed in to the airport at eight
o’clock the next morning, and found that Dave had been there for a half hour or more
already, because he had fueled and prepared the airplane, assembled communication headsets
for us, and taken care of all the initial flight planning before I arrived. When I walked
in, he jumped up from his desk with a big grin on his face, and asked if I was ready to
take my first flight! And in just the time it took me to set my bag down and walk out to
the plane with him, we were off. |
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| “I’ll come back to the preflight, and we’ll cover
all the basic information in an orderly fashion soon, but I wanted you to get a chance to
just see how much fun this is,” Dave told me. Up in the air, he let me take the
controls almost right away, and Stuart, I’m telling you, learning the basics of
controlling the airplane is easier than learning to drive a stick-shift! The airplane we
used is called a Cessna 172. It carries four passengers, and is bigger than the trainers a
lot of other schools use, and the way the wings are set up above the cabin, it’s
great for sightseeing. |
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| I’m already making a list of all the people I want to take up
flying when I get my license and get back home. The school’s Chief Flight Instructor
says that there are Cessna 172s for rent at just about any general aviation airport I walk
into anywhere in the country. And you’ll see what I mean: once you get your license,
you and your wife will be planning weekend trips to those little airports all up and down
the coast near home. But it’s not just the places you can get to with these planes,
Stu, it’s the fun of getting there! I can’t even tell you what a great feeling
it is to take off into the third dimension and soar effortlessly over terrain that looks
so ordinary from the ground, but that’s just transformed when you can see it from the
air. And the freedom, the exhilaration of taking the controls in my hands, and going up
and away to where I please is simply wonderful. |
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| The days have been speeding by, and every lesson builds so
naturally that while each one is challenging, I arrive at each challenge ready to meet it.
And it hasn’t been all work. When the syllabus called for a long cross-country flight
a few days ago, Dave encouraged me to bring Charlene along and we had a picnic at a small
coast-side airstrip. Charlene enjoyed watching the scenery along the route, and I was
getting valuable navigation practice! |
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| My final checkride is tomorrow, and then I’ll have my Private
Pilot license. I feel ready, Stuart, even though I’ve only been here three weeks. I
feel confident in my abilities, and I feel the satisfaction of having risen to the
challenge and thrilled to the adventure of flight! I’ll be back soon, and next time
you see me, I’ll be a licensed pilot! |
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