And when I woke up on Sunday and looked out the window, all I I thought I'd have to show for the day was some free coffee and donuts...
I had planned to fly the club plane for the first time solo, but the weather did not look promising. But, I figured I'd take along my stuff, just in case. The stuff had grown to require two trips, since last time I flew the club plane, I couldn't get the seat high or close enough, so I carried my assortment of cushions in addition to my three flight bags. One bag contains the essentials for all flights - logbook, sectionals, kneeboard, barf bags, pee sacks, etc. The second contains my headset, the other headset, a spare shirt, and a small towel. The third bag contains folders for other aircraft that I have flown in the past, folders for other airports I've frequented in the past, the AF/D, and a few other tidbits.
Around 10:00 AM - the starting time for my reservation - things started clearing up. I decided to drive over to the hangar, if for no other reason, to spend some time sitting in the plane to familiarize myself with it. That turned out well, as after some fiddling, I was able to adjust the seat so that I could see well, and reach the pedals comfortably, without the need for any supplemental cushions. By the time I had finished fiddling and preflighting, the weather had cleared nicely. I spent the majority of my flying time in the pattern, and, using the hints that Patrick had given me, flew four decent landings. The thing I was most concerned about in terms of flying by myself was getting the airplane back in the hangar. That turned out to be much easier than I had expected, which was a nice way to end a nice flying experience. The other great thing about the flying? I flew for .7 hours hobbs time, which, in the local rental plane would have cost $77 (.7 x $110) plus tax. But, with the club plane billed at tach time, I only paid for .4 hours, and with the cheaper per hour rate ($75) my flying only ended up costing $30!
So, what does any of this have to do with the title?
Nothing, but, one of the attendees at the coffee was the CAP Squadron Commander, who informed me that I had received a promotion from Senior Member to 2nd Lieutenant. I'm not quite sure what I did to earn it (maybe the UDF rating or passing my Form 5?) and it's not like it really changes anything, but, it still was nice to get it.
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Posted by David at August 21, 2006 09:50 AM