Arrow Time

It’s been a pretty crazy couple of weeks for me, but I think the dust has settled and we are all moving forward. There is definitely something to be said for having someone on your side upstairs. This past weekend was tremendous for me as far as the flying goes. Sat morning I made my way out to the airport for a 10 am show with a student who was signed up for his first lesson ever. Huge responsibility for me. My first student from scratch. He was excited, motivated, and ready to fly. I took him out, showed him the Cessna we would be flying, and we started in on the preflight. I had him read the checklist item and I showed him what we were looking at. After the preflight, we climbed in and I taxied us out of parking. Once on the main taxiway headed out to runway 35 I let him take the controls. I showed him how to taxi using the rudder petals to steer and to keep us on centerline. We did the run-up and then we took the runway. I had briefed him on the takeoff. I kept us going straight with my feet and kept an eye on the airspeed. When we hit 60 knots I had Ahmed gently pull back on the yoke. Before he knew it we were airborne. He was really pumped. I let him fly us west staying under the Dulles class B airspace, and had him climb us out up to 3000 as soon as we could. Once clear of the ridge and the ADIZ boundaries, we went up to about 4000 to get above the thermals. Nice smooth air for his first flight. We did some turns, climbs, descents…..he had a huge grin on his face. After about an hour we headed back to Leesburg. After a brief delay getting back into the ADIZ we got our code and I had him descent us down to around 1500. He was a little unnerved by the thermal activity as it was a nice warm day in the DC area. I took over a mile outside the pattern and landed us on runway 35. He complimented me on the landing…..glad he didn’t know otherwise. I had a little bounce to it. I guess its all good right? So he’s signed up for his second lesson. He’s all set to get started. I am as well.
My afternoon was a checkout in the arrow. The PA28R-200. Retractable gear, constant speed prop. We headed off on a x-c he had planned up to Chambersburg PA—N68. A nice little skydiving strip. We landed, taxied in, and right before departure back out we were bombarded by about 6 parachuters. Pretty cool to see. After departure, we headed over for a landing at Hagerstown (khgr) and then a landing at Frederick (kfdk). Full stops at each. Then we headed home for a nice smooth landing back at Leesburg. As usual, a gorgeous sunset on the way back southwest bound. Something I have really found enjoyment in. Nothing better than a nice sunset over the Blue Ridge Mountains at the end of a long afternoon of flight instructing.

Sunday was the morning of my 8k race in DC. St Patty’s day 8k to benefit the Special Olympics. I used the opportunity to raise money for the family of my friend who had just recently passed. I was very successful, and thank all those that helped me with my effort. I also had an excellent run, finishing at my best time to date.

The afternoon I spent with my commercial student. We went up in the Cessna to get him back in the saddle. It’s been a while since he’s flown so we went through the PTS and did all the maneuvers he would need to know. For not having flown in a while he did exceptional. After the airwork I told him to take us to Winchester (kokv) for some landings. We were on the edge of some weather and it was moving in. On about a 3 mile left base for runway 32 at Winchester I asked him what he thought about the weather. He said “Let’s go back to Leesburg”. I concurred. I told him that’s exactly what I am looking for him to do with his commercial training. Start making good decisions based on experience and knowledge that he has….no longer relying as much on a cfi for guidance. Growing exponentially as a pilot, and eventually a CFI. We are going to get into the Arrow next time. I am excited to teach him about the gear and the constant speed prop. It’ll be a real experience for me.