First timers

So I guess spring is supposed to be here by now huh? Well, Mother Nature is having second thoughts on that I guess. The forecast for the weekend is for rain and snow tomorrow. And possibly on Sunday as well. It is pretty annoying when you are only able to fly with students on the weekends and the weather consistently does not cooperate. Whether it is the wind, the clouds, or now precip and freezing temps….its enough to make a guy like myself want to move to Florida. I think I can handle thunderstorms and hurricanes better than I can deal with a winter full of gusty crosswinds and ice filled clouds. But I digress.

The weekend is slated to be a good one, if the weather cooperates. I am scheduled to work the dispatch desk on Sat morning until around noon. I’ve got one of my better students lined up for a flight to tune him up for his re-solo. He’s new to town and needs a new solo endorsement from myself. Easy flight. Late afternoon I have a new student who has about 30 hours, but wants to finish his license. This should be an interesting flight. Flying with new people always keeps me on the edge of my seat.

Speaking of new pilots, I took my friend Chris and Jami up in the airplane last night. We loaded up the c-172 and headed west towards Front royal and Winchester. We were headed into Winchester (kokv) for a touch and go and I asked Jami if she wanted to try a landing. She was excited so I said I would handle the rudders and the power, she could do the flare. I carefully watched her and coached her every movement. As we came over the grass I said, keep bringing us down; we crossed the threshold at a beautiful height and I explained that ill being the power back and I wanted her to level off, then I told her to keep the airplane at this height and not let it sink. She started to instinctively flare the airplane. I was in utter amazement. Granted she did not have to worry about maintaining airspeed on final, or putting in flaps or steering on the ground after touchdown, but she still did a whole lot better than a lot of students I’ve seen. I think we might have a new student on our hands. I gave her a logbook with her first 1.5 in it.

It was great to get back in the left seat and I enjoyed being the sole manipulator of the controls for a change…..

We took our friend Dave flying as well. We had a picture of him on my clipboard propped up on the instrument panel in cruise flight. As his girlfriend sat next to me I watched as she held the picture in her hands. Dave had been flying with me once before, and he wanted me to take him flying back in January. I guess he finally got to go back up with me again.