FLIGHT!

[cjsmith]

I fiiiiiiiiinally did it. I went up for the first session of my BFR!

Previously I'd been thinking of doing the BFR in a Citabria, a tailwheel aircraft with some aerobatic capability. This would kill two birds with one stone: I'd be legal to fly as pilot-in-command, and I'd also be checked out by the flying club to fly an aerobatic airplane. I could fly upside down again!

But that's probably not the most efficient way to go about it. This time I'm doing the BFR in a Piper Warrior, the same kind of plane I once owned and also the type in which I took my checkride. I'm very familiar with Warriors. I should be able to get the basics down more quickly in those. Then I can transition to the Citabria again... and one day, get back into a Pitts.

Several days ago Rob and I chatted about some of the instructors he knows at West Valley Flying Club. I needed someone who wouldn't destroy what little confidence I have left, but who also wouldn't let me get away with anything sloppy or unsafe. That's a difficult line to walk. Rob recommended Benjamin Mendelsohn, a guy I hadn't met, as someone who was likely to be able to achieve both these things.

I'm happy to say Benjamin seems to be a GREAT match for me. He's friendly and outgoing, he's laid back, he's quick with a compliment, and he absolutely will not check off an item on his list until I do it well. He liked my preflight *and* he added a few things to it. He complimented my airwork *and* he made me do several things again.

He particularly didn't like my stall recoveries. That's good; I don't like my stall recoveries either. (Too much acro work, sadly. An acro judge WANTS to see the nose come way down. This is sooooo not what should be done in a "real" (unintentional stall) recovery! MUST retrain myself!)

Other than those, he has no major complaints. He says I'm doing better than some people who are current. (That's downright scary.) I haven't lost as much as I'd thought. My landings wouldn't have hurt passengers or plane.

My landings also weren't pretty by any stretch of the imagination. I'm rusty. I'm not up to passing a private pilot checkride today. We'll whip me back into shape.

Now I gotta schedule the next one.

Comments

[gdmusumeci.livejournal.com]

Congratulations!

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Thanks! It was more of an emotional hurdle than I figure it "should have" been... but hey, I did it: I got started.

[coyote3502.livejournal.com]

My dad, who flew a Cessna 140, would say, "any landing you can walk away from is a good one." Of course, he would also be quick to ask if you logged two landings when you bounced one, a common occurence with the spring-steel landing gear on the Cessna taildraggers.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Did he finish with "...and any landing after which you can use the airplane again is a great one"? :-) By those standards I've had one landing that was merely good. (We later found out those tailwheels had been recalled by the factory for doing exactly what mine did: disintegrate upon touching the runway.)

Oh yes, the spring-steel gear. I should log all my bounces. Instant extra experience!

[klwalton.livejournal.com]

Yay!! Just that :):):).

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

I'm pleased. I'm facing it. Is good.

[wcg.livejournal.com]

Yay! CJ is in the air agian!

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Yay! Just wait 'til I start doing loops and stuff again! :-)

[lesliepear.livejournal.com]

You are up to flying? No problems with that and your foot issues?
Go CJ!!!!

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

I can't fly in my post-op shoes, so I have to bring a second pair; the preflight inspection of the aircraft is decidedly painful; holding my toes on the toe-brakes is decidedly painful; but everything else is great. Once I get in the air there is no problem at all. YAY!

[aleeceh.livejournal.com]

Just ... WOW! Congratulations on getting off the ground again!

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I'll feel a lot better once I get back to my old level of skill. Well, I hope that will be the case, anyway. I am *pretty sure* my old level of skill was better than this. :-)

[quasigeostrophy.livejournal.com]

Yay for getting started again!

I could fly upside down again!

I presume you just mean legally, eh? ;-)

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Legally, true. As I don't own an aerobatic aircraft (or any aircraft at this point) flying upside down means obtaining someone else's plane. That's somewhat difficult to do when you're CLEARLY not current and the flight club has no record of you within the last, oh, five years. :-)

[abenn.livejournal.com]

Wow, it sounds like you got a perfect fit for your instructor. Were I to learn to fly, I would want to work with such a person. Heck, that's the kind of instructor I'd want for any type of training.

Come to think of it, that's the type of intstructor I want to bep

Wishing you ever so much luck with your flying.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Agreed -- that's the kind of instructor I'd want for most stuff and also the kind I'd like to be.

Thank you! I really had worked myself up into an "I can't do it" state. I am no longer putting up with that from my inner critic. I can do it with some practice.

[renaissancedan.livejournal.com]

Excellent news, glad to hear it!

I had let my BFR expire and was dying to fly again, finished up the BFR last week, and had a wonderful flight on Friday from WVI-PAO-Bay Tour-STS, dinner with friends then reverse trip home. Awesome to be back up in the air again, I'm sure you feel the same!

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

It's wonderful, isn't it? There's just nothing like flying. I love it. Now if only my inner critic would shut up already and let me and my flight instructor work out any deficiencies!

[layer.livejournal.com]

woo hoo!

we'll have to fly together soon.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Yes! We can gang up on our inner critics. :-)

[joedecker.livejournal.com]

YAY!

[joedecker.livejournal.com]

PS: Kick-ass icon. :)

[ambar.livejournal.com]

Yes! *victory dance on your behalf*

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Now I just have to keep on track...

[gjo.livejournal.com]

Congrats. now we just have to get you back flying proper aircraft without those
fans on the front :).
Power pilots get it easy, Australian glider pilots have to have annual check
rides, usually including full spin entry and recovery.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

True enough! I would want a full checkout to fly a glider again -- I haven't flown one in so long.

[ericainohio.livejournal.com]

CJ! This is awesome news!

See? You ARE Superwoman. You're flying. *ducks and runs*

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

*schnorfle* Well, I do need an airplane for it!

Thank you -- I'm glad I'm getting started again.

[sunnydale47.livejournal.com]

Yay! I'm so happy for you, CJ!!!

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

I soooooooo wish I could take YOU up in the air!!

[firecat]

whee!

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

It almost feels like "getting back on the horse again (after a fall)", and I guess that's true, in a sense. I attempted the Pitts pretty early in my flying career and that's just not an easy aircraft to handle. I didn't learn to land it to my instructor's satisfaction (before the money ran out, anyway); that was the "fall".

[jupiter29.livejournal.com]

Woohoo! Congratulations and I'm glad you found someone who worked well with you.

And it also needs to be said that I am ridiculously envious of you today. I swear, one of these days I will see about learning how to fly a plane. I just have to make myself do it.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I'm pleased. Today I scheduled another flight with Benjamin for this coming weekend.

Do it! Go for it! :-) Flight schools and advice on choosing an instructor... questions and answers...

(Warning: I've gotten one coworker up in the air already. I'm dangerous, I am.)