POST PILOT CERTIFICATE UPDATE: Learning to fly - flying - is a lifelong dream of many people. When the opportunity arises, and we are face-to-face with our dream-come-true, it is both exhilarating and overwhelming. Many of us thought we’d never make it; we got in the airplane for the first time, already overwhelmed and over excited. But we stuck it through and passed our tests.

And we know now that feeling overwhelmed is a normal first step in a lifelong, adventurous journey. Stick with it. The rewards are bigger than words.

My first flight lesson (actually, the second first flight lesson…) began with breakfast at the Skytel Cafe at Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport (free tip: NEVER eat the corned beef hash) with my Instructor (lucky guy).

UPDATE May 2008: The Skytel Cafe was demolished almost two years ago to make way for Banyan Air Service’s new building. Plans are in the works for a new airport eatery!

There are probably a series of improbable events which led up to this day, but figuring out the significant/insignifcant turning points in my life is an exercise in futility. I’ll spare all of us the recounting.

Good Morning! Today, You’re Going to Fly!

Having a vague familiarity with aircraft and flying, my nervousness did not spring from fear of flying (in and of itself). I really wasn’t convinced that my first lesson would occur on this day having received notice only the night before from my instructor. I would believe it when I saw it and, hence, found myself caught off-guard as I stood next to the Cessna 172. Surely I wasn’t going to fly! Bob, my instructor, looked serious enough about it though.

Pre-Flight Checks Outside the Aircraft

Bob did a great job walking me around the airplane, explaining what constituted a good external inspection of the aircraft…

• remove the pitot tube cover
• check the static air vents
• drain a bit of fuel from the tanks
• visually inspect the fuel level
• check the oil level
• move the flaps
• check the tires

I can’t say that I remember all of it (good thing I’m not a pilot yet!), but I have a great instructor.

Pre-Flight Checks Inside the Aircraft

Let’s talk about the instrument panel. Now, I don’t know about you, but I was bowled over by the instrument panel. Yes, Bob explained everything (don’t you like how I lump all of the functionality of that panel into one word: everything?). Each thing I didn’t understand I stuck in the back of my mind with the hope that I would experience one of those (safe) teachable moments and never forget what that particular gauge measures or tells me.

Start the engine: Okay, I guess I am really going to fly today… and looky there… there’s Bob sitting next to me.

I guess he’s really going to let me fly today! That’s me…Mistress of the Obvious. About this time, Demon #2 reared its ugly head: what if Bob decides I am not teachable?!

What if, at the end of the lesson, he gets out of the plane and says, “You’re a lost cause!”

EEK!

Taxiing: Feet on the rudder pads, toes on the brakes, right hand on the throttle: follow the yellow line. “Which way, Bob?!” *grin*

I kept thinking, “I’m glad he knows where he is going!”

Pre-TakeOff Checklist

Okay, so it isn’t called the “Pre-Take-Off Checklist” but that is what it amounts to. I just kept my feet on the brakes and listened to Bob. Then he said something like, “Okay, let’s go.” Now, this is where reality sets in, along with the “Hey Bob…I don’t know what I am doing” …but by this time, we are rolling down the runway, full throttle as I wonder who is in control of this aircraft.