Turns out that Marv had some minor surgery, so he can’t fly for a week or so. Since waiting that long is OUT of the question, I scheduled another lesson with Kent at 4:30pm. Weather was hideous in the morning (as hideous as it gets in LA), but it cleared up later. Called the Van Nuys ATIS at 3:30 – wind 160 at 5, sky 3500 broken. No problem.

I did the preflight myself this time, with Kent pointing out a few key items along the way. Went through the checklists, start, radio ground, taxi, run up, radio tower, and onto runway myself. We flew out to a practice area over Simi Valley (for those who know the area) and practiced coordinated turns, slips, etc. Flew back, radioed for landing clearance, and ALMOST completely landed by myself. Kent had to hold us off the runway a bit so we didn’t PLOW into it – but I’m getting it down. Taxied back myself, shutdown via checklist and secured the plane.

This is getting FUN.

.7 hours/2.0 total

I decided to interview 3 CFI’s for my training, but I wanted to learn as much as possible in the process. I prepared for my first flight by reviewing lessons in various training aids. Got up this morning and looked outside. After literally WEEKS of fantastic weather, it was overcast and looked like rain. 4 months of waiting, and I get shut out? All day I kept calling the ATIS at VNY to see how things were shaping up. By 4:00 (lesson was scheduled for 4:30) it was marginal at best. I called Kent (my flying club’s CFI) to see if we were still on. He said sure – we could at least fly around the pattern a bit, and the wind was real calm.

So I went. We did a quick preflight, and we headed out. It was even more exciting than I expected. Just 4 trips around the pattern, but I learned tons. By the 3rd circuit, I was climbing out properly, trimming, doing coordinated turns, turning crosswind, downwind, base and final all at the right times, and starting to get a feel for the landing “process”. Kent is a fine instructor.

Tomorrow I’ll schedule a lesson with the CFI who took me on my intro flight – Marv Rowley.

1.3 hours

I started this endeavor about 4 months ago – September 1998. I was going to see a different kind of instructor – my golf pro. He canceled on me, so I thought I’d stop in at a nearby airport (Whiteman – WHP) a look around. Walked in to a flight school there and started asking questions. Before I knew it, I was on an intro flight, and loving ALL of it. Bought a pile of training stuff – they could have said, “you need to buy a Cessna 172 now”, and I would have called the bank. They would have turned me down, but I would have called.

Raced home a told my wife – “I knew I’d like it, but I didn’t know I’d LOVE it. I want to get my private pilot’s license.” Holding our 1-year-old, I’m pretty sure it sounded more like “I know we don’t have nearly enough life insurance, but I want to zip around in a tiny plane in the busiest airspace in the country. Oh, and by the way – it’s real expensive.” Overall, she was supportive – she could see how excited I was.

But the reality was that I didn’t really have the TIME to get started yet. In May I started a software company, and the travel now involved was tremendous. It would need to wait. With the support of my wife, and the kind folks in rec.aviation.student, I started studying to pass the time. Even with CD-ROM, books, Internet sites, newsgroups and talking to other pilots – the time passed VERY slowly. I decided I would start my training around my birthday – in January.

An added bonus of waiting was that I came in contact with a flying club at a local airport (Van Nuys – VNY) and joined. This will cut my training cost, considering the average 172 rents for over $50/hour Hobbs time, and the club 172 goes for $34/hour Tach time.