Pre-Flight School Update from Maitland

Hello friends !!!

Two weeks ago I was living off of starbucks flat whites and chickfila chicken nuggets, trying to survive finals week 2015. Clocking over 12 hours a day in the Tommy G. library and sleeping less than four hours a night, I wasn't entirely sure I was going to make it out alive. Alas my determination to fly prevailed, and with the help of too much espresso I passed all of my classes with flying colors. Now with two college semesters under my belt and out of my way I am ready to take on J-Swig's Flight School. After a short weekend in Savannah, Georgia with my dear friend Émeline I'm well rested and back in the books. Lucky for me I got to trade in my algebra and ethical issues books for a Cessna 152 manual and student private pilot book (not like I haven't been studying all semester, I promise Jamie !)

I'm currently back home on Orlando where my folks live, catching up with old friends and catching up on throttle, yaw, pitch and any and all FAA regulations. We're down two days until Jamie and Sweetpea are down here to pick me up and take me back to Meridian for the coolest overnight camp ever!!!!  In the meantime you can find me clocking my time in local coffee shops with good company and lots of flash cards. I have no clue what I'm getting myself into but I've got a good feeling about it. All I know is that being in the sky is one of the coolest thing experienceable on this earth. Not to mention Jamie is going to be the funniest and most devoted teacher I've ever had (seeing how he has already put up with all my stupid questions thus far). Who knows, maybe he'll even let me buzz the tower?? If all goes well and I don't kill us both feel free to check back here in a few days for updates!!


Stay tuned 

Licensed to Instruct...

 It's official, I'm now an FAA-official "Certificated Flight Instructor" (who knew that was what CFI stood for?), so if you want to learn how to fly anything under 12,500lbs, with a single engine, in or out of the clouds, I'm your guy!

I passed my 125-question multiple choice "Military Competency - Instructor" test before work on Wednesday and then after work on Thursday I flew my plane, a two-seat RV-4, up to Bessemer, AL (KEKY), borrowed a courtesy car and drove to the Birmingham FAA "Flight Standards District Office" (FSDO) where I met with Greg Muse, a former Air Force F-4 Phantom pilot, FAA inspector and great American, about 10 minutes before he was going to leave for the day, hooray for timing.  With my test completion certificate form paper thing with the raised seal (I got a 92%), my Training Wing ONE instructor qualification letter and my instrument checker letter we filled out the forms and he printed out a Temporary Airman Certificate, giving me single engine and instrument instructor privileges, pretty cool, huh?

So newly licensed, and after some tasty fried chicken at the on airport restaurant, The Hangar, I jumped in my plane, named "Sweet Pea", by her previous owner/builder and flew off, literally, into the sunset back to Meridian.

Then on Saturday, in between the half and 4th quarter of the Army Navy Game (14 years!!!), my friend Joel, another Naval Aviator and CFI for about a year, took me up in a Cessna 152 and not only got me qualified to fly it from the right seat, but gave me a bunch of tips on instructing as well.  I've been reading up on the FAA instructor handbook that the Navy actually gave me when I checked into my squadron and I've given serious thought to cleaning my house and doing the dishes before Maitland gets here this week...

So I have my license and I've got a plane I can teach in... we're good to go!  I hope she's excited, because I'm definitely looking forward to this adventure.  It's going to be a challenge, not just for her, but for me as well - to take her, who's never flown before and at least get her close to her solo before she leaves next week, ...while also still giving 100% at my actual job, but I can't wait.

Progress update from James:

Well I just got home after a 7.5 hour shift at the duty desk... far better than the 12+ hours we used to do during my fleet tour back in California and on the Nimitz.  My brain is a little fried, but I'm going to try to pull up the Sheppard Air "Gouge" as we call most study guides in the Navy.  I've already gone through the FAA question bank once and I'm hoping to do it all again before Wednesday.  I've got two flights tomorrow, both formation, one day, one night so I'm going review some of the procedures for those as well.

It's a 50 question test from a bank of 394 and although I know most of it already, a lot of the FAA civilian regulations, airspace rules, small piston plane aerodynamics and performance information are things that we don't focus on in the Navy, or if we do, it's presented in a different manner.

I made an appointment with the Birmingham, AL FSDO for Wednesday afternoon, which I'm going to have to cancel in order to give a safety presentation to the squadron during that time (when you ask for time off, instead of taking official leave, you are very much rolling the dice that something will come up and you'll be needed).  Not ideal, but I'll e-mail the FSDO tonight to reschedule.  Oh, sorry, the FSDO is the FAA "Flight Standards District Office," essentially the local regulatory office for flying in this region.  There's one in Jackson as well.  The idea was that once I finished my test, I would drive down to Key Field (KMEI), jump in my plane, fly over to Birmingham and get my application and license signed off.

I'll knock that part out on Thursday or Friday (before our squadron's annual Christmas party that night... and the Army-Navy game on Sat).  Also, I have to get checked out in the Cessna 152 that they have down at Key.  It's the same model I first soloed in, but now I have to learn how to fly it from the right seat!  Haha, I'm not too worried though... I mean if I can fly the Hawkeye from the right seat, this shouldn't be too bad... right?