I'm a Pilot!

Random thoughts about the day...

Woke up at four AM, couldn't get back to sleep.

Left house early, got the airport early, took off for Easton with 7 miles of reported visibility and saw that the visibility was worse than expected. Returned to airport to wait for better visibility. Waited for 10 miles of visibility.

Tried again, visibility was better but not great, really glad I had GPS. I didn't even pick Easton up out of the haze until two miles out.

Landed, parked plane, tied down, examiner waiting at the door.

Long discussion about the way he does the exam. Forms to fill out, logbooks to inspect, etc.

Finally started, covered lots of stuff, map symbols, frequencies, LAHSO, aeromedical, scuba diving, static port blockage, equipment required for day or night or mountain flying, required inspections, required endorsements, scuba diving, VFR cruising altitudes, why I planned my cross country as I did, gotchas in the complex airspace near BWI, light gun signals, equipment and classes of airspace, sharing costs of flight, required documents aboard, weight and balance, short field takeoff performance, density altitude, and on.

Had lunch, more questions over lunch.

Finished oral portion, abbreviated preflight check of plane, taxied out.

Soft field takeoff, trip around pattern, slip, normal landing, touch and go, trip around pattern, short field landing, takeoff, depart for cross country.

Climb to 2500, checkpoints made on time, found KRJD, then started air work, slow flight, stalls, steep turns, hood on, unusual attitudes, lost procedures, tune and track to VOR, engine out descent to land at a private grass strip (with go around once landing was assured), return to Easton, soft field landing, taxi to parking.

I got a late start, it took a lot of time in the oral portion, and by the time he gave me my temporary certificate, it was getting toward sundown. So I filed for SFRA return, took off, and hustled back to Fort Meade, making it in as the sun was going down. I was again really glad for the GPS - I had a very hard time finding the field in the haze. By the time I got the plane tied down I couldn't even see the tach/hobbs meters - I wasn't planning for a night flight so I didn't have a flashlight. I wound up using the light from my cell phone to see the numbers.

But finally, I'm a pilot.