Entering the home stretch
It has been approximately a year and a half since my flight training restarted in earnest. During that time there have been interruptions from weather, scheduling, and bird strikes. It has taken far longer than I hoped, but it is finally starting to feel like my check ride might actually be in sight. Over the past few months I have been flying with my instructor to get confident with the instrument skills that I will have to demonstrate on the test. There has been a refresher solo cross country, and some practice operating in the control tower environment of Cape Girardeau.
There has been one more complication in the training process recently. Our club, the Stoddard County Flyers, finally decided to upgrade our aircraft. Last month we voted to sell our trusty, but maintenance heavy, 1964 Cessna 172E and replace it with a much nicer 1976 Cessna 172M. Not only is this plane newer, it is fully equipped for IFR. It has a GPS-linked autopilot, storm scope, and lots of other goodies that will be helpful in the instrument stage of my training. Additionally, it has a much more powerful engine. This has improved climb performance, but changed the way that stalls and slow flight feel. Mostly, it simply a process of making minor adjustments in the way I fly.
For example, gone are the manual Johnson-bar flaps we have been using for years. Instead, I am getting used to electric flaps and a trim wheel mounted on the instrument panel. In 1964 Cessna’s trim wheels were mounted on the floor. In addition, the new plane has a standard layout for the basic six instruments, instead of the somewhat unique placement of the old aircraft. Everything about the new plane is an improvement, but I am going to need a few more hours before I will feel confident enough to take the test.
Occasionally my instructor still catches me reaching for instruments and controls as they were laid out in the old plane. Fortunately, every time that we get in the air I am feeling more and more comfortable and the idea of taking the check ride is not quite as terrifying as it once was. At the beginning of April my instructor declared that I was close enough to begin talking to prospective designated pilot examiners.
Those conversations have begun and I have made provisional plans with the person who I hope will declare me a fully fledged pilot. She and I are going to have a pre-exam briefing soon after which my instructor will run me through a couple of mock check rides. Once he is satisfied, I will be signed off and turned loose to go take the test.
It is still hard to believe that there is actually starting to be a little bit of light at the end of the tunnel. I am not yet there, but end is in sight. Now is no time to get complacent. It is time to focus and get ready for what promises to be one of the most exciting and challenging days of my life.
