Is there a rule somewhere in the FAA regulations that pilots must wear sunglasses at all times? Every time I walk past someone headed to their plane, they’re sporting a sweet pair of shades. Is the glare really that bad 5,000 feet? Or is it a tactic to hide bloodshot eyes? Or maybe pilots, like Secret Service agents, don’t want anyone to see where they’re looking.
Either way, it seems as though sunglasses are as much a part of flying airplanes as cigarettes and Jack Daniel’s are to playing rock guitar. So for the last two lessons I’ve been bringing along a cheap pair. I feel more like a pilot already.
That’s right, I said “two” lessons. Which means I didn’t update this site after every flight like I said I would. Why? Well, I’m lazy (like I said earlier). But more importantly, one of my flights sucked, and I didn’t think it was worthy of any attention what-so-ever.
But for those of you who are curious, here’s a recap:
Emergency Landings/Engine Failure
If my first try at this would have been a real emergency, you’d be reading my obituary on this page. We would have died. And not in a quick, humane way; more of a slow roast. Kevin tried cheering me up, because he’s nice like that, but it felt pretty crappy.
Steep Turns
Things are looking up – er, sideways. This was actually the first of a few skills Kevin taught me on the second flight, and it was reassuring to nail something pretty close to perfect on the first try – especially considering my dismal performance in the previous flight. Kevin even gave me a high five in the plane afterwords and said “But let’s see how good you really do” and cut the power to simulate an engine failure. So I picked a field, lined us up for an emergency landing and, as Kevin said afterwords, “Good, we would have lived through that.”
Must be the sunglasses.
S-Turns
If you’re a pilot, you know what these are. If you’re not, let me explain: have you ever watched a drunk guy try to walk a straight line? You know how he’ll veer off to one side, then the other, and do that over and over? That’s the idea of an S-Turn. But in an S-Turn you (hopefully) won’t ask out your best friend’s sister and/or throw up all over your shoes.
Landings
We haven’t really worked on these yet, but Kevin’s been letting me get a feel for the process. He’ll turn into the final leg, then let me try to put the plane down on the runway. It’s a pretty tough skill, namely because my brain is saying “Keep the nose down” but my ass is saying “Are you nuts? What are you doing in a plane?”
Next lesson is the traffic pattern, so just a warning to anyone flying out of the Caldwell Industrial Airport Thursday at 10 a.m.: wear your sunglasses.
Hey, met you at the FBO today. I have the hanger across the street from Darin & Kevins, and you two were heading up in the Scarakee for a flight.
I have a Mooney 201, and am building a sport plane as well. If you and whomever you were filming the back of her head is interested in chatting about airplanes, riding along in a FAST Mooney for some experience, or just BS’ing about planes, I’m out there every day. Stay with it, and yes, get some good, rounded, aviator glasses to really fit in, and… Remember: Keep the dirty side down, and you should do well.
KH
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