A Dream Come True

If you have been following any of the blog posts I have written up until now, you would not have to read very many to know that I have been training to get my pilot's license. It was a process that began back near the beginning of July 2010, and came to it's successful conclusion as of late Saturday afternoon November 26 2011, having passed both a couple of hours oral test, and then a 1.4 hour flight test.

It is something I had wanted to do for years but neither had the time, nor the money to learn. Instead for a period of about 15 or more years I spend many weekends jumping out of airplanes rather than flying them. I began that sport in Oct. of '85, and last jumped about six years ago with a total of almost 1100 jumps!

When I related some skydiving stories to a customer on one of my routes, he indicated that he and his buddy had made a number of jumps, and then went on to take flying lessons. Well, I said that is something I have always wanted to do, and that conversation stirred within me a renewed desire to fulfill that dream.

During the long July 4th weekend, I went to the local airport and talked with an instructor there, and yet he just seemed so busy with other things I did not get the impression he would have much free time to train me when I was available. Then I remembered reading an article in the paper a few months before of a flight instructor who just opened a new flight school called  Avsport with a web address and contact information.

I called up the instructor, who booked me for an introductory flight for the following Saturday. The introductory flight serves as the first lesson for those who are interested in training. Well, I was hooked, and so I wrote the check that would pay for the first series of lessons to start me on the path to making my dream come true.

Well, right off the bat there was a delay of several weeks because I am a Canadian citizen, and I needed approval with the TSA! Then there are delays because of weather, there are delays because of working during the week, and only having weekends. I took a weeks vacation the end of August, and got 5 lessons in that week which really helped my progress! There were delays because of instructor commitments, some delays because of airplane maintenance, and one or two delays because of my own commitments, or even other students being trained at the same time.

However, I stuck with it. And as some students graduated, and the weather changed in the late fall, I became one of the few left still willing to fly during the cold winter days! Cold weather is the best air to fly in, and some of the smoothest air, since it is more dense, and there is not the thermals that cause turbulence And so, back in mid November, I did my first solo, which I wrote about and you can read HERE and HERE

When I finally completed all of my training, it then became necessary to arrange for my practical test, which is commonly referred to as a "check ride". I called the examiner, and we agreed to try to make it the first available flyable weekend day. Well, that did not happen right away. All of a sudden, the weekend weather did not cooperate, and it was forecasting rather iffy conditions for this past weekend too.

Then added to the mix was the fact that on Friday when I went to work, they cancelled all of the driver's routes because of the weather, and put us on an "on call" basis for Saturday! So, the weather forecast improved, but I did not know if I would be forced to come in to work, and Sunday did not look good weather wise, and it had already been three weeks since I last flew! I did not know when I went to bed, whether I would be working or flying the next day. More sure I would be working than flying.

Well, as it turned out, work gave me the option of coming in or not, and I turned it down so I could fly, and the weather turned out perfect for flying! Almost too perfect since the examiner had to find ways to challenge me during the flight portion so as to not make the test too easy to pass. And let me say it was NOT easy to pass what so ever!

More of the details I will describe in a new post very soon, but for now let me just end by saying, that I was also trying to keep in mind the thoughts I wrote about in my previous posts concerning God's will, and WWJD, and trying to put that perspective into practical Human Journey practice! I did not know how it was all going to turn out. I did know I really wanted to get my check ride over and done with, and not delay any longer, but I also knew that God was intimately involved in using every detail as teachable moments, as well as surprising me with the satisfaction of a long awaited Dream Come True!