Night Flight Landing: Video

My wife Sara back-seated on Lesson 15 last night of my Private Pilot training.  Check out this video she took of one of my landings.

First Solo

It's taken me 15 flights and 24.4 hours before I did my first ever solo flight today.  I started my Private pilot training on October 12, and here I am about two months later completing my first solo.  We started with a dual flight, 3 takeoffs and landings so my instructor could be sure that I was prepared to fly alone.  After that, I kicked him out, did 3 takeoffs and landings and I'm still here to write about it.  My instructor was available the entire day and helped me progress through 5 lessons!

Juggling Act: 3 Jobs + Night (and weekend) School

So, I'm starting to realize how adding one more thing to the "plate" is going to feel like a lot.  Here's a look at my calendar last week...

The blue is my teaching job.  In the mornings I go to Moreland where I teach one class of elementary school Phy Ed.  Then I head over to Heritage Middle School, depending on A day or B day I have different start times, but not really enough time to go home or do anything else... so I just go to school.  I'm planning on using the gap in the morning to study, but we'll see what happens.

The red/pink is coaching.  Football season ended a bit ago and now I'm coaching middle school wrestling.  The green is my job at Concordia University where we live and where I supervise the RAs in Holst Hall.  The purple is my flight training on the weekends and now I have face to face ground school class that has started up on M & W.

But hey, got to see Brian Regan this weekend with our friends so can't complain!

New Bose Headset

Whenever I drive home from the airport after a lesson I call my wife to debrief.  I told her how difficult it was for me to hear ATC on the radio...more than just learning to speak 'aviation'.  My instructor told me I needed a new headset, I had been borrowing the loaner headset from behind the dispatch counter.  Conversation faded, Sara and I hung up, and as I turned the corner to arrive home Sara was waiting at the curb.  She hopped in the car and said, "we're going to the mall."  I asked, "what for?" As if it were no big deal she said, "You need a new headset, we're going to the Bose store."  We went for the 0% interest payment plan to break down the cost over the next year.  Can't wait to put them to use!  Look a little groggy in this picture, but super excited.

#bestwifeever

Let's Do It

After the demo flight I left feeling overwhelmed with how much I did not know about what was going on in that airplane as we were flying. Overwhelmed so good.  As in, I have to learn how to fly.

Sara and I dove into conversation about possibilities, finances, time, and work.  My friend Conor, who sparked my interest in flying, had enrolled in a program at a small local college.  We made an appointment and not long after I was sitting in the admission office at Academy College.  

Being a part-time gym teacher, coach, and residence hall supervisor, I don't exactly have a lot of free time.  But the college assured me that the flight training would be flexible and that they would do their best to offer the ground classes at night.  So... here I am!  Enrolled in an Associate's program and starting my flight training on the weekends.  First ground school class begins tonight!

Getting to the Demo Flight

Coach Pimental: top row, far left.

For the past couple years, I've been working as a part-time Phy Ed teacher by day, a coach by evening, and a Residence Life Coordinator by night.  My wife and I live on our college campus where I now supervise a group of RAs.  I am compensated with housing for my job at the college, and my wife is also working full-time as a teacher.

One night last school year after a meeting at the college, one of my RAs, Conor, hung back to chat with me.  He was an amazing student, great baseball player, and top notch RA with his eyes set on law school post graduation.  He told me he was considering becoming an airline pilot.  Wow! I thought. Tell me more.  He went on to explain to me what he new about the industry, the process of becoming an airline pilot, and the airline pilot shortage that we are just on the brink of as baby boomers hit the mandatory retirement age of 65.  He said he went on a demo flight and loved it. I told him to keep me posted and then walked back down the dorm room halls to my home.  My wife and I probably had a conversation about how to keep a handful of middle schoolers from doing nothing in gym class (that is, to try to get them to at least do something), and I probably mentioned Conor's demo flight experience and how I thought it was cool, and then we probably ate dinner at 9pm and then we probably went to bed.

A week later, Sara had scheduled a demo flight for me.  I was so excited to go up in a small plane.  I could literally count on one hand the number of times I had been in any airplane.  Unfortunately, the day of the flight came and the pilot called me to say that the clouds were too low and we wouldn't be able to make it work.  I was disappointed.  He tried to reschedule but it was a busy season for us, so I dropped it.

Me, Sara, Auntie Terri & Uncle Darwin

This past summer, Sara and I went on vacation in Hawaii, visiting our friends.  We shared a lot of good conversations with our hosts who became fast friends.  I shared with Auntie Terri the story about Conor and his choice to pursue an airline pilot career and how Sara immediately booked a demo flight for me but it all fell through.  I was sharing the story in the context of how encouraging Sara can be.  Then all of a sudden, Auntie Terri started to sound just like her.  You'd be a great pilot, John! Uncle Darwin and Auntie Terri have some close friends who are pilots and they offered to connect me to a mentor in the industry.  I thought that was kind.  Then we got ready for a camping adventure with our friends.  Flying was out of sight, out of mind.

Not a week after we had returned to Minnesota from our vacation, Sara had scheduled another demo flight for me.  Last month on August 7th, 2013 I took my first flight.  And that is where this story begins...