How to Stack Airplanes in the Sky

Sometimes it still blows my mind that we have the technology to fly without being able to see outside!  This is called instrument flight.  Check out my video to see how planes are "stacked" in the sky as they wait to land at the Casa Grande airport!

Glass Cockpit

One of the things I really like about being a CFI at Westwind in Phoenix is that they have their Cessnas equipped with the G1000.  So much prettier than the round gauges I learned on, as you can see.  Obviously round gauges were more difficult to learn on.  The G1000 just has so much information available.  You practically have to try to lose your situational awareness; whereas, you have to work really hard to know where you are at all times when flying under the hood.  I do appreciate that I learned without it though!

G1000

Round Gauges

Student's First Solo

One of my student's had his first solo flight today. Pushed another one out the nest as they say.  Fun to give him his "wings"!

Snow in Arizona!

Flew to Payson today on a cross country flight with one of my private pilot students.  Saw snow... which would have made me think I was back in the Twin Cities if it weren't for the mountains!

Arizona Trip

This past week Sara, Isaac and I took a multi-purpose trip to Arizona for both vacation and to see if it's someplace we could see ourselves relocating to when I become a flight instructor.  My buddy Conor, who got me into this whole deal, is working down there at Westwind School of Aeronautics.  I basically just do whatever he does... so there we went to check it out.

Sara's dad was kind enough to book a room for us at the Arizona Biltmore, a Waldorf Astoria resort
with his Hilton points (he's a points guy). But back up... first of all, it was HOT.  Stepping out of the airport was just like people warned us it would be: a sauna... a dry, water sucking, sauna.  We flew Southwest.  It was my second time being on a commercial jet since becoming a pilot myself.  I did geeky stuff like looking up our flight plan on Flight Aware and then viewed it in ForeFlight while in flight.

My friend Conor let me backseat one of his student's lessons and I got to see Phoenix from the sky...  It truly is a desert!  The man made lakes and green golf courses are easy to spot.  It was really neat to see Conor in action and see the G1000 up close in the Cessna.  Westwind seems like a great place to be a flight instructor.

Sara and I also looked at a handful of apartments...just in case we make a move :) We also got to spend some time at the pool and in the sun.  We caught the US Women's National soccer team games on TV, celebrated my birthday, checked out Scottsdale Bible Church with a friend of Sara's family, Isaac slept like a champ while we were there, and overall had a great time.

Scenic Flight for my Friends

Yesterday I had the opportunity to rent a plane from Thunderbird, where I train as a student, to take a couple of my friends on a scenic flight around the cities.  It was a great day to fly.  Eric and Laura are soon going to be moving out of the country to use their skills as a nurse (Laura) and an English Language Teacher (Eric) within community development.  I can't take credit for these, but Laura got some neat pictures.

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...