Flying to New Heights!
Achievement unlocked: I am now a Private Pilot, per the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)!
Thursday, Ron, the FAA Examiner (who is an Airline Captain for Delta), performed the “ground”, also known as “oral”, portion of the check ride: over an hour of questions, reviewing of my sample cross-country route, and so on.
As weather didn’t cooperate Thursday, Friday (the 16th) we did the actual “practical test”, widely called the “check ride”.
Having passed both (though with slightly muted colors!), I’m now a Private Pilot and can fly single-engine airplanes (land-based, not sea-based) that aren’t considered “complex” nor “high-performance” for fun (not profit!) during so-called VFR conditions (basically that means no flying in clouds nor rain).
Learning to fly has been a challenging, yet fun, hobby for the past 10 months. I plan to enjoy these new privileges and further my studies, perhaps pursuing an Instrument rating (which opens up many doors, including being allowed to fly in clouds and rain, use autopilot, and so on, if supported by the aircraft), while taking in a variety of mini-vacations hither and yon with my wife in the co-pilot’s seat.
