Yesterday we had a pretty nasty ice storm roll through with really heavy winds. I wasn’t sure if I would be able to go fly today. However, I checked the weather before I left and things looked good? A little windy but off to the airport I went. I got there a little early and talked to Beth for a few minutes. She commented how she could tell I’ve learned a lot on my own just by the conversations we’ve had....
As you can imagine, I was anxious to get started but the weather forecast wasn’t looking so good again. Snow forcasted to start some time in the morning. I checked the weather on a frequent basis, hoping it pushes till later. The morning comes and the weather looks like it will hold out. I get in and mete Gene, my instructor and he tells me that there’s an issue with the magneto on the plane so we won’t be flying today but there is still some things we can do, including doing a pre-flight....
Monday I call Beth over at Monadnock Aviation to try and get into the training schedule. No one was there at the time so I left a message. In the mean time, what do I need as a pilot? Off to the internet! (warning, this post is a little consumer heavy… I promise most of my posts won’t be like this) Clearly I need a set of Bose A20s, GoPro, an iPad loaded with ForeFlight, wait… no, I really don’t need all these things....
While going through ground school, the topic of flight instruction during the times of COVID came up. The instructor suggested we go see what our local flight schools were doing and how there can be a lot of ventilation in the cockpit and if you wear a mask, etc… it’s probably not that high of a risk. So one day while I was in Keene, I stopped by the airport there, just to inquire what they were doing as far as instruction....
A first step for a lot of pilots is to start with Ground School. This is where you learn about how and why the airplane flies, the rules and regulations, navigation, weather… all sorts of really interesting things. It also helps prepare you for the written test. You don’t need to pass the written before you start your flight training, but you will need to before you can solo (fly without an instructor… but you also can’t take passengers at this point)....