dragonsblog

I did it! I passed the flight test for my pilot's license yesterday. Any euphoria I might be feeling has been thoroughly crushed by the severe blow to my ego from the test itself. Being critiqued by a 13,500-hour air transport pilot who's been flying for 59 years can do that, I guess. That, and being so nervous that any memory and coordination I thought I had seemed to disappear for the day, rendering me but a hint of the pilot I thought I was. I am so glad it's over so now I can go back to having fun flying!

I flew over to Kenosha Airport for the test, and although I obviously didn't take any photos during the test, I did take a couple on the way back to Westosha afterward. Here's one of Kenosha Airport as I was departing. It's a Class D airport with a control tower and plenty of nice runways.


As I headed back to Westosha, completely exhausted from the experience, the sun was setting into some clouds in the west. It had been a beautiful day for flying!

Aileron rolls, flying inverted, three loops, two hammerheads, two cuban eights, a couple of spins and some agressive lazy eights. Then I felt nauseous so we stopped and did three tailwheel landings on the grass strip at Camp Lake Airport.

That was the fun I had last Saturday with my flight instructor, Dana, in his American Champion Decathlon (8KCAB). I didn't have the presence of mind to take a picture of it with its brilliant paint scheme, so I nabbed these images of similar Decathlons off the Internet.

I wanted a taste of aerobatics and some time in a tailwheel aircraft, so Dana's Decathlon fit the bill. It was a blast to fly! I lasted about 45 minutes before my stomach got to me, and Dana jokingly said that's about 40 minutes longer than most people. I didn't have a problem with the 4-G pulls in the vertical maneuvers and actually kind of enjoyed them, but I found flying inverted to be very disorienting.

Dana has sold the plane, so I wanted to at least get a taste before the new owner took it. But darn it, now I want more!