On the Road Again

Another day, another hop, another lesson learned. Today's flight started as another dual cross-country to Monroeville, but as soon as we got to Bay Minette my instructor informed me that we would be diverting to Jackson (AL), another airport about the same distance away but a little more to the west. Finding it was easy enough- I dialed the airport into the moving-map GPS and followed the pink line on the screen. We flew there (in a straight line this time), landed, and flew back to Mobile rather uneventfully. My only persistent problem seems to be a lack of checklist discipline, which Peggy blames on my previous flight experience in high school, where I almost never used an actual written checklist.

Tomorrow is my final check flight in the IFS program. I'll be flying with Rocky, who is notoriously tough on checkrides, so I'll have to bring my A-game. Rocky will also be on my "ghost solo" on Monday. The last flight of IFS used to be a solo cross-country, but after one student flipped a plane over and killed himself, the Navy started requiring an instructor to be on board as an observer, to intervene only if the safety of the flight was in immanent danger.

On my way home today I stopped by the Ferguson airport, near where I live, to find out what it would take to finish my private pilot's license when I'm done with IFS. The good news is, I'm really, really close- probably as close as I'll ever be. The bad news is, it would still cost about $1,500, which I'm just not sure I can come up with right now.

But, once I get winged, I can take a written test will make me an instrument-rated commercial pilot. I guess I'll just have to wait until then...