This morning Ava, Jenn, and Scott went for a flight just to see how Ava would do in an airplane. Turns out she had fun and wanted to go flying again as soon as we landed!
I love Ava’s little giggle as we lift off
We flew out to the Snake River canyon around Swan Falls. You can see the canyon through the window.
Ava enjoying her apple on final approach
This is as we are taxiing back to the parking area. Ava wanted to go again as soon as we touched down…
After 4 months, countless mornings of getting up at 4:30AM to go fly before work, studying textbooks in the evenings, doing flight plan after flight plan, 500 miles of cross county trips, 3.2 hours of night flight, 3.4 hours of instrument flying, 20 hours of dual instruction flight, 31 hours of solo flight, and 176 takeoffs and 176 landings (it’s good for them to be equal 🙂 ), today I passed my Private Pilot FAA practical exam (checkride) and now hold in my hand my temporary airman certificate! (That’s what they give you until your real one comes in the mail).
Just glad to be done - now I can’t wait to take Jenn and Ava up. Many, many, many thanks to Jenn for being so supportive, she’s the absolute best.
My parting advice from the pilot examiner was to always follow the rule on the placard below (above the altimeter), “Don’t do anything stupid!”
This morning I finished up my second solo cross country, the last major milestone to cross for my private pilot (single engine land) certificate with the exception of the FAA practical test.
First cross country was Boise / Burns, OR / Baker City, OR / Boise. Did that one Sunday. Then today went Boise / Twin Falls / Jackpot, NV / Boise, took 3 about 3 hours round trip, with a pretty healthy headwind coming back (ground speed of only about 87 knots).
Looking forward to the day Jenn, Ava, and I can take the plane somewhere by ourselves and show Ava what it’s like to fly! Shouldn’t be too long, I am hoping to finish up this month…
Spot Track of both cross countries