Coming to America
Passing along the gift of flight
I just read Greg Brown’s article in September’s Flight Training magazine about taking up the Dutch students for a flight in Arizona (“Flying Carpet: Dutch Treat”). Boy, can I relate! Our daughter Elizabeth has been home from Shanghai for several weeks, and her boyfriend (who is from Munich) joined us for several weeks’ holiday. Markus is in the logistics field, but has always had a longing to be a pilot. In Europe, it is very expensive to fly; we are so fortunate here in the United States. I took him up in my Skylane for a spin around Atlanta—he was grinning from ear to ear and asked incredibly smart questions about the flight. Boy, if only I were a CFI, he would be exactly the type of student I’d love to train. We should all pass along the gift of flight as much as possible.
Karen Atkins
Atlanta, Georgia
In a pinch
I wanted to share my story with you about the Pinch Hitter course. I surprised my husband last Christmas with my Pinch Hitter certificate. Here is how it went down.
In August 2016, my husband, Steve, turned to me and said it might be a good idea if I learned how to fly an airplane, “just in case.” For two months, I deliberated. Then, in October, I went to our local aviation flying club (Air Direct Airways in Nashua, New Hampshire) and talked with the chief instructor, Dave Plantier. He said, “If you commit to train three times a week, you could have that certificate by Christmas.” So, I did, without telling my husband. He must have thought I was having an affair, running off for four hours at a time with little detail about where I was going.
Anyway, in two and a half months I managed to fit in the ground training and 12 hours of flight instruction. On Friday, December 23, 2016, Steve’s flight instructor lured him to the airport on a ruse. He brought Steve out to my aircraft (Cessna 172), and there I was—strapped in the right seat. We tumbled Steve into the backseat behind Dave, the instructor.
Wouldn’t you know it for the first time in two months the departing and landing runway was 14—not 32, as I had trained? No problem. I taxied, preflighted, and took off. A few minutes after level flight, Dave “pretended to keel over in the seat,” and the airplane was mine. I talked with ATC, navigated back to the airport, and landed on 14. I hit ice when I touched down, but maintained control of the aircraft. Steve said I flew better than most pilots he knew.
I can’t begin to describe the good feeling it gives me to know I could navigate and land an airplane if I had to. There is only a 0.055-percent chance that Steve will be incapacitated, but why risk it? I can help him when we fly cross-country, too. Now, I am part of the fun. Thanks to the Pinch Hitter course, I am flying “right” when needed.
Melinda Tourangeau
Hollis, New Hampshire
Get an introduction to flight with the AOPA Air Safety Institute’s Pinch-Hitter online course. ASI also offers a syllabus or Pinch Hitter ground and flight instruction. —Ed.
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