Coms

Give yourself a break

I really enjoyed reading Jill W. Tallman’s recent article “Around the Patch: Give Yourself a Break.” I totally agree with her comments. Hopefully sharing my experience will be an inspiration to student pilots. On December 17, I earned my private pilot certificate at the young age of 72 and 10 months. It was a three-year journey with times of excitement, anxiety, and frustration. As you can imagine, a particular challenge was preparing for the knowledge test and the infamous oral exam associated with my checkride. The oldest student pilot training with me was 23!

Aside from time and money, the key ingredients for success are patience and perseverance. You have to really want it and maintain a positive attitude if you are going to be successful. Learning to fly was a life event for me. In addition to fulfilling a lifelong dream it was a great opportunity to challenge my mental and physical acuity. So, what is my next challenge? Tenor saxophone. Lessons start next week.

Pete Warenski
Libertyville, Illinois

Jill W. Tallman’s advice should be well taken. I was 58 when I soloed at 34 hours. Well, that was 12-1/2 years ago and I am still flying. Never at the pace I had hoped, but I will cross 300 hours this spring. Along the way I got my tailwheel endorsement and have been to three aerobatic schools for unusual attitude/spin recovery, et cetera, training. It’s been a hoot. By the way, it wasn’t easy to learn to fly remote-control airplanes, either.

Joseph Zias
Deltona, Florida

I, for one, get very critical of myself, especially when it comes to landings. My instructor is a strong proponent of “if you don’t like it, go around, try again.” That’s something that I think is key. But I still find myself constantly apologizing if I’ve felt like I turned base too soon or whatnot, and I feel like I waste so much time focusing on what I did wrong that I forget to set a goal for what I can do right during future lessons. All in all, this article was something I needed to read this week. Thanks for that!

Elizabeth Sazdanoff
Highland Park, Illinois

See and be seen

The memory aid I learned long ago when taking sailing lessons was “red right returning.” For aviation, when you see the red light on the right, you know it’s coming toward you (“What Am I: See and Be Seen”). The other memory aid I used is: Red is the port/left side, the same side as the heart. (Not strictly biologically correct, but close enough.)

Philip Vardara
Penn Valley, California

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