On Tuesday, I flew a 2.5 hour workout session with Dan in a Cessna 182. Unrecalled by me at the time, it was also my second anniversary of getting my private ticket! So I think we celebrated appropriately as Dan put me through my paces to break off some accumulated rust and do a Biennial Flight Review (BFR)--required of all pilots to keep current. (Every two years (unless you earn a new certificate/rating (eg an upgrade to instrument or commercial rating)), you must demonstrate that you still remember how to fly and still remember basic things about weather, FAA regulations, safety issues, etc.)
It was a great flight, including slow flight maneuvering, stalls (power-on and power-off), steep turns, S-turns, short-field landings and takeoffs, soft-field landings and takeoffs, emergency procedures (always fun to practice--"what do you mean the engine just stopped?!?!?! It sounds fine to me (or it would sound fine if you would push the throttle back in!)). It was a lot of work shaking the rust off, but most of it finally came clean. I even had a couple of good landings that squeaked.
We did our airwork out over Suffern, NY and did some practice landings at Greenwood Lake (4N1) which is a great field. It's got a fairly steep approach to runway 6 over some terrain, so keeps you on your toes with airspeed and pitch. There's a Connie (Constellation airliner) http://www.javelinamx.com/N9412H/history.htm on the field there-she was flown into the airport (that was one BRAVE pilot!) in 1977 to originally serve as an airport cafe....
We then did a few more practice landings, including short field practice and emergency procedures, at Randall Airport (06N). On the first attempt at the short field approach (you come in at a more steep angle of descent as you're simulating a short runway with an obstacle at either end), I turned to final too soon and couldn't make the descent look right--so I executed a go-around, which was the best choice to make. Better to make the landing right than do something stupid to make a bad landing stick...it's only gas (okay, and some money)! But I plan on being an old, wise pilot someday!
Since I had work commitments impinging on what was supposed to be a vacation day, and Dan's wife was a little under the weather, we decided to call it a day and headed back to Westchester. It was nice to just head for the Hudson River, enjoying the scenery while watching for traffic, and enjoy the beautiful clean air! A quick approach into runway 34 and a very fast fueling turnaround at Panorama (much faster than I've ever had before--it was terrific!) and we were tied down and debriefing.
On Wednesday, Dan came into the city to do lunch and we spent a good bit over an hour doing the oral quizzing/ground school portion of the BFR requirements. It was comforting to see how much I remembered (but also showed there's definitely some polishing room available)!
Besides thanking Dan for his time, I also shot a note to Kyle, my first instructor in CO, to check in with him about his new job in Arizona as well as to thank him for the solid foundation he helped me build.
I ran across a great aviation quote the other day: "You can always tell when a man has lost his soul to flying. The poor bastard is hopelessly committed to stopping whatever he is doing long enough to look up and make sure the aircraft purring overhead continues on course and does not suddenly fall out of the sky. It is also his bound duty to watch every aircraft within view take off and land." Ernest K. Gann from Fate is the Hunter.
