Instrument Training - Introduction

How I got to this point

Last year, I started working towards my instrument rating. I signed up for Instrument Ground School at Galvin Flying Services in Seattle, Washington. While in ground school, a former Private Pilot Ground School classmate was hired as a flight instructor. Thus began my flight instruction with Erika Walker.

As winter yielded to spring, I grew tired from the strain of instrument training and longed for the freedom of visual flying. The weather was unusually nice; clear blue skies were the norm. As a result, it was increasingly difficult to schedule time with Erika. I also knew that I needed to accumulate 50 hours of cross-country flying before receiving my instrument rating. So, I stopped scheduling lessons and started flying cross-country flights with friends. I promised myself that I would continue my instrument training when the weather turned for the worse.

Fall turned to winter and my work responsibilities increased dramatically. There was just no time to commit to flying. But as the year wrapped up, so did my project at work.

This year, I’m dedicated to pursuing my personal interests and leaving work at work. I contacted Galvin Flying to schedule flight lessons. To my dismay, I discovered that Erika wrecked her knee while skiing at Lake Tahoe and will not be able to instruct for at least two months. With my primary instructor out of the picture, I scheduled four flights with Christian Becker instead.