A few months ago, I scheduled a visual flight to refresh my flying skills. I was feeling rusty and out of practice and wanted to regain my proficiency. Although not required by regulations, I scheduled an instructor to go along with me to help me through any rough spots and offer pointers.
Christian Becker was available and agreed to help me out. We spent a good half-hour discussing various emergency situations and procedures before heading out to the airplane. Once in the air, he asked me to demonstrate the full spectrum of flight maneuvers, including slow flight - climbing descending, and turning; stalls - power-on and power-off while turning; steep turns; emergency descents; and emergency landings. I was comfortable with his calm, safety-conscious attitude.
The day started well, but grew uglier by the hour. I checked the weather report at Boeing Field was disappointed to find that it was only going to get worse. By mid-afternoon, I could no longer see the antennae on the top of Queen Anne hill. I knew my first flight lesson was going to be cancelled.
Christian called to tell me that the airport was in Instrument Meteorological Conditions and therefore, our flight was cancelled. We decided to meet anyway to review my logbook and to work out a plan to complete my instruction. We met and talked for an hour and a half. I told him about all the areas in which I need more training. He concluded that I have all the basics covered and he knows first hand that I can fly, so we changed the schedule to include two simulator sessions. This suits me fine, since it removes the weather issue.
The simulator is basically a box with two seats, two computer monitors, and a bunch of aircraft instruments and accessories. The instructor sits off to one side and controls the flight from a separate workstation while the pilot “flies” the plane. I look forward to giving it a try next week.
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