Well, summer semester is officially over, as of last Thursday. So now it's just oddball flying with a few students. Andrew and I went over to Paola, Kansas for some barbecue. It's great when good food fits into a lesson plan! While we were there, we had the lovely experience of being ramp checked for the first time. Some guy from the FAA was there, and he just goes out to the ramp, starts poking around on people's airplanes. It was kinda funny to watch, because if you want to get a reaction out of a pilot, just send someone out to their airplane, and have them start taking notes, looking all official-like. They can look at your airplane, check to make sure you've got all your personal documents (pilot certificate, medical certificate, etc), lots of stuff like that. Apparently he was looking more at airplanes that day, versus pilots. Kudos to our maintenance department, the FAA guy said that ours was the only airplane on the whole ramp that didn't have anything wrong with it!
Other than that, it's been a pretty dead week. William is getting closer to finishing his commercial certificate, and is really starting to get the maneuvers smoothed out and looking nice. Paul was up at Oshkosh for the big EAA AirVenture fly-in. I wish I could've gone this year, but it just wasn't in the cards, I guess. Maybe next year!
I finally have more than 900 hours of flight time, which means it's time for me to quit procrastinating sending out my resume... see if I can find someone to hire me! I didn't want to send stuff out saying that I had 886 hours or something like that. It just doesn't look as impressive as 900 hours. It's kinda like why companies advertise that things cost $99.99 versus just calling it $100. $100 just sounds bigger, even though it isn't a big difference at all. I like instructing here at the school, but teaching at a school is tricky, because every time the semester ends or there's a big holiday, your income disappears! We'll see what happens, but personally I'm hoping that the airport here needs to hire a new supervisor soon. I like this town, it's home, so I'd really love to stay here. Stay tuned for future developments ;-)
Monday, August 3, 2009
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Summer Semester Wraps Up
Well, it's almost time for summer session to end... which means a couple weeks lull, followed by a mostly new set of students and the plunge back into crazy amounts of flight training.
There's not too much interesting stuff going on around here. We did have a group of high school students from Kansas City come down for the Aviation Youth Summer Camp. I had three girls in my group, which was a lot of fun! There's not enough girls who fly!! The first day we taught them how to preflight an airplane. Then on day two, we teach them how to plan a cross country flight and give them an intro to how to land, which was very interesting... the winds were a bit "lively" to say the least. Then on day three, we went out and flew the flights that we had planned the day before, and the next night, the second and third year campers get to go for night flights. I actually had one girl who got sick in the plane, on the day we did landings. She rode along through the other two girls landings before she got to take a whack at landing it too. When we came in on final approach the second time, the wind kicked up, rocked us sideways pretty good... rocked the airplane enough that we had to abort the landing approach. When we came back around, she started feeling pretty icky, so I got her back on the ground as soon as possible, as smoothly as possible.
Getting sick doesn't happen very often, but it does happen occasionally. Most people go for a few flights, and don't get sick anymore, so if you ever do feel nauseous in an airplane, don't let that stop you from getting back on an airplane again!!! As for that girl (I shall leave her name out, since I'm sure she wouldn't be thrilled for me to identify her as "the girl who puked in my airplane"), she got right back in the airplane the very next day, for the cross country flights. She did a GREAT job flying us to the other airport, and didn't feel one bit queasy. I suppose the point of the whole story is 1) don't let getting queasy on a flight stop you from flying again and 2) if you can, pick a nice day, with light winds for your first flight!
So here's the rundown on my students: Clint has ceased working on his instrument rating for now. It was either keep working on it, or be able to graduate, so since he's not wanting to fly for a career, I'd say that graduating was a good choice! He'll be starting his masters degree this fall, and if he wants to, he can keep working on his instrument stuff. He just doesn't have to do it for a grade. James is on vacation for a few weeks, so nothing to tell there. Andrew is making progress on his flight instructor certificate. He's got a way to go, of course, since he's only a third of the way through the course, but he's going to make a great instructor! Whoever gets to be his student will be very lucky. We've just got to work out a few minor problems, like not landing on the runway centerline. Just little stuff, because sitting on the right side of the airplane, everything looks a little different. Paul is making good headway on his commercial certificate, and should be taking a stage check this week. We've actually got to figure out what to do about him, because you're supposed to take commercial groundschool before you finish your flying. At the rate he's going though, Paul is going to finish the flying WAY before he finishes the ground course, which he's signed up for this fall. William is also making headway on his commercial certificate too. He ought to be taking a stage check this week too. Hopefully him and Paul will both still be my students this fall. I'd really like to be the one who gets to sign them off for their commercial checkrides!
For those of you who are getting to go to AirVenture this coming week... I'm jealous! Instead, I will be hanging out here in Warrensburg, flying with my students and working on lots of resumes and cover letters so I can apply for lots of jobs! I love working here at UCM, and I love my students, but working at a school in a job that's paid hourly, instead of salary, has certain drawbacks... namely the fact that every time the holidays hit, my income disappears! So I'm just getting a lot of resumes and cover letters together, and I'm sure when the right job comes along, it will all work out, but until then, where I am is exactly where I'm supposed to be!
There's not too much interesting stuff going on around here. We did have a group of high school students from Kansas City come down for the Aviation Youth Summer Camp. I had three girls in my group, which was a lot of fun! There's not enough girls who fly!! The first day we taught them how to preflight an airplane. Then on day two, we teach them how to plan a cross country flight and give them an intro to how to land, which was very interesting... the winds were a bit "lively" to say the least. Then on day three, we went out and flew the flights that we had planned the day before, and the next night, the second and third year campers get to go for night flights. I actually had one girl who got sick in the plane, on the day we did landings. She rode along through the other two girls landings before she got to take a whack at landing it too. When we came in on final approach the second time, the wind kicked up, rocked us sideways pretty good... rocked the airplane enough that we had to abort the landing approach. When we came back around, she started feeling pretty icky, so I got her back on the ground as soon as possible, as smoothly as possible.
Getting sick doesn't happen very often, but it does happen occasionally. Most people go for a few flights, and don't get sick anymore, so if you ever do feel nauseous in an airplane, don't let that stop you from getting back on an airplane again!!! As for that girl (I shall leave her name out, since I'm sure she wouldn't be thrilled for me to identify her as "the girl who puked in my airplane"), she got right back in the airplane the very next day, for the cross country flights. She did a GREAT job flying us to the other airport, and didn't feel one bit queasy. I suppose the point of the whole story is 1) don't let getting queasy on a flight stop you from flying again and 2) if you can, pick a nice day, with light winds for your first flight!
So here's the rundown on my students: Clint has ceased working on his instrument rating for now. It was either keep working on it, or be able to graduate, so since he's not wanting to fly for a career, I'd say that graduating was a good choice! He'll be starting his masters degree this fall, and if he wants to, he can keep working on his instrument stuff. He just doesn't have to do it for a grade. James is on vacation for a few weeks, so nothing to tell there. Andrew is making progress on his flight instructor certificate. He's got a way to go, of course, since he's only a third of the way through the course, but he's going to make a great instructor! Whoever gets to be his student will be very lucky. We've just got to work out a few minor problems, like not landing on the runway centerline. Just little stuff, because sitting on the right side of the airplane, everything looks a little different. Paul is making good headway on his commercial certificate, and should be taking a stage check this week. We've actually got to figure out what to do about him, because you're supposed to take commercial groundschool before you finish your flying. At the rate he's going though, Paul is going to finish the flying WAY before he finishes the ground course, which he's signed up for this fall. William is also making headway on his commercial certificate too. He ought to be taking a stage check this week too. Hopefully him and Paul will both still be my students this fall. I'd really like to be the one who gets to sign them off for their commercial checkrides!
For those of you who are getting to go to AirVenture this coming week... I'm jealous! Instead, I will be hanging out here in Warrensburg, flying with my students and working on lots of resumes and cover letters so I can apply for lots of jobs! I love working here at UCM, and I love my students, but working at a school in a job that's paid hourly, instead of salary, has certain drawbacks... namely the fact that every time the holidays hit, my income disappears! So I'm just getting a lot of resumes and cover letters together, and I'm sure when the right job comes along, it will all work out, but until then, where I am is exactly where I'm supposed to be!
Sunday, July 5, 2009
a quiet week for me
Well, from the looks of things it's going to be a fairly quiet week for this flight instructor! Instead of my usual 5 or 6 students, I only have to really worry about 3! James is out of town, Dan is doing his final stage checks and checkride for his commercial certificate, and Suzanne wound up having to postpone flying till some "powers that be" approve her loans for her flight training. Flying does tend to be rather expensive, so if you plan on getting flight training, there are a lot of scholarships available, and I'd recommend you apply for as many as you can! www.uaa.aero, www.youngeagles.org, and www.nbaa.org are great places to start. It's always better when someone else is paying your flight bill!
Once again, I've got a few guys going for tests, so cross your fingers, wish them luck, do whatever you want! William has a stage check on Tuesday, and Dan is going after a stage check and checkride both this week before the military ships him off for the US Air Force Academy prep school. Nothing like a good, fast approaching deadline, right? Paul passed his stage check with flying colors, so this week he's going to be blazing through the lessons in the new airplane (Cessna 172RG). He's already done one flight in the RG, and seems to be picking it up quickly. It's always nice to not have to remind your student to put the landing gear down! Probably the highlight of last week was a trip with Dan down to Grand Lake Regional Airport (aka Monkey Island) near Tulsa, Oklahoma. Final approach was entertaining enough... I think a photo will explain why:
Also, as promised, here's some picts from my lovely flight in a Stearman with Rod:
Once again, I've got a few guys going for tests, so cross your fingers, wish them luck, do whatever you want! William has a stage check on Tuesday, and Dan is going after a stage check and checkride both this week before the military ships him off for the US Air Force Academy prep school. Nothing like a good, fast approaching deadline, right? Paul passed his stage check with flying colors, so this week he's going to be blazing through the lessons in the new airplane (Cessna 172RG). He's already done one flight in the RG, and seems to be picking it up quickly. It's always nice to not have to remind your student to put the landing gear down! Probably the highlight of last week was a trip with Dan down to Grand Lake Regional Airport (aka Monkey Island) near Tulsa, Oklahoma. Final approach was entertaining enough... I think a photo will explain why:
Also, as promised, here's some picts from my lovely flight in a Stearman with Rod:
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Busy Summer!!
Wow, I need to be more diligent in writing on here. It's a little tricky when things are as unpredictable as my life tends to be! Well, I'll try to catch up without being too long-winded, and add "make a new blog post" on to my list of things I do each Friday. Here goes!
For the end of last spring, the big news with me is I GRADUATED!!!! My masters degree is officially finished, and I'm finally no longer a college student. And it only took me seven years. No sweat, right? It took until about 4:00 Sunday afternoon after graduation before boredom set in... but no worries there, things have stayed just as chaotic as ever!
I've now got six students, which keeps me plenty busy! I'm still teaching at the UCM airport, waiting for the right job to come along. Paul got his instrument rating, and is working on his commercial certificate. He's been doing a lot of long flights, so we've been going to see his friends, fun restaurants, etc. We played lawn golf in Storm Lake, Iowa, and ate lunch at Lamberts in Sikeston, Missouri, among other trips. Good times! James is finishing up his private certificate, trying to get through the stage checks before the checkride, which is a little tricky because he also needs to be at work, in St. Louis, 4 hours away! Then I've got a bunch of new students: Dan, Clint, William, and Suzanne. Dan is working on finishing up his commercial certificate. He's trying to finish it before the middle of July, when he leaves for the prep school for the United States Air Force Academy. Clint is working on his instrument rating, so we're hoping to get over to Kansas City this week to do a bunch of instrument approaches. William is also working on his commercial certificate. I just gave him his complex endorsment this week, which allows him to fly airplanes with retractable landing gear, flaps, and a constant speed propeller (you can change the angle of the propeller blades to get better performance). Suzanne is also working on her private certificate. I have yet to meet with her, she starts with me this coming week. This is going to be a bit entertaining, because her first flight with me is supposed to be a night flight to Kansas City International Airport!
The other big exciting thing is that I got to go back and volunteer for another flight team national competition. This year was in East St. Louis, and it was great to get to see a lot of my friends I don't usually get to see. It was a crazy busy week, and loads of fun. I got to do something that made everyone VERY jealous. A friend of mine, and fellow UCM alumni owns a Stearman biplane, and he brought it over and took me for my first open-cockpit flight. It was way more fun than anybody should be allowed to have!!! Of course, I took my camera along, and took plenty of photos. I'll have to stick some up here. It was great, to see that plane pull up right along all the 152's for the competition, and to see everyone's jaws drop when I got to get in and we taxied out!
Also think I've got a new job coming... but I'll save that one for later!
For the end of last spring, the big news with me is I GRADUATED!!!! My masters degree is officially finished, and I'm finally no longer a college student. And it only took me seven years. No sweat, right? It took until about 4:00 Sunday afternoon after graduation before boredom set in... but no worries there, things have stayed just as chaotic as ever!
I've now got six students, which keeps me plenty busy! I'm still teaching at the UCM airport, waiting for the right job to come along. Paul got his instrument rating, and is working on his commercial certificate. He's been doing a lot of long flights, so we've been going to see his friends, fun restaurants, etc. We played lawn golf in Storm Lake, Iowa, and ate lunch at Lamberts in Sikeston, Missouri, among other trips. Good times! James is finishing up his private certificate, trying to get through the stage checks before the checkride, which is a little tricky because he also needs to be at work, in St. Louis, 4 hours away! Then I've got a bunch of new students: Dan, Clint, William, and Suzanne. Dan is working on finishing up his commercial certificate. He's trying to finish it before the middle of July, when he leaves for the prep school for the United States Air Force Academy. Clint is working on his instrument rating, so we're hoping to get over to Kansas City this week to do a bunch of instrument approaches. William is also working on his commercial certificate. I just gave him his complex endorsment this week, which allows him to fly airplanes with retractable landing gear, flaps, and a constant speed propeller (you can change the angle of the propeller blades to get better performance). Suzanne is also working on her private certificate. I have yet to meet with her, she starts with me this coming week. This is going to be a bit entertaining, because her first flight with me is supposed to be a night flight to Kansas City International Airport!
The other big exciting thing is that I got to go back and volunteer for another flight team national competition. This year was in East St. Louis, and it was great to get to see a lot of my friends I don't usually get to see. It was a crazy busy week, and loads of fun. I got to do something that made everyone VERY jealous. A friend of mine, and fellow UCM alumni owns a Stearman biplane, and he brought it over and took me for my first open-cockpit flight. It was way more fun than anybody should be allowed to have!!! Of course, I took my camera along, and took plenty of photos. I'll have to stick some up here. It was great, to see that plane pull up right along all the 152's for the competition, and to see everyone's jaws drop when I got to get in and we taxied out!
Also think I've got a new job coming... but I'll save that one for later!
Sunday, April 5, 2009
I thought it was spring now!
Well, it's a nice April Sunday evening... so why is the temperature only in the 30's?? Oh well, I'd rather have cold than hot, especially considering they just changed the dress code at work. One of the [slightly dorky] things I love about aviation is that I'll never be expected to wear a skirt and heels to work every day! So instead, I own more ties than most of my guy friends, and get to wear ties and dress shirts. They started that last fall, and originally I would've been allowed to wear a UCM polo and khaki's as of April 1st. Well they changed it, and now it's dress shirts and ties till the end of the semester, so the longer it stays cool, the longer before I have to consider investing in short sleeve dress shirts! Women's dress shirts that you can tuck in and wear a tie with are kinda hard to find, so they're not exactly cheap, which is why I'm just fine with colder weather.
There's actually not too crazy much going on with my students lately. James is working on his solo cross country flights, the first one went well, but he's having problems getting them done because it's always either insanely windy, low clouds (he can't fly in clouds), or there's a strong chance of accumulating ice on the plane. I think the weather is plotting against all flying in the state of Missouri! Paul is still waiting on his stage checks so he can move on to his instrument checkride. It was supposed to have happened this past week... but well, the weather didn't cooperate for him either. As for Andrew, he's been out of town for the week, but since he's working on his flight instructor certificate, he's got a LOT of groundschool to do, so he can actually get somewhere in his training. Next time we meet, he's going to "teach" me all about medical factors and how they relate to flying.
I've had a couple job interviews, one for an aerial mapping job in the Kansas City area, and one for an assistant dispatching job on Long Island, NY. Both of them went really well, so I'm just waiting to hear back from both places for a second interview. It's been almost 3 weeks since the first interview for the aerial mapping job, which is the one I want more than anything else, so hopefully they'll be getting in touch really soon! Wish me luck!
Other than that, I'm just trying to get everything wrapped up for (ohmygosh) my last semester of college EVER!! After 7 years of college, it's gonna be nice to be done! I'm more than ready to not be writing papers on things I'm not always interested in (like my safety program management class) or having multiple jobs. Don't hear what I'm not saying, I've enjoyed college, and no, 7 years is not average (4 is normal). I'm just ready for things to calm down a bit, get more consistent, and well, I'm more than ready to not be needing my parents help to pay the bills anymore! But before I can go do the whole graduation thing, I've still got one more paper to finish, a huge project for airport planning and design (spent all this weekend on that) and a presentation to go with it, and the most dreaded thing, the graduate comprehensive exam! That said, I'd better get back to work!
There's actually not too crazy much going on with my students lately. James is working on his solo cross country flights, the first one went well, but he's having problems getting them done because it's always either insanely windy, low clouds (he can't fly in clouds), or there's a strong chance of accumulating ice on the plane. I think the weather is plotting against all flying in the state of Missouri! Paul is still waiting on his stage checks so he can move on to his instrument checkride. It was supposed to have happened this past week... but well, the weather didn't cooperate for him either. As for Andrew, he's been out of town for the week, but since he's working on his flight instructor certificate, he's got a LOT of groundschool to do, so he can actually get somewhere in his training. Next time we meet, he's going to "teach" me all about medical factors and how they relate to flying.
I've had a couple job interviews, one for an aerial mapping job in the Kansas City area, and one for an assistant dispatching job on Long Island, NY. Both of them went really well, so I'm just waiting to hear back from both places for a second interview. It's been almost 3 weeks since the first interview for the aerial mapping job, which is the one I want more than anything else, so hopefully they'll be getting in touch really soon! Wish me luck!
Other than that, I'm just trying to get everything wrapped up for (ohmygosh) my last semester of college EVER!! After 7 years of college, it's gonna be nice to be done! I'm more than ready to not be writing papers on things I'm not always interested in (like my safety program management class) or having multiple jobs. Don't hear what I'm not saying, I've enjoyed college, and no, 7 years is not average (4 is normal). I'm just ready for things to calm down a bit, get more consistent, and well, I'm more than ready to not be needing my parents help to pay the bills anymore! But before I can go do the whole graduation thing, I've still got one more paper to finish, a huge project for airport planning and design (spent all this weekend on that) and a presentation to go with it, and the most dreaded thing, the graduate comprehensive exam! That said, I'd better get back to work!
Friday, March 20, 2009
hooray for spring break!
Spring break week is supposed to mean a week off, right? Apparently I missed that one. I've been staying busy playing catch up, working on the class I teach, as well as assignments for my own classes. The big project right now is a lovely paper on how airports try to keep airplanes from hitting birds and other critters. So exciting, right?
Next week everyone comes back to campus, so things will go back to their normal level of chaos. I've got 3 flight students at the moment, James, Paul, and Andrew. James is working on his private pilot certificate, so when he gets back to campus, he'll be doing a few solo flights to other airports. Paul is working on his instrument rating, just finishing it up, so hopefully before long I'll be on here writing about how I'm so happy he passed his checkride. My newest student is Andrew. He's working on his flight instructor certificate, which means LOTS of time spent talking on the ground to make sure he knows everything and knows how to teach... not much flying involved there.
In other news, I actually had a job interview! It's kinda tricky to find a good job lately, but I found one. It's with a company called Air Associates of Kansas, to do aerial mapping flights. I'm super excited because it sounds like a great job, and from what one of my friends tells me (who works there) it's an excellent place to work too. I made it through the first round of interviews, so now I'm just waiting to get a call for a second interview, and then we'll see what happens after that!
But for now, it's 11:30 at night, so I'm gonna head for bed, so tomorrow I can get some major work done on this paper I need to write! Adios!
Next week everyone comes back to campus, so things will go back to their normal level of chaos. I've got 3 flight students at the moment, James, Paul, and Andrew. James is working on his private pilot certificate, so when he gets back to campus, he'll be doing a few solo flights to other airports. Paul is working on his instrument rating, just finishing it up, so hopefully before long I'll be on here writing about how I'm so happy he passed his checkride. My newest student is Andrew. He's working on his flight instructor certificate, which means LOTS of time spent talking on the ground to make sure he knows everything and knows how to teach... not much flying involved there.
In other news, I actually had a job interview! It's kinda tricky to find a good job lately, but I found one. It's with a company called Air Associates of Kansas, to do aerial mapping flights. I'm super excited because it sounds like a great job, and from what one of my friends tells me (who works there) it's an excellent place to work too. I made it through the first round of interviews, so now I'm just waiting to get a call for a second interview, and then we'll see what happens after that!
But for now, it's 11:30 at night, so I'm gonna head for bed, so tomorrow I can get some major work done on this paper I need to write! Adios!
Friday, February 27, 2009
Hello!
So after some lovely problems with websites and who-knows what else, I'm back! Since it's been a while, I figure I should kick things back off with an introduction. Of course, my name is Karrie Shank. I'm a 24 year old graduate student at University of Central Missouri (UCM) where I'm a flight instructor, and also work teaching classes on campus and producing the department's monthly newsletter. I've been teaching at UCM for about a year and a half, and before that, I taught for about three years at Ohio University.
In total, I've been flying for about 8 years. I got started through the Young Eagle's program (of course). I wanted to be an architect starting in about fifth grade, and that lasted till my junior year of high school, when I went to visit a college I was thinking about going to. The visit... well, let's just say it scared the bejeebies outta me! All the talk about how I was going to spent sooo many years in school, working all night long a lot of the time, and would have a really hard time getting a job... it was enough to spook any sane person! So that trip was also the first time I'd ever gotten on an airplane.
So somewhere around there, I decided that architecture wasn't quite as cool as I'd hoped, so I started trying to figure out what else I wanted to do. It had never occured to me that people actually flew airplanes for a living (after all, nobody gets to do anything that cool AND get paid to do it, right??) but the more I checked it out, the more excited I got! So when a friend at school's mom gave me the email address for a friend who flies for Midwest Express (nice airline that serves awesome warm chocolate chip cookies!) I started talking to Kris about how to get started. He told me I needed to go for a flight in a small airplane, since they can be a lot different from airliners (think about the difference between riding in a school bus versus a really tiny car), and he told me about the Young Eagle's program. I called the national headquarters, and they gave me the phone number for the guy in my area who was in charge of Young Eagles flights, Al Moyer.
Al and I went for a flight from a nearby county airport a couple weeks later. He showed me how to preflight, explained all the instruments, and what made the airplane turn, climb, and bank. We took off, and I was pretty much hooked on flying before we ever even left the ground! Al also invited me to the next EAA meeting... where they elected me as secretary the first time I ever showed up! I guess they decided it was a good way to keep me comming back and would help me learn everyone's names. It worked. At about the same time, I'd started working at a pizza restaraunt. When I told my parents I wanted to be a pilot, they said, "Ok, prove it to us." because they thought it was just a "summer thing" and would probably pass. So I took the money I was making at the pizza restaraunt, went back to the airport where Al took me flying, and signed up for flight lessons! I even flew some of my lessons in the same airplane Al had taken me for my young eagles flight in. So a fast 22.5 weeks (Al counted it up) after that first flight with Al, I was was a fully certified private pilot. My checkride (the test that gets you your pilot certificate) was the day before Thanksgiving, during my senior year of high school. Considering my age, it was kinda a big deal, and even made the front page of the newspaper.
I kept flying on my own until I started college. I took family members, friends, even my boss from work flying. Of course, Al was my first passenger. Fall of 2002, I started at Ohio University, where I got the rest of my certificates. I'm now a single and multi-engine pilot, instrument rated, and am a flight instructor, instrument instructor, multi-engine instructor, advanced ground instructor, and instrument ground instructor. In plain english, what that means is I can fly any airplane as long as it doesnt have jet engines or weigh more than 12,500 lbs (which is a lotta airplane!). I can fly them in clouds too. Anything that I'm allowed to do, I'm also allowed to teach people to do. I can also teach the ground courses you have to take in order to be a pilot. I graduated from Ohio University in 2007, and from there, I moved to Missouri (where I am now) and started working on a master's degree at UCM. You don't need a second degree to be a pilot, I just had some things I wanted to learn more about, and this was a great way to do it.
Ok, I feel like I've just written a small book! Just like with the old blog, I'd love to hear from you. So if you've got questions you want to ask, just email me or leave me a comment on here, and I'll do my best to answer them! my email address is kes90220@ucmo.edu.
In total, I've been flying for about 8 years. I got started through the Young Eagle's program (of course). I wanted to be an architect starting in about fifth grade, and that lasted till my junior year of high school, when I went to visit a college I was thinking about going to. The visit... well, let's just say it scared the bejeebies outta me! All the talk about how I was going to spent sooo many years in school, working all night long a lot of the time, and would have a really hard time getting a job... it was enough to spook any sane person! So that trip was also the first time I'd ever gotten on an airplane.
So somewhere around there, I decided that architecture wasn't quite as cool as I'd hoped, so I started trying to figure out what else I wanted to do. It had never occured to me that people actually flew airplanes for a living (after all, nobody gets to do anything that cool AND get paid to do it, right??) but the more I checked it out, the more excited I got! So when a friend at school's mom gave me the email address for a friend who flies for Midwest Express (nice airline that serves awesome warm chocolate chip cookies!) I started talking to Kris about how to get started. He told me I needed to go for a flight in a small airplane, since they can be a lot different from airliners (think about the difference between riding in a school bus versus a really tiny car), and he told me about the Young Eagle's program. I called the national headquarters, and they gave me the phone number for the guy in my area who was in charge of Young Eagles flights, Al Moyer.
Al and I went for a flight from a nearby county airport a couple weeks later. He showed me how to preflight, explained all the instruments, and what made the airplane turn, climb, and bank. We took off, and I was pretty much hooked on flying before we ever even left the ground! Al also invited me to the next EAA meeting... where they elected me as secretary the first time I ever showed up! I guess they decided it was a good way to keep me comming back and would help me learn everyone's names. It worked. At about the same time, I'd started working at a pizza restaraunt. When I told my parents I wanted to be a pilot, they said, "Ok, prove it to us." because they thought it was just a "summer thing" and would probably pass. So I took the money I was making at the pizza restaraunt, went back to the airport where Al took me flying, and signed up for flight lessons! I even flew some of my lessons in the same airplane Al had taken me for my young eagles flight in. So a fast 22.5 weeks (Al counted it up) after that first flight with Al, I was was a fully certified private pilot. My checkride (the test that gets you your pilot certificate) was the day before Thanksgiving, during my senior year of high school. Considering my age, it was kinda a big deal, and even made the front page of the newspaper.
I kept flying on my own until I started college. I took family members, friends, even my boss from work flying. Of course, Al was my first passenger. Fall of 2002, I started at Ohio University, where I got the rest of my certificates. I'm now a single and multi-engine pilot, instrument rated, and am a flight instructor, instrument instructor, multi-engine instructor, advanced ground instructor, and instrument ground instructor. In plain english, what that means is I can fly any airplane as long as it doesnt have jet engines or weigh more than 12,500 lbs (which is a lotta airplane!). I can fly them in clouds too. Anything that I'm allowed to do, I'm also allowed to teach people to do. I can also teach the ground courses you have to take in order to be a pilot. I graduated from Ohio University in 2007, and from there, I moved to Missouri (where I am now) and started working on a master's degree at UCM. You don't need a second degree to be a pilot, I just had some things I wanted to learn more about, and this was a great way to do it.
Ok, I feel like I've just written a small book! Just like with the old blog, I'd love to hear from you. So if you've got questions you want to ask, just email me or leave me a comment on here, and I'll do my best to answer them! my email address is kes90220@ucmo.edu.
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