CFI-to-CFI Newsletter - Volume 11 Issue 2 - 35

CHIEF'S CORNER
IN FOUR DAYS, I'LL BE TAKING A FLIGHT. By the

time you read this it will be long over and many
more hopefully follow it in my logbook. But right
now, this one is as all-consuming as the day I
took my initial CFI checkride. To say that I am
preparing for this with the same intensity as for
my first solo cross-country flight 30-some odd
years ago would not be mischaracterizing this
one bit. This is my first flight in 67 days. Sad to
say there are quite a few gaps in my logbook that
are much, much longer, but this gap happened
now-during the spring of 2020.
"Well geez, John, what's the big deal? You're not
even out of FAA passenger-carrying currency
for crying out loud." True, but I'm adding a
bunch of new checklists on this flight. This is
my first flight since the COVID-19 pandemic
changed how we do things on a major scale. I
work from home currently, fortunate to still be
employed and in good health. My family are all
working, my wife and daughter in health care,
my son in a chicken wing joint when he's not
attending college classes online. And while I
like my neighbors, I am very tired of looking at
their gray siding every day when I lift my eyes
from my computer screen. I have become good at

signing in and out of online meetings, with and
without video. I've hosted some webinars and
canceled lots of in-person events. I can make the
commute from my bed to my desk in seconds flat,
mind the speed trap in the downstairs hall. I've
watched lots of great aviation content online and
helped put some together. I've not binge-watched
everything on Netflix, Hulu, BritBox, YouTube,
and Acorn. I have spent some time trying to
do things to improve my aviation knowledge-
cracked open manuals and textbooks, worked
on mastering the avionics in the airplanes that
I fly and teach in, even had some online ground
sessions with my current student. I've not
actually flown an airplane and other than when
I make the occasional grocery run or drive-thru/
carryout trip, I've not had to really truly deal with
social distancing and sanitizing the heck out of
everything on a consistent regular basis.
That changes Friday.
These new checklists that I'm adding deal with
precautionary measures necessary to prevent
the spread of the COVID-19 virus. I'll be wiping
my way into the gang hangar that houses our
airplanes, getting the keys from a wall locker in

the dispatch room (wiping down the lock and
door handle too), sanitizing my way into the
main hangar, and into the airplane. Key question
here, is the airplane up front or stuffed in the
back corner so I'll have to move one or two other
airplanes out and then back in to get mine out?
I'll also have to slide open at least two, possibly
more, sliding hangar doors and wipe down
where I touched them. I'll have to wipe down the
surfaces I touch inside and outside the airplane
as well. Where am I getting these wipes from?!
Not a rhetorical question by the way, a darn
serious one. I haven't seen a wipe in almost two
months-can't buy them in my area it seems.
I'll conduct my preflight, make one last wipe
down of surfaces, and get ready to conduct my
engine start checklist. No, I'm not going to use
the one in the plane, I'll use the one on my iPad so
that is one less thing to worry about sanitizing.
There are supposed to be avionics-friendly
wipes available in the airplane for me to use on
the Garmin touchscreens; hopefully that is the
case when I arrive on Friday. And once I'm done
with the flight, I get to do it all again, this time in
reverse as I put the airplane back into the hangar
to await the next lucky pilot to go fly her solo.
CFI-to-CFI Newsletter - Volume 11 Issue 2

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of CFI-to-CFI Newsletter - Volume 11 Issue 2
