Flight Training - December 2019 - 62
ADVANCED PILOT SUCCESS STORY
DREAMING BIG
A PILOT LEARNS IT'S NOT TOO LATE TO MOVE UP
BY JUAN B. PLAZA
IT WAS A COOL DECEMBER NIGHT in South
Florida and I was sitting outside, writing
my resolutions for 2017. Just a few hours
away from the ball dropping in Times
Square, I found myself writing "commercial multiengine certificate."
I had been managing a fleet of six
Cessna Citation IIs (550s), based in Conroe, Texas (CXO). Some of the pilots were
friends of 30 and 40 years and I wanted to
fly right seat with them, but I wasn't able
to fly the jets because I was a single-engine
private pilot with an instrument rating.
I looked at the sentence and the
detractor in me took charge: You're too
old. It's going to be expensive. It's too difficult. You don't have time....
I showed my wife the list. We discussed the pros and cons and finally she
said, "If this is what you want, go for it."
That was all the encouragement I
needed.
I was 61 years old when I walked into
American Flyers at the Pompano Beach
Airpark (PMP) on January 5, 2017.
During the initial interview, the school
director explained that it would make economic sense to first obtain my commercial
single-engine certificate in a Cessna 172RG
and then move on to multiengine.
The next day I began my training. Initially it was getting used to the
retractable gear and the constant-speed
62 FLIGHT TRAINING DECEMBER 2019
propeller as we practiced commercial
maneuvers. I showed up early in the
morning and we spent hours flying over
the Everglades practicing the maneuvers; training became more and more
enjoyable as I gained confidence. I
took my commercial knowledge test in
mid-February.
When ready for my checkride I
received some disappointing news from
the school director. I wasn't IFR current,
so before I could start my multiengine
training after the checkride, I had to
work on my instrument currency.
The checkride took place the first
week of March, on a beautiful cloudless
day with calm winds and unlimited visibility. I nailed every maneuver and every
landing. I was a commercial pilot.
My sixty-second birthday came as we
started the IFR refresher and, boy, did I
struggle. I was not expecting to be so rusty.
It was embarrassing to find myself chasing
needles and missing altitudes. I was
supposed to be an IFR-certified pilot, and
some approaches were a disgrace.
We persevered, and in mid-April I
was ready to start my multiengine adventure. I was introduced to Paul Janecki,
possibly the best instructor I would ever
have. I soon realized that learning to fly a
twin-engine airplane is the art of flying it
with one engine in all phases of flight.
http://aopafinance.org/FIRSTTIMEBUYER
Flight Training - December 2019
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Flight Training - December 2019
Contents
Flight Training - December 2019 - Cover4
Flight Training - December 2019 - Cover1
Flight Training - December 2019 - Cover2
Flight Training - December 2019 - Contents
Flight Training - December 2019 - 2
Flight Training - December 2019 - 3
Flight Training - December 2019 - 4
Flight Training - December 2019 - 5
Flight Training - December 2019 - 6
Flight Training - December 2019 - 7
Flight Training - December 2019 - 8
Flight Training - December 2019 - 9
Flight Training - December 2019 - 10
Flight Training - December 2019 - 11
Flight Training - December 2019 - 12
Flight Training - December 2019 - 13
Flight Training - December 2019 - 14
Flight Training - December 2019 - 15
Flight Training - December 2019 - 16
Flight Training - December 2019 - 17
Flight Training - December 2019 - 18
Flight Training - December 2019 - 19
Flight Training - December 2019 - 20
Flight Training - December 2019 - 21
Flight Training - December 2019 - 22
Flight Training - December 2019 - 23
Flight Training - December 2019 - 24
Flight Training - December 2019 - 25
Flight Training - December 2019 - 26
Flight Training - December 2019 - 27
Flight Training - December 2019 - 28
Flight Training - December 2019 - 29
Flight Training - December 2019 - 30
Flight Training - December 2019 - 31
Flight Training - December 2019 - 32
Flight Training - December 2019 - 33
Flight Training - December 2019 - 34
Flight Training - December 2019 - 35
Flight Training - December 2019 - 36
Flight Training - December 2019 - 37
Flight Training - December 2019 - 38
Flight Training - December 2019 - 39
Flight Training - December 2019 - 40
Flight Training - December 2019 - 41
Flight Training - December 2019 - 42
Flight Training - December 2019 - 43
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Flight Training - December 2019 - 45
Flight Training - December 2019 - 46
Flight Training - December 2019 - 47
Flight Training - December 2019 - 48
Flight Training - December 2019 - 49
Flight Training - December 2019 - 50
Flight Training - December 2019 - 51
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Flight Training - December 2019 - 53
Flight Training - December 2019 - 54
Flight Training - December 2019 - 55
Flight Training - December 2019 - 56
Flight Training - December 2019 - 57
Flight Training - December 2019 - 58
Flight Training - December 2019 - 59
Flight Training - December 2019 - 60
Flight Training - December 2019 - 61
Flight Training - December 2019 - 62
Flight Training - December 2019 - 63
Flight Training - December 2019 - 64
Flight Training - December 2019 - 65
Flight Training - December 2019 - 66
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Flight Training - December 2019 - 70
Flight Training - December 2019 - 71
Flight Training - December 2019 - 72
Flight Training - December 2019 - Cover3
Flight Training - December 2019 - Cover4
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