Flight Training - May 2020 - 8

AROUND THE PATCH BY JILL W. TALLMAN

Technical Editor JILL W. TALLMAN is thankful
to the many pilots who answered her
questions at airport cookouts.
jill.tallman@aopa.org

NO DUMB QUESTIONS

Lisa stood on the edge of the action at the hangar cookout in a
way I immediately recognized. She didn't know anybody, wasn't
sure how to integrate herself into the group, and probably felt a
little out of place.
I went over to chat with her and found out three important things: She had driven
probably 30 miles to come to this cookout. Aviation was a completely new world to
her. Nobody in her family is a pilot, but she thought she wanted to give it a try.
"It will change your life," I told her. She surprised me by asking, "In what way?"
I told her it would give her confidence. She would never again look at life's
challenges in the same way. They would pale in comparison to the achievement of
flying an airplane.
Lisa started asking questions about the airplanes she saw-a Cessna 140 sitting
outside the hangar where the cookout was happening, and my Piper Cherokee 140,
parked inside my hangar right next door. Could these airplanes, for example, fly
from Frederick to Ocean City, Maryland? I told her in the Cherokee 140 that's an
easy trip, no need to stop for fuel. Where else would she like to go?
She thought for a second. "Tennessee. South Carolina."
Well, she'd need to make a fuel stop for Tennessee, maybe for South Carolina. I
told her the airplane has a five-hour range, but I have a three-hour bladder.
Lisa wanted to know what it was like, learning the instruments of the airplane. That was a perfect segue for show and tell. She climbed into the left seat
and I tried to give her a cursory explanation of the panel. The engine gauges
looked familiar. Did she have a GPS in her car? Yes, she did, and she loved it.
8 FLIGHT TRAINING MAY 2020

"It will change your
life," I told her. She
surprised me by asking,
"In what way?"
Well, here is a GPS, I said, pointing to
the Garmin 430, and I love it too.
Lisa noticed my airplane didn't have
a pilot's side door, but the Cessna 140
did. We climbed out, and I showed Lisa
where the Cherokee 140's fuel tanks
were. Most small airplanes, I told her,
have two tanks, usually one in each wing.
Lisa said she thought that the fuel would
be stored in the tail.
Earlier in the evening I had pointed
out my friend Brenda, who owns a flight
school, "so if you want to start lessons,
she's a great place to start." But I had
a feeling Lisa might leave the cookout
without making that connection, and so I
grabbed Brenda out of a conversation with
another pilot and dragged her over to Lisa.
"The best way to find out if flying is
really something you want to pursue is to
take an introductory flight," I told Lisa,
"and Brenda can help you with that."
Without missing a beat, Brenda took
over, explaining what an introductory
flight is and how much it costs. And if
Lisa was willing, Brenda could look at her
schedule right then and find her a slot.
Lisa was willing. Before she left the
cookout, I had made sure she had my
business card and knew where to find me
on Facebook.
I'd like to tell you that Lisa is now
a private pilot, but here's what really
happened: She scheduled an introductory
flight; it got weathered out. I don't believe
she rescheduled.
Was that effort a waste? Not at all.
Our community is too small to bypass
opportunities. Perhaps, like the farmer,
we need to recognize that for every
handful of seed that is sown, only one
or two plants will grow. But even one or
two new pilots can make a big difference.
I'll keep looking for people like Lisa at
the airport and closer to home, and I
hope you will, too. FT

Flight Training - May 2020

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