Flight Training - January/February 2022 - 8

AROUND THE PATCH BY JILL W. TALLMAN
Technical Editor JILL W. TALLMAN'S
first GPS was a handheld Garmin
GPS III Pilot with a 3-inch
grayscale display.
jill.tallman@aopa.org
20 YEARS A PILOT
The logbook entry for November 21, 2001, reads: " Private pilot
flight test/satisfactory. "
It's a pretty cut and dried description for what was a momentous day in my
life. It was the day I successfully completed my private pilot checkride. That is, my
second private pilot checkride. The first one had taken place on November 8, 2001.
That one had not gone so well.
Most of my aviation peers know this, and now you do too: I failed the checkride
on the first attempt. Got the pink slip, augered in, went down in flames, pick
any colloquialism you like. The examiner had me dead to rights. I messed up VOR
tracking and the emergency power-off landing. There was no emergency descent
in the airman certification standards back then. Heck, it wasn't the ACS-it was the
Private Pilot Practical Test Standards.
Yes, I did cry after that failure, mostly out of disappointment with myself and
frustration that a long-sought goal was pushed out of reach-again-not by weather
or examiner availability but by my own shortcomings. Yes, I did wonder if I was
really cut out to fly small airplanes. I am not what you'd call a natural pilot. It took
me 120 hours to finish.
That afternoon I called my then-boss, Mike Collins, who was editor of Flight
Training magazine at that time. Mike knew I'd blocked out time for the checkride
during a work day, but he was the only one who knew. (It is not easy to keep
checkride or solo prep a secret when you work for an aviation organization
that's on an airport.) Mike was waiting for my call, and he was sympathetic
about the outcome.
8
FLIGHT TRAINING JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2022
Tears notwithstanding, I knew one
thing: I had to finish. I had come so far. So
that's what I did; I got my flight instructor
to brush up those two sets of maneuvers
with me, and I rescheduled. And honestly,
I enjoyed myself the second time around.
There were only two steps to accomplish.
Coming back into the pattern, I saw a bald
eagle. It was a satisfying ending to a stressful
string of events. And when I got back
to the office I could happily and honestly
share that I had passed my checkride.
Twenty years, more than 1,300 hours in
the logbook, one airplane owned outright
and since sold, and now a partnership in
a second, bigger airplane. Still I often feel
like a newly minted pilot. This is not a bad
thing, and it is not meant to throw shade
on experienced pilots who slip easily
from airframe to airframe. It is why I love
working here at AOPA, writing about such
esoteric subjects as armchair flying and
alternators (see " Preflight, " p. 11). I love
taking these sometimes-crusty topics,
breaking them down, and building them
into something intended to enlighten or
inspire our readers. I remember all too
clearly the days when everything aviation-related
seemed as if it were written
in a foreign language. I was like you, and
one day you will be like me, I hope-maybe
you'll be better on the radio.
I'm not going to spend precious
column space talking about how aviation
itself has changed from then to
now, except to say that having learned
to navigate first with pilotage and dead
reckoning because GPS wasn't widely
available, I love my GPS. If that makes me
a Child of the Magenta Line, so be it. May
as well scoff at the use of seatbelts and
airbags while you're at it.
What would have happened if I'd
turned my back on aviation after the
day I failed the checkride? Life would
have continued. But so many opportunities,
experiences, friendships, and
challenges would have gone into someone
else's logbook.
Back in 2001, after I admitted to
some pilot friends that I had bombed the
checkride, one of them said something to
the effect of, " When you get your license
from the FAA, it doesn't say how many
times you took the checkride. It only says
'pilot.' " I wish you great success on your
next checkride, and if you get a pink slip,
it's not the end of the road. Remember
that, pilot. FT
Flight Training - January/February 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Flight Training - January/February 2022
