Flight Training - November/December 2022 - 33

W
ZONS
hen you get your pilot certificate, you
can pretty much fly wherever you want
in the United States. That dream of freedom is why
many of us start flying in the first place. Realistically,
though, you'll probably just fly in the area where you
live, maybe within a few hundred miles, maybe across
state lines every now and then. But those big, actual
cross-countries are rare, and even more rare is proficiency
in every type of flying available to us. Pilots
based in busy metropolitan areas like Los Angeles
might have great radio skills, but maybe their soft and
short-field landings are weak. A pilot from Florida
may be great at reading thunderstorms, but might not
know the ins and outs of mountain weather. It doesn't
have to stay that way if you don't want it to.
Sure, it can be uncomfortable to confront what
you don't know or areas where your skills could
improve, but it also gives you a great opportunity to
learn something new. You can go about doing this in
a couple ways: seeking it out with a training-specific
trip, or trying to squeeze in a flight if time allows on a
non-aviation vacation.
On a recent trip to the Denver area for a friend's
birthday, I wanted to squeeze in a flight but wasn't
sure if I'd be able to. I only had a few days in town, and
a full aircraft checkout didn't make sense-it would be
costly, and I likely wouldn't be back in the area often
enough to get a return on that investment. And I was
on vacation-I didn't have time for a whole day event.
I turned to the internet, hoping to find a flight
school and CFI willing to go on a local sightseeing
flight with me in the left seat. I remembered a friend
I'd made on Instagram, CFI Rachel King in Fort Collins,
Colorado, and sent her a message. She readily
agreed to fly with me and reserved us a morning slot
to give us a better chance of good weather. She said
if the weather was just right, we could try to hit Lake
County Airport in Leadville, North America's highest
elevation airport (bucket list!). Otherwise, we could
plan on some sightseeing.
King instructs out of Leading Edge Flight Training
at Northern Colorado Regional Airport (FNL). She
funded her way through training washing airplanes,
cleaning Airbnbs, and help from her dad, who is
an instrument-rated private pilot. She also earned
a scholarship from I Hart Flying (a reward she
" didn't receive on the first try " ), one of some 13 or
so scholarships she applied for. She built time for
the commercial certificate the old-fashioned way, by
filling her logbook with flights like safety piloting and
Pilots N Paws (see " After the Checkride, " p. 16). She
and I can relate on that. King credits some of her best
experiences in aviation-and her future job in aerial
firefighting-to the connections she built because she
had to work for her hours.
Cape Cod, Massachusetts
FLIGHT TRAINING NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2022
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Flight Training - November/December 2022

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