Like many of you, I’ve been captivated by aviation since a very young age. The wonder of flight still amazes me as much today as that first airplane ride a half century ago.
But beyond the pure joy of flight, I’ve realized I also enjoy the almost limitless opportunities to expand your knowledge and the chance to challenge yourself with new achievements.
From the very start, aviation gives you milemarkers....the stair-step achievements of that first flight, then the first landing without your instructor touching the controls, then your first solo, then passing your knowledge test, then your first solo cross country, then your checkride.
Once rated, it’s that first flight with a spouse or parent or child. Then that first “really long” cross country of a few hundred miles to a vacation or family event. Then maybe crossing half a continent for the first time. Each one broadening your horizons and offering new challenges
About the time you tackle those you ended up grounded by weather for a few days and the instrument rating becomes the next goal and the cycle continues. High-performance endorsement. Tailwheel endorsement. Multi-engine rating.
After that the commercial license is there for you just to prove you can do it. And if you can do that, you can probably do it from the right seat and explain it all, so why not get your CFI? Even if you never intend to teach, it’s a worthy achievement. And with each of these there’s a knowledge component and a motor skill component. After that there’s the Double-I and MEI. Then the ATP. Then seaplanes. Helicopters? Balloons?
There are never-ending challenges available to you in aviation.
Some of you have followed my airline saga (”When Dreams come true...”) that started at age 57...something unheard of just a few years ago. But aviation offers endless surprises!
Last Friday I checked off another personal challenge: My “Gold Seal” CFI designation. It’s been on my personal bucket list for a long time, but having never been a career flight instructor it seemed a pretty remote possibility. With the transition to 121 flying three years ago I’ve had more time to flight instruct on days off.
The Gold Seal requires ten checkride endorsements in a 24 month period with an 80% Pass rate on the first attempt. I realized recently I had just signed off my 11th student in 18 months and all had passed on their first attempt except for one private student who had a bad case of nerves and got balled up in the weight and balance questions during the oral. So I had a 91% pass rate!
I called my local FSDO to find out what I needed to do. He pulled up my records, then said “Yep, looks like you have everything except your Advanced Ground Instructor rating.”
Doh!! How did I miss that requirement? I had my Basic Ground Instructor and Instrument Ground, so never gave much thought to the Advanced Ground.
So, another aviation milestone to be achieved! I figured I had a good shot at being able to bag a 70 on the test, but then thought that might be a little embarrassing to show up at the FSDO with a barely passing score to get my Gold Seal designation.
More study was needed. Thankfully I was in the midst of a nice, long paid vacation while I was awaiting the next phase of my Captain upgrade training so I bought a review course and hit the books.
It turned out to be a worthwhile review of a lot of things I really haven’t had to think much about for a long time, as well as some archaic minutiae (calculating distance from a VOR based on time between radials...an interesting academic exercise in the age of GPS!)
After a week of review I finally decided I didn’t want to study anymore and was willing to accept whatever score I could muster. I spent 2:15 of the 2:30 allotted for the 100 question exam. When all was said and done I had a 90%. I can live with that.
So last Friday I made the trek up to the FSDO to make my AGI official, gain my Gold Seal designation and then they renewed my CFI for another two years based on my training record. It was another moment of personal satisfaction as I enter my fifth decade of flying.
But beyond the pure joy of flight, I’ve realized I also enjoy the almost limitless opportunities to expand your knowledge and the chance to challenge yourself with new achievements.
From the very start, aviation gives you milemarkers....the stair-step achievements of that first flight, then the first landing without your instructor touching the controls, then your first solo, then passing your knowledge test, then your first solo cross country, then your checkride.
Once rated, it’s that first flight with a spouse or parent or child. Then that first “really long” cross country of a few hundred miles to a vacation or family event. Then maybe crossing half a continent for the first time. Each one broadening your horizons and offering new challenges
About the time you tackle those you ended up grounded by weather for a few days and the instrument rating becomes the next goal and the cycle continues. High-performance endorsement. Tailwheel endorsement. Multi-engine rating.
After that the commercial license is there for you just to prove you can do it. And if you can do that, you can probably do it from the right seat and explain it all, so why not get your CFI? Even if you never intend to teach, it’s a worthy achievement. And with each of these there’s a knowledge component and a motor skill component. After that there’s the Double-I and MEI. Then the ATP. Then seaplanes. Helicopters? Balloons?
There are never-ending challenges available to you in aviation.
Some of you have followed my airline saga (”When Dreams come true...”) that started at age 57...something unheard of just a few years ago. But aviation offers endless surprises!
Last Friday I checked off another personal challenge: My “Gold Seal” CFI designation. It’s been on my personal bucket list for a long time, but having never been a career flight instructor it seemed a pretty remote possibility. With the transition to 121 flying three years ago I’ve had more time to flight instruct on days off.
The Gold Seal requires ten checkride endorsements in a 24 month period with an 80% Pass rate on the first attempt. I realized recently I had just signed off my 11th student in 18 months and all had passed on their first attempt except for one private student who had a bad case of nerves and got balled up in the weight and balance questions during the oral. So I had a 91% pass rate!
I called my local FSDO to find out what I needed to do. He pulled up my records, then said “Yep, looks like you have everything except your Advanced Ground Instructor rating.”
Doh!! How did I miss that requirement? I had my Basic Ground Instructor and Instrument Ground, so never gave much thought to the Advanced Ground.
So, another aviation milestone to be achieved! I figured I had a good shot at being able to bag a 70 on the test, but then thought that might be a little embarrassing to show up at the FSDO with a barely passing score to get my Gold Seal designation.
More study was needed. Thankfully I was in the midst of a nice, long paid vacation while I was awaiting the next phase of my Captain upgrade training so I bought a review course and hit the books.
It turned out to be a worthwhile review of a lot of things I really haven’t had to think much about for a long time, as well as some archaic minutiae (calculating distance from a VOR based on time between radials...an interesting academic exercise in the age of GPS!)
After a week of review I finally decided I didn’t want to study anymore and was willing to accept whatever score I could muster. I spent 2:15 of the 2:30 allotted for the 100 question exam. When all was said and done I had a 90%. I can live with that.
So last Friday I made the trek up to the FSDO to make my AGI official, gain my Gold Seal designation and then they renewed my CFI for another two years based on my training record. It was another moment of personal satisfaction as I enter my fifth decade of flying.
