Back with you

Piper Arrow: My latest toy (well, I wish it were mine...).

Wow, I didn't realize it had been quite that long since I'd posted last! Nearly 9 months have elapsed between posts, which is quite unacceptable. But after a prolonged period of radio silence, I'm back to give you the latest on happenings, both aerial and terrestrial.

A lot happens in 3/4 of a year, but to give you the short story I traveled and recorded with the JAMES4 quartet that I sing in, went to the Middle East with my classmates on a health education trip, graduated from college, learned how to be a stucco man, attempted to climb Mt. Whitney in a day (stopped half a mile short of the summit to go down with my buddies who were feeling sick), scored the grade I was aiming for on the commercial knowledge test, and learned how to fly a Piper Arrow. Oh yes, and I applied to be a pilot for Adventist World Aviation. 

Ok, so applying to AWA doesn't mean I'm off to the mission field tomorrow. But I am definitely making progress toward that long-term goal. Getting to the point where I'm ready to deploy will be quite a process, one that I've been learning more about during conversations with AWA personnel. A considerable amount of the work is building a base of support - friends and church family (and blog followers) who will chip in to support me and my project during the term of service. 

While the launching goal is being raised, advanced flight training, Institute of Frontier Missions, and site visits to the actual country I will be working in will keep things interesting. Yup, plenty to look forward to. However, I still have a couple qualifications to pick up before I can start all that, so that's what I'm hard at work on right now. 

A very important piece of paper.

Two weeks ago I passed the FAA written test for the commercial license and now I'm a good way into the flight training. It's really fun stuff too! Whereas the instrument rating was all about managing a collection of needles and dials on the panel, and was almost purely a cerebral exercise, the type of flying done on the commercial checkride is more akin to aerial artwork. It's all visual, very kinetic, and very fun!

Take for instance the Lazy Eight - what my instructor says is one of the most difficult of the commercial maneuvers to master. The graceful maneuver consists of 180 degree turns in which the nose comes up above the horizon during the first half of the turn, and then dips below the horizon in the second half. After the 180 is complete, you roll into another 180 degree turn in the other direction, repeating the same movements. Watching the arcs the nose inscribes, you would realize it looks like an eight on its side, sort of like ∞. It looks so easy when it's done right, and a passenger sitting next to you would hardly be able to even detect you moving the controls - the reason it's called a Lazy Eight. If there's one word that describes the skill set a commercial student has to develop, it's finesse: elegant ability and dexterity.¹

 

Other maneuvers that I am learning include Chandelles (maximum performance climbing turns), steep spirals, and power-out 180 accuracy landings. Oh man, those accuracy landings are going to be the biggest challenge. On the checkride, I will have to successfully glide the airplane from the downwind leg to a spot landing, touching down either on the specified mark or no further than 200 feet beyond. That's the distance from the beginning of one runway stripe to the next. With no touching the throttle. And only one chance to do it right. Well, what's the saying? Practice makes perfect...

It feels good to be back at the keyboard, tapping out updates so you can see how things are progressing with this future mission pilot. It's all so surreal - being an actual college graduate now, within weeks of getting my commercial license, and with the goal of becoming a mission pilot becoming an increasing reality. Stay tuned because it's only going to get more exciting from here on out!

¹Encarta World Dictionary