Here We Go - Up, Up, and Away....

July 23rd, 2002. After 3 consecutive rain delays, I was able to get my 2nd flight in. It was supposed to be right after work at 7pm but was pushed back one hour to accomodate another student. No big deal, It was king of nice to get that night (somewhat dark) flight in. It was still light when we took off, but when landing I was able to see the runway lights in action. Nothing major this flight. We flew out over Lake Minnetonka did some basic maneuvers; climbs and descents while turning. I did the taxiing and most of the take off. I just need to get to recognize when I can start to pull back on the yoke to get the bird off of the ground. That will come with time. I am scheduled to go up again in the morning at 8am. We are scheduled for some pattern work and slow flight manuevers. Possible hood time as well. I'll see you all next time.

July 24th, 2002 - Ah flight #4. Here we go again it is really overcast this morning, but the ceiling is high, so we should be ok. I am now doing the preflight all by myself. Yippee !! I just need to continue to follow through with the list each time. I can see how it would easy to get too comfortable with the checklist and accidentally miss a task. Not a good idea. We took off today from 9L and the taxiing is getting much easier. I also did the majority of the radio communications. Just another new thing to get used to. Remeber say each number one digit at a time. That will come with practice. Lots of new stuff today. As we headed out towards Lake Minnetonka again we climbed up to 3500 ft. to begin some go around procedures. Flaps down, slow flight, oops there is someone on the runway, go around. Full power, nose on the horizon, drop one flap, gain speed, drop one more flap, drop last flap, and go around. Not too bad. Now comes the dreaded hood work. Be careful, it gets very easy to become fixated on one gauge, not a good idea. It really does help you to become more focused on what you are actually doing in the plane. It seemed like a long time, but was maybe 10 mins or so. The first of many hood experiences to come. Next up on the agenda .... Slow Flight. It was good to see, but not good to feel. Shane took the controls and said, "watch this". He rocked the plane left and right and we were still going pretty straight. He hand me the controls and I did the same. The plane stayed straight pretty much, but my stomach started to turn. After the slow flight we headed back towards the airport for one round of pattern work and radio comm stuff. I really had trouble lining up the plane for landing. I was to worried about getting sick and sweating bullets. Needless to say, the takeoff was not too good either. I just wanted to get the day over with and get some fresh air. We taxied back to T-Bird and shutdown for the day. My next flight is scheduled for the 29th. That will be my last with Shane. He is off to fly jets for Atlantic Coast Airlines. Good Luck Shane. Ann will be my next instructor.

August 3, 2002 - After a week and one-half I was able to fly again. It was due to a number of reasons: Shane had to attend a funeral, there was bad weather, and the change of instructors. I was supposed to fly with Ann, but her schedule would not work out. Then Shane had transferred me to Erik (sp?) Neuwirth but I saw that he was going on vacation in another week. He was going to be gone for 10 days I believe. Shane was able to transfer me to Kyle Stroup. It turns out that he is one the Chief Pilot's. He is an examiner too; I am not sure if that is good or bad. Enough of the bs, on to the flight. There were only two new things to cover today, power on and power off stalls, better known as departure stalls and approach to landing stalls. I had completed the pre-flight while Kyle was waiting inside. I was a bit nervous just because it was my first flight with Kyle and he was one of the chief pilots. I did not want to miss anything, so much for that. I performed the starting checklist and missed a couple of things, nothing major. After Kyle dropped little reminders, I was back on track. I am doing more and more of the radio work and almost all of the take off. There was a good cross wind and for the first time I had to use 18 today. It was good for taxing because it was only a few feet from the ramp. We got up to altitude, set the plane for manuevers, and Kyle proceeded to run through the power-off stalls. After running through it twice, he gave the plane to me. Slowed down to 55 kts., 500 ft descend rate, and waited...Here goes the stall warning horn, "let it beep he says". The horn kept on and then came the buffeting of the airframe. I pushed down the nose, gave it some throttle, established the climb, and started to drop the flaps. Not too bad, recovery was smooth. "Let's try it again", he says. I got the plane set-up and here came the horn. The buffeting was next and I held on a little bit longer than the last time. After the buffeting was a little worse and then.... the plane dropped very noticeably. Oops ! Drop the nose, give it throttle, establish climb, now drop the flaps accordingly. Yikes, that was close. Not really. Now it is time for the departure stalls. We are already at full power so no throttle was needed right away. Pitch the nose up, way up, and wait for the horn. Here it is. Now what? The horn is going off and the frame is starting to buffet. Drop the nose (release back pressure), gain airspeed, reestablish climb, wallah !! The plane is recovered. That was nothing at all. All the pre-conceived notions of stalls were useless worry. I can see where it is very helpful to be able to recognize the stalls and how to recover from them. Overall it was a good flight. Kyle made some good comments about my flying and it seems like all will work out. I cannot wait to get up on the air again. I am scheduled to go up again on Monday. I will see you then. Keep your eyes in the sky.

August 5th, 2002 - Here we go again, storms were forcasted today, but no until the late afternoon. Let's hope it holds up. I got to the airport early and did the pre-flight myself. It helps in saving that valuable/expensive instructor time. Taxied out to 9L and and took off to 270 for some work in the practice area. The radio work is getting easier but I need to focus a little more. They talk so fast and I know that I am missing some things. Kyle is understanding in that though. He is quick to pickup on what I miss. Shortly after we headed West, he says, "Was that the first time you have taken off by yourself ?". What did you just say... He has always talked me through the take-offs while helping through the controls. Wow ! All by myself. That was good to know. There is still plenty to work on, but I actually feel that I accomplished something. Once in the practice area he had me set up for the Power-on (departure) Stall. It went well. 2 clearing turns (with a small reminder), two flaps, full power, pitch the nose up, and right rudder. The plane starts to slow, here comes the horn, and a little buffeting. We are in a stall. Release the back pressure, pick up speed, and continue a positive rate of climb. Stall recovered. No problem. Kyle complemented me in debrief on the rudder use to keep the plane under control. Great to hear some good words. Next up was some Ground Reference Manuevers. We were running short of time, so all we could do was the rectangular course. I was warned of some of the pitfalls and sure enough I hit the most of them. Downwind was fine and the cross-wind was o.k. Base was so so. When it came time for the final, I lost my place and could not find the road. Crap. I was not scanning inside/outside with enough frequency. Kyle said not to worry, these were common mistakes and would get better with time. After the pattern stuff, he says take us home. Before I forget we also did some work on slips. You can really get down fast if you need to. I was able to get pretty close to the airport with little help. I am progessing well, but need to make mental notes of things. Taking off - when to drop flaps. When inbound - when to call the tower, 10 miles. 3 miles. I flew directly over my house and Hazeltine today. That was cool. Because of conflicting schedules I don't fly until next Monday. I will do my best to be more prepared. Have a great day and I will see you again soon.

March 22nd, 2003 - Finally ! After a failed attempt at my XC signoff with Kyle I just finished my attempt with Marsha. I am now free to do my solo XC flights. I have to fly from FCM to STC and then FCM-AXN-AEL-FCM and it will be check ride time. Now I start to get nervous. The flight today went well. We departed 28r at we were on our way. 28R made my first portion of the flight easy because my hdg was 276. The radio work was much easier this time as I was better prepared. We were cleared into Class 'B' just short of Lake Waconia and were handed off to Mpls Approach. I nailed my checkpoints right away and was able to work the Wiz Wheel with no problems. Our gs was 120-130 so we were moving right along. Climbing up to 4500 made the view much easier as Kyle had suggested. There was some traffic in the Hutchinson area so we were on the lookout. I circled the field at CA and then flew down the RW for a 45 degree exit. Then we circled downed to PA and made the 45 downwind entry. I cut too short on final and ended up getting blown to the left of the RW. As a result I was too high and had to go around. I was too worried about the radio work. Fly the plane first and then communicate. The go-around was much smoother, except for the lovely Mooney that forgot he had a radio. We were just abeam the numbers on downwind, getting ready to turn base and I noticed some incoming traffic. Mr.(term used lightly)Mooney came in on a straight-in approach and did not announce his position. JERK ! I thought Marsha was going to shoot him. After landing we taxied back for departure and headed back to FCM. On the way back Marsha was just checking and asking me to pinpoint locations, both looking outside the plane and verifying them with the map. Once cleared into the downwind for 28R, Marsha called the tower back and asked to be cleared for a short approach. Hmmm! Something was strange. Abeam the numbers on the downwind she cut the engine. And said, "what would you do if you lost your engine right here?" I was ready this time. Instead of going through my emergency checklist, I made a sharp turn towards the field. I extended the flaps a little early and she had to add a touch of power, but I would say it was a success. Overall it was a good flight 8 out of 10 was how I rated it when Marsha asked. We taxied back and shut her down. Thanks for the flight Marsha. The sense of accomplishment from todays' flight was great. I am now free to leave the area on my solo XC's. Stay Tuned !!!

March 25th, 2003 - Finally ! Oops, think again. It was a beautiful day for flying except the wind at KFCM was gusting to 18 kts and KSTC was gusting to 19 kts. NO FLIGHT today. Will try again SOON !!! Check back soon.

April 8th, 2003 - Solo XC to KSTC - After a number of weather delays I was able to get my XC flight in. I took off from 10L for a NW departure. I had to turn soon after take off to get on a heading of 326 to get to KSTC. Once over Lake Minnetonka I could see the smoke stacks from the plant in KSTC. It was a very bumpy flight below 3000. The smoke stacks helped me in tracking my flight. I had to keep the stacks off of my left mose and I knew I would get there in a short time. The plane had manual radios so I was constantly changing the freq's: FSS, ATIS/AWOS, CTAF, etc... The holding for altitude was hard for me because I was constantly fighting the bumpiness. Checkpoints on the way up went o.k. I was able to get the leg distance/time, but the ETA,GS,ETA at dest, fell to the wayside because I was constantly fighting bumpiness. Once in the vicinity of the apt(KSTC) I started to get nervous. Something did not look right. When Marsha and I flew to KSTC at night both RW's were obviously dark and looked to be made of asphalt. The RW 13/31 was cement and I could not make out the 5/23 RW.All kinds of thoughts ran through my mind: I'm lost, why am I doing this, telling Marsha I had landed at the wrong airport, I quit, etc... The combination of the asphalt and faded paint job on the RW had me thinking I was in the wrong spot. While circling the field the RW 5/23 that looked like a taxiway became more clear. Once I was sure that I was correct about this being where I should be, I left the field to reenter the pattern on a downwind for 13. There was a lot of traffic for a non-towered airport. People were calling for 10 and 15 mile straight in finals. When I was on the downwind leg, someone radioed in for a 3 mile straight in final. Crap ! Where are they. I could not see them so I extended my downwind leg until they passed off of my left wing. I then turned base and was getting setup for my landing. The extended downwind leg helped by giving me plenty of time to get lined up with the centerline. The RW was 150 feet wide so my depth perception was somewhat different than what I was used to. The extra length of the RW helped greatly because I floated farther down the RW than I had in the past. I did not want to force the plane down to the ground so every little bit helped. I missed the first taxiway so I had a distance to get back to the RW for for the flight back. I pulled into the Run-Up area to catch my breath and collect my thoughts. I was now ready for the flight back. The bumpiness again kept me from completing all of my flight plan sheet. Once in the air I could see downtown Minneapolis so again I had something to help me greatly in tracking my flight. I radioed KFCM tower from the NW edge of Lake Minnetonka. I had the field in sight and was told to contact 3 SW. I called Princeton FSS and canceled my flight plan. I radioed the tower one more time and was cleared to land on RW 10L. Because of my location I was able to enter the pattern on a straight-in base. The familiar landmarks were back and I was home. I entered the base and got set up for the landing. One plane was holding short and I made it down with relative ease. I would say the landing was a 7.5/10. The stall horn went off and I settled onto the RW and went back to Thunderbird. I will take a few days to collect my thoughts and then it is time for my long solo XC. KFCM-KAXN-KMCW-KFCM; 103,189, and 100 miles respectively. I have not been to any of the airports so it will be a bit unnerving, but it must be done. Once I get to Mason City I will be fine because I will have a major freeway off of my right wing the entire way back. As long as I don't cross I-35 I will get home. That's all for now.

April 22,2003 - Long Solo XC
The day looked to be a great day for flying.It was clear skies and minimal winds at all three airports: KFCM,KAXN,KMCW. I had done all of the planning and pre-flighted the plane. It was time fire up the buggy and take to the air. I went to grab the tin for the plane and the key had somehow disappeared. I emptied my flight bag three different times and could not find a thing. I went back in to the FBO and asked if this was a student pilot practical joke. They swore it was not so I checked my bag one more time. No LUCK !. I went back to the FBO and was able to get the spare keys and I was soon off. I took off from 10L and once above the end of the runway the tower instructed me to begin my left turn as soon as possible. Because 10R was closed for takeoffs, 10L was very busy and they were trying to keep the planes moving. I nailed my first few checkpoints and I was on my way for the first leg of 103 nm. Somehow I was able to get the plane trimmed properly for the first time in awhile. The flight was going very smoothly. I had VFR flight following and heard from them a couple of times regarding traffic in the area. The pilotage to KAXN was fairly easy, although I did get misplaced one time. There is a major freeway that runs from the Twin Cities up to Alexandria. As long as I kept that off of my right wing, I should be o.k. When I did get misplaced I circled the freindly water tower and low and behold I was over Sauk Center. Not far and I would be landing soon. The towers are indeed helpful when finding your bearings on a VFR XC flight. KAXN is located right on the edge of a lake so it was very easy to find. I circled the field for landing and announced my intentions on the CTAF. It was somewhat weird that I did not hear anything on the frequency though. I was tuned into 123.3 but guess what, the correct frequency was 123.0. ANOTHER LESSON LEARNED. Be sure to check and double check you information. If all else fails, check your map for the information. The second lesson learned on my flight was be very aware of the location of a VOR when you are tracking it. On the first portion of my flight to KAXN I was tracking outbound from the Flying Cloud VOR and that seemed to be working very well. More than halfway through the flight I switched over to the KAXN VOR adn started to track that inbound. I was having trouble keeping the needle pegged and kept retwisting the the needle. I believe that is where I got off track and had to circle the water tower. I was tracking the VOR inbound but started to cross over the freeway. I checked my sectional and knew that was wrong. Then the light went on... The VOR is located about eight miles NE of the field. My VOR tracking was fine, but it was taking me away from the field. ANOTHER LESSON LEARNED. I came in king of high for landing on 13, but the RW was sooo long that I made it down with plenty of room to spare. I pulled off of the runway and went to refuel. I pulled up to the pump and the atendant was there before I got out of the plane. Top her off. The Alexandria airport building was very nice and clean. There was a rest area, chairs, and flight planning rooms. Very nice indeed. I had my fuel and it was time to go. I taxied back to 13 and was ready to go. I went through my take-of checklist and off I went. The takeoff was not the smoothest, but I was not sure why. As soon as I was clear of the RW I went through my climb checklist. Flaps Up, fuel pump off, landing light off. Wait, the flaps were already retracted. No wonder I was having trouble. I had just completed a no-flaps takeoff. ANOTHER LESSON LEARNED, Do not just recite your checklist be sure to do them. It was a little bumpy at first, but I was o.k. I nailed my first 5 or 6 checkpoints but it started to get bumpy at 3500 agl so I decided to climb up to 5500 agl to try and get above the mess. As I was climbing I could no longer take the bumps. After 30+ hrs of flight training, for the first time I had to reach for the sick sack. I tossed my cookies and I knew I could not continue. I was very close to Hutchinson and could see the airport. I made a slow, slight left bank and headed home. I called Princeton Radio and told them to cancel my flight plan. I needed to get my feet on the ground. A few miles out of Hutchinson I could see Lake Waconia and knew I would be on the ground soon. I radioed the tower over Lake Minnetonka and told to report 3 NW. A minute or so and I reported 3 NW and was cleared for a straight in on 10L. The straight-in allowed me plenty of time to get lined up with the center line. I was a little bit high because of the non-pattern so I chopped the power and slipped down to get on the proper glide and then added some power to stay there. The landing was not the best, but considering the fact that I lost my lunch, it was not that bad. I taxied back to T-bird and turned the plane. I am sure they are laughing now, but that's all right. I was laughing at myself. I offered to come back and clean up the plane after I had taken a shower, but Chris said don't worry about it I will ge the line guys to take care of things. That's when I heard, "Line, clean up on aisle 5". Short of that 15-20 second span, the flight was great and working well at the time of my need for a sick sack. They always say you learn something on every flight and I learned quite a bit today. I will talk to Marsha and see how we proceed from here. Until next time ~~~~.

June 20th, 2003 - CHECKRIDE...
The day had finally arrived. After several scheduling conflicts; some of my own and some of the FBO's it was now time. I had my flight planned and got plenty of rest the night before.

I awoke at 6:00 thanks to my hungry 3 yr. old. The weather was supposed to be good and when I looked outside, sure enough. It was beautiful and there was not a cloud in the sky. There did appear to be a little wind, but nothing to prevent me from flying today. My flight was scheduled for 1300 but I left for the airport at 1100. I wanted to have plenty of time to go over the maintenance logs and get in some last minute studying done. I had plenty of time to preflight and double check my flight plan. I also needed some time to have a quiet space so I could clear my mind and collect my thoughts before the most important test in my life to this point.

It was 10 minutes before 1PM and Andy (DE) was nowhere to be found. I was getting a little worried becuase this was not like him at all. I knew he would be here, but I was ready to go and getting anxious. One o' Clock came and Andy was still not there. He was actually out at Lake Minnetonka with an individual in his sea-plane. There were about to take off when a boat pulled in fron of them and they had to abort the take-off. I knew he was on his way, but I kept thinking the longer it took, the shorter my checkride would be. Andy finally arrived about 1:20 and apologized. When went over some last minute paperwork and headed out to the plane.

After a quick pre-flight it was time to taxi out to the active RW; RW-18 for today. Andy said that I was to treat him as a passenger today and that I could ask him to do anything that I would ask a passenger; hold a chart, look for any traffic, read something for me, etc... After explaining the seat belts and emergency procedures to Andy he gave me my first "test". I explained the use of the door and how to lock it. Somehow he forgot to latch the upper lock which I promptly caught. Nice Try! I was actually hoping for RW28 because it would mean one less turn I would have to make. My desired heading was 269 so it would only have meant a slight adjustment. Oh well. First up on the flight was a soft-field take-off. The wind was at 17011 so there was a slight crosswind, but not too bad. I kept the yoke back as we started rolling and was tracking the centerline fairly easily. Once the plane came off the ground I started to drift left immediately. I did not have enough right rudder to counteract the left turning tendencies of the plane. I came close to the taxi lights but not close enough to fail. When I drifted towards the lights, I pushed as hard as I could on the right rudder and like magic, we headed right back towards the centerline. Another lesson learned.

I got off the ground and got on my desired heading right away. I nailed my first two checkpoints and figured out my groundspeeds and estimated times for the next checkpoint and destination. After the second checkpoint Andy started playing with the throttle and I could not figure out what he was doing. Could he be giving me my engine failure so soon. After a split second I started my emergency procedures and when I checked the mags he would alternate the throttle between open and closed. He asked what is happening? I paid closer attention when he said that and noticed he was closing the throttle when I switched to the left mag. I told him that the left mag was bad and that meant only the right was working. At this point I would land at the closest (practicle) airport and get it checked out. I said if this were real we would turn around and head back to KFCM right away. He was happy with that answer and on to some more of the the test. He happened to do this as we were coming up on my third checkpoint. Another distraction and I did catch it. I made note of the time as we were passing Lake Waconia and figured out the times as soon as practicle.

Next was the uncontrolled airport entry. He pointed out a grass strip on the chart and wanted me to go through my normal uncontrolled airport entry. It was hard to see the windsock because it was between two buildings but after finding it I circled the field and flew down RW9 at CA. I exited the field on a 45 and circled down to PA to reenter on a 45 degree downwind. There was no CTAF, but I simulated the communication and that went well with Andy. We flew a low approach for RW9 and departed the field after that. For a second I thought he was going to have me do a soft-field landing for real on my checkride after never performing one in my training. Whew !

After departing the field he took the controls and had me put on the hood. Here we go. I took the plane and was told to perform a climbing turn to 240 while under the hood. A few minutes under the hood and he had me close my eyes and look down in my lap. I knew it was now time for unusual attitude recovery. He had me do a standard rate turn to the left and then a standard rate turn back to the right. When told to recover I looked up and I was in a climbing turn to the right. I added full throttle, pushed the nose down, and rolled the wings level. Recovery successful.

Slow flight was next up on the menu. I reduced the throttle and got the plane set up for slow flight. Of course before that, I did my clearing turns. I think he was waiting for me to forget them. Not today, I was ready. Everything was fine, pretty much uneventful. After the slow flight he had me go right into a power-on stall. I set the flaps, added full throttle, and tugged back on the yoke. Andy did not say much. I announced the stall horn, buffeting of the airframe, and then recovery. I only lost a little altitude and was able to keep the heading with relative ease. Now it was time for more slow flight and a power-off stall. I got the plane set-up and slowed down to 60 kts. I started the flare and slowly the speed began to bleed off. After a few seconds, the horn came on and that was followed by the buffeting of the airframe, and the recovery. The power-off stall was the worst of the two stalls. I lost a bit more altitude when recovering.

I climbed back up to 3000 and then it was time for the dreaded steep turn. Andy asked for the turn and I asked which direction he would like to go. He said we would do one each direction so I started off to the right. I announced 10 degrees, 20 degrees, 30 degrees, I then added a bit of power and hit 45 degrees. The little bit of power with a touch of trim did wonders for the steep turn. I lost very little altitude at all. It amazes me that things actually worked the way Marsha, Andy, and Kyle said they would work. We only did one steep turn for whatever reason. I was able to roll out on the exact heading so I think that helped my cause.

We had yet to do the simulated engine failure so I knew it was coming. After we rolled out of the steep turn Andy pulled the throttle and told me I just lost my engine. I started to switch the tanks and then remembered the first two steps: obtain best glide of 73kts and locate a suitable field, which I did in order. I started my checklist: switch tanks, check mags, check primer, throttle, mixture, fuel pump, carb heat, NO RESTART. Now back the other way: unlock the door, sqwak 7700, 121.5 on the com, carb heat off, fuel pump off, mixture idle, throttle idle, mags off, and just before landing and after the last radio contact, hit the battery/master switch. Don't forget to add the flaps when landing. Once you know you have the field made, you can add them when needed. In one of my last flights with Marsha she gave me a very helpful tip. Before departing, set the hdg. indicator on the DG to the current winds. It was much easier to look at the indicator to help in finding a field in which to land. When I started doing the engine failures, I spent/wasted too much time trying to locate a field in which to land.

After the failure, Andy said to use whatever I needed to take us back to KFCM. I dialed in the VOR on the NAV radio and identified it, then twisted the VOR and headed back home. We were over Lake Waconia and I called up the tower and told to report 3 W for RW18. I reported 3 NW and was told to proceed inbound for a right base on RW18. I was cleared to land and added my first flap before entering the pattern because I was entering on the base leg instead of the usual downwind leg. Once in the pattern I added the second flap and started to descend. I made a right turn over Starring Lake and added the third flap and really started to descend. I turned a long enough base that helped greatly in getting lined up with the center line. At first I was well above the glide slope so I pulled chopped the power to descend down to the glide slope. Andy asked for a short field landing on the second centerline stripe. There was little crosswind so I really lucked out in that respect. I was coming down on the glide slope and just before the RW I had to add a little power because I had lost a little too much altitude. I touched down just before the second stripe so Andy was pretty happy with that. A little short, but not too bad. The wind was right on 18010 so I barely had to use any brakes. I managed to make the first taxiway so the short field landing was a success. I was all prepared to taxi back for another trip around the pattern, but Andy took the controls and said "take a break", tell the tower we are going back to Thunderbird. As we were taxing back to T-bird Andy and I debriefed th flight. He asked what I thought I did wrong or could have improved on. The biggest blunder was the soft field take off and I knew that. Andy parked the plane and shut everything down. He said that he wanted to spend an hour or so with an instructor going over soft fields takeoffs and how and why they are performed. At that point I thought CRAP, I have failed. He mentioned everything else was fine and then said, "GOOD JOB!" and shook my hand. I asked what do I need to do at this point? Should I schedule some time and then retake the checkride with you? "Nope, you are all done. But before you actually do any soft field work, get with an instructor and be sure you know everything about how and why they are used". I could not believe it, I had to ask again, so I passed, the ticket is mine?" Yep, you are all done, GREAT JOB and CONGRATS !!!Holy Smokes, I am now a Private Pilot !!

Who would have thought that I would obtain this "License to Learn"?. Before I started taking my lessons back in July of 2002 I would never have stepped foot in a small so-called crop duster.After 48 hours of training I had achieved something that I never imagined possible. There were many times I thought I was crazy for doing this, but it feels great knowing what has happened. I had worked with several instructors while I Thunderbird Aviation: Shane Allen, Kyle Stroup, Marsha Moe, Andy Lott, and Brett Nelson. I did not change instructors for any bad reasons, some of them were hired on at other jobs and the others were used for my stage checks and checkride. People always say how important the instructor is and that is so true. Although I had a few instructors, I have nothing bad to say about any of them. They were all very helpful at different times. They definitely made this a pleasant experience, especially when I was going crazy and having trouble with different portions of the training. CHOOSE your instructor carefully, it can make or break your training. Thanks to everyone at Thunderbird for all their help. It has been fantastic. I plan on flying for the summer and starting my instrument training in the fall. Take Care and I will see you then.