Mile High Days
Ground School and First Lesson
After 20 years of service in the Air Force I retired and since I was single, I had lots of options about my future. A pilot my entire time, I'd flown lots of fixed wing airplanes including some of the smaller turboprop types. I had no desire to fly big jets like the airline pilots do. I didn't need the money and didn't want that much responsibility. But flying smaller stuff...like corporate planes appealed to me. So I got my instructor pilot license and began to accumulate some non-military hours toward a corporate job.
The FBO (Fixed Base Operator) at Palwaukee in northern Chicago metropolitan area hired me and I began working a few hours a week for them. The airport was a big one with a control tower and five main runways, two big enough for very good sized jets. They had a ground school for private pilots and I taught that occasionally. Angie had been one of my students so I wasn't too surprised when she showed up one day with her dad and inquired about me helping her get her private ticket.
We talked over the flying hours required and fairly significant expense involved. Angie was very interested and wanted to begin as soon as she could. Daddy wasn't particularly off-put by the amount of money required so I sat up a tentative schedule for her to begin instruction. Even though I was 20 or more years older than her, it did pass thru my brain that it would be kinda nice teaching her to fly. She was average physically in height and looks, but I'd noticed in class that she did dress very nicely. Daddy springing for this amount of money told me, yes they had the coins. I'd also realized that she was very smart in class, and as aggressive and appropriately assertive as any of the males in the class.
And so we began the next afternoon. First thing is preflight where you do seriously check out the airplane before taking off. Tires, check oil and a general look at the engine to see if anything seems amiss. Since the engine is air cooled there is no coolant to worry about. Walking around the plane we checked the ailerons, trim tabs, rudder and elevator control surfaces and general inspection of the outside of the airplane. Angie was excited about every bit of this and I was pleased. Even though she was excited to get started like most students, she paid careful attention to the preflight.
Once in the plane I familiarized her with all the controls. She was a quick study here since she'd just finished ground school and everything was pretty straightforward. She was 18 and had been driving for a couple of years so learning to fly was something that seemed to definitely appeal to her. Today we turned on the radio to just listen for a while. Normally the engine is started before this, but I wanted her to have plenty of time to absorb what went on at a busy airport before she was expected to do her part.
After we started up and I called ground control for taxing clearance, I gave the mike to Angie and helped her with the communication, telling her what to say if it wasn't obvious. After switching to departure control we accelerated and I let her feel how it is to fly a properly trimmed airplane off the runway. It essentially will fly it self off when it reaches it's safe airspeed and she was tickled that she was getting to help so soon. We climbed out with settings that I told her to follow, and then said we were going out of the practice area and essentially said goodbye to the controller. We did continue to monitor the radio as long as we were in the large general proximity of the airport since sometimes it is helpful to know what is going on. There may be jet traffic coming in for example, and while they will be looking for us, it is always smart to look for them!
That first day we just flew around some, doing slow turns, climbing and descending, holding altitude and compass headings. All pretty mundane stuff to me, but to Angie it was all a new exciting adventure. It is also the essential things that a budding new pilot needs to experience.
She seemed ready for it, so I gave her what I consider the essential test for a potential pilot. That is how does she react when the power is pulled back and the airplane becomes a glider. Pretty heavy glider but still is easy to control as long as you are willing to push the nose down and keep up airspeed. I'd explained it all to her and since she wanted to try it...we did. She emitted a little scream...shouted something I didn't understand...which sounded a little hit of some off color stuff...and then started giggling. "This if fun. Can we do it again?"
So with that kind of response I asked her if she would like to do a stall. "What's that?" I explained that when the engine was not producing power just like we had done...if you do not put the nose down and try to keep on flying like before, pretty quickly the airplane will sort of fall out of the sky because there is not enough wind over the wings giving lift. It is safe to do as long as you know how to handle it. It will feel sort of like a roller coaster dropping. "Lets do it. OK? Please, yes."
When the airplane stalled she did some of her verbal noises and her right hand shot out and grabbed my leg about halfway up to my hip...and then clearly said, "Damn this is nice. Fun. Can we do it again?"
"Sure" was my response and we did a few more stalls which she thoroughly enjoyed, and so did I since she grabbed...unconsciously I am sure...my leg each time and held on for several seconds. Since she was enjoying them so much, I explained what an accelerated stall was all about. "Angie we can do another kind of stall, where instead of pulling back the power we leave the throttle alone and pull up the nose. The plane will climb and as we pull back steeper and steeper...the plane will ultimately stall and fall...but with a lot sharper break and harsher fall."
"Lets do it." So we did. Three of them and each time she enjoyed it immensely. After what I told her was the last one, she threw her arms around me...somewhat awkwardly since it is cramped...and gave me a kiss on the cheek. "Thank you. Damn so nice. Fuck yes nice!"
By now our hour was up and we headed back for the airport.
Second Lesson
Being a quick study, I let Angie do as much controlling the airplane as we left the airport area. On the way to our practice area she asked at one point, how high will this little Cessna go? I told her I didn't really know but the Owners Manual listed 10,000 above sea level as being the service ceiling. I explained how this was different tan AGL (above ground level) that we usually used. Since the airport is about 800 feet above sea level, we are immediately 800 feet above sea level, but may only be a few feet above ground level. This isn't too much of a big deal around Chicago and the Midwest...but around Denver where the ground level is nearly a mile high it is a very important distinction.
"Denver is a mile high" Angie quipped not really as a question, but more as a statement. At this point her next statement was a big of a shocker..."what is the mile high club'? Well, I am not sure if it has some different meaning around Denver, but here...it means...ah...someone who has had sex at a mile high or more."
