The flying thing...(part 1)

The flying thing... I get asked a lot about becoming a pilot, and while I enjoy it, it is not the end all be all in my life. Like all things to pay the bills it is a J--O--B, but I do enjoy my job. But here is what I did, thankfully to my parents for the first 200 flight hours, and thankfully to my wife for the last 3000 flight hours.

Cessna 152. I got about 10 hrs of flight lessons then my instructor told me to taxi to the ramp and not shut-down. He jumped out and told me to go fly around the traffic pattern a few times. My first SOLO flight, 10/95 KMQY, Smryna, TN




The engineers of Cessna and Piper had no idea they were designing planes in the 50's that are still being used to teach people to fly even in 2006. To this I salute you "Mr. Small Training Plane Engineering Guy"



This is a PA-28, a Piper Cherokee. This is what I finished my Private Pilot Training @ 06A Tuskegee, AL Moton Field. Check-ride @ KMGM Montgomery, AL 6/1997




Cessna-172. After I got my Private Pilots License I signed up for my flying at Auburn University. I took my Instrument Check-ride in an airplane like this at KAUO, 12/1998.





The picture below shows the cockpit of a single engine plane.



C-172RG. Besides 20 more Horsepower, this airplane was considered a "complex airplane" and used for getting the Commercial Pilots License. The difference between this plane and the one above is retractable gear, a constant speed prop (the prop changes pitch as you fly.) Commercial 6/2000


After completing the Instrument rating and Commercial licenses at Auburn, I took a job as a cooperative education student at Delta Airlines in Atlanta, GA. My flying still hadn't earned me a dime but I was getting close.

Do you need to study Aviation in college to become a pilot? No. In fact if I were to do it all again I would have majored in something else while continuing to take flying lessons and earning my ratings on the side.. Hindsight is 20/20.