Shortly after taking off from London, we found ourselves flying above the most enchanting concoction of clouds. For those who enjoy such things, here is a visual “cloud poem” of the first ten minutes or so in the air…
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If there was ever any doubt about my desire to continue flying, it vanished without a trace when the Air Canada pilot pulled back the yoke on a busy runway at YYZ this evening. Enroute to Germany (via France) with my kids and their dad, I pondered my current break from flying. It seems so long ago that I was studying for and blogging about my written exam, even though it was only last summer that I finally wrote and passed that beast! The months that have passed since I have had to step back from finishing my PPL due to weather, time and financial reasons have been hectic, and I have tried to suppress my desire to be behind the controls of a Cessna by busying myself with other projects: Focussing on my Math/Tech research at work, redesigning my twins prenatal class website with a friend of mine, and developing a series of related podcasts to supplement same, preparing for my upcoming move to Argentina for the year… Sometimes I almost manage to convince myself that it's not such a big deal that I probably won't ever finish my PPL, that it doesn't really matter that I've never fly again, that it was nice just to be able to say I flew a plane once (a few times), by myself when I was in my 30s... Argh, but being back in an airplane, even a giant, impersonal, commercial airliner like this one, makes me hungry for piloting an aircraft by myself once again. (Did I really venture out on my own to complete a cross-country flight that included three different airports, without the safety of a competent flight instructor by my side? I’m not sure I’d even be able to fly a circuit now, with or without an instructor, lol!) One of the great and glorious things about transcontinental travel going from here to there is discovering that night has miraculously turned to day several hours before it normally “should”… Towards the end of a fitful sleep, when someone nearby invariably opens their carefully-closed-by-the-thoughtful-flight-attendant-only- a- few- hours-prior-window just a sliver, and lets in the splendid light of the European morning sun, it is as though a whole new world has been quickly ad wonderfully formed overnight while we were sleeping. The midnight sky is suddenly a brilliant blue, and gone is the darkness of the North American continent we so recently left behind! Soon, most of the windows are open, and those of us lucky enough to have window seats are gazing out at the wispy clouds drifting along below, roving lazily above the denser, puffier cloud cover beneath them, like feathery nomads without a clear destination in mind. Sleep deprivation is erased by the welcome morning light, calling our tired bodies into a revised daytime mode. Periodically, there are breaks to be seen through the clouds, and a bit of land or sometimes even a river appears underneath. (like clouds? click to enlarge!)
As I listen to Doug Riley’s “Peace Dance” (from his 1990 Freedom album) through my headphones, and look out onto the rolling white cloud hills and pale, thick cloud blankets below, I yearn to be looking out at them in the distance rather than from above; my suddenly desperate preferred perspective is about 15-20 thousand feet below, from the left seat of a Cessna, in control of whether and how close I get to these mysterious and often dangerous creatures. If only there were a way....
"Bessie worked hard at school, and she dreamed about flight. Apparently, this woman -- like so many would-be pilots -- struggled with poverty to get her license... but she also faced racism: In the early 1900s, when she wanted to fly, she could not find a flight school in North America who would take black students. So, she went to Europe, and learned to fly in France!!! So here, in honour of Black History Month, is this blog post on Brave Bessie, and below, one more quote from the picturebook at my school library: Up above flew the dove, and the raven too A friend sent me a link to this site of "terrifying" airports... CYTZ (my training airport) was included on the list! I had to laugh, because although City Ctr (or Billy Bishop, as it's officially known) is a busy airport, it's certainly not "terrifying"!!! In addition to the fact that it is located on an island, and you have to come in on final over the water, the article touted the "clothing optional" beach on the island's west side as a contributing factor for why this airport is on the list. Speaking from first-hand experience, I'd have to say that the nude beach is a bit distracting, maybe, but "terrifying"? Not so much! Ran across a few fun rules online today, for flying. Below are my 20 favourite, shared with permission from the pilot who has collected them from various sources over the years
If you enjoyed these, read the guy's whole collected list, here! While I'm waiting to win the lottery so that I can finish my flight training, I thought I post something fun and something practical... First, check out this guy with ZERO hours of flight instruction take off, fly and land a Cessna 172. No, seriously! (The link to the full story, according to the "student" is here. Or, if you want to read the "flight instructor's" version, click here!) Now, for those of you still plugging away on your PPL, or maybe even just getting started, check out this awesome new resource!!! (And yes, I helped design the website!) This online version of the FTM makes studying and review between lessons a total breeze! You can get the first few chapters for free, or buy access to the whole thing for less than $30. The quizzes in each section are amazing, like having a flight instructor right there beside you, explaining everything! And although some of the links included as resources can be found for free on the Internet, the way it's all organized and laid out saves TONNES of time sifting through all the garbage out there on youtube. (Plus, it's been vetted by a certified flight instructor, so you know it's all good stuff.) Online FTM - cool! I really wish I had found something like this when I was first starting my training. And if I ever get to finish my training, it will be great for reviewing the exercises and getting ready for the flight test. A few weeks ago, I wrote a blog post encouraging students who were feeling, well, kinda’ dumb in their progression of flight training. I was feeling a bit more optimistic about my own mental acuity, through decidedly less hopeful about the weather. Indeed, for several weeks on end, there were few to no VFR weekends, and my flight training languished.
Now, in addition to lack of time and ability, I am faced once again with lack of funds, a recurring problem over the course of my training to date. A seasoned flight instructor from BC once told me that in order to succeed, a student pilot needed three things: Time, Money and Desire to fly. One could get away with being a little short on one, she noted, but certainly needed rather a lot of the other two. Time has always been a bit of a stretch for me, and I have found a number of creative ways to stretch it into working (sort of) for flight training. Alas, being short on both time and money presents a seemingly insurmountable hurdle! At the end of this school year (I'm a teacher), I will have three weeks in July – prime VFR training season, weather-wise – that would be free to commit fully to finally completing my PPL. This would be long past my original goal date of summer 2011, or even my revised date of summer 2012 (I did get my written done last summer). It would also be well beyond my again-revised goal date of Christmas 2012, and my once-more-revised date of my 40th birthday (in March 2013). But goals can be flexible, can’t they? As long as we keep moving forward? As I approach July 2013, I will (finally) have plenty of time and continued desire. Now, where the heck can I get some cash?! Website, anyone? Workshop facilitation? Arbitrary generous donation? PLEASE?! It was with great trepidation that we loaded our luggage onto the checked luggage belt at the SATA check-in counter in Lisbon this morning. As a general rule, I fight valiantly to keep my bags with me at all times when travelling. Avoiding checked luggage ensures that my bags arrive at my destination when I do, without fail, every time. Keeping ones bags with one also means one doesn’t have to waste time upon arrival seeking out the correct luggage carousel, and then waiting and waiting and waiting some more for one’s luggage to arrive on said carousel, assuming it arrives at all.
But today we had a variety of liquids with us, mainly chestnut liquor and cherry wine intended for friends and family at home. So carrying on was not an option. It was a mixed blessing, checking our bags: On the one hand, we have a nearly-3-hour layover in Ponta Delgada, during which it will be nice to have only our backpacks, rather than two additional small suitcases to haul around the airport. On the other hand, the anxiety of wondering whether we will be reunited with our bags (and their delectable contents!) upon our arrival in Toronto later tonight does cast a bit of a shadow over the thrill of hanging out in airports being surrounded by airplanes… Will we enjoy a small glass of chestnut liquor this evening while doing laundry back in our little Apartment on the Lake in Toronto? Only time will tell! It’s been a while since I have found myself on a trans-continental flight, and so I was excited to depart YYZ recently, bound for Lisbon, for few days of European distraction. (The vacation had been booked prior to onset of this fall’s lousy weather, in anticipation that my PPL would be done by Christmas, lol! Oh, foolish me!)
There’s something to be said for paying a little more, and booking a flight on a non-prehistoric flight machine. This particular model, an Airbus 310, reminded me of flights to Germany when I was a child: Ashtrays (including a burned-out one in the armrest next to me) offered a throwback to the days when smokers simply could not get through a 7-hour flight without a cigarette, and the dilapidated paper dispenser in the washroom hanging of the stall had to be precariously balanced between one’s arm and the wall while one was doing one’s business. The age of the aircraft also manifested itself in our delayed departure: The 20:45 flight did not leave until 23:06, thanks to some work needing to be done on the right engine!!! Happily, learning to fly in a Cessna from the 1970s has me well-attuned to old crap, so this flight was not as jarring as it might be to non-would-be-pilots. And, we landed in Lisbon in one piece, if somewhat tired, so the A310 still works. Despite the busted up ashtrays, engines and lavatory paper dispensers. |
Welcome to Vera's Flight Brain...Here I will attempt -- hopefully not in vain -- to share my connections to previous knowledge. Or I might share a few random thoughts loosely connected to flying, too, as well as any useful resources I may stumble across in my studies.
AuthorVera C. Teschow is a certified teacher and mother of twin boys Alex and Simon. In addition to documenting her flying lessons, she also blogs about babies, teaching and life in general. Categories
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September 2013
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