FoxyWhiskey
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jul 27, 2005
- Posts
- 172
I just got word today that my old flight instructor has passed on. Although he had been prior military and left airline & fractional jobs to teach flight, he was a career flight instructor (Part 61) at our busy, local municipal airport and was considered by many to be a GREAT flight instructor. Rough around the edges, a bit of a cowboy and definitely not your cookie-cutter instructor, he really taught me so many valuable lessons. Of course, I didn't think so then (I just thought most days he was just being a crazy a$$hole) but I know better now.
First off, I want to thank MJ for bringing me from Private-Instrument-Multi-Commercial in just over a year. He wrote me my first letter of reccomendation for the flying job I have today and I still look at it every now & then and think WOW because someone I have so much respect for thinks this of me!
I thank him for his patience, his insight on the industry in a career I was, at the time, just begining to learn about. I thank him for making me solo around an untowered field in gusty 23 kt. x-winds because he had faith that I could do it, even though I was unsure.
I thank him for making me think fast and make decisions in the cockpit, not holding my hand through every approach. I can hear him now: "Don't ask me for help, do something about it!"....."You ARE the doughnut!"....."Get on those f'ing needles right now and don't let go of them!" And my favorite: "Don't be a God damn soup-sandwich!"
I also thank him for failing my gyros and DME constantly, turning off my navs & comms when I forgot to back them up. I thank him for putting me in real clouds & weather every chance we could. He didn't sugar coat my performance, and when he gave my flying compliments I knew he meant it, and that in turn meant a lot to me as well. That "tough love" is priceless.
This man taught me how to be a professional on the radios, how to fly steam gauges when everyone and their brother was falling all over themselves to fly a GPS equipped plane. He taught me to REALLY know where the hell I am in an approach.
I thank him for showing me that ATC is human too, that they make mistakes, and that ultimately it's my seat that's moving...not theirs. I thank him for showing me how to fly 100 feet over the ocean back down the coast after an intense instrument lesson and how to "cloud surf" and land on little dirt strips in the desert so I wouldn't lose the fun in flying.
I learned SO much from this great guy, he was a true aviator!
If you've had anyone make an impact in your flying, you know what I mean. Thank a flight instructor.
Thanks for reading.....
-FW
First off, I want to thank MJ for bringing me from Private-Instrument-Multi-Commercial in just over a year. He wrote me my first letter of reccomendation for the flying job I have today and I still look at it every now & then and think WOW because someone I have so much respect for thinks this of me!
I thank him for his patience, his insight on the industry in a career I was, at the time, just begining to learn about. I thank him for making me solo around an untowered field in gusty 23 kt. x-winds because he had faith that I could do it, even though I was unsure.
I thank him for making me think fast and make decisions in the cockpit, not holding my hand through every approach. I can hear him now: "Don't ask me for help, do something about it!"....."You ARE the doughnut!"....."Get on those f'ing needles right now and don't let go of them!" And my favorite: "Don't be a God damn soup-sandwich!"
I also thank him for failing my gyros and DME constantly, turning off my navs & comms when I forgot to back them up. I thank him for putting me in real clouds & weather every chance we could. He didn't sugar coat my performance, and when he gave my flying compliments I knew he meant it, and that in turn meant a lot to me as well. That "tough love" is priceless.
This man taught me how to be a professional on the radios, how to fly steam gauges when everyone and their brother was falling all over themselves to fly a GPS equipped plane. He taught me to REALLY know where the hell I am in an approach.
I thank him for showing me that ATC is human too, that they make mistakes, and that ultimately it's my seat that's moving...not theirs. I thank him for showing me how to fly 100 feet over the ocean back down the coast after an intense instrument lesson and how to "cloud surf" and land on little dirt strips in the desert so I wouldn't lose the fun in flying.
I learned SO much from this great guy, he was a true aviator!
If you've had anyone make an impact in your flying, you know what I mean. Thank a flight instructor.
Thanks for reading.....
-FW
