Rained Out

I'll be the first one to admit that I really didn't feel like flying much today. I had 3 late nights in a row and the most recent one involved alcohol. My family was out of town and I had no work that day so the booking was made for 230 pm which gave me ample time to sleep in and do whatever I needed prior to making my way to the club.

It was raining and windy most of the morning and I was quite certain the flight would be canceled. Up until now the weather had been perfect since I started my training and I realized that I had no clue what the process was for canceling a flight due to weather. Would they call me? I guess I treat it like baseball then. I've captained a team since my early 20's and have consistently delivered the same message when people start calling about "will we play today?" which is: "Unless you hear from ME telling you that the game is canceled, you are expected to show up". Baseball and Football are two games which are played regardless of the weather. You don't cancel a game because it is raining, the field is muddy, or it's too cold. You cancel a game if and only if the weather and field conditions are dangerous. You also cancel in lightning. I decided to apply this same philosophy to flying.

By the time I showed up things had cleared up somewhat. The clouds had broken and the sun was coming out. Granted it was still pretty windy. I ran out to the apron to complete my walk around. About that time - some dude (in a fancy instructor uniform) approached me and told me that we probably weren't flying today due to the weather. Turns out I got bumped (AGAIN) and he would be taking me up. Based on my experience from the previous day with I99, I decided that I was fed up but at least owed this guy the opportunity to explain. Turns out he took over the entire day's slate for the other "new" instructor that canceled on me the previous day. Hmmm - turns out that guy was sick the previous day as well when I landed with I99. Fair enough.

After chatting for 15 minutes with this instructor (who will officially be assigned I4) I decided that I liked him. He seemed passionate about flying. I decided to go through my "Instructor Interview" that I memorized thanks to some suggestions from Rob Machado. One of the biggest questions I ask is always "Why are you an instructor?" to which you usually get the standard "building hours" answer. I4 had the most interesting answer for this one yet. Turns out he is an instructor simply because he wants to be an instructor. Spent 20 years in IT as a Business Analyst and a year ago realized he was in his mid 40's and hated his job. He quit his job and his wife and him remortgaged their house while he completed his Commercial and Instructor ratings. He has held his PPL for 20+ years and picked up his IFR and Multi Engine along the way in the past 10 years. Wow - great answer.

I4 was certain that we weren't going to be flying and then asked if I was interested in perhaps doing a long briefing on a few of my upcoming air exercises. I figured I'd give him a shot. I asked him to start by reviewing Slow Flight and Stalls with me just to get a great indicator of how he stacks up against I1 and I99. Then we moved into Spins and finally Spirals. I don't think I can even begin to explain how well the briefings went. Granted we had a lot of time to complete them - but his method of communication was superior to most others that I had received - even better than I2 and the CFI.

He had great parallels, excellent examples, experience stories, drew fantastic diagrams, acronyms, and even a number of comparison charts. The level of understanding that was gained during a 60 minute briefing was amazing. One large difference that I really noticed was that he often said "Transport Canada will test you on this". This is the first time I had ever heard anyone say that to me - whether in the air or on the ground - no one ever mentions TC. I made sure to tell him how much I appreciated that. At the conclusion of the session I spent some time downstairs trying to find a spot for some airtime with I4 but I wasn't successful. As it turns out I was booked with this sick instructor again the next day and I4 wasn't scheduled to work. I went home hoping that I'd have a chance to fly with him the next day.