(picture courtesy of Aero Atlanta Club)
I got the chance of a lifestime and spent my Saturday, playing around in these down at Hartsfield. 5 simulators in all - 3 Larjets (31, 45 and 60), Citation II and an Embraer. Lear 60 (pictured) was my favorite.
This was such a big deal for me. Not only because the average person doesn't get to do this, but after the Atl Aero Club announced they were going here, they said only at least Private Pilot's Licence holders could go. I was crushed and thought I'd have to wait until next year. Then a thought creeped into my brain: perhaps there could be no harm in asking if they would let me attend.Worst they could say was "no" (and possibly, "can't you read?") and I'd be no worse off than I already was. I wrote to one of the main people in the group on facebook. Told her that I was very excited about, but was only a student pilot - would there possibly be a chance that I could go too? My request was answered with a resounding "Yes!! Please sign up!". I was esctatic and over the moon.
The big day finally came and with butterflies in my stomach, I set out an hour ahead of time. Good thing too - there were no signs, so I ended up taking a detour around the back of Hartsfield. It didn't bother me as I was there way ahead of time and I had never seen the back of Hartsfield before. Saw the hangers for Delta and Airtran and gawked at the big, beautiful planes as I drove past. This is the first time I've seen those planes through my new aerophile eyes and they were absolutely breathtaking. I think I've always liked to watch commercial planes take off and land, but nothing like this.
Finally, I found the right building and decided to review a bit before heading inside, as I was still early. (Have to study every chance I get) With 10 minutes to go, I couldn't wait any longer and walked inside. I told myself that today was about having fun and there was no need to be nervous. We had to check-in at the front desk. They gave me a name badge and told me where to go. I smiled at everyone I met and wiggled my toes inside my shoes with happiness. I finally found where we were suppose to go and walked inside - and everything stopped. My confidence plummeted after walking into the room (not to mention, they had fallen quiet and were staring at me) because they were not only all at least private pilots, but they were all older that me, too - and all guys. I know that's aviation for you, but I had expected at least one or two other females there.
My inclination was to sit quietly in the back of the room, but they called me up front to get my name and give me my team assignment. Then I saw a familiar face - the owner of the pilot shop I frequent was there. Good, one familiar face. We started chatting and then he introduced me to people he knew. Then I got assigned to my partner.
"Hey man, how did you manage to get assigned with the only girl in the room?", came a shout from another pilot, across the room to my flight buddy.
"I don't know", he replied. "I just walked into the room and managed to hit the lottery".
Gee thanks, guys. I AM right here, you know... The pilot shop owner turned to me and said "You knew this was going to be a rough crowd, right?". But the tension broke after I was able to crack a few jokes. It actually was in my favor to stick out like that; everyone wanted to talk with me and get to know me. It's funny - I remember wanting nothing more to blend in when I was a kid and hated being different. Now I absolutely loved it and embraced it with vigor! And there was no need to be nervous, as all of these guys were more than willing to help me.
I had no idea what any of the planes were that we were going to fly. Turns out that we flew all of them, so it really didn't matter. My partner looked up the planes on his IPad to show me what they looked like. We got our assigned times and headed out. They had 3 rooms FULL of simulators! It was just absolutely amazing. My eyes went wide watching them come to life and move around. Finally it was our turn. I felt my heart nearly beating out of my chest and had to remind myself silently that I was there to have fun and not be nervous.
We entered the Lear 60 and there were so many instruments! Many more than in my little Diamond. I offered the captain's seat to my partner and he said "oh no, that's YOUR seat". It's okay, I can do this, I can do this. We also had an instructor sitting behind both of us, letting us know what to do. Even though all of the other guys were at least private pilot's (and most were instructors), they had never flown anything like this before. So at least we were all beginners in that aspect. And that made me feel better.
So we "took off" and flew the pattern around the airport. My partner handled the flaps and some other stuff that was the co-pilot's job. We approached final and I went in for the landing. It bounced a bit, but was pretty good (and even got a High-5 from my partner). Hey, this isn't so bad...
I finished and he took a turn. Amazing to see just how two little round the pattern runs took 30 minutes. It went by so fast! Everything in a plane goes by fast...
We finished and were on our way to the next sim. The door opened and I literally bounced out. The team behind us said "Wow, look at that smile!". I was beaming ear-to-ear. Nothing in the world lights my soul on fire like aviation. I seriously had no idea I was smiling until they pointed it out. I felt the joy inside but had no idea that it stretched all the way to my face.
We had a small break due to a scheduling mix-up. My partner was hungry and wanted some lunch. I wasn't that hungry (it was only 11) and had cookies instead. Another pilot said, "I like her lunch. Think I'll have what she's having". And another had cookies too because he was waiting for someone else to take a cookie first. Cookies became my thing for the day. Later, they were cleaning up and had one cookie left - the guy said he knew how much I liked them and gave it to me.
The next one was the Citation II; the only Class C simulator we flew and FAA certified. Yeah, it was a pretty big deal. So big, in fact, that the Citation II instructor was able to log 1 hour of instrument flight sim time in my log book. Sweet.
The Citation was a little harder. The controls were a little bit heavier, as this was a bigger airplane. Still did okay though. (Crashed once though- Shhhh!) Still smiling when I came out of the sim though. The instructor remarked to someone later that he wished all of his students could be like me. I laughed, thinking that was pilot sarcasm - "Seriously? But I crashed your plane...". And it was pointed out to me that I only had 7 hours of flight time in a plane. I barely knew how to operate that one and here I am, in a professional sim, flying a much more complicated airplane, which had different controls than my plane, and for the very first time. It was okay to crash - even the other guys with their private pilot license's crash on sims.
The Embraer was next and I did not like that one at all. The controls were very, very heavy - so heavy, that I'm still kind of feeling it in my arms. Arg, gotta build some muscle in these wimpy little aviatrix arms!
The Lear 31 was the last one we flew in for the day. The instructor for that plane could add weather effects and blow smoke into the cabin. Very, very neat. My co-pilot flew with a heavy fog coming down for landing. They changed it to clear skies for me, but I wished I had tried the heavy fog one. Afterall, it's a sim - no harm done. This sim and the one before it had a flight navigator, so you didn't even have to look out the window. You had a screen in front of you and one arrow represented you the airplane and the other arrow represented where you needed to go. When you needed to turn, you just followed the arrow and tried to keep them lined up. Very, very cool. I even asked if those were real because I had never seen one before - we sure don't have those in Diamonds! (And by the way, I got laughed at for that question, but all in good fun.)
Some people left early. I (and my partner) couldn't understand why people would leave early - we'd stay there and play all day if we could. It was hard work too; left there feeling very exhausted, but happy. I feel so honored to have been able to go! Thank you so much Atlanta Aero Club and Flightsafety! Not only did I have the chance of a lifetime, I also met great people, had an absolute blast and learned a lot, too.
"Hey man, how did you manage to get assigned with the only girl in the room?", came a shout from another pilot, across the room to my flight buddy.
"I don't know", he replied. "I just walked into the room and managed to hit the lottery".
Gee thanks, guys. I AM right here, you know... The pilot shop owner turned to me and said "You knew this was going to be a rough crowd, right?". But the tension broke after I was able to crack a few jokes. It actually was in my favor to stick out like that; everyone wanted to talk with me and get to know me. It's funny - I remember wanting nothing more to blend in when I was a kid and hated being different. Now I absolutely loved it and embraced it with vigor! And there was no need to be nervous, as all of these guys were more than willing to help me.
I had no idea what any of the planes were that we were going to fly. Turns out that we flew all of them, so it really didn't matter. My partner looked up the planes on his IPad to show me what they looked like. We got our assigned times and headed out. They had 3 rooms FULL of simulators! It was just absolutely amazing. My eyes went wide watching them come to life and move around. Finally it was our turn. I felt my heart nearly beating out of my chest and had to remind myself silently that I was there to have fun and not be nervous.
We entered the Lear 60 and there were so many instruments! Many more than in my little Diamond. I offered the captain's seat to my partner and he said "oh no, that's YOUR seat". It's okay, I can do this, I can do this. We also had an instructor sitting behind both of us, letting us know what to do. Even though all of the other guys were at least private pilot's (and most were instructors), they had never flown anything like this before. So at least we were all beginners in that aspect. And that made me feel better.
So we "took off" and flew the pattern around the airport. My partner handled the flaps and some other stuff that was the co-pilot's job. We approached final and I went in for the landing. It bounced a bit, but was pretty good (and even got a High-5 from my partner). Hey, this isn't so bad...
I finished and he took a turn. Amazing to see just how two little round the pattern runs took 30 minutes. It went by so fast! Everything in a plane goes by fast...
We finished and were on our way to the next sim. The door opened and I literally bounced out. The team behind us said "Wow, look at that smile!". I was beaming ear-to-ear. Nothing in the world lights my soul on fire like aviation. I seriously had no idea I was smiling until they pointed it out. I felt the joy inside but had no idea that it stretched all the way to my face.
We had a small break due to a scheduling mix-up. My partner was hungry and wanted some lunch. I wasn't that hungry (it was only 11) and had cookies instead. Another pilot said, "I like her lunch. Think I'll have what she's having". And another had cookies too because he was waiting for someone else to take a cookie first. Cookies became my thing for the day. Later, they were cleaning up and had one cookie left - the guy said he knew how much I liked them and gave it to me.
The next one was the Citation II; the only Class C simulator we flew and FAA certified. Yeah, it was a pretty big deal. So big, in fact, that the Citation II instructor was able to log 1 hour of instrument flight sim time in my log book. Sweet.
The Citation was a little harder. The controls were a little bit heavier, as this was a bigger airplane. Still did okay though. (Crashed once though- Shhhh!) Still smiling when I came out of the sim though. The instructor remarked to someone later that he wished all of his students could be like me. I laughed, thinking that was pilot sarcasm - "Seriously? But I crashed your plane...". And it was pointed out to me that I only had 7 hours of flight time in a plane. I barely knew how to operate that one and here I am, in a professional sim, flying a much more complicated airplane, which had different controls than my plane, and for the very first time. It was okay to crash - even the other guys with their private pilot license's crash on sims.
The Embraer was next and I did not like that one at all. The controls were very, very heavy - so heavy, that I'm still kind of feeling it in my arms. Arg, gotta build some muscle in these wimpy little aviatrix arms!
The Lear 31 was the last one we flew in for the day. The instructor for that plane could add weather effects and blow smoke into the cabin. Very, very neat. My co-pilot flew with a heavy fog coming down for landing. They changed it to clear skies for me, but I wished I had tried the heavy fog one. Afterall, it's a sim - no harm done. This sim and the one before it had a flight navigator, so you didn't even have to look out the window. You had a screen in front of you and one arrow represented you the airplane and the other arrow represented where you needed to go. When you needed to turn, you just followed the arrow and tried to keep them lined up. Very, very cool. I even asked if those were real because I had never seen one before - we sure don't have those in Diamonds! (And by the way, I got laughed at for that question, but all in good fun.)
Some people left early. I (and my partner) couldn't understand why people would leave early - we'd stay there and play all day if we could. It was hard work too; left there feeling very exhausted, but happy. I feel so honored to have been able to go! Thank you so much Atlanta Aero Club and Flightsafety! Not only did I have the chance of a lifetime, I also met great people, had an absolute blast and learned a lot, too.
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