I've said before (I think I have anyways) to be prepared for the worst kind of frustration you have ever experienced when it comes to flying. I've never in my life felt this level of frustration. Now, part of it is my fault. You are going to have frustrations regardless because of weather, but don't let the flight school you choose add to that frustration. That's where my fault lies. I've given this school wayyyyyyy too many chances and they have only added to my overall growing frustration.
Woke up this morning and skies were clear with wind at 4 knots. I was relieved because I had heard there would be storms all weekend. Considering I've been chomping at the bit for the last two weeks, this was a welcomed surprise.
The clouds began closing in on my way to the airport. No, no, no, no, no, NO! Not yet... just gimme two hours, please?!?! I need to go fly!
The weather behaved itself and I got started on the pre-flight. My instructor told me to go ahead and he'd bring the paperwork later. Halfway through, my instructor comes out and tells me we are switching planes. He does the pre-flight because we are running out of time and he wants to make sure the students in the afternoon have a chance to fly, so we need to hurry.
I'm not comfy letting him take over. It's my job to make sure that plane is airworthy, afterall. I start to go behind him and let him know it's not because I don't trust him, but would like to do it. He says there's no time and we need to go. So I at least ask about how much gas we have available. The last plane I was in the process of pre-flighting only had 1/4 of a tank. I wanted to know if I had to fill up this one too.
He laughs (not meanly, but "oh, isn't that cute?" sort of laugh) and says it's fine because he just checked it. I told him that I knew he did, but I was just making sure because as the Pilot in Command (PIC), I should know these things. To which he said I was correct and then quipped "Going to ask me about the oil levels too?". More rhetorical than anything, but again, as PIC, it's something I should know. So I said, "As a matter of fact... yes." Not cheeky, not talking back, just need to know. He laughed again and said we were at 5 quarts.
We take off... and granted faster than I would have liked. Rushing is NEVER good. NEVER. It's not the end of the world if the person behind you gets delayed - DO NOT put your safety at risk. And if there is a need to rush, then it's probably better to cancel the lesson altogether.
So we taxi out, radios handled beautifully (and the tower guy was REALLY cheerful - made me smile), and did the pre-take off check. Everything looks great. We have a little window in the canopy to circulation, and to yell out of (if need be). I had mine open and went to close it. It was broken so it was difficult to close. No big deal - report it when we land. My instructor told me to use both hands to close it because it was soooo difficult! We both saw it close completely and we were off.
During takeoff, my instructor tells me that he has a really bad headache and is naseous. Not good. I jokingly check to see how he is - "Not going to throw up in my plane, are you?" and he said he wasn't, but his head just hurt. That unsettled me a little... and even moreso when I got back on the ground. I mean, I've been prepared to fly with a headache before, even though I really shouldn't. But I justify it (not that it makes it right) by saying that if I got into trouble, at least my instructor would be there to take over if need be. Headaches slow your reaction time and impair your judgement. Now him flying with a headache is even worse. If I got into trouble, he may not be able to react as quickly or his judgement might be off. Not good. For either of us.
Anyways, we're taking off. I concentrate really, really hard - trying to put into practice what I've studied so hard lately. (I've been doing touch & goes in my office at lunch - chair flying) Doing well so far and we get parallel to the runway. All of sudden, out of the corner of my eye, I see a fluttering and feel a draft - the window is gone. I mention it to him and he utters an expletive. I'm not entirely worried because during the summer, we fly with that thing open all the time (no AC in the plane). But he makes me stop and we land the plane.
On the ground, he tells me that the little tiny window costs $500 to replace and unfortunately, because the person ahead of me didn't record that it was broken, it looks like I'm responsible. He called the main office guy and explained what happened. He told him that it was already broken, and stuck when I tried to close it. Fortunately he was there to tell them that I didn't touch it after that and even though it has a safety latch on it (which SHOULD make it fall into the plane in the off-chance of this ever happening, which is shouldn't), it fell out of the plane.
So now I'm frustrated, grouchy, worrying about if I'm going to have to pay this $500 to get this fixed (ruling comes MONDAY!! gahhh!!!) and once again thinking about switching schools. I know, I know - I keep going back & forth on this. My mom even said to me today, "Don't you think it's time to switch schools?!?! How many signs do you need??". If they make me pay it, I will, but that will finish my time with them. I realize they have to pay for their planes and repairs, but it was a freak accident. NOTHING I could have done could have prevented it (safe switching planes when I first saw it) and NOTHING I did caused it.
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