“There is life before solo, and there is life after solo” – Scott Rohlfing.

When you have an instructor confident enough that you are ready to be kicked out of the nest, things can change from unnerving to confident very dramatically.

June 4th, 2009. 9:22 AM, Reid Hill View. “Reid Hill View Tower Cessna five zero niner three Kilo ready on the right.” “Cessna five zero niner three kilo Reid Hill View Tower Right closed traffic approved runway three one right cleared for takeoff.” “Five zero niner three kilo.” Position, brakes, feet on rudders and Full throttle. I wanted to remember the moment I take off, all by myself. Was not to be, the tiny plane was more eager than me to get off the ground. Looked at the watch, it was still 9:22 AM. All smiles, I was beaming to myself, hoping I’d remember this moment long after. Its almost beyond belief. Its sheer elation, joy and awesomeness to be up in the air. Thank you Scott. And niner three Kilo.

I have held this post in draft for a really long time, hoping friends and fiends would never know about the ineptness, humiliation, blips and the frustration I underwent (and still go through) when I decided to learn flying. However, even at the cost of looking like a nincompoop to these crass friends, I would let this post go live, simply because of the dearth of information out there. Had I known about a few things before-hand, I might have done better, cheaper and certainly faster.

How does one get 150+ bullet points noted down in head in a 1 hour class? Ask the FAA and the answer is “Eye Candy.” I must say I was pleasantly surprised by the quality, storyline and the delivery straight from the experts. Quite a contrast from my initial feeling  of

“Do we really have to do this?”

to

“Wow, can we go through it again? ”

FAA’s runway safety course really does drive the point(s) home. Here’s some of the eye candy if you’re interested.