Training

Ron Rapp, the blogger behind the House of Rapp, has written a lengthy essay about how he got into aviation as a pilot. The essay is lengthy because Ron’s life took a number of twists and turns where he crossed paths with aviation but did not dive right in. For instance: As a child, Ron’s mother took him on a memorable flight from Los Angeles to Missouri in 1977 to visit grandparents and the trip was made via a “shiny red and white” TWA Boeing 727 with everyone dressed up for the occasion (this was, after all, before “deregulation”). He even got his picture taken in the cockpit with the pilot.

Unfortunately, Ron’s parents passed away at an early age and he moved from Southern California to Alaska to live with relatives – one of whom had been hired by the FAA as a replacement Air Traffic Control Specialist after Reagan fired all the controllers who took part in the PATCO strike. However, it was not visits to FAA control rooms that got Ron into aviation.

What finally got Ron interested in Aviation? This is what he wrote:

It was 1998. I was driving down the street one day on the east side of John Wayne Airport for a reason I cannot recall (except to say it had absolutely nothing to do with aviation), and noticed a series of sky-blue awnings that said ‘Flight Training’.

Sometime between where the awning started and where it ended, I made the decision that yes, I was going to do that.

So he slammed on the breaks, pulled into the parking lot and never looked back. It also helped that Ron just happened to be at a point in his life where he had sufficient quantity of both time and money.

With Ron’s story in mind, we would like to ask our readers a simple or potentially difficult question: How or why did you get started in aviation?

A soon to be student pilot named Larry Shaw has posted a question on the Ask a Flight Instructor website about having the opportunity to purchase a more complex aircraft and whether he could get his private pilot certificate in it:

I have a great opportunity to purchase a Commander 112b. I do not have a private pilot certificate. Can I get my private in my new plane?

Wes Beard responded by saying yes but he also warned that it could be overwhelming while the CFI doing the training would have to give a high performance and complex endorsement before any solo flight. Wes added that it will take longer to solo and get a license while insurance requirements may not allow a student pilot to solo the aircraft.

Sam Dawson then commented that Larry needs to check with insurance BEFORE he purchases the aircraft to confirm it will actually fit his budget and he needs to make sure there is a CFI in his area who can teach him how to fly the aircraft. Sam then gave some good tips for buying an aircraft, including:

Look for reason NOT to purchase this airplane. If you can’t find any, then it is probably a good purchase.

Sam concluded by noting that he knows pilots who have done what Larry plans on doing and it took them longer to solo, but they also ended their training with “intimate knowledge of their airplane.”