Day 31 - "The Road To Success Is Always Under Construction"

"Stall warning," I called. My voice reverberated over the intercom in my headset, interrupting the electronic warning tone that indicated that a stall condition was imminent.

"You're doin' fine, Cap. Just keep pulling back." Words of encouragement from the right seat.

I kept steady back pressure on the yoke, constantly shifting my focus between the outside of the aircraft and various instruments inside. I felt the controls getting increasingly mushy and the nose pitched up as the aircraft continued to flirt with the stall. This was the maneuver I'd had so much trouble with, and my first attempt at it since my remedial flight with Dan. Here we go. The moment of truth.

"Buffett." My next call into my headset. The term buffett (pronounced "buff-it") described the shaking and vibration that the aircraft encountered as it finally began to completely quit flying. My heart started to speed up. "And... break." The aircraft finally had all of this crap that it wanted and "broke." No amount of back pressure was effective any longer. The nose pivoted down and we were looking at the ground. Only this time, I did lock up. I held it straight, released the back pressure, pushed the two throttle levers to the firewall, and recovered.

"Niiiiice job, Captain," was Clay's response. I had done it.

Ok so actually it's an update of some of day 30, but mostly day 31. The above events transpired yesterday on a flight back from Tuscaloosa, and the title quote was given to me by the big man himself, Joey. Following my successful, at least transient, conquering of my stall issue, we gathered with the big dog for celebration. He then invited us back to his house for a classic aviator celebration: hangar talk and black & white movies. That's right friends, Dr. Strangelove. ("You can't fight in here, this is the War Room!!!") And during the course of his dispensation of advice and mentoring to the three junior aviators present, he uttered the title phrase. I don't know if the words are originally his or not, don't really care. They make perfect sense to me. They reinforced the continued rebuilding of my confidence and the conquering of the roadblocks I'm facing. His statement sorta served as a reminder that sometimes the road gets bumpy, and you have to roll with the bunches. So I'm trying to look on the bright side of things and just focusing on having fun, and that's not too hard around here. At any rate, for that sort of encouragement to come from someone whom I really admire really felt great.

And what felt even greater than that? Why, I'm glad you asked! A ride in his prized North American T-6 Texan (I say prized because Joey has won the Reno Air Races twice in that airplane)! As a reward for apparently making a good hand around the airport, I got to tag along for a pleasure flight over the lake and play around a little bit. To say that I had a BLAST would be a grave injustice. It would be more accurate to say that I fell in love! Joey decided that he wanted to go play around in it today, and asked Ryan and I to clean her up this morning. My pleasure, sir!

After we gave the old warbird (she was manufactured in the 1940s) a bath, it was time for me to strap into the rear seat and go for a ride. It's strange to be in an airplane with a parachute strapped to you. A chute is required for all aerobatic flight, so I've had to wear one in the Pitts with Dan and in the T-6 with Joey. I'm used to just wearing seat belts, and having my own ability and nothing more to get me down, so I'm still kinda getting used to the chute thing (made me feel muy importante though). But to ride in that machine, I'd have worn an umbrella strapped to my back if they told me to, I didn't care.

Following the ceremonial strapping on of the airplane, the aircraft's horrendous 9-cylinder radial engine roared, and runway 27 disappeared underneath us. We headed north away from the airport, and it was on. A few minutes, and a series of aerobatic maneuvers later, the smile on my face was nearly permanent. I'm being reminded more and more everyday why I like being a pilot, and why I think I wanna do it for the rest of my career. I love the culture here, and getting to fly so much is just really unbeatable. This is just so much fun it's freaky. Plus, one day I want to be the guy that Joey is. I want to be the one that everyone looks up to, and helps others. He's truly one of the nicest people I've ever met, and I can't wait to forward to favors that he's done for me on to others.

And in other news, I get to come home this weekend! I'm very excited about that, obviously. My checkride is scheduled for Monday at 1 pm, and various issues preclude much from happening until then, so Friday I get to come home. I can't wait! This news really boosted my morale. That combined with the time I got to spend flying with Joey today really made for an all around great day. For the time being things are really looking up, and I can't wait to do it all again tommorow.

And we'll finish it off with the new term that Ryan coined today...

"So sayeth the Lloyd."

Joey