|
Irv had always wanted to fly. Perhaps because his favorite uncle was
an air-traffic controller. With our four children grown and his 51st
birthday approaching he said, "I can' t put it off any longer. It is
time". I had never even thought about flying. He talked me
into trying a "discovery flight" on June 7, 1996. When I arrived at
Orlando Executive Airport I was surprised that the plane was so
small. ORL is towered, with two big
runways. As we taxied to the runway the instructor said, "I'll help you take off." I thought "Wow, I really get to do something". I think as soon as we pulled back and the 152 began to lift, the hook was in. I thought, “I could do this”. After trying to keep it straight and level and trying some turns we headed back to the airport. The instructor began talking through the landing. " I want you to notice--- learn to gauge---see how far---", and then as we neared the runway there was a magic moment when we seemed to just hang there in midair. I felt the hook go in DEEP! I thought “I have to do this”. I climbed out of the plane, went inside and signed up for ground school and bought all the books, went home and read the first chapter. The next day, I was back ready for my first lesson with a list of questions. For the next six months I was totally obsessed with flying. If I wasn't taking a lesson or attending ground school, I was studying and if I took a break from studying it was to read flying magazines. I could think and talk of nothing else. I can see where it could be hard on a marriage if only one is so obsessed. But we went to ground school together for six months and studied together and talked about flying all of the time. Our ground school instructor was Mary Woods. She had a way of explaining everything so that I could understand it easily. I don’t know that I could have done it without Mary. I do know it would have been much harder without her. We each had ten hours when we bought Pedro, our Cherokee 140B. We based it at Orlando Country Airport and changed to an instructor there. Country is non-towered, 3000' long, 35' wide, with trees at one end, power lines at the other and a cross wind nine months of the year. They told me "If you learn to land here you can land anywhere”. I once asked why the book says 100' wide. The answer was "The grass on each side can be used". I am glad for all the radio work at Orlando Executive. I soloed at Orlando Country in Pedro. Now I could fly without paying an instructor every time so I was at the airport all the time. On January 10, when I went for my check ride I had logged 104.7 hours. What a day that was! I was to fly from Orlando Country to Crystal River to have my check ride with Tom Davis. I had to be there early and it was very cold. I was more nervous than I have ever been in my life. I somehow managed to flood the engine and run down the battery. I had to get my plane jump started to go for my check ride! I have to admit I am still thoroughly addicted to flying. Two years ago we moved to a fly-in community. We have taken Pedro (or he has taken us) to New York, to Freeport, and twice to Chicago and all over Florida. My all-time favorite flight was July 23, 1997. Lucky for me it was my turn to fly. I called Kennedy and asked to go to Teterboro by way of the Statue of Liberty. They sent me directly over the tower at Kennedy International. What a sight! Going over Kennedy with jets landing below me I felt like one of the big boys. I kept saying " I don't believe this!" Irv was snapping pictures. Then we flew up the river to "The Lady". As soon as I was on the ground I grabbed a phone, and even though I was forty something, I called Florida and shouted "Daddy you won't believe what I just did!" I guess some things just have to be shared. |
 |
| HOW DID I
GET MYSELF INTO THIS? by Linda Schwartz 07-29-02 |
 |
 |
