| [Wings 'n' Things/Aviation......April 10,2006]
New pilot keeps at it and is now flying high Hal Peters of Weirsdale is a modest fellow who had a yen to learn to fly, accomplished that feat, and is now a licensed pilot as of Jan. 21. Next on his list is to acquire the perfect airplane. It has to be able to take him places but it must be a good trainer as well. It seems his wife, Beth, now has the flying bug too! According to Beth Peters, "Hal is a guy who squeezed four years of college into nine years." Thus it is right in character that he spent over four years accomplishing his pilot's license goal. It all began in 2001; in fact his first ground school class was on Sept. 10, the day before 9-11. Beth recalls, "He started with the ComAir class through Seminole Community College and then went to Orlando Country as a student pilot. He would go about three times per month, then life got in the way and he stopped going for a long time." She doesn't recall how he got back into it, or how he got connected with folks at some local grassroots fields, but that's how he ultimately reached his goal. Get back into it he did, scoring a 97 on his written test. After getting the airwork finished up with CFI Ron Gruver in Al Huber's Cessna 150 based at Back Achers, it was on to the check ride, which was scheduled for Dec. 18, 2005. That one was rained out. The next check ride was set for Jan. 8, but it got blown out. He finally met with the examiner on Jan. 14, but Beth said, "There was an interpretation discrepancy in his log book (something about his cross country night flight), so foiled again." Talk about remaining focused! He repeated his night flight on Jan. 17 with his instructor, Ron Gruver, and finally, Jan. 21 was the big day. Peters said the examiner, Ken Luckett out of DeLand, was very thorough, very fair, and very relaxed. They were in the air for about 90 minutes, performing the required elements of the check ride. "It was windy, but all went well, and I flew home a Private Pilot, he said," Beth reported, "Hal was told he did such a fine job that he now needed to start working on the instrument rating." As soon as he got his sign-off as a new licensed pilot he flew to Hobby Hill airfield to meet his wife and friends for the weekly lunch at Sunset Harbor Marina. Afterward, he took Beth for a long-awaited ride! What a great day! "I flew back to Hobby Hill to take my wife Beth for a flight," Hal recalled. "Ron and Al were waiting, along with the rest of the Hobby Hill crowd. After many hours of training doing stalls, steep turns, Dutch rolls, and all the other PTS required maneuvers, as Beth and I got in the plane Ron says 'give her a real smooth, straight and level flight,' and I'm thinking 'we never learned to fly straight and level...'. All went well, and we had a good time flying around Weirsdale, our house and Lake Weir, then to Back Achers. "I would have never been able to finish my private pilot without the help of Ron Gruver with training, and preparing for my check ride, and Al Huber for helping with the plane. Thanks for all the help Ron and Al." In summary, Hal said, "It is probably the most challenging thing I have accomplished, and I am really looking forward to stretching my wings, and traveling around Florida by air." Blue skies and tailwinds to you, with many happy flying hours ahead! |