Checkride Day Stress

A customer of ours is in doing the oral for his Private Pilot checkride. I remember being so nervous the morning of my checkride all those years ago. If all went well that day I would be a pilot in just a few hours. I was about to get into an airplane with someone new and he was going to judge me and my flying skills. I was excited, nervous, scared, and all other emotions you can think of and all at one time.

It was a long drive to the airport that morning. The questions popped into my head at that point. Is that a cloud on the horizon? Is it too windy? What is the difference between Vx and Vy? Are my charts current? Did I brush my teeth? I ended up turning up the radio and let Sheryl Crow distract me.

After getting to the airport I focused on the task at hand. I met the examiner, a man with a big smile and a pipe in his mouth, and we went to work.

I have been nervous before each checkride. But this customer taking his ride today has some extra stress in my eyes that I have never dealt with. His parents are sitting at a picnic table waiting and watching. I have never had that, I just had to make a call when things are all done.

While typing this he has now finished the oral and is getting in the plane with the examiner. Good luck kid, we are all pulling for you!
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Chicago skyline from Atlantic Aviation.

A sample of the view from Midway Airport today.
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On the ramp at Midway KMDW

I spent some time at Atlantic Aviation at Chicago's Midway Airport. The view of the Chicago Skyline from there is one of the best around.

Another great spot to watch airplanes at Midway is the parking lot of Giordano's Pizza on Cicero Ave. It is just off the center line of 31 Center and sometimes you feel like ducking when they come over head. If you get a window seat in the restaurant you have amazing pizza and a wonderful view. Not a bad combination.
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Here is a shot of the approach to Bob Hope Airport(KBUR) in Burbank, CA. This is from the cockpit of Falcon 50 and was taken recently by my buddy Tom.

Great Airport Community

Last night the Chicago area had some severe weather that caused a large portion of the airport to lose power for a good part of the day. One business got partial power before the rest of us and they offered up the use of their offices for us until our power came back.

It was great to see a business reach out to others when they too were being effected by the outage. Sometimes we forget what a great community we have at the airport.

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My cool new training aid!

I have to opportunity to teach an aviation class to a group of high school students. We recently had this cut away Continental engine donated to the program. This will be a great addition to our training aids!
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Groupon and Flight Schools

I am surprised at how often a Groupon offer comes up in our area featuring an introductory flight. It seems like a great way to promote your flight school if you can make the numbers make sense.

I recently spoke with a school that offered a one hour flight lesson, half hour of ground and a half hour of flight. They sold close to 400 flights over the winter months and it has worked out very well for them. They negotiated the Groupon fee and made sure that they would be able to handle a large influx of people coming through their doors. It was a success for them.

They have converted a couple of the groupon rides into new students and introduced the community to their business and the airport. It seems to have been a great thing for them.

Have any of you had any groupon aviation experiences?
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