$210.00 for a 1.2 rental checkout. Yikes.

I flew it with FI. It was comfortable working with someone I like in a well established pattern. I picked up the key/folder on the plane and took another quick look at the winds ... favoring 18 but moving around flirting with 29. I don't like 29. It is buried in a cul de sac of tall pine trees. On a day like today when the winds are shifting and gusting (15G25) it makes for a potentially squirrelly touch down ... and roll, because the thick screen of trees ends right about where the airplane is transitioning from flight to taxi. It always concerns me when I don't have a field view of the airport. At this uncontrolled field, jets and light twins invariably prefer 18/36 ... the 36 end is totally obscured, and I've seen them land without so much as a call on the local frequency.

Keys and flight bag in hand I started towards FI's office. I was thirty minutes early, but wanted to spend some time alone on pre-flight ... he knows I prefer that.

I hadn't anticipated how seeing all my old CFI buds would affect me. Everyone wanted a hug (we're big on hugs down here in the South and these boys see me as sorta like their own mom, but cooler because I am not their mom and maybe because I am willing to trash talk with them some). Everyone wanted to know how things are going for me, and I hadn't prepared an answer to that. I pretty much lied, telling them that things are going great! I spoke with them mostly one at a time. I think their concern was as genuine as a 20 something guy is capable of ... I was uncomfortable with the attention. One of my favorites guys made it better with his response to my little ground school class going
through the local Parks and Rec.
He drawled, "Yeah, I've seen those brochures ... pet training classes and stuff like that, right?"
"At least I will be able to buy you a cup of coffee ..." I shot back with a wink and a smile.
The new policy out there is the guys have to pay for coffee. As far back as anyone can remember it's been a perk (maybe the only perk unless you want to include the toilet paper that is almost always available in the restrooms) ... they are paying for their coffee with pennies. They take turns swinging by a bank for rolls of pennies.

Finally, through the gauntlet and at the opened door of FI office ... he's on the phone. I hold out the airplane folder showing him the tail number and point in the direction where it is parked. He nods. A couple more look what the cat dragged in type greetings and I am outside again with nothing but fresh cold air between me and the little airplane.

The pre-flight was good ... soothingly familiar. Everything was as it should be with the airplane. I was hopping down from the left wing fuel tank check when FI strolled up ...
"Left or Right?" he asked.
"Right for me ... everything is good to go out here." I came around in time to see him inspecting the floor, up under the seats, here and there ... he is a fiend for FOD ... well, he won't find anything rambling around in my airplane I thought as my lips pulled back in a small involuntary smile. The devil is in the details. I had his seat adjusted all the way down and mine all the way up. Keys waiting in front of the compass ... a creature of habit as far as training goes ... hmmm, kinda like pet training.

As he got in, and situated, he pointed to a plane on the ramp ... 12 o'clock one hundred feet. It was squawked by a renter this morning. The pilot said it tended to roll right and FI asked me what I thought might be causing that and how I would assess it in the air had it been my plane. I told him if I couldn't get straight and level coordinated flight that I would think someone had messed with the rudder trim tab. It is a bendable tab accessible while on the ground only. I've seen students straighten the tab out during preflight. He liked that answer. "What else?" he prodded and I suggested the possibility of a fuel or other weight imbalance ...
"Nah, probably not in this small a plane", he said.
"Maybe he was pulling it without realizing ... I'd have to see it ... Was the ball centered"? We talked about how to trouble shoot it while he did the start up ... everything as it should be except the attitude indicator which was very very slow to spool up ...

"Do we need it?" Ugh ... let the drilling begin I thought.
"Not per 91.205 VFR day, but it is annoying ... the DG is fine" I observed setting and checking it against the Mag Compass. If I have to squawk it I'm going to mess with the desk about renting me an incomplete piece of equipment. Yep, the heading indicator indicated accurately during the taxi ... and the attitude indicator did eventually spool up.

I flew a nice little refresher on crosswind technique ... mine was just a tad rusty for those conditions and I cross loaded just a smidge on the first landing. Do it again made me smile to myself as it was heard right on cue. I was using 18 and on the second takeoff noticed something ... dogs?...coyote? ... on the departure end near the touchdown stripes. "Ummm, we have company," I observed nodding downwards as we climbed out. Two men were walking around on the active runway ... "Roll wings level" he said as I turned an early crosswind and made a heads up call to the traffic departing behind me. I knew he would want to remain in the pattern. With departing traffic position and hold I called low approach only on final and anticipated FIs curiosity/annoyance about the guys putzing around down the way ...

"I have the controls," he said.
"Your controls." He is the safety officer and was quite "perplexed" and vocal about men just standing around on an active runway. We departed out to the NE training area eventually and climbed up above a thick layer of haze trapped below an temperature inversion.

I'm flying ... it never ceases to delight me.

Slow flight ... clean landing stall ... now dirty ... now straight and level constant speed, ball centered of course ... does this one wanna roll? No. He tells me that the mechanic played with the angle on incidence on the squawked plane we were discussing earlier. What?! ... I am surprised ... I didn't realize that was even a possibility on these little airplanes. I've seen small Pipers with their wings off, and can imagine "tweaking" them individually, but I'm still thinking about that for the Cessna 172s. Wonder how much play is in them ... how did he do that? ... was FI pulling my leg? He said he wished he had been flown it before it went to maintenance ... .

We landed out at a little field NE of the departure airport. The tree line makes it a tad tricky on a breezy day like today. The landing on 26 was excellent ... I had broadcast an intent to touch and go but opted to back taxi.
"We've been here before." I said. the memory brushed softly over me ... the first flight with this particular senior pilot ... he wasn't at all sure about working with me, and he sat through that flight growling instructions with his arms folded tightly across his chest. I learned a lot from him. I learned how to teach from him.
"Yes" he replied as softly as the memory. I believe this will most likely be our last flight together ... and that makes me feel sad. This isn't the time for that kind of thinking ... .
"180 here, let's go." I don't like short field climb outs when the winds are gusting.
"Yes sir" was all I said though as I configured the airplane ... and we're off.

Time to take this little bird back to the nest ... ground references were almost lost in the haze and he asked me to slow down a bit as we descended in to the bumpity bump layer ... I knew that, but I let him get ahead of me as I planned a landing on 29 with another pilot broadcasting his intentions for 18 ... I'll take 50 degrees left over 60 degrees right in these conditions even though I dislike landing 29 on most any other day. The crosswind component (24020) would go from 15kts 0n 29 to 17kts on 18 with a maximum demonstrated (but not limiting) crosswind velocity of 15kts. (I hear the voice of an old favorite commercial instructor in my head asking me if I feel like a test pilot today ... smile/sigh). I tell FI that I will be using 20 degrees of flaps with no less then 70kts as my final approach speed and I get her stabilized with that asap ... this will be full stop, and I really want lovely. He had told me earlier to set it down firmly on days like today, and that is exactly what I did. We experienced the expected wobble as the winds shifted at the clearing. Taxi back ... clean up and shut down ... flight over.

I tell him that I was less comfortable coming out here today then I had expected, that it was hard to see everyone, and I thank him for making it seem so normal for me. He said he knew that. You get in a little bitty airplane for several hours with a person and you get to know each other pretty well. We had gossiped a bit earlier and the news he shared was pretty grim. I didn't tell him that students are asking me why he's retiring at the end of the semester ... that's been his plan for several years now I assure them ... and it's true, it just comes at an uneasy time in the day to day operations. Leadership is a wonderful thing to behold. It has been fascinating to see how unassuming he is in general and how gracefully he leads. What a privilege it was for me to train with him.

My husband is doing a great job of reminding me of how well each aspect of the training and every bump in the bumpity bump layer on this journey has gone for me. (Another look at weather 101 there ... and the winds of chance and circumstance.) I appreciate his linear thinking style as he reminds me that this has been an amazing trajectory thus far. He encourages me to enjoy the path in to the unknown. This morning he said "Enjoy this time ... I've got your back."