Flying high...

After my last post, you might be wondering why I was in such high spirits. Well, what you're wondering is really immaterial because I'm going to tell you the reason for my high spirits whether you want to know or not. See, I passed my stage check. Yup! I finally did it. I went up with Joshua at our normal time to practice some takeoffs and landings. I got back on the ground at 7:50, then hung out for 10 minutes, then went out to preflight the plane for my time with Belinda. Belinda's response to my first landing was, "Excellent! Two more like that one, and we'll be done." Two more landings later, and I was back on the ground, grinning like a monkey.

This morning, Joshua endorsed my logbook and my student pilot certificate, so I can officially fly solo. Unfortunately, the wind was blowing this morning (we never have early morning wind here) and it made a mess of my traffic patterns, so Joshua wasn't comfortable letting me go it alone. Fine by me; I wasn't totally comfortable with the idea, either. But we're going to try it again tomorrow morning, bright and early. I'll go up with Joshua, do a few takeoffs and landings, and if he likes what he sees, Joshua will have me drop him off on the ramp and go back out to do 3 takeoffs and landings on my own. I've been told that I should be nervous to the point of losing sleep about my first solo, but I'm more just excited and eager to get it over with. Far as I'm concerned, the redo with Belinda was the nerve-wracking part of this process.

I'll let you know if it happens tomorrow.

Oh, and the two pictures: First is me right after my failed first attempt at the stage check. Second is me right after my successful redo. Enjoy!