A Brand-Spankin' New Certificate

So after months of studying I was ready to go and take two FAA written tests in order to earn the Ground Instrument Instructor rating. The two exams I was prepared to take were 'Instrument Instructor' and 'Ground Instructor.'

One of the challenges that pilots face is to make the most efficient use of any and all money (and time) spent in advancing a career in aviation.

Each time you take an exam it costs you some money, $100 each. So you better be certain that you're taking the right exam at the right time.

On the morning of the day I was to fork over my $200 and take the tests, I was sitting in our office at TailWind Aviation, looking through the Federal Aviation Regulations — aka the FARs — one last time to make sure I really needed to take these exams.

You might wonder, well why didn't I do that before? The answer is that I did. But, you have to understand something about the FARs. And that is that, being written in bureaurocratese, the language in the FARs is somewhat... challenging... and often requires multiple readings to gain clear understanding.

Add to that the fact that there is an awful lot of knowledge overlap in the library of possible exams, presumably to cover the myriad pilot rating situations that arise.

After I don't know how many readings and discussions of the FARs over several weeks, my instructor and I decided on this day that by virtue of the two exams I already passed, 'FOI' (Fundamentals Of Instructing) and 'Instrument Rating Airplane,' I had the necessary qualifications to obtain the rating.

A quick call to the local FSDO (Flight Standards District Office) confirmed that I did indeed have the right stuff.

So now I am officially an FAA-certified Instrument Ground Instructor.

What does it mean?

Well, it means that I can work with students in our AST-300 simulator at TailWind, teaching tasks and habits related to instrument flight and flying in general. The sim is currently configured as a Beechcraft 1900, a twin-engine aircraft often used by regional or commuter carriers.

Being certified, I can sign student logbooks for simulator time, making it all official-like. And that means I can get paid for MY time.

And that's the whole point — a small step toward making a living in aviation.

Now all I have to do is rustle up some students...

A Li'l Ole Film Clip by Harrison Ford

In support of AOPA's ongoing efforts to promote flying and flight training, here are two links that I think are timely and appropriate:

This first one is a pretty cool clip featuring Harrison Ford done by Studio Wings, an awesome group of aerial production specialists.

Here is the AOPA Let's Go Flying! website: www.aopa.org/letsgoflying

In my last post I mentioned that I was traveling to the Indy 500 on assignment. Well now that the piece has been published I am able to freely talk about it. I'll just sum it up by saying it was one of the most incredibly fun and exciting experiences I have ever had!

It was a TOTAL GAS!

Oh, and the race was fun too.

I can now say that PilotMag was the publication for whom we traveled on assignment.

You can read the article Auto Pilots written by my friend Jeff Mattoon, with photos by yours truly and some by Jeff. Subscribe to PilotMag and you'll get a whole lot of adventure flying stories with every issue.

Be sure to also read Jeff's writeup of OUR story, Flying the Acclaim to Indy

I'll tell my side of the story here soon, promise. Things have been cruising along for me in my web and print business but I will make time to write.

I am still working on the Indy photos, which means shrinking them to use on the web. This is a bit more work than you might think: I took nearly 500 shots in the six day trip, so it's been a chore to go through and pick the ones I like best.

Ya'll come back now heah... soon!