I had a really great Sunday today! Not just because my daughter is celebrating her 31st birthday (Maybe it was 29, I had better check…). I flew my first solo flight!
Here are the details, and I know that those who know me realize that there will be life lessons contained within.
Today, July 27, 2008 was forecasted to be yet another hot and stormy July day here in the Washington DC area. I had not been able to perform my first solo on Saturday because there was too much wind coming across the runway for a rookie like me to handle. So, we scheduled the first solo for a nice calm Sunday morning starting at 6AM. I know this sounds early for most of you, but I have firmly settled into a routine of walking every morning at that time anyways.
Early in the morning you get your best shot at having calm winds and no thunderstorms to rain on your parade. So I rose up before the light and drove to the airport where I prepared the plane for its first flight of the day.
The airport I have been using is called Bay Bridge Airport and although it is small, it’s a nice place to stay out of the big jets at BWI. There is also a lot of beauty being right on the Chesapeake Bay at the base of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge on Kent Island.
My flight instructor called and said he was running a bit late and asked me to taxi the plane from the hanger to the fuel pit where he would meet me. After doing a thorough pre-flight check on the plane I hopped in and started it up. The only detail I missed being a rookie is that is not good practice to start an airplane while still in the hangar. The only damage done was to the glass on a picture frame the tipped over from the wind created by the propeller.
While I was moving the plane down the taxiway, I glanced again at the plane that was flipped over at the end of the runway in the grass. The previous day, a student and his instructor took a wild ride when the plane bounced off the runway and the student overcorrected while trying to continue the landing. Luckily nobody was hurt at all, just shaken up quite a bit. This was a danger I wanted to avoid.
The lesson and the solo went without a hitch. My first landing was arguably my best. On my third try I came down a bit faster than I wanted to, and my plane bounced. I could see the crashed plane out of the corner of my eye, and I quickly made the decision to go around. I finished a few more landings without a hitch, and my instructor granted me my certificate along with a “well done”.
I looked at my watch and decided that I still had time to make it to the 9:15 service at church, so I hit the road. About halfway, I remember that I still had the key to the hanger in my pocket! I turned around and also remembered the glass I left on the floor of the hanger. I decided that the wise thing to do would be to return to the hanger and clean up the mess I made. This would be much more important in the long run to the Kingdom of God than sitting in church.
As it turned out, I still had time to make it to the 11:15 service at the church. Mark’s topic was Proverbs 22:3:
“A prudent man sees danger and takes refuge, but the simple keep going and suffer for it.”
This made me think of my 3rd landing where I saw the danger and took refuge. I aborted the landing attempt. If I had kept going, I may have suffered for it. I believe the other wise decision was to take the key back promptly and clean up the broken glass in the hangar.
All of this made for a truly blessed worship experience this morning.
-Ron