I had a perfect day flying. Sunny and warm with small local squalls, updrafts and gusting winds. All made for that old fashioned wooden roller coaster effect of getting thrown about the cabin that makes it fun. Had a passenger that did fine, but I was reminded of this great video of a backseat passenger with a bit of airsickness and a PIC with a twisted sense of humor.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsTZ5dQAM2U&feature=related

So I finally got my High Performance & Complex Aircraft checkride and certification today and since "The Significant Other" was in another state I took Roxanna (my dog) for a celebratory flight into Memphis today. It made me think of this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtnXWwzn368

Congratulations on your certification. (And we pilots know how that's pronounced). All I've flown is a 152, a 172 and a Piper Archer. Of those I disliked the 172 because the thing won't land...it just hangs in the air like a kite. The Archer was a lot of fun.

I've let my flying go by the wayside as 9/11 took a lot of the fun out of it. It's on my short list of things I have to get back into.

My instructor taught all her private pilot courses in a 152. They are small and inexpensive and reliable, and it made flying lessons and rental affordable. Our local airport is still friendly and open. There is a mechanical gate on the vehicle entrance to the field but other than that, nothing. It's not a controlled field so that makes a huge difference. We also have some great county airports well within an hours flying time so you can change up t.o. and landing times. My female flight instructor is a well respected member of The 99's. She took me down to Anderson, SC to the FAA Flight Service Station and we taxied right near the facility and strolled in and she introduced me to everyone in there and they showed me their side of the story when you make that call to get WX info and file flight plans. It's unlikely you could do that today...though she probably could. The nearest controlled field is an international airport but it's not too busy to practice touch and goes and let you practice your radio work with them if you are using her call numbers/plane and go at off-peak times. That's always cool to do two landings on one run of runway. A couple of other controlled fields, whose airspace you have to navigate to get anywhere of any distance, are notorious for asshole controllers who will recognize call numbers/plane types/"student pilot" hails and route you way out to the edge of what's reasonable- right near a military air base. It's pretty commonly discussed around here, and not uncommon to get reprimanded or contacted via radio. Since shit like that got deadly serious after 9-11 it really took a lot of the fun out of it.

We can take this to PM to avoid boring everyone.