So You Think You Want to Fly!

By Ron Carpenter

A foundling wandering by the raildroad tracks, Ron Carpenter was found and fostered by a young woman when he was two and a half years old. At the age of eleven, he started to find a job, had worked on a farm­­­­­ -from sunrise to sunset - and did some other

• Language: English
• Publisher: RON CARPENTER
• Release date: Sep 17, 2020
• ISBN: 9781735763712

Ron Carpenter

Recognized as a leader of leaders, Ron has advised, consulted, and mentored CEOs, Pastors, and political leaders around the world for two decades. As a Senior Pastor and also a successful entrepreneur with multiple business ventures, Ron's relentless passion for developing potential in others permeates every aspect of his ministry. Ron founded Redemption in 1991 with three members and a passion for breaking down the walls of racism, crossing cultural lines, and changing poverty mindsets in their community as well as around the world. The ministry has become a model for successful community impact, and creating strategic partnerships with corporate, governmental, and non-profit organizations to develop innovative ways to improve quality of life.

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ISBN 978-1-7357637-0-5 (paperback)

ISBN 978-1-7357637-1-2 (digital)

Copyright © 2020 by Ron Carpenter

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Printed in the United States of America

Contents

Chapter 1: Learning to Fly

Chapter 2: Going Commercial

Chapter 3: Alaska Bound

Chapter 4: Floatplanes: The Next Adventure

Chapter 5: Dangerous Conditions and New Lessons

Chapter 6: A New Part of Alaska

Chapter 7: Ice Fog

Chapter 8: All Island Tours

Chapter 9: First and Last in One

Chapter 10: Flying the Warm Air of the Pacific Islands

Chapter 11: Coming Full Circle

Afterword: The Bush Pilot

About the Author

Chapter 1

Learning to Fly

My story, or adventure, begins with a friend named Hank. Hank is a policeman; at least that’s his profession.

When he is free from police work, Hank likes to fly his airplane, which is a Cessna 172 Skyhawk. Flying takes his mind off work.

One day, Hank asked if I wanted to go with him the next time he was able to fly. I was excited thinking about going with him. At the same time, I was a little anxious and apprehensive, but mostly I was looking forward to the next weekend. When Saturday came around, I wasn’t too anxious. I went to Glendale Airport in Arizona to meet Hank. I arrived early so I could walk around to look at all the different models of airplanes. Glendale Airport at that time was just a landing strip, about 2,200 feet long.

In uncontrolled airspace, which means flying without a control tower, a pilot must use UNICOM, an air-ground communication facility, to communicate. When the pilot will be taxiing or departing, he or she must broadcast his intentions over the UNICOM frequency to inform incoming air traffic of his or her intent.

Hank finally arrived, and I tagged along while he got all the necessary paperwork and logbooks to log all of his flight time. He owned the airplane we’d be flying in, but since he leased it to a flight school, all the paperwork was necessary.

We headed out to the plane, and Hank checked the fuel tanks to make sure they were full. Then he did a walk around to make sure the nuts and bolts were all on, checked the oil, and sampled the fuel in each fuel tank to make sure no water or any kind of contamination was in the fuel.

We finally finished the preflight inspection and climbed into the airplane. Hank checked to see if the controls were free from any binds or problems, turned the ignition on, checked the fuel gauges, and started the airplane.

Once he’d made sure all the instruments were in the green, which means they were reading right, we taxied out to the run-up area to make mag checks. Every airplane has duel magnetos and duel sparks plugs for safety operations. The two mags have to be within 50 rpm of each other; if not, they need to be repaired.

Everything checked out okay, so we taxied to the departing end of the runway. Hank made a 360-degree turn to make sure no aircraft was in the landing pattern. We taxied out and took off.

What a thrill. You would have to be in the plane to get that exciting feeling that comes with lifting off. I forgot to mention that Hank used the radio’s UNICOM frequency to inform any pilots in the airport’s airspace that we were departing on runway 36, which meant we were heading north.

We climbed to our cruising altitude of 5,500 feet. We were on our way to Prescott, Arizona, where we would stop for lunch and coffee.

The Cessna 172 is fairly roomy for two big guys such as ourselves—good leg and head room. And you can see really well; you can see everything.

The flight to Prescott took a little less than half an hour. Hank made a smooth landing. We tied down the plane and walked to the café at the airport. We ate our lunch and had coffee and talked airplanes. When we’d finished, we walked back out to the airplane. Hank did a quick walk around and checked the oil. Then we both climbed in. After Hank checked the gauges and controls, we taxied out for our takeoff, again using UNICOM frequency to let other pilots know our intentions. We did not have to do a run-up check again. Hank explained this was because we’d just landed, the plane hadn’t been out of our sight, and we had just flown it.

We took off and headed back to Glendale. This time, he let me fly. Straight was easy. When a plane is in flight, it is all trimmed up, so it almost flies itself. The S turns were just a little harder. I had to make sure I stayed at our cruising altitude and avoid losing altitude in the turns. Damn but it felt good to fly. I was beginning to think, Hey, I am Sky King.

As we were flying back to Glendale Airport, Hank encouraged me to try a few more S turns. The turns were okay, but I would lose altitude when I turned right and gain altitude when I turned left.

Soon, we were getting closer to the airport, and Hank took control of the airplane. Looking out the window, I could see the small runway—and boy did it look small. Hank got on the radio and informed air traffic in the area of our intentions—a straight- in landing for runway 18, which is south. He made an excellent landing, and we taxied to parking.

When we had tied down the plane, he explained what had happened during my S turns. Due to the P-factor, which is the torque, when the plane is making left turns, the torque is pulling to the right, making the airplane climb because of the opposite force at work. When the plane is turning right, the torque is pulling right, so it makes the plane go down with the torque. That kind of made sense to me, but I would learn more in ground school—if I decided to fly.

I could hardly wait to get home so I could tell my wife about my flying experience. Of course, I made it sound like I knew what I was doing.

I was totally excited about flying.

Monday finally rolled around, and I did some checking into my GI Bill and discovered that I still had $10,000 left. So I made an appointment with Veterans Administration to apply for a school loan. The administrator who assisted me informed me that I had to get my private license first. Then the GI benefits would pay for the ground school. I was also informed that I would need to maintain a passing grade at college.

I signed up for twelve credits at Glendale Community College. As far as the GI Bill is concerned, twelve credits is considered full-time. The benefit would pay me $465 a month.

After I had that problem solved, I needed to find a ground school that I could go to in the evenings so I could still do my course work for my college classes.

I went to the nearest airport, which was Glendale, and made a reservation for a demo ride. I flew with a young man. When I was on the ground after flying, he didn’t impress me as the person I wanted to teach me to fly.

Feeling a little discouraged, I headed to my car. As I was walking past several airplanes, I noticed an elderly