As a kid I saw high school-ers graduating from high school and college students graduating from Universities. At the time I looked up to those students because I had the same goals, I wanted to complete high school and graduate from a university. And although I longed to achieve those degrees, as a kid you never think it will ever really happen, how could I ever be THAT old and have obtained THAT much knowledge? The further I get into my twenties, I realized that I have said the exact same thing for many other accomplishments in my life, in particular the pilot certificates that I have earned in the past five years and I said it again today when I earned my CFI (Certified Flight Instructor). As a student pilot, my hero had become my flight instructor, Brandon; I was in awe of him because he knew EVERYTHING. And, as I did as a high school and college student, I craved to obtain my flight instructor certificate. I learned along the way, as a flight instructor you don’t know everything; you know what you need to get started and have obtained a license to learn. Like everything in life, your knowledge and expertise expands with experience, immersion and continuing education. We all had to start somewhere regardless of what career path we have chosen. So I have graduated in a sense. I have to admit it felt like I was obtaining my masters degree.
I do want to say thank you to all my previous flight instructors: Brandon, Tim, Greg, Nick, Kevin & Jen. Now that I have gone through obtaining my CFI I have that much greater an appreciation for these educators and thank them for passing along their knowledge and expertise.
A special thanks to my CFI instructor, Willis, who turned me into his protégé for this certificate. He literally poured all the knowledge and skills he had into me, helping me perfect briefs on maneuvers and other aviation topics that I will someday teach to my student pilots. I know that he gave me everything he had and then some to accomplish my goal of becoming a CFI and although there were days I would have loved to throw him out of the plane he has become one of my closest friends. Thank you Willis.
Next on my agenda is that I am currently going through the interview process at Flight Safety to possibly work for them as a CFI or enroll in their Business Jet Direct program. I will be starting my CFII at the end of the month and hope to be flight instructing full time by the New Year.
I already have one flight student lined up…anyone else care to take a lesson?
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