THE VINTAGE INSTRUCTOR
Are you ready for a new flying season? DOUG STEWART The sound of hundreds of wings in flight was distracting me from the job at hand, that being to get an article written in time to meet a deadline. But as I sat at the computer, the buzzing of all those wings was starting to get irritating. How could that be? A lover of flight such as myself being irritated by the sound of wings in flight? Distracted, perhaps, for like so many of us I cannot help but stop what I am doing and look skyward whenever I hear the sounds of flight, but bothered? That’s certainly not what the sounds of flight do to me. Yet here I was, starting to get really upset. So I went over to the window. Looking outside I could see that it was one heck of a beautiful spring day. The snow was gone. The grass was starting to green up. The sky was inviting me to get out to the airport and add the Tennessee Red and Diana Cream of my Super Cruiser to the cerulean blue that stretched to the horizon in all directions. This was a day to be out flying, not sitting indoors writing, or tending to the “honey do” list. This might be what was causing my irritation. But I have learned that there are times when certain responsibilities dictate that I cannot be flying, no matter how badly I wish to be up in the sky. So that was not the cause of my aggravation. What was the cause were the hundreds 8
APRIL 2004
of cluster flies buzzing around the window. They too were eager to get outside, to stretch their wings in flight, before heading to the
And so it is with many, many pilots across this great land of ours. For whatever reason,they have managed to rationalize not flying throughout the winter months. greening grass to propagate their species. Those cluster flies appear every spring, filling the windows of many older houses, trying to get outside. They have lain dormant in the attics of our buildings, wings
folded in silent submission to the cruel elements found outside throughout the winter. They can’t wait for spring to come so that they can once again be airborne, fulfilling their purpose here on Earth. And so it is with many, many pilots across this great land of ours. For whatever reason, they have managed to rationalize not flying throughout the winter months. They wait impatiently for that first warm spring day to head out to the airport and partake again of the gift of wings. For many of these pilots it might have been at least 30, 60, or maybe even 90 days or more since they last sat at the controls of their aircraft. But unlike the cluster flies whose instinct for flight is inborn, these pilots have in many cases let their flying skills atrophy. Come the first nice weekend day of spring, they flock to the airport, as do the cluster flies to the window, to regain the sky. Unfortunately it becomes quickly evident, especially to those of us who have stayed current throughout the winter, that the adage “Use it or lose it” is a true saying. For me, those first few weekends