It was on a balmy, spotlessly blue day, September 29, 1995, that I walked into the modern State University of New York-College of Technology at Farmingdale Aviation Center on Long Island Route 110, experiencing a degree of unease, that I began my Private Pilot Flight Training Program. Which technically constituted a required “class” for my Associate of Applied Science in Aerospace Technology degree, shared with others I knew from the main campus facility about two miles away, significantly extended the scope of experiential education beyond what which might have been considered “routine”. .” The fact that he had already had a decade-and-a-half career with an international airline at JFK International Airport certainly qualified it as a constant theme in life. However, he was about to step into the pilot’s seat this time. .

Received by my Certified Flight Instructor (CFI), they told me to take the abbreviated Pilot Operating Manual (POH) from the Aviation Center and deposit it in the respective aircraft on the ramp. My initial and introductory lesson would be in a Cessna C-172 Skyhawk, registered N73334, a four-seat, high-wing general aviation aircraft powered by a single 160-hp two-blade Avco Lycoming O-320-H2AD piston engine. . Its design and performance parameters were many: its maximum payload was 910 pounds; its maximum takeoff weight was 2,300 pounds; its fuel capacity was 43 gallons; her top speed was 125 knots; its sea level rise rate was 770 fpm; and its service ceiling was 14,200 feet.

Checklist in hand, I ran a clockwise pre-flight inspection, from the propeller to the flight surfaces to adding the fuel for clarity, before I got into the left seat and buckled up. shoulder and seat belt.

“Clearance!” I yelled to alert everyone in the vicinity of its impending startup, causing the engine to growl and land in a wake-generating life and lift bath. The plane felt alive and I was in control.

I applied for taxi permission from the Aviation Center on the ground frequency of the Republic Airport, I released the finger brakes without pushing the power lever any further, and the rotating propeller naturally made the aircraft move along the ramp at a step light.

The temptation to steer with the yoke had to be resisted: it only deflected the ailerons for roll in flight and did nothing on the ground. Rudder pedal movements ensured nose wheel steering.

Pushing myself onto the acceleration pad near the runway 1 threshold, I ran a full flight check from brakes to magnetos, flight surface freedom of movement, and altimeter current barometric pressure setting, then switched to the frequency of the Republic Tower, inching forward. to the runway and receive takeoff clearance.

The full power of the engine deafened the cabin, sent a torrent of air over its aerodynamic surfaces and propelled the high-wing plane to accelerate. The almost immeasurable pressures of the rudder pedal allowed me to keep the nosewheel on centerline, while the wheel itself, beginning to jump off the ground, was the Cessna’s signal that it had gained enough speed to surrender to flight.

A gentle pull of the yoke and a press of the right rudder pedal to counteract the torque of the prop released her from her gravity restraints several thousand feet before the end of the runway, while I “rided the ball”, trying to to keep it centered.

Ignoring procedure, I banked to the right, whereupon my flight instructor advised me to “Hold the runway heading until clear.”

The ground receded and the blue purity of the sky became the new dimension of flight.

Climbing to 2,200 feet and reducing power to stabilize, I cruised across Long Island to Northport Stacks, while my instructor demonstrated inclines and descents. The hour-long introductory flight passed quickly.

Approaching Republic Airport again, I radioed, “Republic Tower, this is Cessna 73334, coming in for landing.”

Authorization to “continue” was given.

Unable, in my novice state, to actually execute the landing, however, I was given the opportunity to fly a right-hand pattern, consisting of downwind, base, and trailing legs, the latter of which required extensions. progressive flaps on the trailing edge, which could only be counteracted with a push of the yoke to avoid the tendency to lift the nose. A rounding and reduced power flare re-profiled the aircraft at its immediate take-off rotation angle and stripped it of its airspeed, allowing it to land smoothly on its main wheels. Brake-assisted deceleration and a deviation to the taxiway preceded a frequency change to Republic Ground, which cleared me to return to the Aviation Center while I “cleaned” the aircraft by retracting its flaps. A pull of the throttle lever deprived the engine of its fuel and all vibration, noise and wake ceased.

Inside, a report and an entry in the logbook were carried out.

The following week’s lesson involved the operation of the smaller two-seat Cessna 152, registered N67856, with a takeoff from the Runaway 1 reciprocal, in this case, 19, and a cruise to the South Long Island practice area over Jones Beach, connecting, assembly set that resembles the Captree Bridge. The return required the radio broadcast of “Republic Tower, this is Cessna 67856 over Captree, on course for landing.”

The five-session, 5.7-hour flight instruction course, called “Introduction to Flight I” and held from September 29 to October 27, also involved aircraft N757AA, another C-152, and The curriculum included the four fundamentals of flight, minimum controllable airspeed, 30-degree banks, approaches to stalls, descents, and landings on Runway 14.

The subsequent six-flight, six-hour “Introduction to Flight II” course, held from February 27 to April 19, 1996, involved all Cessna 172 aircraft, although two registered N734HD and N1517E had not yet been registered. flown. I was also introduced to a new flight instructor.

Although the standard curriculum included practice maneuvers such as traffic pattern, slow fly, and coordinated flight, the man-machine combination in ever-changing weather conditions created some challenging moments.

A half-hour sector at Marah 15 in aircraft N734HD, for example, caused a quick turnaround after takeoff in the rain and nothing more than a traffic pattern loop due to low conditions threatening the visual flight rule (VFR). ).

The coordinated flight on April 12 in aircraft N1517E over the north practice area was conducted amid thick cloud cover and 35-knot winds blowing from the forward right side, propping up the Skyhawk and making control difficult.

And the following week’s departure, with the N734HD on April 19, involved the roar of the engine as it revved to a setting above 2200 rpm, leaving the flight instructor to take control and immediately return to Republic Airport from the south practice area, all the while at a slight angle of climb. An inspection of the engine was clearly in order afterwards.

The “Primary Flight I” course in the fall semester of 1996, with the same flight instructor and Cessna 172s with which I had now become familiar, involved eight sectors and 8.7 hours during the period September 19 to September 5. December 1996. He included some of his own surprises and challenging situations.

Twice, on September 19 and November 1, both with aircraft N734HD, I flew 15.5 nautical miles in airline-reminiscent sectors from Farmingdale’s Republic Airport to Islip’s Long Island MacArthur and landed before to return During the first I made crosswind takeoffs and landings, the latter with only ten degrees of flap, and was introduced to radio communication in Class C airspace. Returning from the second, I made a left turn in favor of the wind below clouds that were at 1,600 feet, experiencing moderate turbulence, a 50 degree crosswind at 25 knots with gusts of 32, wind shear at trailing, the incessant sound of the stall warning horn, the continuing drop of the left wing to the ground and insufficient rudder travel, causing my flight instructor to desperately take over and correct every altered lateral axis until enough airspeed had been purged to widen and snatch Republic runway 32 with his main wheels.

The rest of the fall curriculum involved the more “mundane” maneuvers of airspeed and configuration changes, 45-degree banks, S-turns, and turns around a point.

The spring 1997 continuation of “Prime Flight I,” which spanned the four-month period from January 27 to May 12, included eight sectors and 7.7 hours, and the reintroduction of my original flight instructor. The first three flights were in aircraft N734HD, the remaining five in N1517E, all obviously Cessna 172s. His lessons included ascending and descending turns, tracking, air traffic control procedures, straight and level flight, airport entrances, a inadvertent dive into instrument meteorological conditions (IMC) causing clouds and a short rapid final descent from 1200 feet. to runway 14 at Republic Airport.

In conjunction with a private charter of a C-172 Skyhawk from Republic fixed base operator (FBO) Nassau Flyers on January 30, 1996 (registration N5700E) for a short one-hour cruise in Long Island South, during which one of my colleagues from the airline constituted my first “passenger”, my flight training program concluded with 32 sectors and 29 hours in my log.