I AM OFFICIALLY A PILOT!…And Other OSH Adventures.

Good afternoon my fellow pilots and musicians,

I know that I said in my last post that the next time you here from me, hopefully I’ll be a pilot…and I now am! It feels amazing, and I have already given rides to my little sister and a friend. It’s awesome to get to share flight with other people. I went to my check ride with exactly 40 hours of flight time, the minimum amount you need to for PPL. I also spent the 3 days leading up to my check ride getting used to a brand new plane (to me) with a completely different, although much nicer, panel, as the airplane that I had been training with this summer was down with EFIS issues, and my instructor and I were in a time crunch to get me finished at the minimum amount of time before OSH and before I left for college. Thankfully, the check ride went very well, and the DPE said he was very impressed, and that we had a great flight together.

And the cherry on top…I got to go to Airventure the day after my check ride to work at the Bristell booth with my instructor. It was my first time at OSH, and now I certainly know why it is referred to as a airplane lovers’ heaven, because it most certainly is! I really wish I could’ve met more of you FMA guys, but I unfortunately was not able to get there in time for the open mic due to strong headwinds and questionable weather causing us to have to lay over and wait for the afternoon air show to end.

I have also nearly completed my complex-high performance rating in my instructors Navion, which I was able to work on during the trip to OSH. I also got the opportunity to fly a Bristell NG-5 with the Rotax 915is turbocharged engine as PIC with John Rathmell back from OSH…and that thing is an absolute rocket ship. I cruised at around 11,500′ on the way back, and made it back to central PA from OSH in a little less than 4 hours, with our max ground speed during that flight reaching nearly 180kts, or about 210mph (with about a 30 knot quartering tailwind)! And keep in mind, the Bristell is an LSA!

Anyways, here’s some pictures from OSH and my check ride, enjoy!

(And no, I was not on the controls during the formation flight of course, that was John Rathmell in the right seat flying, who is the owner of Sport Flying LLC and Bristell aircraft in Lancaster, PA- (717)-735-1600).