This is so overdue, but I really need to say THANKS to everyone who took time out of their day to send a card or email to say hi, to share some memories, and to send best wishes. I'm transitioning into a time period where I'm trying to respond individually to all these communications but it may take awhile. I'm so awestruck and more than a bit humbled by the responses, and thrilled to hear from some of you whom I haven't talked to in a LONG time. Thanks for weaving through the grapevine to get to me...
It's probably apparent to anyone viewing this blog site (created by my friend Heather - many bows and high-fives to you, girl) that my flying has been very important to me. It's been a lifelong dream of mine to be a pilot. You Juneau people know about the constant flow of Wings of Alaska de Havilland Beavers from the cruise ship docks to Taku Lodge every summer; well, I used to go down there and beg them for a chance to fly in an empty seat. Just to get up in the air. Sad, I know. I didn't pursue flying as a career because I really wanted to be a biologist, and I didn't think you could do both. It wasn't until I started working for ADFG in McGrath and Fairbanks that I realized that just about every biologist I knew, flew. I had the resources to train while I was an assistant area biologist in McGrath, but around the time I was ready to commit to training, I took on a PhD project at UAF. Grad student = no time for extracurricular activities. About a year or so into the project, I had my aforementioned finger-bashing experience and all priorities changed. Flying was not high on the list.
Fast forward to November 2006. I was 6 months into a stint with chemotherapy treatment in Minnesota with no end in sight. Now, Minnesota is nice, my folks are great people, but I was homesick for Alaska and wasn't feeling like I was doing much with my life other than waiting for the next round of treatment. I had heard that the FAA had implemented Sport Pilot training in 2004, and realized that it was the answer to everything. The thing that was going to give me my life back. I got my written exam out of the way after a weekend ground school and trained with an instructor at Maple Lake Municipal Airport, about 45 minutes from my folks' house, from mid-November until early January. The requirements for the sport pilot license are 15 hours dual, 5 hour solo - I would have finished faster than I did but the holidays slowed me down a bit. I trained in an Evektor Sportstar(http://www.evektor.cz/at/en/sportstar-popis-en.html), an incredibly fun Czechoslovakian-built low-wing aircraft with a stall speed of just 37 mph, and finished up with an examiner on January 8th. I got another slew of hours soon after in a taildragger to complete my tailwheel endorsement, found my perfect plane for sale at Lake Hood, bought it, and the rest is history.
I mention all this because I believe in the importance of going for the things you want to achieve, no holds barred. No waiting, no thinking there will always be time to do/get things. Risk-taking was not a big personality trait of mine in days past - I was very good at trying to plan things out based on how I thought things should proceed; the more stable the better. Needless to say, life-changing events altered that perspective, and I'm happy that they did for me (my only frustration is that I've grown to love flying so much that I'm having a hard time not doing it right now).
If you're sitting on the edge of a dream, contemplating whether you can afford to go after it, just do it. Life's too short to forego that kind of joy.
Hey, I don't have a lot going on down here - keep me posted on your dream-chasing...
S
