Flight Number 4: The Human Quality Pilot Personality I hope I can describe personalities like Ernest K. Gann could. If you read his aviation writing you’ll find an incredible amount of descriptions of pilot personalities. They’re simply amazing. Let me attempt to describe Todd the pilot who flies me out of the Fullerton airport. This will help you understand how the flight went today. I’m not sure I’m adequate to the task of describing him. The flight today started with a phone call to the airport, and on the phone he always sounds a bit intimidating. His voice is calm, very serious. “Hello” he says. He doesn’t say “hi, Shelley or anything, just “hello’ as if the world is contained in that sentence, as if to say, “you should know who I am by now, I’ve only flown you in this little Cessna three times already, so let’s dispense with introductions; you know who I am I know who you are so what do you want now?” If that assessment sounds unfair, I’m not sure the description is quite that intense It’s just controlled. Today I like it. It intimidates me a bit can you imagine Shelley being intimidated? So I tell him what’s going on. “Look, we might be 150 pounds shy of our original payload the man’s wife is having anxiety about flying so I just wanted you to know.” “okay,” he says and pretty much leaves it at that. On my end of the line, sitting in front of the computer, actually being nervous because it’s all about flight and telling myself to be a professional, I ask myself what I expected for a reaction. Exuberance? Congratulations? You have to remember this is the man who is introducing me to my darling, or maybe he is an extension of that darling and I’m just in love with the planes and any pilot who happened to fall within my destructive path would get this kind of treatment. That, ladies and gentlemen, is entirely possible! I am shamelessly, unabashedly in love…with planes. I’m glad God didn’t’ make me a bird…I’m glad I’m a human who can enjoy and experience and understand or at least get a sense of the complexities of flight. But back to Todd. So the conversation is short, he’s going to go check the airplane to see that the fuel is at the proper level for today’s flight. “Everything’s fine,” I say “we’re still coming; if not, I would have told you last night.” He gives me that laugh; it’s hard to describe that laugh it’s not really a laugh it’s kind of a quick exhalation of breath a surprised gasp as if his response is still unsure. Maybe he thinks I’m crazy. That is entirely possible, too. But whatever he thinks, we’re still on the phone. The conversation is all of five minutes. “See you later,” he says. At least he says “see you later” and doesn’t have a problem saying “see” to me who can’t see. But the thing is, in reality, he’s not intimidating. Maybe a little bit. He’s decisive and he knows what he wants and if he doesn’t he makes you think he does simply by his manner. I guess he didn’t become a pilot by saying okay this is what I think I want. He became a pilot, damn it. He sometimes seems a bit surprised about things, though, too. You know last time we went flying he told me the price was $155.10 and I said “you’re worth it.” I think he took a double take. “Thank you,” he said, kind of with a rise in his voice that said “oh.” I don’t know if he remembers that. He also thought I had a gun in my purse. A what? Okay I was digging through my purse and I said “oh gum!” “Gum?” I thought he said. “You want some?” I asked. “Oh I thought you said you had a gun.” A gun? What the hell would I be doing with a gun in a c172? I have no idea! I am adventurous but I don’t have that much chutzpa, you know. I am an honest girl. Besides if I had a gun in my purse someone would know! A gun, eh! Then we go to the restaurant for dinner. He gets his keys and says “my car is right here” like he expects me to get in it. No question about it, honey, get in here! Yes, sir! Hey at least he consented to go to dinner with me! And besides it’s better than someone standing around looking at the floor saying um what did you want me to do? I like decisiveness even if the answer is no. Oh anyway at the restaurant, we’re talking; in the restaurant he talks about the two books he read; the ones I’ve read now North Star and Fate. He says he’s astonished that I ever read 27 books in one semester. He talks about his earlier experiences of dating a pilot and different requirements for aircraft jobs and that the Fullerton airport used “ASOS.” When I tell him that I found the ATIS number for the Fullerton airport he says: “good.” It’s the instructor way. I feel like I’ve just been given a star on my chart! I get an even bigger star later. I’ll tell you about it! Todd graciously gave me his email address when I wanted to send him the first article in my flight series. I’ve used and abused it since then; well, hopefully not, but I have asked a million questions and gotten well-written and well-defined answers. That brings me to one of the star stories. I asked him about the construction of a logbook. I was writing a scene in my novel where they fill out a logbook entry. I wrote the logbook entry precisely as Todd had instructed and when I gave it to him to look at he said “I’m impressed.” He told me what to change. I told him I followed his model, he should be impressed because he is the one who taught me to write it. Waiting for Flight or Personality Part Two Our second passenger today, Bob Ramlo, a fifty-something retired schoolteacher and I sat at the airport and waited. Todd materialized from the inner sanctuary of the office and said “Hi, Shelley!” Now there’s the flight instructor I remember, the one who isn’t’ so intimidating on the phone! What a difference! I asked if he was off to a lesson because Bob and I had arrived early. I always feel better arriving early We didn’t get lost; we found the airport and arrived at 12:08. Todd said he wasn’t heading off for a lesson, he was working on cross country with a student, then we waited and I chattered to Bob about my flying experiences. He kept asking me if I wanted to buy this or that car and I said only if we could put a Lycoming engine in it or only if it could fly. I am shamelessly enamored with planes. Kristi was a familiar face today. I stepped into the airport and felt that homecoming feeling again and there was Kristy. Kristy was working the last time I flew out of Fullerton. She told me this time that she didn’t work for the airport restaurant anymore. She worked only for the General Aviation Company. Well, I knew her and so we exchanged greetings. I was telling Bob about the fuel when the flight instructor saunters in from somewhere and was interested to know what I was talking about. I explained that I was talking about the amount of fuel in each wing tank so I asked Todd about the usable fuel in each tank. The CFI said that each tank has twenty gallons usable fuel and so I said “I have nothing else to do so I read about planes.” Todd said “You have nothing else to do? Weren’t’ you saying something about understatements or something?” This was a reference to an email I wrote him in which I said that Todd was the master of understatement because he had said at dinner last time that jets had a lot of power. No, really! He also wrote in an email that he thought there would be lots of good food and friends at my New Year’s Day party. Both these comments were massive understatements! Ready, Set, Go! I wrote earlier that all flights are different and now as I’m sitting here writing I’m having mixed feelings about it. This flight was entirely too easy. I’m not talking about easy as in takeoff and in-flight experience and landing, I’m talking more about set the date, keep the date, go to the airport, don’t get lost, take the flight, pay the bill kind of flight! But it was definitely worth writing about because they all are. I can’t decide if when I left the airport I missed the pilot or the plane…definitely the plane, the whole experience, the pilot is part of it because I become one with the plane..at least that’s how it is for me. I don’t’ know about anyone else, I’m just writing this from my perspective here! Today’s route is a scenic flight over the Queen Mary and south along the shoreline of Long beach. This was the route we took during my first flight but that was unable to be enjoyed to it’s fullest because the headset wasn’t turned up to it’s proper volume, but there were no problems like that today! We had a great flight. I thought it was great. This was an afternoon flight and as far as I was concerned there could be no better flight weather, well, at least temperature wise. We’re one of those places where the smog hangs over our city so once we reach altitude you can see our city through a haze of particulates, thankfully not from fires as would have been the case in November. The takeoff and landing were different. The takeoff I almost didn’t notice, not in an expectant way, but in a way that I am becoming much more familiar with, it was the feeling of okay we’re up here now! I loved the takeoff like I did the last one. This flight in which I was a left seat participant (and I mean only a participant) was as enjoyable as any of the other ones! We flew over long beach like I said earlier, and then we turned and went into Bob’s neighborhood and took pictures of his house, even his RV. We took a couple of turns around that neighborhood and then we pretty much got shooed out of that airspace because we were in the path of incoming small planes who want to land at fullerton from the East. The tower was almost a bit rude, basically informing the Cessna clipping along at 1500 feet that we didn’t need to be down there. What? Did the tower know they were yelling at the flight instructor who knew that? Then cooler heads prevail and I thought okay so they don’t know who is up there they just know it’s not a good place and hey you’d probably get sued for not saying anything if something happened and well I don’t’ think you’d really want to get hit by a plane innocently trying to land, right? My guess is no! We climbed and prepared for the approach to Fullerton: the approach that Yours Truly with simple communication, teamwork, and the help of sure and steadier younger hands flew. I remember last time being caught off guard and this time I had asked to do it and was ready. When I turned the plane I noticed how quickly the plane responded. I know this is not a super high performance plane, but the controls were by no means sluggish. Talking through the landing, repeating commands like submariners, we did it. “Pitch up” and “pitch forward” and right and left and whatever they were, we did it. He pretty much took over when we put flaps down but we talked through it anyway. If I was unsure I asked questions but I wasn’t afraid to do it and I enjoyed it because I had confidence in the person who could rescue the plane from any harm. We landed and bounced once. The flight instructor bounced the plane. For old time? I said because bob’s wife didn’t like bouncing three times a while back in a single engine plane in a crosswind. It was part of her reason for not coming today. The plane landed safely, and then the linemen were there. They helped me out of the plane; I’m becoming an expert. Someday I’ll try to fly it! The biggest thing I remember about it was today that little machine purred like a very happy little kitten. I’m not simply saying it ran smoothly or worked. It purred. “Do you want us to top it off for you guys?” someone asked. Todd said no but the tires needed some air and he said to not give the tires that much; he used the numbers 33. I hadn’t seen two or three men standing around the plane before; we had always flown at night. It was a love affair with the plane. It was fun to watch. In-flight Interaction How do I say this, except to say that this flight was the most relaxed for me. I know I said that about the earlier one! I know it was more relaxed this time because I’m not sure what I remember about it. We were talking, I was less nervous, much more relaxed. Todd asked me when classes started and I made comments about things that ATC said, or about climbing to our altitude. We heard conversation regarding a police search. I loved the tower’s comment. The tower made me laugh when the controller asked the police searcher who he was and where he wanted to go. I wish I could remember the exact wording. It was not what I had ever heard before, that was for sure. Todd had two radios on: the police search and the standard air traffic. There were a few times when Todd would look back at bob and I’d think to myself hey is anyone looking out the window here? Yeah, sure they are, but what window! I’m sure it was fine, but it was different! During a lull while we were clipping along, curled against the sky, transitioning into and out of airspace, I told Todd in the plane that he sounded intimidating on the phone; as if I were in trouble. What did I do? He said people have been telling him that lately; that he sounds mean. I’m not sure “mean” was the right word, but more like “yeah okay so just tell me what you want already and let’s get on with it!” I can appreciate that! He said his girlfriend will let him talk to her sister and his sister says that, too. “Well,” I said, “as long as Melanie doesn’t think that.” Whatever she thinks that’s what matters. But I just had to mention it! So maybe that personality thing wasn’t just me being nervous! Finished We went back to the office and paid the bill. A crowd milled around and I shook Todd’s hand and promised to be back. Then we turned and walked out of the airport office. I felt sad. No flight instructor dinner, Bob went home to his family and I went home and talked to a tenant who will be moving, soon. This flight was truly different, but I have to say that I felt it keenly when we left. I missed the whole experience. I missed not being there with the planes or with the people who fly them! Each succeeding flight only leaves me wanting more: the way of true love, satisfying and yet demanding. Flight is a hard yet gentle taskmaster. I am it’s willing, conquered slave.
Copyright © 2004 Shelley J Alongi |