Starting at 20...

It would have been kind of cool to dream up this goal while still sitting in my very first airplane, but of course that would require an artistic sensibility that might herald a desire to wrap bridges in orange fabric or preserve hemisected cows in formalin filled plexiglas boxes.  I have not anything like that level of creativity.  This idea emerged, fully formed, from well tilled soil.  Without flying another hour I am already 20% of the way towards my goal.  Yes, there are 20 types in the logbook even as we begin this adventure. I started flying in April of 2005 and now, six years and a few months later I have managed to add about three types per year to my total.  At this rate it will be more than 25 years before I make the grade, but I have several reasons for supposing things might speed up.

The most important reason is that for the first time in my life I have a pilot community that is broader than my younger brother.  We learned to fly together and for the first 4 years we were pretty much the only pilots we knew.  Oh, one or two acquaintances earned the ticket and then stopped flying, but neither of us had the camaraderie of fellow fliers.  When I moved to the island all that changed.  On this little rock it is odd if you go to the grocery store and don't meet a friend in the veggie section, and it is not at all unusual to have someone wander into my hanger to profess a deep and abiding concern about the nasty float I exhibit on landing,  We have a pilot's association, but more importantly, we have a vibrant and interested community of people who recognize the joy and the utility of flying.  These are folks with varied backgrounds, not all of whom own a plane, but every one of whom feels that same little frisson when the wheels leave the pavement and the act of ascent has begun.  Until that moment you are a person with a world of choices, but once you leave the ground you have one looming constraint.  You must return to earth in a safe and hopefully stylish fashion at your intended destination.

The 20 types, as abbreviated by ICAO, are as follows:

AA1, AA5, AC11, BE24, BE36, C150, C172, C180, C82R, C206, CH7A, CH7B, DA40, DR40, DV20, EVSS,  G103, J3, J5, and P28A.

Oddly enough, in alphabetical order the last was first.  My first training flights were in the low wing Piper Warrior (P28A) and several really memorable flights have been in other models of this popular trainer.  The first was second...the little fighter plane wannabe Grumman American Yankee (AA1) was the second  plane I trained in.  Each of them has two stories, the first is how I came to fly the type and my breadth of experience in it, while the second is a tyro's view of how the plane flew.  I have gained some experience over the years, so my next glider ride will not be quite the adventure my first one was, but I am still such a long way from an educated pilot that my descriptions of the flight characteristics will have little to do with a test pilot's opinion and might more closely mirror the experience of an average, or below average, pilot hoping to own a plane.