The Lady is a Pilot

The thermometer reads 79 degrees, a bit warm for my long sleeved shirt. McCook is experiencing a raw day with traces of snow in the wind but we are in Scottsdale, Ariz. Spring is awakening here in the desert where grass is green and the scent of flowers wafts through the air. It is a tough assignment being out here in February, but somebody has to do it.

Mike and I are attending our annual flight simulator training. For those of us who fly multi-engine, cabin class aircraft, annual training is a must, the insurance companies demand it. Business aviation has earned a safety record nearly as good as the airlines and training is a big part of the zero accident goal.

Flying the simulator is a challenge, probably harder than the real aircraft. Although bolted to the floor, we look out the windows to see an image projected on the wall. It looks normal, blue sky above, green terrain below and the scene moves just as it does in the airplane. No problem for the mind to convince us that the "airplane" is actually moving.

We practice flying instruments; the scene out the window changes to resemble looking out of a milk bottle. We practice engine failure and all sorts of unusual system failures and emergency procedures that passengers are adverse to doing in the real airplane. And then there are hours of ground school reviewing hydraulic, electrical, heating, air-conditioning and pressurization systems. It is a challenging worthwhile review and I always learn something new in the process.

We had no choice, the instructor was chosen by our training provider, but we were pleased to draw the good mentor we had the last time we came to Scottsdale. Sporting a full head of red hair, green eyes, a great shape and tastefully dressed, Cassie is professional to a T! We lucked out and knew the training would be worthwhile.

Cassie learned to fly in the general aviation side of the business and had done most of the apprentice jobs, instructing, freight hauling, simply flying every chance that was offered and eventually she earned a copilot's seat on a feeder airline. She told us that flying the line just didn't fit the lifestyle she wanted to live and she walked away from that assignment.

She then hit gold, for a flight instructor, and hired on with Lufthansa. Yes the German National Airline. Little known to most is that Germany trains all their pilots in the United States. Their military trains in Texas and the ones headed for the airline train in Florida.

Those students are very carefully selected, well educated, fluent in English, eager, bright, great gregarious personalities, and a pleasure to train. Germany is making a huge investment in their training and wants a pilot who will have a long safe career with the airline that represents the pride of their nation.

In my experience most simulator instructors are about my age and bring a huge amount of experience in flying business class aircraft. Most seem to have been grounded for medical reasons of one determination or another. All have been bitten by the flying bug, so teaching in a flight simulator allows them to keep a hand in aviation. We who do the regular recurrency training have a chance to share in their great store of knowledge gained through actual hands on experience. Good stuff!

Cassie is a little different in that addition to teaching in the sim she is still actively instructing out in the fleet. She has carved out a niche for herself providing intensive instrument training for those aircraft owners that are busy in their own careers yet need to earn an instrument rating for the increased safety that it brings to their flying. Quite simply, instrument rated pilots have fewer accidents than non-instrument rated pilots. For the more complex aircraft, insurance companies now demand the rating.

Turned out that our Cassie lives in Sedona and commutes the 70+ miles three days a week that she has sim classes. After three days of her touting the amenities of Sedona we drove through to check it out. Ah, it is a city of the "beautiful people" movie stars and others of the rich and famous set where it is important to see and be seen. We lunched at the Heartline Café and the pecan-encrusted trout was almost worth the price. I don't have to go back.

I have long been a champion of women in aviation having taught more than several to fly. One of my past students even attained an airline pilot seat but her timing was bad and her job evaporated when the airlines curtailed after 9/11.

Cassie told of one student that she recently had in the simulator. The lady had dynamite looks, even down to carefully manicured nails. When she got into the simulator it became obvious that the lady had her act together as she took charge, flew the airplane well and insisted that her copilot, actually her husband, run the checklist just as a well polished airline crew works together.

Turns out she was a retired Delta Airlines captain, one of the first females to be hired by that company. Such success stories make my heart proud.

That is the way I saw it.