Monday, August 11th

After the checkride, I had my first days off in over a month. I used it to sleep and watch the Olympics. Perfect timing! Starting Monday the 11th, it was back to work. This phase of the program is used to build logged hours and introduce us to IFR (instrument flight rules), a crucial part of the next phase of training.

First stop... Stephenville, home of the Hard Eight Barbeque. Ben and I flew 2656G there and met flight partners Daniel (with instructor Walt) and Ali (with instructor Javier). First flight through clouds, too... a fascinating experience. More on that later.


The Hard Eight is a popular fly-in, so they keep two golf carts at the FBO for transport to the restaurant, where we were greeted by the most beautiful sight these eyes have ever seen. Ever wonder what the salad bar in Heaven looks like? Here you go.


After crippling ourselves by ingesting obscene amounts of dead pig, we're homebound. Thanks to FlightAware for the illustrated track of our flight. As you can see, I'm learning about keeping my heading through clouds.