Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Still Alive

I finally heard back from the TSA's Alien Flight Student Program last week, they have finished my background checks and approved my training request!  The next step is to submit my fingerprints for their records, so I checked online for the closest approved fingerprinting office, which is two hours away.  I called them and set an appointment for this Friday the 22nd, I was told that they use an ink-pad fingerprinting system, but they then scan them and digitally upload the images to the Transportation Security Clearinghouse, which forwards them on to the TSA.  After that, I have to wait another (up to) seven business days for the TSA to acknowledge receipt of the fingerprints.

I finished Ground School on Monday of last week, and ended up getting a 93% on the final exam, so I am pretty pleased with that.  When I am ready to go and take the FAA Written Test I can go back to the Flight School and take another refresher quiz, then they will get me registered so I can take the test at a testing center on the other side of the airport.

I am really impatient to get up in the air again, I had a rather disturbing dream last night that I was trying to fly, and the plane just wouldn't stay in the air no matter what I did, so I ended up bouncing along the ground in short hops until we got back to the airport.  The plane itself looked fine, so I guess my subconscious just doesn't have a very good grasp of the physics involved...

I have been playing with Microsoft Flight Simulator, which I hope will keep me from regressing too much until I can fly again.

More to come! (Hopefully soon!)
-Gareth