On the 17th and 18th I had the opportunity to go to a ground school seminar that boasted they would prepare you for the test in only two days! I learned about this from my dad who received
an email from Aviation Seminars. The seminar was a now or much later deal. I chose to clear my weekend schedule of flying, working, building, and relaxing. I chose to go to the seminar. Knowing I would need all neurons on deck to cram this in, I went to sleep early Friday night.
beep--beep--BEEP-BEEP-beep-beep-BEEP-BEEP-beep-beep-BEEP-BEEP-beep-beep-BEEP-BEEP-beep-beep-BEEP-BEEP!!
My dream self suddenly realized that is was supposed to wake up when I heard beeping.
I shot awake, skipping entirely the normal grogginess. I had allocated about 45 min to getting ready to go, I was ready in 15. For the next 1/2 hr I nervously waited by the front door (that way if I fell asleep my dad would have to pass me and I would wake back up before he left me!)
After an hour and a half of riding in the car, we pulled into the seminar location. It was a shabby looking FBO at a small town airport. The first impression of my teacher Al Collins was "Wow, this guy came prepared!" Because there were bags of markers, pens, pencils, snacks, plotters, and flight computers. There was a huge pack of blue Gatorade, and a 6 pack of water bottles. Speedy introductions between me, My dad, and Lee (the only other student) revealed much that I had been wondering about. I had no idea if there would be 3 or 30 people! This small class would be better as I would get the most out of it.
In just 2 hours I learned how much of the weekend was to go. Listen to Al's presentation for about 50min while taking notes, and following along in the provided study companion, Take a 10 min break, Come back and do a quick review of the last hour's material, and launch right into the next portion.
And so it went, We covered regulations, health, VFR minimums, aircraft performance, flight planning, weight and balance, and everything else one should know for the written exam. On Saturday night, I studied for a short time, watched a family movie, which made my mom and sister leave the family room (Judge Dredd), and plopped on my face to sleep.
The next day was much like Saturday, but with more review quizzes. Finally after 16 hours of class, and many hours of personal studying, I was given an endorsement to take the written test!
With my test set for the 21st, I had just 2 short days to study. Study I did, during all my free time. In the car? Study! Can't sleep? Study! Stuck at the gym for 7 hours? STUDY!!
A few times I got stuck. such as when I forgot how to use my E6-B flight computer. Dad helped me work through several problems until I could do it myself. Then I worked even more until I was a pro at using the E6-B.
Over the course of studying I took two, 60 question 70% required to pass, practice tests. The first one I used my cheat book on any question I didn't KNOW the right answer to. it took me what seemed like the better part of a day, but was in actuality only 3 hours. I scored 87% instilling remarkable confidence in myself. The second practice exam took only 1.5 hours and I used the cheat book minimally (2-3 questions). and I scored an 87% again! Something was going on.
This was it, The night before my test, which would begin promptly at 0900. I scoured my closet for what to wear and laid it out on my floor. I prepared all the documents I would need tomorrow, ID, Passport, Proof of residence. I packed my testing bag, E6-B, Magnifying glass, Plotter, Calculator. Everything was set, all I needed to do now was slip into bed and wake up to my alarm. I needed to be ready to go by 0800, so I set my alarm for 0700 giving me plenty of time to get ready and eat a good breakfast.
Things did not turn out correctly. I sat up wide awake at 0540. My mind began the day making rational decisions, odd. The choice was unanimous (I would like to think most of my choices are) Anyhow the verdict was to stay awake so I didn't oversleep. Since I had 2 hours to dawdle around, I might as well get some studying done. I read the entire study guide, I drew out the VFR minimums chart, I reviewed light gun signals, and it was only 0700! I was already set to go. For the last hour I simply floated around the house nervously.
The car ride to Heinz Community college, where the testing took place, was nerve wracking at best. My mom and sister made for great company thankfully. We arrived at 0835 ish leaving 20 min till my test started. I got settled in the waiting room and started to go over my answer book again. I determined that studying at this point was futile, I was ready anyway. I struck up conversations with the people in the waiting room. One man was in for his IFR rating. One had already gotten his drone license but didn't have a private pilot. A woman called my name. "Isaac Shultz, Private Pilot"
She was quite surprised when a 15 year old boy walked up, ready to take his test.
I was checked in and ready to go by 0920. I was given the "do not cheat or else" talk, I signed documents saying I understood what was told to me and I was administered noise reduction ear buds for focusing. We whispered when entering the testing room where 10-13 other people were taking tests. I saw my buddy from the waiting room taking his instrument rating exam. I was ready.
I clopped along through the computer administered test, slowly but surely. When I was at question 60 I went back and reviewed my answer to make sure I was happy with them. I was ready. I raised my hand, the agreed upon signal that I was done with the test. The lady who checked me in came back into the room to retrieve the results of my test. 87% 87% Again!!
I was picked up at 1130 ish by my dad. As any sane person would, We celebrated by going to Applebee's (I would have gone to chipotle, my favorite restaurant, but there are no chipotles in the entire state of Mississippi) I told dad all about my test, the hard problems, the nature of the majority of the problems, the ones I missed, why I missed them. But I honestly don't remember much of that anymore. I was too busy judging my next step in flight training: Getting an instructor.
Thank you so much to everyone who has aided me.
Mr John
Paul Shadwick
Stan Whitfield
Ron Sipple
Ralph and Joyce Shultz
Paul and Beth Duff
Paul Hockin
Nicholette Shultz
Gordon Fern
Anon Anon
Jeannette Shultz
Mike David
Jonathan and Julia Wolfe
Jon Palmstrom
Laurie Burns
Donna Mickel
Dana Baker
Mrs Nadine
Eric Johnson
Tammy Reap Hayes
Jeff Shultz
Brandon Lenart
WP Maesh
Michael Couillard
Mr Anonymous
Joe And Judy Green
Mrs Brenda
Mrs Cathy
Paul and Vickie Laberge
Judy and Roger Kemmerle
The purpose of this blog is to document and share my experience of building and later flying an airplane. In the first portion, I will thank all the wonderful people who donated to me. Then in the second section I will post a building update, hopefully every 3-4 days ,explaining what I have done in detail and with pictures. Finally in the third and last section, I will post my flying adventures, and any maintenance I do. Thank you or your support and interest, I am pumped to be executing this project.
