A Safe Learning Space

I have always been fascinated by flight. I took my first trip on an airplane when I was five years old, New York to Chicago. That was back when you were allowed, in fact, encouraged to visit the cockpit during the flight. I remember standing behind the pilots looking out at the beautiful blue sky and enjoying a sense of awe and wonder.

The professional pilot's life, for me, was not something that I was prepared to commit to and so I've enjoyed aviation as a hobby. When our children were little, we would go to the Burlington Airport and plane spot regularly. I listen to the air traffic controllers for the Burlington Airport often and enjoy seeing the inbound planes to the BTV gliding toward runway 33 during their final approach outside our home.

My Family has supported this love of aviation, and this past Father's Day, I was treated to a flight lesson. I have almost 15 hours of flight time in a single-engine Cessna, and while I have no immediate intention of earning my private pilot's license, I still plan to build up hours of practice, because I love it!

From the pre-flight checklist with the instructor outside the plane to strapping into the left-hand seat, to pushing the throttle in just enough to taxi off the ramp, and out the runway, my pulse was quickening, and I could feel the anticipation building.  We were lined up on runway 33, and with no other traffic, we were cleared for take-off. Now a take-off run for a single-engine Cessna is nothing compared to even some of the smaller commercial jets that flight into Burlington. We were up in no time.

The sense of awe and wonder returned, with Lake Champlain ahead of us and the beautiful green landscape of Vermont below. The instructor allowed me to focus on flying and handled all the communication with air traffic control. However, I still listened. A couple of times, I thought I heard the air traffic controller state the wrong runway, and then corrected himself. When I pointed that out to the instructor, he told me something that made me really proud.

Since the Burlington Airport is rated as Class C (not high-density traffic operations), it is often a place that new air traffic controllers are sent to learn tower operations. The airport is not very busy, except first thing in the morning, when every single gate has a plane that has spent the night. Given these circumstances, it's a good airport for novice controllers to learn and hone their skills. They do so with a veteran controller next to them to ensure no big mistakes are made, to talk through decisions, to answer questions, and to share feedback.

That is exactly what I was doing at that very moment. I had an instructor pilot to my right. He helped me make sure I didn't make any big mistakes. I talked through many of my flight decisions with him that day. He answered all of my questions and I got important feedback both during and at the end of my flight.

Everyone has to learn somewhere. It is incredibly rare to be in a situation professionally or personally in which we do not need the help of someone else. Someone who has more knowledge, training, and or experience than we do. Everyone needs to have a place where they can take uncertain first steps, stumble, or even fall without causing forward progress to stop entirely.

A pilot with less than 20 hours of experience flew over the skies of Burlington Vermont on Saturday, June 22, with guidance from a novice air traffic controller. The flight was a complete success from pre-flight clearance to takeoff to touchdown to taxiing back to the ramp. I got another hour in my logbook and improved some skills along the way. My guess is so did the air traffic controller.

We're both very grateful for the Class C learning space at the BTV.

My flight on Saturday, June 22, 2019
Image courtesy of www.flightaware.com