Even the Downsides are Upsides
“An inconvenience is only an adventure wrongly considered; an adventure is an inconvenience rightly considered.” – On Running After Ones Hat, All Things Considered, 1908
I spent most of the day yesterday with my instructor doing more transition training. I’m still metaphorically clawing my way toward the left seat from the tail as I try to internalize all the complex and high performance operating procedures. I did perform a feat that qualifies as a landing and not an ugly arrival saved by my instructor. That made me feel undeniably better.
After we stopped for lunch, we started back around the pattern at Camarillo for a few more landings, and noticed that the alternator was no longer charging the battery. We shed load landed and tried to debug, to no avail.
The fine folks at Camarillo Air Service sent over an electrical tech to try to get us on our way, but there did not seem to be a quick fix in the offing. We had to leave the Viking with them. Their fellow – Harvey – was one of those fine, competent, eccentric people that one gets to meet in GA. He went out of his way to help us at every opportunity, but it was not to be. While I was working with Harvey to arrange for further debugging (and a probable alternator replacement) my instructor went off to look for car rentals.
And here we lucked out. Nick, my instructor, somehow discovered that Patrick – a pilot who flies out of SMO – was on his way back in his Comanche. Patrick more than graciously invited us to hop in the Comanche and fly back with him. Even more graciously, he let Nick fly her most of the way home. We exchanged numbers and e-mail addresses and hopefully I’ll get a chance to return the favor someday.
So, training was cut short by an inconvenience, but it turned into more of an adventure. The Viking continues to be a charmed creature that leads me into interesting places.
Nick’s off at his day job for a few days and then we retrieve the Viking and I get back to clawing.