I recently became a flight instructor, and today I made my first pilot!
This student had been working on his license for two years, but only in the summers. So although he had had quite a bit of instruction and solo time before I got him, I had to go over a lot of material with him. But for a guy who hadn’t flown in about 11 months, he was pretty good.
So we finished all the requirements recently, he had passed his written exam, and the checkride was this morning. I’m not sure which of us was more nervous. Although I wouldn’t have signed him off to take the test had I not felt he was ready, I was concerned that in my inexperience, I might have missed something in preparing him.
The examiner was kind enough to let me observe the oral exam portion of the test, since it was my first time. It went pretty well, and I also learned a few nuances. Then they went out to fly, and I felt like I had sent a kid off to kindergarten. Nothing I could do at that point but wait to see how he did on his own.
They returned 90 minutes later, and the examiner told me my (former!) student flew superbly.
I definitely got the warm fuzzies today. My student achieved a goal he’s worked toward for a long time, and that’s why I got into this. Tomorrow he’s coming out again to fly on his own as a Private Pilot. That’s so cool!