Clipped Wings

3-7-13

The past months have been a trying exercise in patience, trust, and the struggle not to let my determination and persistence flag in the face of numerous discouraging setbacks and problems that have kept me from continuing my flight training. It has been just over two months since my last lesson.

First, it was weather. Lesson after lesson in January was cancelled due to low ceilings, bitter cold, wind or snow. Then finally a good day--at last! Sunshine and blue sky! With excitment, I met Joe at the hangar, eager to fly, and preflighted 6YE. We tugged it out, buckled in, started up and began to taxi out for another instrument flight--only to realize that the directional gyro was still spinning wildly. It sometimes does this just at first and Joe thought it might stop when it warmed up a little but he was wrong this time. It was such a beautiful day and Joe tried everything he could to get the stubborn instrument to cooperate but to no avail. Well you can't very well conduct an instrument flight without the directional gyro and so, bitter disappointment as it was, there was nothing to do but to turn around and go back, put the plane away and accept the fact that we just would not be flying today. Oh, that was so hard!

For the next few weeks, just into February, the plane was down while the instrument was being repaired. Meanwhile, I watched more beautiful days go by where I could only stare helplessly into the deep blue sky and hope it wouldn't be too much longer. Each time I saw or heard another plane fly over was a sort of torture.

At long last, the plane was fixed and I contacted Joe to set up a long-awaited flight lesson--only to have him tell me he'd just gotten another job and so would not be instructing with the EAA Flying Club or at Hartford any more! What?! I couldn't believe it! I was totally surprised--completely shocked. What next? Joe was a wonderful instructor and I'll surely miss him. 

Thus began the search for a new instructor which, up to this point, has not yet yielded much in the way of results yet. There are several possibilities but so far none of them have worked out. I'm working on this though and still cling to the hope that my next lesson and the continuation of my training are not too far off. The words of Isaiah 40:31 have become particularly meaningful to me as I wait.

"But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint."

In the midst of all these setbacks however, there is one bright spot. I passed my written exam with flying colors on Jan. 10 at Fox Valley Tech! All that studying paid off! Whew! What a relief!