May 23, 2004. "N44647, Miami Center, radar contact turn left heading 090 vectors to Freeport climb and maintain niner thousand."

That was the clearance for a couple of firsts for me.  My first flight over any water wider than Cave Run Lake near Morehead, KY and my first international flight.  It is 29 degrees as I am writing this and there is a light dusting of snow on the ground.  I guess that is why my thoughts take me back to that warm vacation 8 years ago.  If you need to take a trip to the islands let me tell you a few lessons I learned from mine.

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I was recently reminded of what it's like to be a student again last week after attending the first of a series of guitar lessons. Everything about it was foreign to me, from feeling like an outsider at the music shop to opening a book of sheet music that looked like it was written in Greek. Each lesson is only 30 minutes, and takes place one on one with the music instructor in a very small room. The first lesson was over before I knew it, and on the drive home it got me thinking of how similar this was to when I took my first flight lesson 12 years ago. I considered myself a good student...

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It's a new year, which means it's time to make an optimistic list of resolutions that you'll probably end up ignoring. But while promising to exercise more or eat better may be a lost cause, it's worth considering what your aviation resolutions might be for the year ahead. Becoming a better pilot--whether you have 5 or 5,000 hours in the logbook--is all about setting goals and working towards them. In this sense, the new year is a great time to take stock of where you are as a pilot and where you want to go.

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A great deal of time, effort and thought (appropriately so) is invested in the time-honored tradition of the pre-flight inspection.  The time to check fuel, oil, flight controls, tires, etc.  After all, the PIC does have the final say as to whether the flight will go.  And even if you're not acting as PIC yet, you certainly have the final say as to whether you'll get on board.  [As a side note, I strongly encourage you to be an active participant early on in the go/no-go decision.]  So quite literally, the preflight is the most crucial inspection to take place.

But...in the interest of convenience, safety, less headache and less disappointment, the best time to discover that your airplane needs oil, air in the tires, a light bulb or something more serious that will involve your maintenance shop, is the...

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All too often during the course of training students will experience some difficulties with their instructor.  These difficulties can be something as simple as having a rough communication day between instructor and student, or they can be far more menacing such as a difference in personalities or learning styles.  Students who come to talk to me during their training are generally reluctant to address the issue; most of the time these issues should have been addressed long before the meeting with the flight school manager / chief flight instructor takes place.  The key to remember during these times is...

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