It was right after dinner on Friday night, Angela was in her room doing her homework. Usually she would be doing her homework on Saturday or maybe Sunday, but She had lots to do after she finished. Tomorrow would be her first class with Tom on the ground school preparation for receiving her private license, so she thought that Tom may have lots of homework for her and she should get her regular schoolwork out of the way. Also, although she had read the literature that Tom had given her from beginning to end, several times, she wanted to make sure that she would be able to answer any question that Tom may ask.
Angela wondered how many pupils would be in her class. Would she be the only one or would there be many students attending the class. Tom had a wonderful reputation as an instructor and also as a pilot, so she assumed that there would be many aspiring would be future pilots there in addition to herself.
Angela thought she knew everything that Tom had provided for her. She was getting bleary eyed from reading about compass headings, compass courses, dead reckoning, Navigational aids, emergency procedures, weather reports, weather symbols, and a lot more. Her dad had taught her all this, so why did she have to do this all over again. She bet that she could take the written test for the private pilots license anytime and pass. So these were her thoughts as she fell asleep.
The next morning, Angela peddled her bike to the airport. Tom's office was in a large hangar that he used as a classroom. It would fit many students. Much more than had signed up for his course in the ground school requirement for preparation in sitting for the written part of the test for a private pilots license. I wonder she thought if I could ask Tom if I could take the written test without taking all the classes? Why would it be any more difficult than she already knew about being a private pilot. She bet that she could even take and pass the flight test if only she were old enough. Wait, what am I thinking. I must be crazy to do something like this. I'd probably be the laughing stock of the airport, especially if she didn't pass the examination. Even if I did, everyone would think that I was a braggart, and no one would speak to me anymore. So she dismissed the thought as being foolish and downright stupid.
There were 16 students in Tom's class, a mixture of males and females. All would-be pilots, and all held a student Pilots Certificate. Most of the pupils appeared to be about Angela's age. A few were a bit older. "Good morning ladies and gentlemen," greeted Tom, "welcome to our ground school. I am very happy to see you all here. As you know, we will meet here every Saturday morning at 10:00 AM for 10 weeks. At the end there will be an examination and those of you that pass the test, if you wish, will continue on with the flight training part of the program. Now all of you have all the written material that is required for the course. However, during the course of study, there may be other material that may be required, and if so, I will ask you to purchase this material. So what do you say, shall we get started? Lets go around the room and introduce yourself. Will you start Bill?
During the few minutes while Tom was outlining the course of study, Angela noticed the boy sitting just a few seats away looking at her. When she turned towards his direction he turned the other way, seemingly frightened that he may be caught starring at her. Angela noticed that he appeared to be about her age, maybe a bit older, and real good looking. She wondered how tall he was. But she would have to wait until a class break when he would stand up. Strange but she felt attracted to him. This is crazy she thought, never met him, never saw him before, and never spoke to him.
The introductions were progressing. Hi, I'm Angela, and with out realizing why she turned towards the direction of the boy and looked at him as she spoke her name. The gaze was mutual. This time he smiled at her as she announced her name. He stood up and announced, hello everyone, my name is Phil and I am very happy to be here. Wow, is he ever tall, much taller than me anyway.
The first session of Tom's ground school was over. Angela thought it was very interesting, but nothing new. That is nothing that she hadn't known before. Tom had passed out additional study material, and had asked the class to write a brief bit of why they wanted to be a Private Pilot and bring it to next weeks class. As the class started to leave the classroom, Angela noted Phil was right behind her, and as they reached outside the hangar, Phil said, "hi Angela, my name is Philip", and as he reached out his hand, he continued, "but you can call me Phil if you like. All my friends do, and I do so want you to be my friend." Angela for the moment was flabbergasted, but quickly recovered. "Nice to meet you Philip." "But I said you can call me Phil." "Not yet," retorted Angela. "I hardly know you, so how can I be your friend? "Well that's easy to remedy," replied Phil, " I'm new around here. Just moved here last week and I hardly know anyone. Do you think, Angela, that you could show me around or things like that. Maybe have a ice cream soda or pizza with me tonight." Angela thought about this for a moment before answering Phil. Well, she thought, he's interested in aviation as I am., so maybe we could have an interesting conversation and talk about aviation. Who knows?" "All right, replied Angela, I'm meeting a few friends tonight and we are going over to Melissa's place for pizza. You can join us if you wish, but I have to warn you, you will be amongst all women. Do you think that you can handle that." I'll sure try my best" replied Phil. "What time? And so, it went....
To be continued.....