HOT PURSUIT

Every once in a while I’m reminded why I need to stick to journalism and writing stories.
It happened recently when I did a story on the flight school based at Owatonna’s Degner Regional Airport. Jim Jacobson and Clayton Peterson operate one of the region’s few aviation schools.
Without any warning, Jacobson put me behind the controls of a flight simulator, which is a device used to artificially simulate aircraft flight in various environments and conditions. Flight simulators are used to train pilots on how to fly in addition to jumping behind the controls of an actual aircraft. Rest assured, I didn’t do the latter.
For this particular maneuver, Jacobson programmed us to fly out and back to the Duluth airport. I successfully lifted off from Duluth and circled around in a 4-mile radius before descending back to the airport.
Even though I knew I was grounded in a simulator, the heart still pounded and the blood flowed with lots of anxiety. I tried my best to fly the friendly skies.
Not surprisingly, Jacobson had to correct me several times on what to do to achieve a smooth flight. Things seemed to be going pretty well until the arrival back at the airport.
I had my eyes fixed on the runway and my brain knew what needed to be done. But from there, it was all a blur.
Quite honestly, I don’t know what I all did, but within seconds I crashed the plane and it was all over. No smooth landing for me.
Lucky for me, I wasn’t physically hurt. Perhaps my pride, however.
I think I overcorrected myself with “the yoke,” which is the airplane’s steering wheel. The yoke controls the plane’s ailerons. In simplest terms, it allows the pilot to move the airplane up, down, over left and over right.
Jacobson said one of the most common mistakes young aspiring pilots make is moving the yoke too much. “Nice and steady,” he often warned me. I found myself cranking the yoke like a steering wheel on a vehicle, but it’s not the same and only needs to be moved ever so slightly to the left or right.
“Landing an airplane is the hardest part,” Jacobson said. “It’s a little bit of juggling act to keep it level.”
Most student pilots spend an average of 90 minutes at a time in the simulator. I can’t imagine as I spent only about 10 minutes. I was mentally exhausted and a little motion sick from everything going on around me.
Being in a simulator definitely wears you out physically and mentally.
Jacobson described it this way: “I could have done eight hours of physical labor and been less wore out.”
He said there is a lot of thinking and mental work that goes into being a pilot. “It’s thinking ahead of the airplane,” Jacobson said, adding you always need to be two steps ahead of the plane.
Asked what makes a good pilot, Jacobson said: “Experience and good judgment.” And, he quickly added, you can only get experience by going out and doing it.
So true.  Maybe with a little more experience, I can figure out how to not crash the plane.
Second thought, I’m sticking to journalism. I think I have a better shot at going in hot pursuit of a smooth landing by putting out a quality newspaper.