More on 14 CFR 61.57

A beautiful Monday morning followed a spectacular Sunday

Driving to work and getting off the Danbury airport exit around eight am, I saw Tony's D’s stars and bars Cub flying the short pattern to runway 26. Sitting at the light at the bottom of the exit I checked out the sock at midfield. As it lay limply from its moorings and with the knowledge that my first appointment was two hours away, I took a right instead of my normal left and headed to the Mooney rather than opening the office. I thought of Robert Frost as I made my way to Reliant Air "Two roads diverged in a wood, and I, I took the one less traveled by"

58 Victor was waiting for me as I walked across the ramp.   As I finished sumping the right tank Colin appeared out of nowhere with the Reliant fuel truck and a big smile. “Good Morning Captain Walsh” was how he greeted me, “Will you be needing any fuel today?” he continued. I took on 10 gallons a side not out of necessity but for the opportunity to shoot the breeze with him while he pumped the fuel.  When I told him that I was going out to practice maneuvers and then some pattern work, Colin (who has logged more than four thousand hours of dual instruction) automatically countered “you know sometimes it seems like you’ll never get a landing in”. The breeze was barely a whisper as I ran up and taxied up to the hold short line for Runway 26.  I called ready and requested a northerly departure. The plane was off the ground by the end of the displaced threshold and climbing briskly through the soft morning air.

Leveling at two thousand feet and clear of the delta I started with some fifty degree steep turns. After a three sixty in either direction I made my way over to our house and did pylon turns using the swimming pool as the reference point. That complete I did a chandelle using Candlewood Lake as my reference points. I hadn’t done one in a while and I was happy to hear the stall warning horn sounding through the last fifteen degrees of the turn. Recovering to Va without changing altitude,  I was pleased with the Chandelle but thought I could have got more altitude out of it. “Something to practice more” I thought as I called Danbury tower reporting 12 to the north. I was told to enter the right downwind to runway 26 and I descended to pattern altitude as I joined the pattern from the forty-five.  Cleared for the option I touched down around the runway intersection, poured on the power then entered left traffic. I did two more touch and go’s and made the last one a full stop.

Taxiing back in I realized that I had, in an hour and a half’s time satisfied my 61.57a requirements and was current to carry passengers for another ninety days. Had I not practiced the commercial maneuvers it could have been done in forty minutes including the shooting the breeze with Colin part.

The short flight made all the difference in the quality of my day, I walked around confident of my abilities and satisfied with my accomplishment. For the balance of my morning aggravations slid off me like water from a duck's back.


Two roads diverged in a wood, and I, I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.