have felt silly with the big **** eating grin on my face. I ended up
leaving the airport with a manual, logbook, student record, fuel testing
cup, a reserved spot in groundschool that starts in January, and time
booked for the next three weekends to fly.

Good job, Jase. You'll never regret learning to fly.

Some advice that'll save you some money:

- Treat flight training like a semester of college. Fly Mon/Wed/Fri --
study Tue/Thu. You'll finish up faster, and save yourself money in the
long run.

- Expect delays, but don't accept them. You *will* get bumped by weather
(especially starting flight training in the late fall), and sometimes the
aircraft won't be available. Inevitably there will be times when your CFI
will be out of town.

Get used to it, but don't get used by it. If it happens too often, don't
feel bad or hesitate to complain to the flight school. If that gets you no
where, don't hesitate to switch CFIs.

- Remember, you are the student AND the boss. Be humble in the air, follow
instruction to the letter -- but be assertive with your money. I've seen
too many students let their training drag out forever by just "going with
the flow"...

- Find a mentor. If you know any pilots, latch on to them and suck all the
knowledge from them you can. Ask them all the dumb questions that you keep
forgetting to ask your CFI -- your lessons will make more sense, and you'll
impress your instructor.

Good luck, and keep us posted!
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"