"Emily" wrote in message
. ..
Robert Barker wrote:
We all know about the tradition of cutting off the shirttails when a
student solos... What traditions are out there when a student passes his
checkride?
Well, my first checkride after I turned 21 was my multi. I celebrated by
staying up all night, drinking way too much, and waking up wanting to fly,
but realizing I wasn't legal yet.

Not sure that's the best way.

Thanks for all the great suggestions... As my personal minimums are 48
hours bottle to throttle, all my flying has made a large dent in my
drinking. The local publican has noticed too!

I'm flying from a company flying club. We're very lucky in that we have 2
great 172s (an SP and an R that has been re-engined/upgraded to basically an
SP), and a Diamond DA-40 we picked up at the factory! The club's a little
over a year old and I was the 1st student and first to solo though I think
I'll be the 2nd to get the checkride. Needless to say, I helped iron out a
bunch of the procedures!

Our training materials are pretty good. We've already had about 6 private
groundschools, 4 instrument ones, and a mess of G-1000 classes. I've taken
it on myself to help out where I could since we're just getting started. I
gave the club an overhead projector I had lying around and printed all the
FAA plates off onto transparencies. Those have come in handy for classes.
Makes stuff like learning performance and charting a lot easier... I also
talked a local pilot shop into giving us some outdated charts and ADs to
match for training. The other visual aids are pretty new. And we've had
donations from lots of other members as well.

I should be going for the checkride in a few weeks. My CFIs (I've flown
with 5 different ones, so far but only 3 of them for more than one lesson).
I had to shift from the first one about 12 hours in because his work
schedule made it tough to get time. Been with the 2nd most of the time but
have needed the 3rd to fill in a bit lately. They're all people I work with
in some way or another (company flying club). A couple weeks ago, I managed
to get my main CFI an hour in the ATG Javelin simulator in the way of thanks
(ATG is on the other side of our field). She's also mentioned the need for
new charts so I'll get a nice set with ADs to match. I guess I'll go for a
round of drinks at the airport pub and while there give out some dinner
coupons to the main 3... God knows they all earned it!

I guess what I'm looking for is some club recognition, too. I'm now on the
club board as the "marketing director". When I soloed, I bought a mini-172
to put on my desk. I used a label maker to change the tail number and put
my solo date on the belly. I liked that enough that I bought a bunch more
(they were cheap) and the CFIs thought it's a great idea and are handing
them out to their solo students. Now, we also hand out pilot shop coupons
and I'm working on a deal for something from the airport bar/resturaunt.

I thought something at checkride would be good too... Wearing my marketing
director hat, I'm thinking along these lines... Yes, the student should
definitely do something for the CFI(s). But I thought it would be fun for
the CFI to present the "no longer student" with a handle (we have a lot of
ex-military types). We then give them a hat with the club logo embroidered
on the front and their handle on the back. The club also presents the "no
longer student" with a set of inexpensive wings. What do you think?