Ok, I know as flying jobs go, the position of flight instructor is pretty far down the list of "most desirable." That doesn't mean it doesn't have its rewards. Seeing someone go from not knowing how to land, to greasing it every time, and knowing you taught them that, is very satisfying. Also, the scenery is pretty nice. On Thursday, when I went up with my instrument student, we were up at 7,000 feet after finding a space between the scattered clouds to climb up there. It was a cool 40 degrees and smooth up there, with plenty of wind to help me teach him VOR and NDB tracking. Not to mention how beautiful it was to have pure blue above and around us, and cumulus (puffy) clouds skating by 1,000 feet below us. Of course, my student couldn't see any of this, because he had his instrument hood on. :P After that, on my way home from work, looking up at the clouds and knowing that just a few minutes ago I was up there, above them, "working" was something very nice to think about indeed.
Then yesterday we went up to the same altitude, but it was clear and you could see forever. We were about ten miles inland, and the Thunderbirds were practicing their routine over the shoreline for this weekend's airshow. Granted, they only looked like specs with smoke coming form behind them from 10 miles away, but it was still fun to be up there saying "The Thunderbirds are right over there, in the same sky as I am, doing the exact same thing as I am!" Of course, it wasn't the exact same thing. That's kind of like driving past a race track in your minivan while a race is going on and saying "hey, I'm driving too" but don't spoil my fun. ;)
My student and I (I let him take his hood off for a minute to see this) saw one of them flying down by the water, then shoot straight up. Three seconds later, he was as high as we were, and three more seconds later, he was twice as high. Incredible. It took us ten minutes to get to 7,000 feet!
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