Well today was pretty interesting. Im scheduled with my 4 students every day this week in an aircraft that just got back from the shop with a brand new engine. In the past 6 months the plane has been in the shop, and some how the push to talk function on both sides of the plane has crapped out. I can hear my student, my student can hear me, but when talking over the radio, nothing. The only way to talk on the radio is to use the microphone that comes in the aircraft. I felt like a trucker all day long. Its pretty annoying and actually takes away my focus on my students because I have to hold a microphone in my hand. Hopefully it will be fixed by tomorrow.
I also had my first puking student today. I got 2 brand new students today. All we planned to do was fly out of Manassas and out to a local airport and back. The flights where about 30 minutes each, with maybe 20 minutes in the air. I had both students come along, with one in the back watching. The first student went fine. We took off, flew out, came back and he said it was great and loved it. The next student gets in and takes off and does fairly well for a zero hour student pilot. We turn around to head back to Manassas and we hit a tiny bump, he mentions that its bumpy. I told him that what we felt was really nothing in comparison to what we get sometimes. About 5 minutes from landing the student mentions he is getting a little motion sick. I tell him to keep flying and look outside the front of the plane. He then asks if I have a bag, which is when I realized what was about to happen. I told him I had the controls and that the window was able to open in flight. So he opens the window and all I hear over the microphone is the sound of puke, and not one heave, but non stop heaving until we land. I swear I was doing almost 100 knots on final and just chopped the throttle and dumped all the flaps in and landed it. Needless to say I wanted to get down.
We taxiied off of the runway and we where told to contact ground. I called ground and told them we needed to go back to park, but I was laughing hysterically at the situation. Im positive my read back on the radio sounded completely garbled in the microphone, but oh well. I felt bad for the student, but it is a common occurrence. Just one that has not happened to me until today.
Posted by v1valarob / Being a CFI...