Today at Planes
...holy shit was my last planes-post seriously in July.
So summer was highly active at the track. We got a bunch of new folks, which I think I mentioned - SH(2), YN and EL kinda showed up as a trio, and then YN brought NA and ST (the former I'm tentatively okay with, and the latter I'm eying) and then ER(2) showed up from fuck knows where (AM gave my dad an earful about the latter three, and that one in particular) and about same time we got GY. Now GY? Is one of the official two Best Operators in the country and also a sweetheart and shows up with his 15yr old EY, who's sweet in his own right and also better at planes than most adults, so I'm totally okay with those two.
ER and HA were abroad for half the summer, and then I was all sorts of upside-down through Sep - okay also the latter half of August, I think - possibly all of August - and anyway.
We happen to have arrived together at the track today. HA and I haven't spent any significant amount of time together since July, so the kid pounced. Which is how, perhaps 10min after arriving at the track and having not yet had coffee or, indeed, gone anywhere near my own plane, I found myself tutoring HA, which includes managing not just the 10yr old with the major ADHD but also his hypervigilant - and just as ADHD - dad.
And then we all roll back to the sitting area - seriously imagine a bunch of puppies tumbling down a slope, except it's people walking - and AM declares he thinks HA is ready for solo. And don't ask me how, because look, it's ER, I'm pretty sure it was only in June he was still barking at me just for going near the kid, but I only very barely managed to have a half-cup of coffee before there's HA and me and the radio box, and ER hasn't got his finger on the trainer-switch because HA is doing solo.
I'm pretty sure I only full-blown realized this was actually happening, for real, when the kid already had the plane in the air and ER went away. And I'm like - wait, what? I'm supervising a First Solo now? Except that was on the inside, and on the outside I did exactly what I was supposed to do, which is keep talking the kid through what a circle pattern is and how to produce the same one consistently. The moment when this kid who two months ago didn't know what a circle pattern is said out loud "Oh, this is easier" as he had the plane go around on the mark - and kept it in a straight line - was flat-out awesome.
GY claimed the honour of the traditional (gentle) kick in the butt. ER stole a water bottle off someone (GY, I'm pretty sure) and threw some water over the kid, because that's tradition, too. And we have all that filmed, because IS pulled out the vidcam at some point.
Me, I was damn near as excited as HA. Because holy shit first Trainee Solo, which is absolutely a Thing; like, yeah, sure, I've been hanging near people who have difficulties for probably well over a year now, but - this was AM deciding I'm good to supervise a First Solo as much as it was him deciding HA is ready for said. Which is a big damn deal.
We did a total of four or so sessions - about an hour of air-time - within 2.5hr, and then I needed another hour (and the rest of the cold coffee, and some more coffee, and finishing off everyone's water and then some) before I was ready to think of driving back home.
...also the ADHD Club is hysterical. HA and I were having difficulties with the electric pump, and ER kept saying "In a second" while wrestling with the shade-sheet, and then I realized that's what I look like when I say that, so I told HA "Well, not like we don't know where you got the ADHD from; I'll go get him, stay here" and went over. Predictably ER tried to get me into Wrestling The Sheet, but I managed to chase him off in the general direction of HA then realized the problem was the sheet's trapezoid, not a rectangle, and fixed it best I could before grabbing EY to help, on the basis of the 15yr old being most inclined to think before acting as well as actually pay attention to what he's about to do. (And, well, still being taller than I am.)
Also I ended up talking SH(2)'s gf from having gotten lost enough to get past the fucking border. (You'd think after this long they guys would learn AM and I are the only ones who can give driving instructions worth a damn. Or possibly we're the ones who're good at figuring out how other people think, and tailor our approach accordingly.)
And then, while trying to three-point-turn my car out of where it got boxed by two other cars and a van without falling into the field, I noticed EY having kind of stopped where it could've conceivably been just a reasonable place to stand while interacting with two groups of folks, but I've done that one enough times myself to know he was keeping an eye on me extracting the car and locating the Likely Suspects in case it turned out I needed someone to move their cars so I could get mine.
(The most remarkable achievement with HA is not the consistent approaches. It's that he'll ask for water. This is a kid who'll literally forget what he's doing while he's doing it. Getting to the point where he'll notice he's thirsty or in need of calories, will go get the food himself, and will acquiesce if he's failed to notice and been handed water? Holy. shit. This kid, drink water. This kid. I'm pretty sure me getting the kid to agree to drink without having to bully him into it, all these months back, is where when and why ER decided to let me work with him on the flying thing.)
This entry was originally posted at http://hagar-972.dreamwidth.org/2864874.html. Please comment there using OpenID.
So summer was highly active at the track. We got a bunch of new folks, which I think I mentioned - SH(2), YN and EL kinda showed up as a trio, and then YN brought NA and ST (the former I'm tentatively okay with, and the latter I'm eying) and then ER(2) showed up from fuck knows where (AM gave my dad an earful about the latter three, and that one in particular) and about same time we got GY. Now GY? Is one of the official two Best Operators in the country and also a sweetheart and shows up with his 15yr old EY, who's sweet in his own right and also better at planes than most adults, so I'm totally okay with those two.
ER and HA were abroad for half the summer, and then I was all sorts of upside-down through Sep - okay also the latter half of August, I think - possibly all of August - and anyway.
We happen to have arrived together at the track today. HA and I haven't spent any significant amount of time together since July, so the kid pounced. Which is how, perhaps 10min after arriving at the track and having not yet had coffee or, indeed, gone anywhere near my own plane, I found myself tutoring HA, which includes managing not just the 10yr old with the major ADHD but also his hypervigilant - and just as ADHD - dad.
And then we all roll back to the sitting area - seriously imagine a bunch of puppies tumbling down a slope, except it's people walking - and AM declares he thinks HA is ready for solo. And don't ask me how, because look, it's ER, I'm pretty sure it was only in June he was still barking at me just for going near the kid, but I only very barely managed to have a half-cup of coffee before there's HA and me and the radio box, and ER hasn't got his finger on the trainer-switch because HA is doing solo.
I'm pretty sure I only full-blown realized this was actually happening, for real, when the kid already had the plane in the air and ER went away. And I'm like - wait, what? I'm supervising a First Solo now? Except that was on the inside, and on the outside I did exactly what I was supposed to do, which is keep talking the kid through what a circle pattern is and how to produce the same one consistently. The moment when this kid who two months ago didn't know what a circle pattern is said out loud "Oh, this is easier" as he had the plane go around on the mark - and kept it in a straight line - was flat-out awesome.
GY claimed the honour of the traditional (gentle) kick in the butt. ER stole a water bottle off someone (GY, I'm pretty sure) and threw some water over the kid, because that's tradition, too. And we have all that filmed, because IS pulled out the vidcam at some point.
Me, I was damn near as excited as HA. Because holy shit first Trainee Solo, which is absolutely a Thing; like, yeah, sure, I've been hanging near people who have difficulties for probably well over a year now, but - this was AM deciding I'm good to supervise a First Solo as much as it was him deciding HA is ready for said. Which is a big damn deal.
We did a total of four or so sessions - about an hour of air-time - within 2.5hr, and then I needed another hour (and the rest of the cold coffee, and some more coffee, and finishing off everyone's water and then some) before I was ready to think of driving back home.
...also the ADHD Club is hysterical. HA and I were having difficulties with the electric pump, and ER kept saying "In a second" while wrestling with the shade-sheet, and then I realized that's what I look like when I say that, so I told HA "Well, not like we don't know where you got the ADHD from; I'll go get him, stay here" and went over. Predictably ER tried to get me into Wrestling The Sheet, but I managed to chase him off in the general direction of HA then realized the problem was the sheet's trapezoid, not a rectangle, and fixed it best I could before grabbing EY to help, on the basis of the 15yr old being most inclined to think before acting as well as actually pay attention to what he's about to do. (And, well, still being taller than I am.)
Also I ended up talking SH(2)'s gf from having gotten lost enough to get past the fucking border. (You'd think after this long they guys would learn AM and I are the only ones who can give driving instructions worth a damn. Or possibly we're the ones who're good at figuring out how other people think, and tailor our approach accordingly.)
And then, while trying to three-point-turn my car out of where it got boxed by two other cars and a van without falling into the field, I noticed EY having kind of stopped where it could've conceivably been just a reasonable place to stand while interacting with two groups of folks, but I've done that one enough times myself to know he was keeping an eye on me extracting the car and locating the Likely Suspects in case it turned out I needed someone to move their cars so I could get mine.
(The most remarkable achievement with HA is not the consistent approaches. It's that he'll ask for water. This is a kid who'll literally forget what he's doing while he's doing it. Getting to the point where he'll notice he's thirsty or in need of calories, will go get the food himself, and will acquiesce if he's failed to notice and been handed water? Holy. shit. This kid, drink water. This kid. I'm pretty sure me getting the kid to agree to drink without having to bully him into it, all these months back, is where when and why ER decided to let me work with him on the flying thing.)
This entry was originally posted at http://hagar-972.dreamwidth.org/2864874.html. Please comment there using OpenID.