Hello again, 80A. Goodbye, Travis. This pretty much summed up my flying on Friday.
The C152 (94006) has been down for a lengthy maintenance period and, despite the fact that I'm trying to pinch every penny until I see how my non-equity/partnership/ownership saga unfolds, I was starting to feel rusty. Friday morning was open, the local TFRs didn't start until 2:30, and 80A was sitting on the line begging me to take her flying. Need I say more? I jumped on the schedule and hustled over to the airport to take to the skies.
The usual crew was in the FBO when I got there, including my friend and CFI/CFII Travis. My BFR is due in November and I'd been meaning to mention it to Travis. I took the opportunity to mention to him that I wanted to get this knocked out in the coming weeks and, with a straight face, he replied "Didn't you hear? Today's my last day." At first I thought he was joking, but a quick survey of the faces revealed that nobody was smiling. "What?!?" I replied. I'd known for a while that he was getting homesick (he came to DYL from Nebraska) and that his lease was due for renewal, but I never really thought he'd bag it and head back west. I've been busy with school and work and haven't been at the airport much, and this one just snuck up on me.
Travis is one of those unique CFIs who is both a friend and a mentor. He had a really easy going instructing style and was a pleasure to fly with. I'd started my IR with him last year and shot my first approaches with him. Then I got sidetracked with life and didn't make much progress. He was always eager to chat and often joined me during my preflights just to see what was new. We also spent many an hour sitting on the picnic benches just chatting and watching the traffic at DYL. On hindsight, I really wish I'd taken advantage of the opportunity to do my IR rating with him in the right seat. I'm going to miss him.
After coming to my senses, I did manage to b.s. with him a little bit and then guide 80A around the pattern. Logged 0.4 on the Hobbs with 2 decent landings. I'd hoped to say goodbye to Travis when I got back, but he took an early Discovery Flight and our paths didn't cross again that afternoon.
I plan to call him to say thank you and hope that we can get together during one of his return trips to Philly. I owe him a beer.
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