Chapter 4: Achievement

“November-8-2-4-8-Golf is downwind for runway two-seven at Circle Airport.”

Dave picked up the handheld radio, “4-8-Golf, Circle Airport, no reported traffic.” He heard two clicks indicating that Alice had heard his reply. He walked out onto the front porch of the home on the Circle and looked towards the northwest just in time to see the Cessna 172 make a descending turn onto base leg for runway 27. He noted that the plane’s headlight on the wing was on for increased visibility.

A second later he heard, “4-8-Golf turning final, runway two-seven at Circle Airport. Full stop landing.”

Pam and Ken were waiting at the hangar for Alice and the FAA Flight Examiner to return from the forty-minute flight they’d taken. Pam would then take over control of the plane for her examination.

The plane made a perfect flare and landing, just kissing the runway in a very soft landing. Dave knew enough to note there was a mild crosswind. He wanted to walk down to the hangar and see what was happening, but Alice and Pam had both pleaded with him and the other Circle members not to show up there because they were being tested. The both had a case of severe nervousness at the examinations.

Dave heard the radio squawk about ten minutes later with Pam talking this time. “November-8-2-4-8-Golf is back-taxiing at Circle Airport for takeoff on runway two-seven.”

Again, Dave gave the ‘No known traffic’ response as he surveyed the sky in all directions. Seconds later, he heard the roar of the small engine, and then saw the four-place Cessna hurl down the runway and rise sharply into the air. He’d been schooled to be able to tell Pam must have been asked to do a short-field takeoff. After her sharp rise, she adjusted to a reduced angle of climb and departed the traffic pattern with a wing-up clearing turn and then a procedure turn towards the south.

The golf cart careered up the narrow road from the hangar area. Alice was driving and Ken was holding on for dear life. She came to a screeching halt right in front of where Dave stood.

Alice got out and threw herself into her husband’s arms. She screamed and at the top of her lungs and yelled so everybody could hear, “I’M A PILOT.” She kept repeating the phrase.

Off to the side, Ken was laughing as he dismounted from the cart. Dave looked at the man with a smile. “Thanks for making her achieve her dreams.”

Ken laughed, “Oh, we’ve only started. Now she can carry passengers on good weather days, but we’ve got to make her an all-weather pilot, and get her a commercial rating which will help make her a safer pilot, and then we’ll move on into more and more ratings in higher performance aircraft.”

Dave chuckled, “This is going to cost me a lot, huh?”

Ken smiled. “It’s probably not the most expensive hobby, but it is up there. Just so you know, you will be buying an airplane sometime soon. Nobody said anything, but this is the usual path to ownership.”

“Thanks. I assume we can count on you to help be sure we’re not being ripped off.”

“At your service. I recommend an F-35, but I don’t know what they’re fetching on the used aircraft market; probably around twenty million.”

“Oh, a jet rating!” Alice crooned as she pulled the two men around the side of the house towards the patio.

As soon as she hit the patio, Alice again spread her arms and spun around, “I’M A PILOT.” The assemblage of Circle members on the patio had expected the pronouncement, so rushed to congratulate the accomplishment of their colleague and lover.

Ken excused himself about a half-hour later, and took the golf cart back to the hangar to wait for the return of Pam and the examiner in the single-engine craft. They appeared moments later, and, of course, Pam had passed the flight test with flying colors. She also went through some of the same theatrics that Alice had only an hour earlier.

After Pam reached the patio, a large sheet cake in the shape of a small airplane appeared with Alice and Pam’s names on the wings and a large pronouncement of ‘Congratulations’ across the face of the cake. Despite it being before dinner, most everybody had a piece of cake, especially Matthew who got two.

Matthew kept asking for an airplane ride, and extracted promises from his two ‘moms’ that had just become full-fledged pilots to take him on a ride in the near future. To him that meant tomorrow.”

Alice and Pam’s euphoria from passing their flight tests carried on through dinner, and then into the evening. At bedtime, Dave found himself with two excited and horny new pilots. He’d anticipated their feelings of joy, and did everything in his power to prolong and enhance their experience, by providing a glorious end to the day through his sexual prowess and their desire.

Dave awoke a few minutes before Alice and Pam, who’d slept on either side of him. He studied their beautiful faces still asleep and waiting for the jarring ring of the alarm clock. In anticipation of the clock, he kissed Alice awake and said, “I love you. You’re a pilot.”

Alice broke into a huge grin.

He repeated the exercise with Pam and got a similar response. Everyone was up early, so Dave made a point to feed the two hungry ‘pilots’ before they went off to their duties: Alice to her new job, and Pam to the den to work on a couple of proposals for work at some of the country’s utility companies.

Matthew, of course, had remembered the commitments from Mom 2 and Mom 3 to take him for a ride in the airplane they flew. His interpretation of the remark meant that morning. Alice did some fancy footwork to explain that she had to go to her regular job for the day and that Pam had important work to do as well, and neither would be able to fly him around. She told him, that within the next thirty days he’d get his ride. That commitment meant that she had to help him count to thirty and show him the calendar. He was disappointed but resigned to his fate.

Ken dropped out of the sky during breakfast to again congratulate his students. The three of them had an animated discussion about their instrument ratings and how fast that could be accomplished if they continued on at their present rate. Ken assured them that things could go a little faster, but that there’d be more ‘dual time’ with him as the instructor. He also suggested more night hours for each of them.

Ken then had an idea. “Of course, if you want to accelerate your instrument rating, you could go off and take a condensed course at one of the major flight schools. I know it’ll help a huge amount if you’ve taken the written test before you start the flight training.”

“Where would you go?”

“There are multiple places in just about every state. They each have to comply with certain FAA rules, but the idea is that you concentrate on the flying and skill build up. They usually end with the flight test, just like you have for your private pilot’s certificate yesterday, only the whole thing is under the hood. Most likely more of what you got in your training to date; the examiner puts the plane in unusual attitudes and you are expected to smoothly recover. You’ll also have to show her or him that you understand FAA rules and regs for instrument flight. Check out some on the Internet, tell me what you’re looking at, and I’ll check them out through my back channels. I have some friends in the business, too.”

Later in the day, both Pam and Alice took a few minutes to look at accelerated instrument flight training on the Internet. Unbeknownst to each of them, they each picked their favorite and a backup.

Ken wasn’t teaching in the evening, so he showed up for the cocktail hour and dinner. Increasingly, he was rooming in the Prentiss’ guest bedroom that had originally been designated for Owen until his townhouse got completed. Ken wanted to formalize the arrangement, but Dave just kept telling him to stay and not worry about anything. Ken only went home, which was nearer to Sky Ranch, when he had early morning lessons, charter flights, or an early or late shift at the desk at Sky Ranch.

After dinner, Ken presented Alice and Pam with study kits he’d put together to help them prepare for the instrument written test. He urged them to do it soon since they already had a lot of the basics down having just completed their private pilot’s tests.

Alice told how she’d done a little research and picked a couple of flight schools. Pam looked surprised but said that she had as well. Alice said, “My criteria turned out to be that they had good motel accommodations nearby, an instrumented runway, and a program that looked like it could be completed within twelve days, assuming we’d arrive on a Monday and finish Friday week.”

Pam said, “That’s what I did. I ended up with my first pick at a flight school at the Ashville, North Carolina Regional Airport.”

Alice’s jaw dropped open, “So did I. Smokey Mountain Flight School?”

“Yeah. REALLY. God, the more time we spend together, the more we think alike.”

Alice said, “There’s a place called the Airport Motel right across the street from the flight school, and restaurants within a half-mile. We can walk.”

Pam added, “And their runways are fully rated for Cat 1 approaches as well as GPS and non-precision.”

Ken was laughing, “And Doug Quigley, the guy that runs Smokey Mountain Flight School, just happens to be one of my oldest friends. I’d trust him with anything I had, even you two. I can call him and find out how busy he is.”

The three of them were all laughing at that point. The stars had aligned on this one. Alice said, “We’re being led by some paranormal force on this decision. Let’s do it.”

Ken called his friend who’d also been in the Air Force, and found they did indeed have time for the two of them in a few weeks. He booked them into the program.

The next two weeks Alice and Pam each crammed about a thousand pages of written material related to meteorology, flight rules, and instrument flying in preparation for the FAA’s written test. They both showed up at the test center on a Monday morning, after an intense study weekend and aced the test with grades in the high ninetieth percentile.

Two weeks after that on a Sunday afternoon, Alice and Pam flew together to Ashville in the Cessna 172 they’d been schooled on for their private pilot’s licenses to begin an intensive two weeks of instruction for their instrument ratings.

Jack Anders stood in front of the growing membership of the Circle. Behind him stood an easel with a large artist’s rendition of a modern two-story townhouse with the same exterior design as the homes on the Circle. The picture looked like a drone photograph taken looking across the existing circle of homes towards the airport. Jack had sited the eight-unit residential building just after the turn from Circle Drive onto the Airport Road and further on, the airport and the somewhat secret rear entrance to the compound.

Christie was bouncing on her seat, “I have to say I love this. I saw this a few days ago when Jack was working on it and I was over at his studio. I’ve had lots of time to think about it and study the floor plan. I think this is just perfect for me. I wish I’d thought ahead to something like this rather than the house. I’m kicking around inside there, except when I have visitors ... that I always seem to have. Hmmmmm!”

Dave teased, “That’s because you’re so much fun to play with.”

Christie gave him a big grin. “You can play in my playground anytime you want.” She stood and made a somewhat gross gesture across her bikini clad pussy with her hand. The others in the room laughed as Dave blushed. Christie didn’t have a shy bone in her body.

Ty called the membership meeting back to order. “So, at this point, we’ve accepted Dale and Susan Harnett as affiliate members, with the understanding that they’ll move to full members once they assume ownership of Christie’s home on the Circle. Christie will move into one of the townhouses.”

Alice asked Christie, “So, you’ll wait to sell and move until the townhouse is finished?”

Christie smiled, “No. Actually, we’ve already got a real estate lawyer working on the transaction. His name is Jason Riggs; he’s the same guy that did all of cohousing paperwork. I’m selling as soon as Dale and Susan sell their home outside D.C., then I’m going to continue living in the house with them, just like Holly lives with Aaron and Shelby. I’ll move when the new place is ready or just before Susan has her baby, whichever happens first.”