Daniel Wies practices cross-country flying in Phoenix Who is more courageous? The journalist who climbs into the back seat of a single engine airplane piloted by a baby-faced student pilot with less than a month’s flying experience or the pilot, who with a grin and plenty of grace allowed this inquisitive matron to layer another distraction on to his overloaded plate? I vote for the pilot. And since I am back in my dorm room at the Airline Training Center Arizona , with photos and an account of the flight, you know how it all turned out. We landed safely – all of us the wiser for the two hours we spent in the air over Phoenix. But I’m going to tell you what the photos won’t show. Daniel Weis, the student who hopes one day to fly the line as a pilot for Lufthansa , was the picture of focused concentration, as he flew the lemon yellow Bonanza from airport to airport across the Phoenix metro area this afternoon. As if handing the flight controls, navigating the small plane through jagged buttes, finding unfamiliar airports and doing repeated landings and takeoffs in cross wind wasn’t enough, here are some of the unexpected complications Daniel had to deal with during the flight. A take-off clearance that included “make it a quick departure to accommodate incoming traffic” A warning that parachutists had just been dropped nearby at our altitude A notice of birds in the area Helicopters practicing touch-and-go landings A lot of additional stress, if you ask me, but Daniel tackled the incoming with remarkable calm as his flight instructor Scott Wemple, prompted him to stay on top of it all.
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