This is the sixth speech in the series of speeches that I’ve given as a Toastmaster. This speech is #6 in the Competent Communicator manual, Vocal Variety, and is titled, “Taking Flight”. The objectives of this speech are:
- Use voice volume, pitch, rate and quality to reflect and add meaning andinterest to your message.
- Use pauses to enhance your message.
- Use vocal variety smoothly and naturally.
This speech was also my International Contest speech (yes another contest!) which I won at the club level. Unfortunately, I was not able to participate at the area level due to work commitments. Enjoy!
Mr. Toastmaster and fellow Toastmasters. Two years ago I started on a journey that had been brewing in my heart and mind since I was a little child, learning to fly. From the first time that I flew on an airplane at the age of seven flying had entered my blood. After twenty years of siting on my dream however, I was finally able to start pursuing flight lessons on my own! But you know what they say about life’s surprises. I had only completed about 8 eight hours of flight training, with the FAA requiring a minimum of 40 hours and the average pilot upwards of 70 hours, when I was sent overseas for my job for a year. But as soon as I got back from overseas I was right back in the cockpit. And over the past year have trained every weekend to reach my dream of being a pilot. There is one day however that stands out in every pilot’s mind — the checkride.
The checkride, or practical exam, is when you have to demonstrate to an FAA examiner that you meet the requirements of the FAA. Just like a driving test you can take all the training you desire but until you go to the DMV to take the test you won’t get that drivers license. But January 14th, 2011 finally arrived and my checkride was scheduled for 10A that morning. Now, I live in Northern Virginia, my plane is up Northern Maryland and the checkride was way over in Eastern Maryland. Knowing this I woke up bright and early at 4 o-stinking clock in the morning so as to avoid any rush hour problems on the D.C. Beltway and complete my last minute planning.
Getting to Tipton Airport, just south of BWI, around 7A I began to pre-flight the plane and go through the de-icing procedures to get rid of the frost that had built up over night. Ensuring that the plane was ready to fly I made sure I had all of the documents and forms that the FAA examiner was going to require from me and climbed into the plane when I realized I had the form for a different plane! It was now 9A and the flight to Easton would take me about 20 minutes so I ran back inside to swap out the forms. Getting back into the plane and starting her up I immediately noticed that the tachometer, think RPM gauge on your car, was fluctuating way beyond normal. Getting close to 9:30 I shut down the engine and run back inside to have a quick chat with the mechanic. He confirms that knows about the problem and it’s just a loose wire he’ll fix that weekend. I run back out to the plane, start her up and quickly get to the runway to takeoff.
Approaching Easton Airport in Easton, MD shortly before 10A I contact the tower and am promptly put into a hold so that the morning business jets can takeoff. Biting my fingernails that I’m going to be late for my checkride I finally hear back from the tower just as it turns 10A that I’m cleared to land. Quickly, but safely, landing and taxing to the terminal I park the airplane and shut the engine down arriving only a few minutes late and to find out that the examiner is sitting comfortably on a couch drinking a cup of coffee! We promptly get the formalities out of the way of confirming that I am a U.S. citizen and have the necessary sign-off’s for both myself and the airplane. He then goes on to tell me, “The exam has started”. Not that it didn’t start 6 hours ago in my mind!
The first part of the practical exam is a knowledge exam on the FAR, a book twice the size of the bible. Not that FAR, the Federal Acquisition Regulations, but instead the Federal Aviation Regulations. I was most nervous about this part since there is way to much for any one person to really know and honestly I hadn’t studied the FAR that much. But I was genuinely surprised at how easy the questions were to answer, even though the examiner focused on all the areas he needed to cover. Thinking back now the credit goes to my instructor for my ease on the knowledge exam. Completing the knowledge exam the examiner tells me to get ready for the flight test so I head back out to the airplane with the examiner in tow.
I meticulously look at each and every part of the plane to make sure it’s airworthy and make sure that the examiner sees me doing this. We both get in the plane and start out with various takeoffs and landings after which we head out to a practice area to demonstrate other maneuvers. In the practice area I perform maneuvers such as slow flight, stalls and emergency landings none of which were perfect nor up to my usual standards. I’m waiting at the end of each maneuver for the examiner to tell me to stop and that I had failed. After we get done all the FAA required maneuvers the examiner tells me to head back to Easton Airport and make one final, flawless landing. Early in my training I had lined up for the wrong runway, just like driving the wrong way on a street, so I’m being extra cautious to make sure I don’t make that same mistake again. I line up for the landing perfectly on the correct runway but bounce the landing just a little bit. At the point the examiner is saying nothing and there is dead quiet in the plane from the landing on the runway all the way through the two minute taxi back to the terminal. Just silence. Once the plane is parked and shutdown he just tells me to get out and stand next to the engine. I’m still thinking at this point that I’ve failed, especially on that last landing, and will be getting the dreaded pink slip.
Getting out of the airplane as instructed I stand by the front of the engine and wait to hear what the examiner has to tell me. It takes him a few minutes to pack his gear up from inside while I’m standing there nervously waiting to hear what he has to say. He finally walks over, and as if it was in slow motion, I see him stick out his hand, a camera in the other, and says, “Congratulations. You are now the newest private pilot!” At this point I’m on cloud nine heading home not as a student pilot but as a private pilot and having fulfilled my dream! Fellow Toastmasters, don’t waste another minute, let your dreams take flight!
