Showing my friend Cindy around the local airfield one cold winter evening reinforced the reasons for the tanking pilot population. For one thing, the sport can always use more local-level mentorship, which has to start with an enthusiastic, up-close-and-personal tour of the airport environment. I don’t do enough of this, so I seized the moment.
My friend (who has flight training on the bucket list) has lived within a few miles of the airfield for a lot of years, yet never made it onto the field to see just what this little-airplane flying thing is all about. I put on my ambassador’s hat and offered a tour, careful not to understate the risks, but saved the cost of aircraft ownership thing for later, which might have set her up for a big letdown. Still, there was no doubt in my mind this gal could be a good pilot and future aircraft owner.