A story of how learning to land an airplane reflects the perseverance of a Christian life that Paul describes in 1 Corinthians.
“Flare!” My instructor said nervously as he grabbed the yoke and abruptly pulled the nose of the airplane up quickly. We landed with a thud as the tires screeched to a halt.
My body trembled as I hung my head forward- defeated.
“Let’s park this thing back at the hangar, you’ve got enough practice for one day,” he said lightly, trying to encourage me.
We were sitting together in a little Cessna 150, our elbows brushing in the small cockpit, as I maneuvered the nose wheel with my rudder pedals back to the hangar. This was my third flight on landings and I still haven’t managed to be consistent and safe. I just didn’t seem to have the ‘feel’ of the controls. My patterns were improving, but just as I get within a few hundred feet of the ground to land, I get a vice-like death grip on the controls and choke.
I shut down the airplane and removed the tow bar to push the plane in the hanger.
Later in Bill’s office, he debriefed me about my flight. I sat on a cushy chair in front of his desk, elbows resting on the dark mahogany as I tried to give him my full attention.
“You just have to judge the depth perception,” He tried to instill in my mind the importance of judging where the aircraft was.
Using a little miniature airplane as his model, he demonstrated how a good landing looked like. He held the toy airplane with his thumb and index finger and gently demonstrated an ideal landing.
“See, when you airplane reaches this altitude at this angle of attack, that’s bad,” he explained showing me a bad landing. I sighed, that is how my landings look like.
“I understand it- on paper, but when I get in the air, I never seem to ‘feel’ it,” I stammered.
“You’ll get it. Once you see it, then it’ll all make sense,” He said with a smile teasing the corner of his mouth.
“See you tomorrow,” I shrugged as I made my way to my car.
While driving home I tried to imagine landing the airplane on a cushion of air- smooth, like butter. Everything seemed right. I’m going to nail my landing tomorrow if it takes 100 more tries!
I got up bright and early, ready to fly again. As I drove back to the airport, I told myself to breathe in and out. Relax. I was going to master this.
I took out my preflight check list and got the plane ready before my instructor was done with his last student. As we hoped in the airplane, I winked and told him to hold on to his seat. After a short prayer, I started the engine.
We taxied out on Alpha, and proceeded to line up on runway 3-4. Once cleared for takeoff, I slid in the throttle evenly and let the airplane lift off the ground gently.
“Just remember, ‘guide’ the plane back down” He reminded me with an emphasis on ‘guide’.
Once I was positioned on the final leg, ready to touch back down on the runway, I started feeling nervous. My hands clenched the yoke tightly as my body tensed.
That’s it! I forced my fingers off of the yoke and let my body relax. With my right hand, I guided the yoke with my fingertips- lightly and gently. I was so determined that my heart seemed to be hammering my chest. I whipped the perspiration from my forehead with the back of my sleeve as I focused on the advancing runway. I was losing altitude quickly, and soon I knew I had to flare.
I glanced quickly at my instructor- he seemed amused that I finally broke my vice grip on the controls.
I’ll show him, I smiled.
As the runway widened beneath me, I pulled the yoke towards my chest slowly to test the elevator lift. I pulled more forcefully, and noticed the plane almost climb before I pushed it forward to continue its descent.
Time seemed suspended like a cloud in the sky. At just the right moment, I pulled evenly on the yoke, and felt the back tires make contact with the asphalt. I lowered the nose wheel gently.
My first landing without a hard hit! I felt like doing the victory dance right there- right there in the tiny cockpit. I had a smile the size of Texas on my face.
“Brake!” Bill exclaimed.
“Oh!” I stepped on the brakes to stop the airplane. Opps!
“Remember, landings don’t end when you touch down. You still have to get the plane stopped!” He added, “But, that landing wasn’t too bad!” He said with a smile.
Life is full of hurdles to jump. In the bible we find many verses that tell us how to live with God and people. Just like flying an airplane, it takes practice and patience. Learning to fly can also represent the Christian life as we strive to learn and perform for God. Although we all have our ‘ups’ and ‘downs’ (no pun intended), we have perseverance to finish the race. Paul writes to the Corinthians, “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize,” (1 Corinthians 9:24). As pilots and Christians, we are to continue to strive for the finish line- no quitting! For pilots, that means being able to walk away from a landing. For Christians, it is the number of souls won for the Kingdom of God.
Are you running the race for God?