Mike Zimmerman achieved his Private Pilot license on August 15, 2007. His instructor was Dennis Mathis.
Mike began flying on May 31, 2006 and at the time he got his license had accumulated 50.4 hours of solo and dual time. For his ground school instruction, Mike studied numerous books he found lying around the flying club. He also found no shortage of club members willing to share their knowledge and experiences with him. Of course, when he got off track, Dennis was there to pull him back in. The most challenging part of the course of instruction was communicating effectively on the radios. With Dennis's patient help, he was able to get through it with minimal drama. The most fun part of the training for Mike was the recovery from unusual attitudes. Dennis suffered several panic attacks and possible spine injury from his experiences training Mike, but Dennis persevered to successfully coach Mike to reach his dream of becoming a pilot.
What Mike most looks forward to doing, now that he has his license, is flying.