Friday photo: Approach into York, PA (KTHV) Runway 35
Approach to York Airport (KTHV) Runway 35, York, Pennsylvania. The summer brings opportunities for late flying, sunsets, and just beautiful green landscape.
David is currently Vice President of Technology and the Information Security Officer (ISO) for a large healthcare organization in the northeast United States. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Music, a master’s degree in Information Technology Management, a master’s degree in Healthcare Administration Informatics, and is a Certified Information Systems Auditor. David began his journey to private pilot in May of 2020 with a completion to Private Pilot in August 2021. As an ISO David deals with risk and risk mitigation everyday in the cybersecurity universe and learned quickly that flying is all about dealing with risk and mitigation. David’s parents were both pilots, as well as his uncle, so it’s in his blood.
Approach to York Airport (KTHV) Runway 35, York, Pennsylvania. The summer brings opportunities for late flying, sunsets, and just beautiful green landscape.
I started my Private Pilot journey at this airport at Middle River Aviation. In the spring I did a fly over of the airport, doing a transition over the class delta airspace due to the DC SFRA and Aberdeen Proving Grounds restricted area. And then three months later I became a one tenth owner of a Cessna 172SP hangared at this same airport. I had no idea at the time that it would become my home airport as an airplane owner.
No matter what the rest of the flight looked like, a great landing means touching down right on centerline. David Smith shows that perspective in this Friday Photo. He was landing a Cessna 172 at Harford County Airport in Maryland when he adjusted his airspeed, managed his descent rate, worked the rudder, and kept it right in the middle. No easy task with the wind blowing (note the windsock).
The COVID pandemic at least had one positive outcome for me: achieving my Private Pilot license. I have always wanted to share my journey and offer some lessons learned and tips for those that are either learning how to fly or are considering it—especially if you are 55 years of age or older.
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Did you know that most of the articles at Air Facts are written by readers like you? You do not have to be Richard Collins or Ernest Gann – simply a GA pilot with a story you’d share with friends sitting in the hangar.