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Taxiing vs. Flying—Which is Harder?

Just after we landed at Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on Runway 9. “Citation 246GF, turn left on Runway 13, right on Alpha, left on Echo, right on Echo Two to parking with me.”  We were the only aircraft moving at the airport.  The the call sounded like: “Citation246GFturnleftonRunway31rightonAlphaleftonEchorightonEchoTwotoparkwithme.”

Never a dull moment at a flight school

This guy would aggressively slam the aircraft into a 45-degree bank in the traffic pattern, turning from downwind to base, for example, with a maniacal grin on his face. I suspect he was a successful businessman, used to kind of getting his own way. I tried to convince him that flying like that often led to sudden death, but he smirked.

My first solo flights

I must have landed safely, because off I went, solo!  Holy moley, the airplane took off and climbed a lot quicker with only one person on board, all that weight gone.  Also, there was somewhat less yelling in the cockpit.  I went around the pattern and did touch and goes and then went out north of town to the “practice area.”