Breaking in the New Guy

I had a plane booked today to take another friend flying, but he couldn’t make it, so I decided to go somewhere alone and work on some things. I got a message from my friend mentioned above that he was back home with his new CFI and CFII ratings, so I left him one that I was flying that day if he wanted to join me. I was a little surprised that he showed up, since I thought he might want a break after all that flying. We headed for Sarasota–Bradenton International Airport (SRQ) to do some class C work, but our radio was working so poorly that I called it off and went around SRQ’s airspace down to Venice (VNC). I put his new ratings to use on the way back by flying most of the way under the hood. That gave me some “free” instrument time and him his first instructor time.