Sometimes, the direct approach is too costly and encounters to much opposition (a lesson WWI generals had a hard time learning). Sometimes, you need to execute a flanking maneuver.

Since I started flying again 3 1/2 years ago, my wife has been at best lukewarm to the idea. She has always been a queasy flier. I often have to give her Dramamine and pour her into a seat for an airline flight. Riding in a Cessna is a much more, shall we say, rigorous activity. The plane is noisy so we wear headsets. Being light, the plane is sensitive to turbulence. Add to that a cruising speed of about 105 knots and the plane is, well, kind of slow.

Last month, I got her to ride with me on our longest flight together to date, a little over 3 hours. As we were taxiing in after landing, she saw other, more powerful planes and expressed interest in them. I pointed out how those planes were much faster than my humble little Cessna 172 and had a better ride, too. She said she wished my plane was more like that.

Yesterday, we discussed my plan to earn an instrument rating next year. She questioned what an instrument rating was good for and I pointed out that it allowed for safer travel with fewer weather problems. She still thinks I need a faster plane. I tend to agree.

My hope is that the AOPA will do the right thing and award me their sweepstakes plane, a highly tricked out Bonanza, early next year. If, however, they somehow fail to do what is right and just, I'll have to look into other possibilities. There's still a guy on my home airfield who has an old wooden wing Mooney M20A for sale for about $25,000. There are some issues with the plane but it's got retractable landing gear, a bigger engine, and a constant speed prop. It's about 50 MPH faster than my Cessna, too.

Who knows what tomorrow might bring, but I'm chipping away at my wife's resistance one step at a time. The plan is to avoid the machine guns on the frontal assault and pull off an encircling maneuver, with her thinking it's a good idea.