Thanks guys, it was quite a feeling. The flight was almost an hour and a half but it went by very quickly.
Getting to this point has been quite a journey. I moved over here almost five years ago with Cypriot PPL that had expired a couple of years before (I learned to fly at RAF Akrotiri’s flying club in 1995). So, it was easier to just retrain and get my FAA PPL (no hours building was necessary though so that didn’t take long at all). My break came when I got the job as a line service guy working for the company that I now fly for. I handed back most of my pay every two weeks and continued to train towards the Instrument Rating and Commercial license. A week before my Instrument Checkride was when we lost Neil. That was the hardest checkride I have taken so far. I got through it successfully but in hind sight I probably should have delayed it a while. Almost exactly four years later I have reached the point where I am now allowed (by the insurance company) to fly part 91 flights (non revenue) on my own, or as PIC with passengers (Part 135) as long as there is another Captain flying along as my Co-Pilot. It is a nice step forward without completely pushing me out of the nest when passengers are onboard. A year of that and I should be in good shape to upgrade to Captain. It is an exciting time for me. 😀