The booking for Barry McDay's instructor flight test was rained out. We needed him to instruct right away so we took the next available slot. It fell on what was supposed to be my first day off since we had opened The Flying Circus. I was going to come to work but Henry talked me out of it.

"You'll be stuck here all day just to hear the ten-minute briefing at the end. I can do that for you. Besides, you know he'll do fine. Take the day off."

I did.

Kevin Donaldson, the chief flight training inspector for the region, showed up to do the test. He spent the morning playing dumb student while Barry briefed him on several sample lessons. After lunch, they flew the Cessna 172 with Donaldson acting as the ham-handed student in the left seat. Afterward, they sat down with Henry over a coffee for a debriefing. Donaldson said that Barry had passed and had done an excellent flight test. He went on to congratulate Henry on the job we had done with Barry's course.

"If Mr. McDay is an indication of the pilots you are turning out here, you and your partner should be proud of this school," Donaldson said.

"Thank you, sir," Henry replied.

Donaldson pulled out his pad of temporary licences to write Barry an instructor's rating. "I'm not surprised, of course," he continued. "A couple of experienced Class One Instructors like you two should be doing a good job but you have my congratulations anyway."

"Thank you again," Henry said and then hesitated. "Neither of us are Class One Instructors. We are both Class Twos."

Donaldson frowned and looked at Barry's flight test application. My name and licence number was on the bottom as the recommending instructor. It said, "Class Two."

"I could have sworn you guys had been around long enough to be Class Ones," Donaldson said. "Surely you have enough instructing hours to qualify."

"Yes sir, we do," Henry said, blushing a little. "We've been so busy setting up this school that we haven't taken the time to test for the Class One. I was going to do it the next time my Class Two was due for renewal."

"I understand," Donaldson said. "Well I appreciate having two dedicated instructors in my region who turn out good pilots and don't generate complaints."

"Thank you, sir," Henry replied.

Donaldson wrote out a temporary Class Four Instructor Rating for Barry and then turned to Henry.

"Let me see your Instructor's Rating Certificate," Donaldson said.

"Pardon me?" Henry said.

"I want to see your Rating Renewal card," the older man said.

Henry pulled out his wallet, dug out his Rating Card and handed it to Donaldson.

He looked at it.

"Class Two, you're right."

He wrote up a Class One Instructor Rating upgrade on the card, signed it and passed it to Henry.

"That's for a job well done," Donaldson said. He stood up, stowed his pen inside his suit and stuck out his hand to Henry and then Barry.

"Congratulations to the both of you," he said. "Keep up the good work."

"Thank you," Henry said again, then he added. "My partner will be pleased to hear your kind words."

"Yes, well tell him anytime he books a flight test, his good work will surely net him a Class One Rating. Thanks for the coffee."

"You're welcome."

Henry phoned me with the good news that Barry had passed. He didn't mention his upgrade until I was back at work the next day.

"By the way," he said casually, "when Donaldson was here, he gave me a Class One Instructor's Rating."

"He did two flight tests in one day?"

"Not exactly. He did one flight test and two Ratings."

What Henry was telling me was so unlikely that it wasn't sinking in.

"I don't understand."

"It's simple. Donaldson was so impressed with our operation that he thought we were Class One Instructors already. When I told him we weren't, he upgraded my card."

"I don't believe you."

He pulled out his wallet and showed me his new Rating. It meant that Henry had joined the elite few flying instructors in the country who were qualified to teach all levels of pilot licences and ratings. It also meant that he did not have to re-qualify for three years.

"Now the obvious question," I said. "What did he say about a Class One Instructor Rating for me?"

Henry smiled sheepishly, "He said anytime you book a flight test, you're good work will net you a Class One Rating too."

"You're not serious."

"Absolutely."

I walked over to the telephone, called the Flight Training Standards office and booked myself a Class One Flight Test. I half expected Henry to stop me mid-dialing but he didn't.

"This isn't fair, you know," I said to Henry when I got off the phone. "You get a Class One over a coffee and I have to do a flight test."

"You're right," he replied, "but I wasn't about to point that out to Donaldson when he was here and risk having to do a flight test myself."

"It still isn't fair."

He smiled and put his hand on my shoulder.

"I'd offer to do your flight test for you but you'd fail."