So why am I writing this blog?

A reasonable question seeing that I've hit the magic 100. It doesn’t have a massive audience (although still a lot of strangely anonymous people in Russia seem to be viewing it, maybe they are forced to read it in some kind of Gulag-esque punishment?). I still kind of shy about sharing the URL with people. I guess it’s kind of a very public diary. So why am I writing this in the first place?

Well for one thing; this will probably be the most monumental achievement I’ve ever embarked upon. I’d like to be able to look back in a few years and relive the ordeal! One of my greatest regrets about my move to Canada was that I didn’t keep up with the diary I started. Consequently the last five years all sort of blend into one. With my blog I can remember the exact details that led to my writing each and every post. I’d like to keep hold of those memories.

It’s good from a reflection point of view.  Some lessons go better than others, it’s nice to be reminded that I’ve had crappy days and gotten over them. I’ve a feeling that I will be hitting a few more bumps along the way. When I look back even the few months that I’ve been doing this, the change has been phenomenal. I need to remind myself that a few months ago I was too scared to relax my death grip on the column enough to lean the mixture. Now I fly whole lessons with one hand on the throttle.

It’s just possible that it may help someone else. When I hit my plateau with circuits (severely enough that I did consider that I may not have the aptitude to carry on with this flying stuff), it was fine Bob and RTH telling me that it happens to everyone and that I’d get over it. But they had a vested interest in either my training or my ego. To hear it from someone who has experienced it, felt it and gotten over it might be useful to someone else.

I think it gives Bob a little bit of an insight – into what goes on in my head. I know he reads this, if I write about things that I’m unsure of we miraculously cover them in the next briefing. This can be a bit of a two edged sword . Although I write about stuff as it happened so it is fresh when I think about it, I don’t always post things in chronological order (I usually have about 20 posts in draft form and often just pick a random one to stick up, for example I wrote most of this post 2 months ago). So it could get confusing, if after a really good lesson, I post about how crap I’m doing! It’s weird that sometimes it is easier to post stuff on here and hope he reads it than actually come right out and ask about stuff. For the record that is no reflection on Bob, who is very approachable and more indicative of my screwed up psyche.

I enjoy writing – in some ways this is almost as much fun as the flying and a lot cheaper!

So if you are reading it , please enjoy and feel free to pass it on.