Turning it all around.

Despite not flying, today’s lesson was extremely valuable, both from a knowledge and attitude/motivation point of view. Bob very generously donated some time to just answering the random assortment of questions that I’ve accumulated in the past few weeks. We talked about the engine failure stuff we’d been practicing. I had some questions on the practice vs real actions.  There are certain actions that you don’t carry out when you are practicing an engine failure, like isolating the fuel supply and shutting everything down. I just wanted to be clear what the actual actions involved were. When we talk about “try an engine restart”, what does that actually involve? Physically what do you do with your hands? These are questions I want answered now, rather than stressing about them if the worst ever happens. I’m also trying to establish baselines for my own pilot decision making processes. I’m thinking about at what point do you do X, when is it time to do Y? I’m finding these conversations so valuable.

The next thing we talked about was general navigation; I’ve made no secret of the fact that I’m terrified of getting lost. I’m so spatially challenged it’s not even funny. So we talked about what you do if you get lost. I know you can ask ATC for help but who do you speak to? Especially when I’m in the practice area and not in anyone’s control zone. It turns out that as long as I’m in range, I can ask pretty much anyone. One of the joys of flying in class C airspace is that I get a defined transponder code, so anyone with radar coverage should be able to ID me and give me help. We pulled out the chart and looked at the various control zones in the area, we looked at the various frequencies, we also talked about flight services and what they can do for me.

We had a fairly long discussion about using flight services, about getting en route weather, making position reports and updating flight plans. We also chatted about flight following, how to request it and what it actually means and some of the potential issues. Somehow Bob has managed to weave his usual magic and I’ve done a complete 180 (and it wasn’t because I was facing the wrong way!) Bob enthused about how much fun it was to use flight following, the fact that you’re talking to the same guys controlling the international traffic coming out of YYZ, the 777s and so on. He’s managed to turn my fear into excitement. He assures me we will get plenty of opportunity to practice these things and he seems to find them fun (still!), so now I’m kinda looking forward to having a go!

Way to turn it around!