Obviously then my mind needs to focus on the next thing to be terrified
of. My psyche being such that there’s always something I can latch on to
anxiety wise. To be fair I actually think I may have a point with my latest “fear”.
I’m getting very concerned about dealing with other people out in the practice
area. I mean I reckon I can navigate my way out there and I can certainly find
my way back, something I would not have believed was possible a few short
months ago. But what worries me is my lack of situational awareness when I’m
out there. Sure if there’s one other plane I can tell them where to go so that
they won’t bug me while I do whatever I need to do. However; the practice area frequency
covers a large swath of land and I’m not always familiar with the towns that
people mention. This makes it hard for me to figure if a plane is 5 or 25 miles
away.
On top of that, I actually find it hard to comprehend the radio
transmissions. I don’t have a hearing problem or anything it’s just that they
sound staticky and unintelligible to me. I don’t know if it is just me or
whether other people have the same problems. Sometimes I find other pilots
accents hard to understand. I think at least one of the flying schools in the
zone takes on a lot of international students. They probably find me as
difficult to understand as I do them. Canadians can have a tough time with my
accent sometimes.
It worries me intensely because we all rely on each other making
accurate, understandable position reports to keep out of each other’s way. I just
see this ending very badly at some point. I know it is a big sky out there but
there’s also a lot of traffic doing stuff that you wouldn’t necessarily expect
in standard airspace. People are , by definition, pushing the envelope in that
particular bubble.
As much as I moan about ATC, sometimes it all goes a bit scary when
they are not around. I’m not sure what the solution is here.
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