I don’t think I can do this … oh wait maybe I can. Or can I?

As mentioned before, the thought of flying to the practice area alone fills me with a terror I’d previously reserved for spins and spirals. I am acutely aware of the fact that this is the next big hurdle to overcome. At this point I honestly don’t see me being able to do it, or do I?

Last lesson was actually kind of funny. I managed to take off without too many dramas, even managed to read back to ATC the fact that they wanted me north of the Hearn Stacks and thus over the city rather than following the shoreline. All the time though literally, the following thought is going through my mind “What the hell are you going to do when Bob isn’t here beside you? You ain’t ever gonna manage this on your own.”

And then I realised Bob was being strangely quiet (except when we got a bit too close to the financial towers!) I carried on as usual, picked up the shoreline when ATC cleared me en-route. I did my usual checking of my position by asking “so is that Bluffers Park there?”

Bob just shrugged his shoulders “I don’t know; I’m not here. I’m just a passenger”

It took a moment to sink in, then I laughed a little and said the following

OK Mr “passenger” look to your right, that’s Bluffers Park there

 I’m going to fly directly overhead it and get us in straight and level flight

Then I’m going to set my heading indicator, because that’s what you do at a “set heading point”

Then I’ll set a course of 030, because that’ll get us to Claremont

I’ll make a position call on the common frequency as well.

Oh look while I explained that we appear to have dropped 200ft, but we don’t need to tell my instructor about that, do we?

At this point it dawned on me that I may actually know what the hell I’m doing out there. Of course a few minutes later I had to admit to my “passenger” that I was lost and a little bit unsure of where I actually was. D’oh!!! Big time!!!

Next time I’m going to take the cheats way to Claremont. At the end of the day all Bob wants to see is that I can actually make it there in one piece. I’m pretty certain I could make it back no problem. It did occur to me that again, there was very little input from Bob on the approach and landing.  Even if my approach was slightly iffy (I dunno, maybe it just “wasn’t perfect”, it was ok I guess though, don’t recall any feedback from Bob about it).

More importantly I’ve stopped seeking validation of every single move I make in that plane. I need to make the transition between asking Bob and telling him, because I think that’s what an examiner is going to be looking for on a flight test.

So maybe I can, Maybe I can’t or maybe I can. Oh I don’t know.

As usual the answer is to trust Bob. When he tells me to go out there on my own, he’ll know I can do it. I’ve just got to do what I’m told.