Seriously though, over the past few weeks I’ve mentioned that both
Bob and I have noticed a massive change in my attitude and consequently my
flying ability. It is hard to describe but for the first time since I started
this whole shebang, I actually feel like I’m a pilot.
I know that I’m still struggling with some things but I’ve finally realised
that I’m not struggling with anything that other pilots don’t. Hell even RTH
admits that he needs crosswind practice on occasion. I am exactly where I need
to be right now. Got the basics sorted, everything else now is finesse and
pushing my boundaries a little. Bob’s good at the latter for sure!
RTH mocked warned me “everything is going to happen really quickly
now.” He knows that I’m on the verge of heading to the practice area on my own.
He says that before I know it I’ll be doing cross country flights, away to
other airports both dual and on my own. Once that’s out the way, it’ll be flight
test prep, it'll all pass in the blink of an eye.
While meaning this in a supportive and enthusiasm generating way,
he did take a moment to twist the knife a little and say “So get your damn
written test out the way!”
This is where the beauty of writing down your experiences along this journey come to fruition. Read back from the beginning and you slowly realize just how much progress you have made. Then looking forward you get a sense of how much is ahead of you. I found doing this several times during my training re-energized my flagging enthusiasm after I suffered several setbacks.
ReplyDeleteI'll let you in on a little secret - you were a pilot from the instant Bob said, "OK LFE, you have control...." for the first time.
Thanks for the comment , I’m going to have to repectfully both agree and diasgree with you!
DeleteI totally agree that blogging about this was the best thing I ever decided to do. You are completely correct that looking back over my previous posts has given me a good insight into just how much I’ve actually achieved. It certainly does help with the motivation when it all goes wrong as well. “All going wrong” is a very different beast now than a year ago that’s for sure.
The bit I’m going to disagree with this “you were a pilot from the instant Bob said, "OK LFE, you have control...." for the first time”
No, I was a chimp armed with a plane and buggered if she knew what to do with it!
I started being a pilot when I became responsible for the decisions in the cockpit, when I stopped doing what Bob told me blindly and actually thought about what was going on. I became a pilot when I started anticipating what was going to happen and what needed to be done. I became a pilot when I started correcting my own mistakes.
I’m not quite there yet but I’m not the chimp now either.