Progress

It has become rapidly apparent that I’ve been bitten by the flying bug, big time. I’ve moved waaaay beyond just being happy to survive a flight without panicking. Now I really feel the need to make progress.  I have a goal in mind, I want my PPL. No secret about it now. I really believe I can do this.

It’s going to take me a while to get there, but it is an obtainable goal. I’m sure of this now.  I will get there eventually but this is really the first time I’ve said out loud that I want this.

Because of this I feel the need to make progress. I can accept cruddy flights and the odd mistake up there, if I feel that I’m heading in the right direction.

Take today’s flight for example. The plan was for me to fly us out to the practice area, do some steep turns, a forced approach and then I was to navigate us back. This is nothing I haven’t done before, although it has been a few weeks since I was out there. I felt a little bit of pressure though, totally self-inflicted you understand, because I knew that Bob was evaluating me. He wanted to see if I was safe to be let loose on my own.

At this moment I’m desperate to prove that I am capable of this, my first solo away from the airport. My first solo time out of the circuit. Bob is his usual steady, reassuring self. He’s not pressuring me at all. But I want to move beyond being terrified in the circuit. With this is mind I may have had a slightly different agenda than Bob today.

I really don’t think he realises just how bad my day to day navigation skills actually are, and given my tendency to hyperbole, who can blame him? My focus today was very much on, where am I? How do I get where I want to go? How do I get back?  The airwork became a little bit secondary to my goal. Which may have contributed to the shocking standard of my steep turns!

Even with that I was happy. I got us there. I recognised the landmarks I needed to.I made the radio calls I needed to. I dealt with a lot of traffic in the area. I scoped out my little area of the sky to work in. I maintained at least a superficial awareness of where I was, so that I didn’t stray into any controlled airspace.

Even after my forced approach, where I was totally disoriented. I had a plan. The lakeshore was totally obscured by mist (lower visibility due to haze today, another pressure.) But I knew that south was the direction to head. I trundled along, desperately looking for familiar landmarks to narrow down my position.

Yay, transformer station. It's huge and about the size of a city block. Instantly recognisable. I oriented my chart the correct way and  headed for home. I had my visual markers nailed. I got the ATIS before entering City’s zone, announced my intentions and got my clearance in.  Afterwards Bob complimented me on my straight in approach. I kept my speed up and then blended seamlessly in with the circuit traffic.

Down on the ground for a fairly extended debrief. Lots to talk about. Some good, some room for improvement. Nothing unexpected.

And the final verdict? Bob wants to send me out there on my own. I have many many thoughts running through my head about this.

Another post though.