Not so brief…ing

Early flight this morning. Beautiful walk down to the airport, the conditions not yet scorching hot but the sky already sunny and clear.

Checking the weather was quick and easy. Winds light and variable around the 260 degree mark, upper winds calm, GFAs empty over the entire south of the province. I was calm, relaxed and ready to fly.

Despite this, I knew that Bob has stepped up his expectations. We have a clearly defined goal. No mistake about it, I’m being prepped for my flight test. To that end, Bob had set aside a good hour and a half after out flight today for an extensive briefing on his plan to get me through this.

I was prepared for this. I’d duly printed out the flight test guide; even made notes on the areas I had questions. Surprisingly enough to me, mentally I seem to be coping with this concept. Even though a year ago I’d have denied the possibility of me ever getting this far.

I’ll leave the details of the flight to another post but it was immediately apparent that yeah, this is for real now. Rather than the scrappy index cards that Bob previously used to torture me with, he’s moved onto a full out printed “flight curriculum review” sheet. On it are listed all the exercise I’ll need to do on my actual flight test, in the rough order that an examiner might ask for them. He makes notes on this now, documenting my failures to meet the exacting standards he sets out.

 The after flight briefing went well. Bob’s prepared a ton of material that’ll come in useful. Crib sheets, exercise summaries, hints and general tips. This is where an instructor like Bob is worth their weight in gold. Going the extra mile to give me these details, knowing that I thrive on information. That I need to have every ‘i” dotted and “t” crossed in my mind.

The truth is that there isn’t much about the flight test that I didn’t know. I’ve heard RTH talk about his; I’ve read accounts in the Internet as well. But just by taking the time to talk me through it, to read through the guide with me, addressing each exercise in turn. It has somehow made the entire process seem more…..manageable somehow, achievable even.

As a purely mental exercise at the moment, I don’t see why I can’t do this. Just by taking the time to examine the actual nuances of the test itself I’ve realised that the mark scheme itself is actually quite forgiving. It really is designed to give you every opportunity to show to the examiner what you can do. You really should go in with the attitude that the examiner wants to pass you. Because they genuinely do.

Even if you make a mistake, go outside the tolerances. The key is to recognise it and bring it back without too much delay. Do that and you can still pass the exercise.

Theoretically I can do this, Now I’ve just got to persuade myself that this theoretical exercise can be transformed into reality.