The two extremes

A while ago (maybe a couple of weeks) Bob introduced me to his latest student. Another impossibly young protégé.

I’m delighted to see Bob with a new student, I often wonder how much “business” gets put his way as a part time instructor. Bob’s an excellent instructor and his new student looked keen, enthusiastic and most importantly non - terrified!

Bob introduced us as “WMAP this is XXXX, my new student. He’s just taking his first lesson. XXXX this is WMAP, she’s just preparing for her flight test!”

And then the student looked at me with a look that I recognise all too well, the “Oh Wow!” look of someone who can’t quite believe that mere mortals get to fly these planes own their own.

I remember feeling that way about the people I saw coming and going when I first started. The look of barely disguised envy and awe when you see them sign the plane out and disappear off solo. The wonder you feel when they talk about places they have flown to ON THEIR OWN! Other airports!!!!

You don’t think that you will ever get there and yet at the same time you long to be in their shoes.

At least that’s how normal people operate. I’m still terrified on a daily basis, but yeah. I’ve come a long way.

The problem I had was communicating this to the eager young thing in front of me. I could tell that there were a million and one things he wanted to know and yet somehow didn’t have the words to ask. I had a million and one things I wanted to say but I didn’t have the words either.

I don’t know how to even begin to describe what he’s about to embark on, the highs and the lows. My mind just stared reeling off a list of adjectives.

Flying is :

Fun

Exhilarating

Terrifying

The hardest thing you will ever try

The most rewarding thing you will ever achieve

Flying is:

Liberating and yet restrictive. It requires the utmost discipline and yet gives you the ultimate freedom.

You will have lessons that enthrall you, lessons that frustrate you, lessons that terrify every fibre of your being and yet you will still come back for more and more and more.

For who can forget that feeling, when for the first time, it’s just you and the birds up there? Those 6 or 7 precious minutes when you are in sole command of that vessel.

It may not even register when you are up there, you are so consumed with just getting the damn thing down in one piece.

And then you do.

And it is magnificent and your world is never the same again.

But none of this is any use to someone who’s just starting. Telling them not to worry, that they’ll get over the hurdles is puzzling to someone who has no concept of what those hurdles might be.

In short I don’t think I did a very good job of selling this “learning to fly” business to him. But then again, maybe I don’t need to. Bob did a pretty good sales pitch on me, without me even noticing. I still have vague recollections that I was “just going to take 10 hours or so” of lessons. Just enough to be able to assist RTH in the cockpit. Possibly even get to landing the plane.

Well fast forward two years on and I’m still at it. I’ve flown my first solo, I’ve been two 4 other airports on my own. I’ve gotten lost. I’ve encountered cloud. I’ve done some stupid stuff up there and I’ve made some smart decisions on the fly.

All I can say is that I never knew how hard it would be and I never dreamed of how amazing it could be.