Occasionally the world does reward me for thinking of others.
I’m fresh back from Maryland and as usual I’ve brought something back
with me other than the conference gift bag.
Yep it’s upper respiratory virus time. Seriously I can block off to
the day on my calendar when I’m going to come down with this. The combo of
insanity at work, exposure to virus breeding children and airplane travel means
that it happens with a tedious inevitability.
As usual, despite knowing this, somehow my brain refuses to accept
this and I do stupid stuff like agreeing to a mock flight test with another
instructor the day after returning from the states.
My throat is sore and my head mildly fuzzy. I’m not drop dead flu
like ill but I’m not 100%. If I was flying with Bob, I might be tempted to
cancel. If it was my actual flight test, I definitely would.
But Bob’s away and he’s gone to great trouble to schedule this
flight for me. Another instructor, a “career” one with no full time job to fall
back on. One who has probably given up time with his own students to spend an
extended flight with me.
I feel obliged to fly if I possibly can. A quick inventory of my symptoms reveals a
mildly sore throat that can probably be masked with Tylenol*. If I keep my
radio work short, I’ll be ok and it’ll probably encourage me to listen more
than I talk in the debrief. My head is a little fuzzy around the edges but I
can concentrate sufficiently to re do the first leg on my planned cross country
with the forecast winds.
Most importantly though, I can clear my ears, they aren’t blocked.
I’m okay to fly if not exactly on top of my game.
So dutifully I gather my gear, organise my paperwork and force down
some food.
Then I get a text.
From Bob, who is still away in Montreal.
“JES is offline, flight cancelled, sorry”
Relief washes over me. I don’t have to fly. I don’t have to screw
up anyone’s plans either. The timing couldn’t be any more perfect.
I’ve never actually had a flight cancelled in the 3 years I’ve been
at this before due to tech issues. The planes are that well maintained and
dispatch that well organised. The timing for this occurrence simply couldn’t
have been any better.
Apparently there’s some kind of damage to JES prop spinner. Bob was
discrete enough not to ask how.
I’m just bizarrely grateful to whoever dinged her. You got me out
of what would have inevitably been a less than stellar performance with my
dignity intact and, more importantly, without screwing anyone over.
*Parecetamol to the Brits. There aren’t many drugs you can take
when flying (for obvious reasons) but that’s one that is reasonably safe.
Probably for the best the flight was cancelled, in more ways than one. On the off chance it's Enterovirus 68 that you've contracted, the one that's been in the news here in the States the last few weeks, it can really hit some very hard. Granted, it's had the worst effect on children and those with asthma, but still, the last thing you'd want is to pass that on to your instructor & have him carry it back to all of his students, or his family. Not a doctor or a germophobe myself, but having a daughter with a weaker immune system has definitely heightened my awareness and made me think twice in these situations.
ReplyDeleteHope you feel better soon!
PS - this checklist is invaluable. Of course, I myself have failed to follow it at least once just because I've had so many flights cancelled due to weather and plane maintenance that I didn't want to miss another lesson. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IMSAFE
oh it was definitely for the best, I was just glad that i wasn't the one who had to do the cancelling. This is a sucky time of year for me at works and I can predict within a week when I'm going to get this damn cold.
DeleteI've blogged about that checklist myself
http://localflighteast.blogspot.ca/2013/12/im-safe.html
and used it in order to cancel a flight
keep working on those landings!!!