Some days

A million thoughts colliding…

… but luckily no planes.

I have a million thoughts going through my head about yesterday’s cross country flight. I have a page of ideas already jotted down for blog posts so hopefully I’ll get round to writing those soon.

The bizarre thing at the moment is although I know there was a LOT on that flight that I could have done better, things I should have known, skills that I have that I should have demonstrated. I’m kind of weirdly optimistic about the whole thing.

Although I didn’t perform flawlessly, there doesn’t seem to be any reason that I can’t do this on my own.  The navigation wasn’t actually as hard as I suspected, although there were times when I was a little unsure of where I was, there are sufficiently large landmarks out there that basic orientation isn’t too challenging.

Even during the times where I really lost it (joining the circuit at Peterborough was problematic), I can sit here now and think “I should just have……..” , so at least I have a plan now.

Now I do need to be very careful though, I need to review enough of my video to help me cope with the sections I found challenging but I need to ensure that I don’t start obsessing over every little thing that I got wrong.

This isn’t a graded exercise. There are no points for perfection. Although I should strive for excellence, the main aim is to get myself and plane back intact, preferably without breaking any regs, or getting in anyone’s way.

I need to keep the big picture in mind, because strangely, during that entire, epic, 3.1 hour flight yesterday, I actually forgot I was flying a plane. I may have been stressing over navigation, radio calls and chasing my heading bug but the fact that I was sat in a tiny tin can plane over a big expanse of nothingness didn’t occur to me at all.

The WMAP has landed

WMAP, Bob and JPM have made it back from the Toronto, Muskoka, Peterborough cross country intact!.

Exhausted ,that's all I got for ya at the moment.

Deciding not to decide.

I’m not sure what has happened to my mindset at the moment. Maybe the enforced break from flying , or at least from flight training has derailed me a little.

Before the break I had a good mental picture of where I was achievement wise and where I needed to be. I had a plan and I communicated it. I had a good idea in my head of what I wanted to achieve every lesson. I knew if I was going solo, what I was going to practice and the standards I needed to achieve.

I was very conscious of the fact that I didn’t know what to expect for my next flight, I’m well out of solo currency for a start. I wasn’t sure if the plan was for me to solo after a few check circuits, or if Bob would want to do a dual lesson to see how much rust there was to shake off.

I decided to just go with whatever; dual, solo, it didn’t matter much. Except it quickly became obvious that Bob was talking cross country.

Hmmm, to be honest I thought I’d have a couple more flights before I ended up back here, contemplating the subtleties of navigating different categories of airports and the such. So I will be honest and say that the old anxiety reared its ugly head again. Nothing major but definitely that feeling in the pit of my stomach again. The old combo of fear and excitement.

I texted back my usual tale of woe, my lack of faith in my abilities etc. And as usual Bob offered me an “out”. A slightly lower demand flight, but still with learning value.

I contemplated this option for a while, the soft option seemed appealing, the cross country daunting beyond belief. But then again everything about flying has seemed daunting at some point and inevitably Bob has had a better handle on my abilities than me.

So I made a decision. I decided not to decide. I honestly admitted to Bob, that I didn’t feel I could decide. Despite the fact that usually being in control of your own training is a good thing, I really felt that I needed to leave this in the realm of the professional, aka Bob.

Bob’s opinion, of course, was that we should try for the dual cross country. He offered me one final “out” saying he’d understand if I needed more time to prepare.

The truth is though that I’m on a four day weekend, there isn’t really going to be a better time. I’m still not sure I feel ready but I’m going to give it a go.

On a completely unrelated note.

I was otherwise engaged when I got Bob’s text about this week’s flight. To be accurate I was engaged in both drinking and hollering into a microphone. Yes it was Rock Band time!

By virtue of elimination, I get the microphone by default. Seeing as I’m physically incapable of playing any of the instruments. My two companions are both equally at home on the guitar and the drums and are happily bashing/strumming away while I combine alcohol and lyrics in an attempt to keep up.

I’m texting back and forth with Bob in between tracks. I’m more than a little concerned that he appears to be asking me if I feel ready for a cross country flight. Specifically he’s asking if I feel I need practice on any particular item.

I can’t even begin to start to answer that question. In fact I reckon I have a whole blog post in there somewhere, so I settle for a tentative “no”*

Bob also offers me another option for a slightly shorter flight with some instrument work combined in. I hesitate. I’m feeling low in confidence and don’t make the best decisions when I’m like that. I pick the easy option when I should be pushing myself. I tell Bob that I want his opinion on what’s best.

Mid Track I get his response, “we should plan for a dual cross country.”

My reply is a strangled high pitch “Eeeeeeeeeep!”

This draws attention from my two fellow band members, as those definitely aren’t the lyrics.  At the end I explain “Looks like I’m doing a cross country flight this weekend guys”

“Cool,” replies the drummer.

“Yeeeeeeeah,” I exhale “on a completely unrelated note, I just need to pop into the next room and have an anxiety attack”

* There may have been some self indulgent angst attached to the reply as well.

Anticipation

It’s been a hectic few weeks, with weekend work commitments and visitors. Not much in the way of flying for the above reasons as well as the inevitable sucky weather.

This weekend  looks to have settled down both in terms of commitments and winter weather and I’m missing flying intensely. Despite my nerves about how much I still have to learn, I am eager to get up there and start learning it.

I’d had a passing conversation with RTH early in the week about my flying plans, to be honest I wasn’t exactly sure where I was at and what the plan was. My last flight was my trip to Muskoka with my brother and while I enjoyed it, it was kind of a pleasure flight rather than an intense training activity.

Don’t get me wrong, I learnt a lot from that flight but it was secondary to the primary purpose of showing off my new found skills to my brother!

The start of my work week was fairly busy, it always is when you come back after a few days away. I hadn’t had chance to think about flying until the midweek point. By then I was eagerly anticipating Bob’s text.

We established that I was, indeed, up for flying. I’d had a quick look at the long term forecast and knew that Sunday was looking to be the better day, so it didn’t come as a surprise when Bob suggested meeting at 10 am on Sunday.

His suggested plan for the flight did leave me more than a little surprised though. Yeah I’m not sure “surprised” is the right word either.

More in another post.

No good deed…

…goes unpunished. So here I am the very model of a cooperative student pilot.  I’ve made my radio calls at the right time; I’m ignoring the other idiots on frequency and am doing exactly what ATC have told me to do. And I’m doing it quietly. Despite the fact I’m fairly certain ATC have further instructions for me.

And how do I get repaid for this? Do I get a pat on the head? Do I get a luxury, priority approach to the runway which has somehow been paved in gold?

No such luck.

What I get instead is the person landing in front of me getting a flat tire at the most awkward point it would be physically possible to get a flat tire. Thus tying up the main runway and the secondary but more into the wind runway.

ATC issue the instruction for me to “pull up and overshoot”. Initially I get a little confused as technically I’m above circuit altitude at this point. Once I figure out that she just wants me to overfly the runway, I’m fine.

I politely decline the offer of orbiting over the city as I don’t think my arms can take another wrestling match. I orbit in the downwind as instructed, Bob reminding me to drop some RPM and flaps to avoid chasing my own tail. I’m offered runway 24, I’m momentarily confused; I know that 26 is kind of on the limits crosswind wise.24’s going to be nasty.

Bob confirms my thoughts “110 degree crosswind”

Again I’m having trouble processing that. I think we call that a tail wind. I’m not happy taking a tailwind on 26, 24 is shorter and the approach is ickier. No thank you

I orbit for a while, and then I kind of remember I have someone in the back. I smile and cheerfully inquire as to how he’s doing, trying to reassure him that this is completely normal and I do this kind of thing every flight. I get the impression that he’d prefer we were in the ground sooner rather than later.

ATC inform me that the wind has dropped to a mere 8 knots. I decide to give it a go. It’s not the prettiest landing I’ve ever pulled off but the video looks better than the memory in my head.

And at least, taxiing my way back to the apron, I succeed in following the taxiway and don’t take a stupid wrong turn, unlike the last time I landed on 24!