Jaybird180
Final Approach
I'm grounded...at least temporarily. The recent conditions haven't been cooperative with my desire to complete my last required solo long XC flight (sundown times, weather systems, x-winds too high, airmet tango, blah, blah, waaaa, waaaa, excuses, excuses).
I've had time to think about my past piloting accomplishments and the road ahead, and to my dismay, I've come to the realization that I've been lulled into an unrealistic view of my capabilities as a consequence of the safety cocoon of a student pilot enhanced by CYA policies. To cope, I've resigned to finishing the requirements a-la "put the checks in the box", get my cert and then figure out "what next" after I have it in-hand. This, in my opinion is not the place I expected to be from an attitude perspective. And Why? What I had previously thought an accomplishment, looking back has been the challenge of personal follow-through and perseverance, not aviation. And frankly, I'm underwhelmed. Were it not for a disdain for quitting, a strong desire to be more than I was when I started and childhood dreams of aviation, I would have missed the fact that along the way I picked up some EXTREMEMLY valuable life-skills lessons.
I've had to overcome many personal fears. I'm grateful reflecting back that I was never in any real danger (my wife has affectionately described me as a Safety Cop). However, I'm wondering if a person without similar motivating factors could be setup to learning the wrong lessons that could someday lead to poor judgment and tragedy? On the other hand, what if these are ingredients that causes new pilots and advanced student pilots alike to quit altogether?
I like the varied opinions and perspectives here on PoA and know that I'm sticking my neck out a bit (just please, no guillotines); it's all in good fun while being educational. I plan to use the responses to flesh-out some ideas and make some changes, gather more training goals, etc...and basically put the fun back into my student pilot experience. This time will never come again. I'm a LITTLE sad that it's coming to finale. I want fond memories and amazing stories to tell the grandchildren.
So, tell me, what do you think?
And Oh BTW, I'm scheduled to attempt the XC again on Thursday, then it's pre-checkride stuff this weekend.
Can see the light at the end of the tunnel
I've had time to think about my past piloting accomplishments and the road ahead, and to my dismay, I've come to the realization that I've been lulled into an unrealistic view of my capabilities as a consequence of the safety cocoon of a student pilot enhanced by CYA policies. To cope, I've resigned to finishing the requirements a-la "put the checks in the box", get my cert and then figure out "what next" after I have it in-hand. This, in my opinion is not the place I expected to be from an attitude perspective. And Why? What I had previously thought an accomplishment, looking back has been the challenge of personal follow-through and perseverance, not aviation. And frankly, I'm underwhelmed. Were it not for a disdain for quitting, a strong desire to be more than I was when I started and childhood dreams of aviation, I would have missed the fact that along the way I picked up some EXTREMEMLY valuable life-skills lessons.
I've had to overcome many personal fears. I'm grateful reflecting back that I was never in any real danger (my wife has affectionately described me as a Safety Cop). However, I'm wondering if a person without similar motivating factors could be setup to learning the wrong lessons that could someday lead to poor judgment and tragedy? On the other hand, what if these are ingredients that causes new pilots and advanced student pilots alike to quit altogether?
I like the varied opinions and perspectives here on PoA and know that I'm sticking my neck out a bit (just please, no guillotines); it's all in good fun while being educational. I plan to use the responses to flesh-out some ideas and make some changes, gather more training goals, etc...and basically put the fun back into my student pilot experience. This time will never come again. I'm a LITTLE sad that it's coming to finale. I want fond memories and amazing stories to tell the grandchildren.
So, tell me, what do you think?
And Oh BTW, I'm scheduled to attempt the XC again on Thursday, then it's pre-checkride stuff this weekend.
Can see the light at the end of the tunnel