astanley
En-Route
I was departing ORD yesterday, through a reasonable haze layer, thinking back to my (never ending) PPL training. Of course, hanging out with all of your friends, each one of them whispering "finish the damn rating", has a way of getting the old gears churning.
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The haze layer reminded me of what my CFI called "the hardest lesson". Every student has one, and that is one that they have, usually by themselves, where they have to apply every little aspect of their training, up to that point, and make a decision.
Sometime in late June, I arrived at the airport for my long XC. I had set a hard goal: PPL by 7/30, my birthday, that year. I had it all done, just a long XC and a few "141-ish" phase checks (I was part 61 at a 141 school) before I would be cleared to test. The Long XC was the biggest hurdle remaining.
Weather was 10SM, but PIREPS had a haze layer about with viz in the 8s. I knew better, but thought "the PIREPS look good, I want to finish this thing". Haze along the south NE coast in the summer is a bear.
Review plan with CFI, file plan, depart. Climbing out above 2500, I'm in "the haze. I swear, it was like flying in a grey colored cone. I could see about 4-5 miles around me, and that was it. I had to transit PVD's Charlie, two Deltas, and arrive at two Deltas. Who the hell was I kidding? However, I still climbed on. I remember calling flight service and trying to get an update on PIREPs and OBS, to see if there was something positive ahead of me. Nope, same stuff I heard 45 minutes before when I filed my flight plan. Crap.
At this point, I decided to return. I was, to be honest, scared. I was alone, I couldn't (very much), and the pattern was full of people flying in for breakfast. I'd be on a non standard entry if I arrived from the west, so I would need to either loop way to the south and join in, or fly over the field and decend into a 45. I hated the 45 on a busy day, but I felt it was my best option. I called up PVD, changed my routing, and PVD asked if I wanted any help getting back to PYM. I replied no; I knew where I was and where I was going, and I'd call him back if I had an issue. Oddly enough, I filed a PIREP from the air, as it gave me some sense of comfort to focus on the task.
Crossing over the field, I couldn't locate a particular airplane that called about a mile in front of me. Further freaked, I repeated my position, and we figured out where we both were. As you can probably tell, I made it back, safely, and had a lot of food for thought.
This was my hardest lesson because I had to be honest with myself -- everything else was saying "this is a bad idea to continue" -- but I wouldn't admit it. I kept on flying and could have, as a lowly student, put myself (and my CFI), in a lot of hot water, or even worse. I had to use the little bit of judgement I had left (the rest I was willingly ignoring), and do the right thing. So often, we are racing to finish the rating, to fly alone, to work on the next rating, to go flying with friends. But, the whole point of my training (in retrospect), wasn't just learning how to fly the plane, it was knowing when to fly the plane. I had an idea how bad the haze was, and when my personal forecast was true, I didn't immediately turn around. I let my desire to finish my rating override the judgement my CFI had been helping me learn.
--
To everyone working on their rating(s)... some day, you'll have your hardest lesson. Relax, focus on what you know, and keep honing your judgement.
Cheers,
-Andrew
--
The haze layer reminded me of what my CFI called "the hardest lesson". Every student has one, and that is one that they have, usually by themselves, where they have to apply every little aspect of their training, up to that point, and make a decision.
Sometime in late June, I arrived at the airport for my long XC. I had set a hard goal: PPL by 7/30, my birthday, that year. I had it all done, just a long XC and a few "141-ish" phase checks (I was part 61 at a 141 school) before I would be cleared to test. The Long XC was the biggest hurdle remaining.
Weather was 10SM, but PIREPS had a haze layer about with viz in the 8s. I knew better, but thought "the PIREPS look good, I want to finish this thing". Haze along the south NE coast in the summer is a bear.
Review plan with CFI, file plan, depart. Climbing out above 2500, I'm in "the haze. I swear, it was like flying in a grey colored cone. I could see about 4-5 miles around me, and that was it. I had to transit PVD's Charlie, two Deltas, and arrive at two Deltas. Who the hell was I kidding? However, I still climbed on. I remember calling flight service and trying to get an update on PIREPs and OBS, to see if there was something positive ahead of me. Nope, same stuff I heard 45 minutes before when I filed my flight plan. Crap.
At this point, I decided to return. I was, to be honest, scared. I was alone, I couldn't (very much), and the pattern was full of people flying in for breakfast. I'd be on a non standard entry if I arrived from the west, so I would need to either loop way to the south and join in, or fly over the field and decend into a 45. I hated the 45 on a busy day, but I felt it was my best option. I called up PVD, changed my routing, and PVD asked if I wanted any help getting back to PYM. I replied no; I knew where I was and where I was going, and I'd call him back if I had an issue. Oddly enough, I filed a PIREP from the air, as it gave me some sense of comfort to focus on the task.
Crossing over the field, I couldn't locate a particular airplane that called about a mile in front of me. Further freaked, I repeated my position, and we figured out where we both were. As you can probably tell, I made it back, safely, and had a lot of food for thought.
This was my hardest lesson because I had to be honest with myself -- everything else was saying "this is a bad idea to continue" -- but I wouldn't admit it. I kept on flying and could have, as a lowly student, put myself (and my CFI), in a lot of hot water, or even worse. I had to use the little bit of judgement I had left (the rest I was willingly ignoring), and do the right thing. So often, we are racing to finish the rating, to fly alone, to work on the next rating, to go flying with friends. But, the whole point of my training (in retrospect), wasn't just learning how to fly the plane, it was knowing when to fly the plane. I had an idea how bad the haze was, and when my personal forecast was true, I didn't immediately turn around. I let my desire to finish my rating override the judgement my CFI had been helping me learn.
--
To everyone working on their rating(s)... some day, you'll have your hardest lesson. Relax, focus on what you know, and keep honing your judgement.
Cheers,
-Andrew
