Crummy

Ok, time for another blog post, even though I haven't had the check flight yet this week. I was supposed to have it Tuesday morning, but that was cancelled due to crummy October weather. I re-booked the flight for today, but it was cancelled yet again due to crummy October weather. I told the story twice because I enjoy using the word 'crummy'. There, I did it again. Crummy.

I'm going to try to cover a couple of points in this blog. I wanted to tell you that I took both the Radio Certificate exam, and the PSTAR (Student Pilot License) exam this week.

I was told that the Radio Certificate exam would be a relatively easy one for me. I think I fell for it. It was harder than I thought. I haven't gotten the results back yet, but I hope I passed. 70% is a passing mark for that exam. I hope common sense prevailed in my answers and that I passed.

As stated above, I also took the PSTAR exam today. It's a 50 multiple choice question exam. The questions are drawn out of a pool of about 200 questions that are given to the student to study. One needs a 90% mark to pass this exam, which is no more than five wrong answers in order to pass. Since the Radio exam caught me by surprise, you can be sure I studied hard for this exam. I ended up getting 100% on it. Fantabulous.

I also wanted to discuss a bit of a wishy-washy subject - the reactions I receive when I tell people that I'm taking flying lessons. As you can imagine, the reactions vary widely. I never know quite what to expect when I tell people that I'm studying to become a pilot - be it old friends, current friends, random people I stop on the streets at night. This fact makes it a wildly entertaining activity. I've gotten anything from "why the hell would you want to do that?" to "I'm jealous of you" to "are you still doing back flips in the air?" - the latter coming from my dear mom.

The responses I enjoy most are the people who come back at me with questions that stem from their own interest in aviation. If you're an aviation enthusiast at any level, chances are that you'll have looked into aviation, read up about it, gone to air shows, looked up to the heavens when you hear a jetliner roar by, gone to the gas station just to sniff the fumes (?). It's something that people gravitate towards naturally if they have an interest in it. The funny thing is that the questions I get from these people, I usually can't answer definitively, since they usually have to do with commercial aviation, airline procedures, etc. I'm not at that level yet, and one day I hope to be. But because my interest is geared towards this subject, I have read a lot about all kinds of aviation, and I do love talking aviation to people who share the same interests.

I don't want to sound vain, but there are also those who look at me as a person who is doing something extraordinary when I tell them that I'm taking flight lessons. Although I agree that aviation is weird and different world, I maintain that I don't look at what I'm doing as an extraordinary thing. Quite the opposite. I'm taking flight lessons because I felt I had to. I was spending hours a day reading up on aviation. It started to eat me up inside, I needed to experience. It was quite blatant and natural for me. Something I had to do. There are hours upon hours of monologues regarding aviation that my girlfriend had to hear, and will never get back.

About 95% of the people I talk to know someone who is a pilot. It's a reoccurring theme in my conversations. Everyone knows someone who flies a plane. And if you don't? Well then, I'm happy to be that person in your life. But if you're going to look at me in high regard, do it because I'm working on fulfilling a life long dream. Not because I'm learning how to fly. I believe that almost anyone can learn how to fly. Chasing a dream, however, is harder.

Every time I go for a lesson, I feel fortunate to be able to do it. With all the constraints one has to deal with - money, time, weather, etc., I consider myself lucky to be able to chase this dream. It's given some new meaning to my life and blah blah blah.

I just realized this post isn't going anywhere. I said what I have to say. I hope that mild enjoyment was experienced by the reader. I have a lesson booked for tomorrow morning. Hopefully the crummy October crummy weather crummy doesn't intervene.