Student Pilot Licence & Sweating the Small Stuff

Hello!
Welcome back to the blog. I've got some good news and some bad news to discuss today. I suppose we might as well begin with the good news. When I got to the airport today, I was greeted by my instructor. He told me that before we go up today, we'll file all the papers and get my Student Pilot Licence. The Chief flight instructor for Toronto Airways, so he put my documents in order, signed the documents he had to, handed over the little slip of paper, and shook my hand to congratulate me. He said "congratulations on your first step. And remember, no flying with other passengers."

And so there you have it, I have my first license to fly. This Student Pilot Licence allows me to fly on my own, without an instructor, in daylight, without any passengers.

So that's the good news. The not as good news is that I still didn't feel comfortable flying circuits today, and flying on my own was the furthest thing from my mind today. As stated in the prior post, I haven't flown in about a month before a couple of lessons ago, and I seem to have lost some of my "groove". The feel isn't there. I felt like I was "behind" the airplane.

Today was a bit of a windy day - perfect for practicing cross-wind landings. Today was also a bit bumpy, and having not flown in a while, the turbulence took me a bit by surprise, but I got used to it quickly. Cross-wind landings are a skill that requires a lot of practice, it seems. One can land an airplane in a cross-wind landing - when not using the exact proper techniques - somewhat unharmed, but to execute the exact techniques, seems like it takes a lot of practice. I don't feel I quite got the hang of it today, but I will eventually.

After landing from performing one of the circuits today, Eric (my instructor) said to me "don't sweat the small stuff, Lavi. Everyone makes mistakes when they fly. It's just a matter of realizing you've made a mistake, and moving on to correct it, and you'll be fine. Don't dwell on your mistakes because that makes you focus on the wrong things. Move on from your mistakes."

It's probably the best advice he's given me to date. It also struck a chord with me, and something I'd like to discuss further on this blog.

I'll be frank with you. If someone were to ask me if I'm a perfectionist, I'd hesitate, and after thinking about my actions, and my personality, I would respond with a "Yes". I tend to be a perfectionist. It bothers me when I do something wrong. The little things too. It bothers me when I forget to check something in a checklist, it even bothers me when I make spelling mistakes and the little red line pops up to tell me that I've made a mistake. Being a perfectionist coupled with being somewhat of an eternal pessimist (who's on a constant struggle to consciously be optimistic) Is not a good recipe for pilots, I believe. There are bumps in the road, mistakes will be made, but if I allow these traits of my personality take over, I will stop myself from achieving my own goals.

I say this, because I speak from experience. The personality traits I listed above have held me back from things I think I could have achieved, historically. Things like not trying out for the high-school basketball team, thinking "what's the point? I won't make the cut", to ceasing to write songs. I used to write songs. When I did, I would compare my work to bands I was listening to, like The Beatles. Well what do you know, my work lacked in comparison to The Beatles. I focused too much on my imperfections, until I had no desire to write anymore, because "What's the point? My stuff will never be as good as theirs".

I realize these are big confessions I'm divulging here, and I'm putting myself out there for all two of you, but I have to be true to myself. It helps writing it down too. It helps me remember to work hard to get over these flaws.

Yes, my landings weren't as smooth today. Yes, I didn't break up my radio communications the way I was supposed to at the beginning. Yes, I didn't feel like I "got ahead" today. But I have to concentrate on the other end of things. I have 18 hours in the air. That's all. By all accounts, I'm somewhat ahead of other people with that many hours. I probably wasn't feeling it today because I haven't flown in a while, and the winds were strong. I just got my Student Pilot Licence. As soon as my flight instructor deems me worthy, I'm flying an airplane by myself. A dream come true. Hell, I have the balls to work towards my dream. I'll be OK.

"What doesn't kill you, will only make your stronger, or at the very worse, heavily injure you". Is that how that saying goes? I think so.

Also, don't call me Frank, or Shirley for that matter.