Pilot Training and a Professional Career

Welcome back!
If by some miracle you have found your way to this thread from an internet search, I recommend you read my “The Journey Begins” post. It’ll give you a little bit of background into who I am and what I do, as well as set the stage for the sarcastic, single point of view you are about to embark on reading.

Today was my second flight of my Private Pilot Training (in a Cessna 172, G1000 cockpit, nothing fancy people, we’re talking a tin can…), and it was by far, my worst one. As a Flight Test Engineer, I understand the mechanics and technicality of flying an aircraft, and I know what needs to happen at what times to make sure the flight goes off without a hitch. I understand that to turn left, I must apply left rudder, and left yoke, and add slightly more power, and pitch the nose up. These are intuitive to me. However, as a pilot, I lack all practicality of flight. The entire 0.7 hour flight was spent with me hovering over the controls as my instructor, Matt, flew the airplane, because I lack confidence in my brain’s ability to tell the rest of my body how to take over the controls… My brain is a pansy.

You know what else my brain decided to do? Only apply 80% throttle and too much right rudder on takeoff, so instead of seeing tarmac in front of the nose of the aircraft, we saw grass and some trees. At this point Matt had already take over the controls and we were on out merry way into the beautiful Virginia sky. Once in the air, it was slightly turbulent (as expected since you’re only 900 feet above the ground, going 74 knots), and I refused to take the controls. My brain decided she was going to overthink the process and we were just going to be a passenger this round. She. Is. Dumb. (from here on out, I’ll be referring to my brain as “Jessie”. If you’re familiar with your Scottish slang, its the same thing as a pansy…)

After a few minutes in the air, we were still hanging out around 1300 ft MSL (Mean Sea Level) and Matt asked if I was ready to take the controls. “Jessie”, being the pansy that she is, decided that she was going to overthink it, yet again, and what came out of my mouth was another “no thank you”. After a third attempt of my instructor trying to get me to fly the airplane, I finally overruled “Jessie” and we flew a couple of left and right turns. We hit some more turbulence and then air traffic showed up in the area, so Matt took the controls back while I became a passenger, yet again. See, the problem here is that I don’t know how to react to the FEEL of the aircraft. I think of flying as logical, precise movements, but it really isn’t. Example: If you’re driving down the road, are you constantly thinking about correcting the input you have on your steering wheel, or tapping the breaks as you’re going down hills? No, because driving is a subconscious maneuver that you have years of experience doing. The same applies to airplanes. They are machines that require constant corrections to the course you want it to take, just like a car. But “Jessie” won;t shut up and let me enjoy the flying bit of this training!

Now, most people can finish a private pilot course in 45-65 flight hours, and then they’re signed off on a final checkride and approved to spread their wings and fly within the NAS (National Airspace) until their heart’s content. As a Flight Test Engineer, I have to do this 65 hours, plus my regular day job. Think about the logistics of that for a minute… That’s 65 hours added onto 40-70 hours a week for 52 weeks in the year…This isn’t even including the ground school portions, test-taking, or studying required for a private pilot’s license. Talk about stress. I’m a unique case though, because I actually like operating under stress. I’m more focused, slightly more relaxed, less anxious about my personal relationships, and I don’t stress eat, because I don’t have time. I’d rather fill 18 hours of my day constantly thinking, moving, studying, flying, writing, executing test events, and exercising than spend 9 hours doing the mundane 9-to-5 activities. The easiest way I’ve found to manage all of my time, is to write it all down, everything I need to do, all the events that need to be attended, etc. and just start checking items off. If you don’t know what you have to do, how is someone else going to help you do those things? The next best stress management tool I’ve found is breathing. When you’re feeling overwhelmed, or angry, or anxious about something, take a deep breath and count to 10. Seriously. It works.

Now that I’ve filled y’all in on the day-to-day for today, let’s recap:

1. Stress management is important, not just for your sanity, but for your coworkers, friends and family’s sanity as well.
2. Manage your time how it works for you. For me, that was making a list of all the things that require some sort of effort on my end, and checking off the accomplished tasks throughout the day, week, month and year. This is my long way of saying “make a to-do list and it will help you feel more accomplished”. So yeah, do that.
3. Pilot training is hard, and it’s even more difficult when you also have a 40 hour work week to complete. Stay on top of studying and your “couch flying”. If you came to this page because you wanted advise on how to balance pilot training and a professional career, then you know what couch flying is… I’ve already written too much in this bullet point to explain that too, geesh, what more do you want?
4. October 3rd is National Boyfriend Day, so make sure you tell him that you’re glad he puts up with you, and sometimes, you just forget things like that when it’s not on the list…

Thanks for reading! Stay tuned for other adventures that’ll sure to be posted to Geek Havoc!