UPDATE: Piloting and a Professional Career

“Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself, in your way of thinking.” -Marcus Aurelius

Welcome back, readers! I know it’s been a bit since my last post, and it was pretty negative, and didn’t really provide a lot of advise or information to you all about what it’s been like balancing a career as an Engineer and trying to get a pilot’s license. Turns out, its a lot of work to do both of those things! (who knew??)

Last you all heard of this status, my instructor told me that maybe flying wasn’t for me. So, I went on a flight with the lead instructor for the organization that is doing my training, and IT WENT GREAT. Just as I expected, I just need more time in a tiny tuna can airplane so I’m more comfortable with the controls, turbulence, and maneuvers. There’s nothing fundamentally wrong with my flying; I’m coordinated and stable, I understand the physics behind flying, and I can thoroughly go through the checklist and have most of it memorized.  Turns out, 5.6 hours in a Cessna really isn’t that much, and its a common issue with new pilots to be uncomfortable (See? I knew I was right!)

With that, I logged my longest flight yet at 1.1 flight hours! YAY!!

Now, back to this whole engineering thing… It’s quite stressful, and no one told me it was going to be, at any point in my journey to get where I’m at. Best part: I handle stress much better than an average person. I thrive on it really. It’s makes me productive and less of a procrastinator. Results: I’m the catch-all FTE, that has all the “problem children” programs that require the most oversight and planning. Worst Part: I don’t get paid the salary associated with the job that I’m already doing. So remember, when you do your job well, you also get to do other peoples’ too, so careful what you wish for…

My dream job since I was 6 years old, was to be a test pilot. Specifically for the F/A-18, and that was a fantastic career choice in 2015. After leaving the Navy civil service and coming to L3, I’ve participated in more test events that I could’ve imagined. I’ve been involved in environmental qualification testing (System EQT), flight test of unmanned systems, flight test of small gliders that are released from carriage systems, airborne testing of airbreathing engines (i.e. turbojets and turbofans, regular airplane engine types), manufacturing acceptance testing, electromagnetic interference and electromagnetic compatibility testing (EMI/EMC), communication radio testing, datalink testing, electro-optic/infra-red (EO/IR) sensor testing, surrogate flight testing, and systems compatibility testing. Keep in mind, the number of working days that I have been at L3 has been 185 days, 9 hours a day, minimum.

With all of that testing comes a test plan, a quicklook report (kind of like an overall test summary of what was done and what results), a final test report of what is defined in the test plan, deficiencies that they systems present during testing and distributing those deficiencies to the correct people to fix them, proposal inputs for new projects, basis of estimates for events that the test team must complete, and FLYING AN AIRPLANE.

So, based on the knowledge you now have of my daily life, you should be able to infer that I’m quite versed in time and stress management. You would be wrong. On my to-do list is “time management” and “stress relief”. Sadly, I often never make it to those tasks. (I usually procrastinate long enough to make a new to-do list that I just roll right into week after week.) My advice as an overly stressed, somewhat successful Flight Test Engineer: get a gym membership to work out those frustrations and the stress of the day, don’t binge eat cheese and crackers with your whine (Get it??? I’m funny…), and don’t forget that you have family to talk to on occasion. And if not family call your friends. If that doesn’t help (or you’re like me and don’t have friends), talk to your pet. And if you don’t have a pet, stand in your living room and talk to yourself about what a badass you are, because you’re forced to listen to the voice in your head (or out loud I guess, if you’re one of those people who do that whole talking to yourself thing…). Trust me when I say, you can handle it. 🙂

Adios for now!

Your @LeaderofNerds, Jessica