Not for me?

AA34

AA34

Well-Known Member
I've wanted to be an airline pilot for as long as I can remember. Got the PPL back in high school and will be starting on the Instrument soon.

Today I went up to just practice some touch and goes... It was around 100 degrees out with gusting winds and lots of bumps.

After only 5 turns around the pattern I decided I had had enough an headed back. I didn't want to even attempt any other maneuvers and was relieved to land back at the home airport.

This got me wondering... Is this really for me as a career? Was it just a bad day? Was it the conditions?

Anybody ever get to this point early on in your training? This has kind of caught me by surprise.
 
ASpilot2be said:
To me that sounds absolutely miserable. Remember pattern work is never fun. The rewarding part of flying is the cross countries, and the view.
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I'll disagree with that, I'd love someone to turn me loose in the Brasilia for some touch and goes and generally enjoy going out to shoot some landings. But I'll agree with most of it.

It is not any fun when it's 100+F out and you're bouncing all over the sky. (I do a fair amount of that at work. That's what makes it work.)
 
100 degrees? Bumps? Sounds terrible

I like skiing but that doesn't mean that I like skiing in all conditions. Slushy and 60 degrees out with rocks exposed isn't fun either. Go fly early in the morning, you'll like it better.
 
Autothrust Blue said:
I'll disagree with that, I'd love someone to turn me loose in the Brasilia for some touch and goes and generally enjoy going out to shoot some landings. But I'll agree with most of it.

It is not any fun when it's 100+F out and you're bouncing all over the sky. (I do a fair amount of that at work. That's what makes it work.)
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True. But thats a little different. I enjoy shooting some landings. Going out and doing crosswind work in the CASA was a blast. But I feel in the training environment its not quite as fun.
 
ASpilot2be said:
True. But thats a little different. I enjoy shooting some landings. Going out and doing crosswind work in the CASA was a blast. But I feel in the training environment its not quite as fun.
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Oh yeah. Going out and goofing around, versus training, are completely different animals.
 
I wasn't the quickest when it came to learning stick and rudder flying and there were lots of moments in my training all the way up though commercial where I wondered if I wasn't making a huge mistake. Persevere and you'll get through this stage and look back on it from a better spot.
 
Roger Roger said:
I wasn't the quickest when it came to learning stick and rudder flying and there were lots of moments in my training all the way up though commercial where I wondered if I wasn't making a huge mistake. Persevere and you'll get through this stage and look back on it from a better spot.
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I still have moments where I suck at dealing with stick and rudder. But I am continuing to improve.
 
I had days like that when I first started. Fortunately, it was in Navy training and my only option if I dropped out was to become a SWO (drive a ship). I proceeded to puke one more time and decided I'd stick it out. It gets better. Hang in there.
 
I have really enjoyed flight training so far but sometimes it sucks.


Most recently are the time building trips that are in the middle of the day (Phoenix) coming back to land when it's 108, getting kicked around like crazy, and trying to tell Phoenix Approach I’d like to cancel flight following (she can't hear me, mountains in the way and too low).


I think it just comes with practice and experience regarding really hot, bumpy days. I used to be terrified of moderate turbulence, now it's just annoying.

I've had really bad days and amazing days. I think it just comes with flying.


Hang in there.
 
Babe Ruth struck out 1,330 times over the course of his career.

He didn't let that ruin his day. Instead, he went out and took another hack at it later.

That's what you've got to do in anything
 
Happens to all of us sometimes. You're gonna have bad days flying. Keep at it.
 
I think you simply picked the wrong time of day. See if you can schedule early, and I mean EARLY. I flew this morning, taking off at 6:25 after the 6:18 sunrise, and got in four landings, six steep turns, two stalls, a tour of downtown, and I even overflew my house after the security company called to say the alarm was going off. It was smooth as glass, OAT was 72 degrees at 2,500' MSL. I landed at 7:25 and was off the airport at 7:45. I could see shafts of sunlight reflecting UPWARD from glassy farm ponds, made visible by the very slight bit of morning haze - I've never seen that before.
 
Rest, Collect your thoughts, and go try it again.

And hop around to a few different airports if possible, make it exciting. Pattern work in the heat is not fun.
 
AA34 said:
I've wanted to be an airline pilot for as long as I can remember. Got the PPL back in high school and will be starting on the Instrument soon.

Today I went up to just practice some touch and goes... It was around 100 degrees out with gusting winds and lots of bumps.

After only 5 turns around the pattern I decided I had had enough an headed back. I didn't want to even attempt any other maneuvers and was relieved to land back at the home airport.

This got me wondering... Is this really for me as a career? Was it just a bad day? Was it the conditions?

Anybody ever get to this point early on in your training? This has kind of caught me by surprise.
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Don't go work at Grand Canyon.

Other than that. It's hot and bumpy and sucks. Nobody likes flying in that.
 
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