Need your opinion!!!

Mariano

Mariano

Well-Known Member
Due to weather,work,compromises etc. I couldn't fly solo until yesterday, this is three months since my last time. It is the forth time I fly solo. Last Saturday I did the three month review with my instructor.
Here is the deal: Before I flew yesterday, I was all day long on Monday, pretty nervous, thinking about what I have to do during the flight, but also having all kind of bad thoughts. When the time came yesterday, I was really close to call the FBO and give some lame excuse saying I couldn't go. I went anyways, and took off after getting and endorsement from my CFI, allowing me to do Take offs & Landing in the nearby Airport,SLK. I fly out off LKP. A lot of mountains!!. It was a beautiful, clear, crisp day with little wind.
I climbed to 3,500 feet and tune the AWOS at SLK, Just tuning the frequencies+flying+listening to the information was enough to raise my stress level to an uncomfortable point. And I made two errors: First the wind was 240 at 06, I guess the last thing I've heard was 06 so I start to plan a landing in Runway 5. Second error I put the wrong altimeter setting so the altitude changed like two to three hundred feet, I thought fine!!, anyways. I realize my errors after I try to remember the wind speed and realize that 06 was obviously the wind speed and not the direction. So tune in the AWOS again, get the wind direction and in the process I become aware of my wrong altimeter setting.
I did a couple of touch and goes and head back to the LKP, while I was flying I was saying to my self: are you enjoying this? the answer was: no!!. I felt like a little more of stress due to" who know what" will get me block without knowing what to do, or worse, to panic.
As a matter of fact I was tested about my last point, when on final, a downdraft made me start to sink pretty fast, I didn't panic, rather my training kick and I did the right procedure, apply power, change attitude etc.
So right now I'm confused, I'm thinking about quiting, which breaks my heart, because I love Aviation and to fly (except when I'm the sole occupant of the aircraft) but in the other hand I'm thinking that if I never conquer this fear, I will never enjoy my self. It's obviously a matter off self-confidence, because if I'm with my Instructor I feel for the most part fine.
So what you guys think (specially CFI's who have seen this situation before). Do I stand a chance?, if I don't give up, or from what I wrote,should quit training?.
I'll really welcome all opinions.

P.S: I have 23 TT, 3 Solo.
 
It's normal, if not a little healthy, to be scared to death once or twice during training. Since this was only your fourth time and it had been three months or so since your last solo, I'd even expect this. Best thing: tell your CFI. That way the two of you can work on the things you feel weakest on, and your confidence gets a boost. I've gotten out of the plane a couple of times so scared I wanted to quit. I think everyone has that at least once. Talk to your CFI, tell him how you felt in the air, and how you handled the situation. First thing to realize is that you noticed your mistakes and more than likely will learn from them. I bet you'll double check wind direction and speed next time since that experience is lodged in your brain. Second, you dealt with the wind shear correctly and landed. While a go around might have been a better choice (depending on alt), you landed safely. If after talking to your CFI and going through some more training (and solo flights) you still feel like you want to stop, it's your decision, and you're the only one that can make it.
 
Hey Mariano,

My advice to you is keep flying!!! What you are feeling will soon pass. Don't let fear determine your future! Keep at it!!

I agree with the previous post. Talk to your instructor and let him know how you feel. Get some more flight instruction before you go solo again. You can get through this, I assure you!!!

Take care! We are all behind you here!!!
grin.gif


Clrd4takeoff
 
It's pretty normal man. It happened to me and im sure many others here. When it was happening to me, I was still in the phase "DUDE!, you're flying this thing!"

It'll pass, give it time. Good luck!
 
This is pretty normal. And it is something that happens throughout a career, trust me. That old "gee this doesn't feel right" feeling. The "what am I doing here?" thing. But that's a part of the "experience" thing. I was nervous as a long tailed cat in a room of rocking chairs the first dark night I went into Reno as a Captain in the MD90, and I had 35 years and God knows how many hours under my belt. Been in there a ton of times as a F/O but this was different! I was the guy in charge. Checked, double checked, triple checked every thing I did. Told the F/O this was a "first" and to make sure I wasn't doing something wrong. "WE" both made it through just fine. Nervous? Maybe a little scared? Sure, you bet…but I realized it and did something about it.

Next time it was not only dark, but lousy weather. Yet I felt a lot better, more comfortable...had that "been there, done this, got the tee shirt" feeling. Not cocky, just confident I could do what I was about to...SAFELY! Still took that extra second or two in the briefing to talk about the “dirt, rocks, and trees” thing…but I felt more at ease this time.

Which is what it's all about...be SAFE. The day you aren't is the day you need to stop flying.

As I've said before, flying is a constant learning experience and the day you don't learn something is the day you need to stop.

Compliancy will kill you faster than fear. I have no hard evidence to prove or disprove that, it's just something I truly believe after 40ish years in the business.

Reading of what your did that day shows me you did learn something very valuable. You mention how that "training" kicked in and you started doing the right things, flying the airplane. You settled down, fell back on the skills you had been trained to use, and learned some thing in the process. You just added a little bit of "experience".

Keep with it...it's a great way of life, but like anything great it takes work.

Old saying,

"There are old pilots and bold pilots, but no old & bold pilots." Take your time, learn to be safe, and fly that way...always!
 
Thanks for your posts. There were certainly encouraging.
I'd really like to hear experiences from CFI's. Come on people!!
 
So lets see, You're an extremely low time pilot that has not yet even completed the private. You haven't flown for a while. You made a couple of minor mental errors that you caught and corrected before they became serious issues. And for some reason you think you'll never improve from this point?

The errors you mention happen to pilots every day. Don't let the fact that they happened when you were extra anxious due to having not flown for a while throw you. Things will become easier and it sounds like you're developing good habits in double checking yourself.

I remember be extremely anxious about flights when I hadn't been flying for a while. I think the best remedy is to do a very complete plan of the flight (even a local flight). I don't necessicaily mean a flight plan in the tradtional sense unless you're happen do be doing a cross country. What I mean is a detailed mental review of each phase of the flight and what actions you need to take at each step. After visualizing the flight repeatedly in your head, go fly the plan as closely as condtions will allow, until you fly enough to get yourself comfortable again. The anxiety will subside as you gain more experience. Give it time.

Good Luck,

Tiger815
CASEL/CFI/CFII
 
[ QUOTE ]
Thanks for your posts. There were certainly encouraging.
I'd really like to hear experiences from CFI's. Come on people!!

[/ QUOTE ]

I agree with what everyone said above. Any new experience often causes a case of the nerves. Whenever I fly and am "a little out of my element" I constantly am second guessing myself and doing checks and rechecks on everything. If you didn't, then, I would think something was wrong. As ROFCIBC was saying, no matter what your experience is, doing something new will get the blood pressure going.

As a CFI, I'll say this: Ultimately, your instructor is responsible, directly and indirectly, for your well being on that flight. If your instructor endorsed your logbook and sent you off on a solo, trust me, he/she is extremely confident in your skills, so you should be too. As you get more solo time you will get more and more confident in your skills and that is where it really becomes fun. You are approaching your flights with cautiousness and that is the way to be, just don't forget to have some fun while you are at it.
 
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