Another Day, Another Dollar

Right now I'm in the first stage of Navy flight training, called Introductory Flight Screening. In this program, they send us to take 25 hours of flying lessons at civilian flight schools. I'm flying with an outfit called Flight Training of Mobile that flies Cessna 172SPs out of Mobile Downtown airport (KBFM).

I took flying lessons in high school, and got in 3 solo flights. So I've had a pretty good idea what I'm doing in this stage. However, I'm finding out there are a lot of differences between flying as a hobby and seriously training as a professional aviator. This is by far the best "job" I've ever had. I love flying, and buzzing around Mobile Bay in a little Cessna is a lot of fun. My first three flights were exhilarating experiences.

Yesterday (flight #4), I found out that even this can feel like work. Unlike my first three flights, this was an afternoon hop and it was almost 5:00 by the time we launched. We took off and climbed out to the southwest, right into the sun. The low sun and the haze made it look like we were surrounded by a luminous golden mist. It was beautiful, but it meant that the only view of the ground was almost straight down. Without a visible horizon, I had more trouble than usual maintaining heading and altitude, and I really didn't like feeling sloppy.

When we got back to the airport, the controller changed runways on us. Then, as soon as we'd done a touch-and-go and were about to turn crosswind, 1,000 feet up and about a half mile off the end of the runway, he changed his mind again and told us to turn 180 and land going the other way. Despite our best efforts at S-turning and flying slow, we couldn't get low enough soon enough and had to go around.

I don't consider myself a "morning person," but I definitely do my best work before noon. It's been getting hotter in Pensacola, and until yesterday our air conditioning wasn't working. I hadn't slept right in almost a week. Yesterday's flight was well within the bounds of safety, but I knew leaving the airplane that it I could and should do better.

The important realization for me was that, as a professional, I won't always be able to fly when I'm naturally feeling my best. I have to keep myself sharp ALL the time. I have to be able to do my best work even when I've had an off sort of day. I have to develop the stamina and discipline to be able to clear my head, re-cage my brain and fly the airplane spot-on, every time. I'm flying again at 4:00 today, so we'll see how it goes.