mercredi 12 décembre 2012

10 flights... 1st Solo soon! [ENG]


I've flown 10 times since I'm here. I'm starting to get better with the radio comms, starting to know better Hamilton CTR reporting points... so basically I'm starting to get used to my new flying environment.
Hopefully I'll fly solo very soon, by the end of the week probably. I don't really feel like as if it'll be my first solo, but more like it'll be a check ride with an instructor on an aircraft I never flown before.

Everything is fine but it's psycologically difficult for me. I thought a little bit about it and I think I found an explanation... I've flown before, and even if my experience is really small, maybe even too small to be called experience, but still, I spent 80hrs in an aircraft before CTC.

I always thought that my "experience" would be an advantage, but after 10 flights, I reckon it's not necessary something good for two main reasons.

The first one is that all my hours were flown solo (with friends/family) or with a volunteer FI, who didn't put any pressure on my shoulders. He used to be very listening and talkative, which means that sometimes it happened that we flew only 20' for a circuit lesson because he'd noticed I was tired, and found useless to complete the entire hour. We were flying the aircraft in a safe way during navs or general handling lessons but the first goal, for both of us, was to enjoy to be up there, in the sky.

I still love to fly a plane here in NZ, the instructors are great, really. I think I'm very lycky to get the chance to do what I wanted to do for many years now, but the first goal of your instrcutors here is to teach you how to fly an aeroplane, not necessary enjoy it.
I think I didn't enough prepare myself to get ready to fly not for the fun of it but rather to learn a job.
This way of flying means to have pressure on your shoulders before evry flights because you want to be good, want to get a good marks for your records and maybe get a better job at the end.

I think that if I hadn't flown in France, in an aeroclub environment, it'd have been easier for me to handle this.

The second reason, is my previous experience again... I never thought I was a talented pilot, only a normal one. You fly safely, you know your limits, you know your aircraft, you know the procedures, after the PPL you still fly with an instructor once every 10 hrs to rub out the bad habits, etc...

But since I started to fly with CTC, I've got the feeling to be a poor pilot student. Again, I know that my experience is very small, but still, I thought I knew how to do a circuit, how to flare, how to take off, and even... how to taxi towards the runway... but after all the debriefings I've been given I feel like a beginner with no experience at all. The instructors have something to say on EVERYTHING, which is good AND necessary I know, but sometimes you want the good things you've done to be point out too, like the bad things.

Because a pilot has to make steps backward and apply self-analysis about his competences or situations, I did it. 
I know that I have a lot to learn, and I want really want to!!
But I think I need to be reassured concerning my skills. I never been overconfident about my skills, not at all, and I'm slightly worried, with only the problems point out, to loose my confidence... which is never good.

3 commentaires:

Anthony a dit…

Courage Erwan, heureusement que tes instructeurs trouvent quelque chose à redire sur ton pilotage et tes compétences sinon tu ne serais pas là!lol Je pense que quoi qu'il en soit ton PPL reste bénéfique niveau appréhension ou même acquisition de nouvelles compétences. Il est vrai que c'est un métier de rêve et de passion mais ça reste un métier donc il est normal qu'ils te demandent plus de rigueur qu'en aéroclub j'imagine.
Bon courage Erwan en tous cas profite bien car j'imagine que malgré le stress ou la pression qu'on peut vous mettre, vous volez et peut être avec le temps tu profiteras de plus en plus de tes vols. Et merci pour tes articles en anglais ça me donne un peu de vocabulaire! :)

Erwan a dit…

Merci pour ton commentaire.
Il est certain que le niveau d'exigence est élevé et qu'il est donc normal de devoir changer ou gommer un tas de petites choses pour rentrer dans le standard CTC.

En revanche ce que je déplore un peu, et c'est ce dont je vais parler avec un FI, c'est le fait que ce soient uniquement les points négatifs qui soient pointés... Ce qui au bout d'un moment fini par faire douter et se demander si on a su un jour piloter un avion de manière correcte.
;)

Anthony a dit…

A mince en effet.. tu as eu plusieurs FI différents?ou peut etre est ce "la manière de faire" du FI que tu as!Sais tu si des cadets de promos précédentes avaient relevé ça?Quoi qu'il en soit bon courage tiens bon et dans un peu plus d'un an quand je l'espère pour toi tu auras tes fesses posaient en place droite tout ça ne sera qu'un souvenir! ;)
De plus je crois que lors de la "graduation" ils disent que vous en avez bavé, c'est peut etre a ça aussi qu'ils faisaient allusion.
Quoi qu'il en soit accroche toi, et merci pour ton blog.