Private Pilot Fear of Solo Flying

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Ravi

Filing Flight Plan
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First off, NO, you are not the only one. Everyone gets anxious, especially when they are relatively low time and inexperienced. Second, being responsible for your own life as PIC is a big responsibility at any age, much less at 17 years old. It's tough to have perspective on all those bad things when you aren't old enough to have much perspective on anything. But it's incredibly awesome that you have achieved so much at your age, so stick with it!

In my opinion, part 141 is a great environment for producing competent pilots with minimum wasted effort. However, I do not know if it is a great environment for gaining experience, sharing wisdom, and having fun.

My recommendation is to slow down a bit. Do some flying for fun instead of a career objective. Maybe get a taildragger endorsement or a seaplane rating, or just goof around taking cool day trips and hitting grass strips along the way. Work on building experience instead of time. The more you fly, the more you will realize a plane is a plane is a plane, and the more confident you will get in your stick and rudder skills.
 
All those things can happen. But you have to look at the odds of it happening. Then ask yourself are you prepared if it happens. Lots of pilot get in the plane all nervous, worrying about what will go wrong, spend the entire flight looking for possible landing spots. Forget all that! It’s supposed to be enjoyable, with a risk. But if you look at all the planes flying everyday, what makes you think it will be you that has the issue? Just have the mentality that you are prepared to act if that engine fails. Enjoy the flying.
 
Ed has some good advice above.

Take a trip around the pattern. In my plane that takes less than four minutes and I'm close enough that if something should go wrong the runway is right there.

I admit that if I haven't flown a lot when I get going on a cross-county trip it takes a moment or two for me to settle down and realize that all is well and going according to plan.

What you are experiencing is quite natural but the more you fly and face the trepidation you have the more you can control it. BTW ... never lose that trepidation i.e. respect for the risks involved in flying an aircraft. That is the thing that will keep you diligent in your maintenance, preflight, and training. Talk to others (as you have here) and you will find this phenomena is more common than people will admit ... especially early on in their flight training.
 
Do a few more dual flights, in a Cessna 152, with a fat, annoying instructor. Then do a solo flight and you'll be glad to be rid of 'em!

I remember as a student pilot I felt I was ready for PIC privileges when I started to prefer flying without the instructor in order to get a nice performance and fuel capacity boost (and a bit of peace and quiet).

Good luck with whatever you decide to do next.
 
Everyone is a bit apprehensive at first (which can be a good thing) which can serve to keep you on your toes. Do your preflight planning carefully, and if the weather permits, do a few laps around the pattern. Next, fly to a local airport for that $200 burger. Stretch out a little farther each time to build your confidence. Remember, nothing in life is 100% safe, not even sitting comfortably in your recliner.
I like the saying, “All men die, not all men really live.” Being a pilot is a specialized skill, one that you’ve earned. If your instructor and the DPE believe that you’re safe, you’re safe enough to fly solo and exercise all the privileges of a private pilot.
 
Ravi said:
Hello All,
Thanks for taking the time to read this. It is much appreciated. I am an Instrument rated Private Pilot and am currently working on building XC experience for the Commercial Single Engine license. Unfortunately, I have been facing a big setback. I am uncomfortable flying solo.
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Flying in a long straight line alone for long periods can do that to you, as the boredom allows the intrusive thoughts to start wandering through your head. At a minimum get flight following which will give you something to listen to as well as provide a resource to help you out if you need it. You could also consider taking pilot or non-pilot friends with you.

I was a CFI for years before deciding to get my ATP. In order to do so I needed additional cross-country and night time, which naturally I did simultaneously. For some reason doing something by myself that I had taught students how to do made me nervous. Go figure.
 
Talk to ATC, get flight following. They can be good company and your radio skills will improve just listening. If something goes wrong, they are right there to help you.
 
Back in the 1980s when self-help psychology books were king, I read a book called, Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway. It's basic premise was simple.

We have a tendency to overworry about doing things, engaging in certain activities. But the anticipation is usually far worse than the reality.

i think it was pretty spot in. In aviation there might even be a good corollary. It's our very worries about what might happen that leads us to take steps to mitigate the risk that it does.
 
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You are strapping yourself into a machine that has a higher fatal rate than motor cycles, or so I read.

It’s got one engine. And most of them are old old old with potential hidden problems. I mean wings have fallen off GA planes. Aluminium has fatigue issues. Most are built using it.

Few have actually done a real forced landing. Or faced real emergencies.

So Worrying is normal. However, it’s really simple either you accept the risk of harm or death or you stop. There are lots of reasons why people don’t do this as listed above just a few of them.

For me I just accepts there’s risks. I know a number of people who have stopped due to eventually deciding the risk is not worth it.
 
Ed Haywood said:
In my opinion, part 141 is a great environment for producing competent pilots with minimum wasted effort. However, I do not know if it is a great environment for gaining experience, sharing wisdom, and having fun.
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That is the problem with a high intensity training program right there, you forget how to just go fly and have fun. Sometimes you have to break away from overthinking each flight, and just go have some fun. Go sightseeing. Take a friend with you and share the experience.
 
midwestpa24 said:
That is the problem with a high intensity training program right there, you forget how to just go fly and have fun. Sometimes you have to break away from overthinking each flight, and just go have some fun. Go sightseeing. Take a friend with you and share the experience.
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That’s an interesting thought. For me maybe it’s also because my day job is so intense, flying allows me to just drop all of it cause it takes all my attention. So it is actually a relief even with the risks.
 
You are not alone. The first solo is all about discovery and excitement, then reality kicks in and it is easy to overthink. I do solo rebreather dives to 200' and more, and I have more hours underwater than some airline pilots in a plane. Still, there are days when I feel inexplicably nervous, I do not want to go down there alone and I look for a buddy. Maybe you would feel better flying with a friend, possibly another pilot, rather than with an instructor. It would be easier to have fun and remember what flying is about, before anything else.
 
All good advice above, particularly the comments about intensive training burnout. Solo pattern work is a good starting point. Then, if you have other flying "comrades" (not necessarily a CFI), ride along with them on a couple of trips to other airports, then take them along with you as PIC. You could also go for the $200 hamburger, or breakfast, with a few other folks flying their own planes. Not necessarily a big flock going to Oshkosh, just 2 or 3 planes heading to a neighboring airport with a good cafe. Sure, you're solo in your plane, but the camaraderie might help.
 
Just keep flying solo and you'll get used to it but if you get to a point where you have no fear of it at all then you are in danger from complacency. This can happen to a lot of people around the 400-500 hour mark or thereabouts until something scares them back into reality. Always maintain a healthy respect for what you are doing, it's not like driving a car.
 
I was seriously scared about flying solo for a long time. I think it lasted about 20 years, and no I'm not exaggerating. Like you I would get really excited about an upcoming flight, but once the day got here all the things that could go wrong would start running through my head.

I'm not sure why I kept flying. Maybe because where I live is so beautiful from the air. Or because I liked the challenge. Or because I felt some need to face my fears. I'm still not sure.

At some point the fear began to ease and the last 10 years have been much better. I still get nervous but it's not the same kind of intense fear. I think it got better with my skill level and my knowledge.

I finished building my own plane 6 years ago, and for a while those fears came back (for good reason, I knew nothing about building an airplane). Now I have 600 hours in my plane and the fear is back to a reasonable level. Almost as if the word "fear" doesn't apply anymore. Nervous before a flight, yes. But not fear.

Might current perspective is due, in part, to the fact I know every inch of my airplane. I pull the cowl and inspect the firewall forward every 10 hours or so. I know there are no hidden gremlins in my plane that are going to bite me. I think it helps if you really take some time to look at, and understand, the internal workings of your plane. The engine, the controls, the gauges and accessories. This may not be easy to do if you don't own your own plane but you can research your model aircraft online and watch YouTube videos. Maybe next time the plane goes in for an annual ask the mechanic to give you a tour once everything is opened up.

Lastly, use the fear you have to fly safer. Climb higher, even on short trips. Be conservative on no-go decisions. Training has a tendency to focus on what can go wrong. So look for things that can go wrong before each flight and make a plan as to what you will do if it happens. Mentally run through each segment of the flight and have a plan for each problem. Having a plan in mind ahead of time helps keep me calm and focused.

30 years later and I occasionally still have days when I get to my hangar and start to get ready for a flight, and some little voice says "don't fly today". It's irrational, illogical, and has no basis on fact. Yet, when that annoying little voice, or intuition, speaks to me I lock up the hangar and go home. Is it fear? Maybe, I don't know.
 
There are days when I want to fly, but I don’t. But those days are the left house without something, make a wrong turn somewhere, etc. if I am gonna do multiple brain fart things like that on the ground. I will stay on the ground.
 
TommyG said:
There are days when I want to fly, but I don’t. But those days are the left house without something, make a wrong turn somewhere, etc. if I am gonna do multiple brain fart things like that on the ground. I will stay on the ground.
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Usually, if there were three things that were screwy/going wrong I would cancel. For example, wind was a little iffy, or a non-required instrument was inop, or I felt slightly under the weather, I was upset about something (See IMSAFE checklist), etc. Certainly I have my go/no-go checklist and by themselves, any of the items would be fine, but when things get cumulative it's time to re-evaluate if today's the day to fly or not. Even if I didn't fly, I could sit in the plane and practice emergency checklists.

If I was just nervous, I'd make sure wind was sedate, traffic was light, etc., then just do pattern work. Usually I found once I started the plane, everything was fine and it was just fun. Also, when I was low time, I'd just do short flights to local airports. I'm pretty conservative and given that I'm up over 800 hours and just a hobby flyer, I rarely get in a situation where I'm anxious.
 
Technically, I'm the opposite of you, but still very similar. Once I knew how to fly the plane and was reasonably good at it, I wasn't really worried about flying solo, but flying with another person, even when that was my CFI. For me, it is the awareness that I have another person's life as my responsibility, especially for non-pilot pax and that always makes me pause and really evaluate the plane, me as a pilot, and the risk factors associated with the flight.

Maybe just flying for fun will help you over this hump, but one thing popped into my head, reading your original post. How thorough was your training on emergencies and how to deal with them? For me, I don't think I was afraid of the actual emergency as much as not knowing what to do when something went wrong, so drilling how to recognize and react to emergencies in the plane helped calm the fear and anxiety surrounding those possible events.
 
Jim Carpenter said:
Solo pattern work is a good starting point.
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This. If I haven't flown in a week or two, I'll go bang out 4 or 5 circuits just to stay sharp. I am based at a grass strip, and I fly every pattern as simulated engine out from the downwind, so I know if I ever do have to do an emergency landing I will be at the top of my game. A big part of confidence is having reason to be confident. Always flying the same plane really helps.
 
Schedule some flights with an instructor to do those things you need to gain more experience and confidence in doing until you are ready to attempt them solo. Then do them solo to reinforce confidence. Some anxiousness is normal when flying and is necessary for alertness during all phases of flight. Complacency or excessive anxiety is the enemy of safety. Working ATC during XC is a good way to keep yourself constructively engaged in flying.
 
When's the last time you went flying with someone else as PIC, just for the sheer enjoyment of enjoying flight? or a few $100 burgers?

When I finally got to solo (wx was terrible for almost a month), I was pre-flighting and almost ready to drag the plane out of the hangar when one of my CFI's IFR students shows up and says they were scheduled for the exact same time slot. In the end this was a major blessing. I yielded and hopped into the back seat of the 182 and got to watch the IFR lesson, no pressure on me at all. It was quite an eye-opener. The IFR student had many hundreds of hours under his belt as a PPL. He was very much flying "behind the aircraft" that day. He was missing radio calls, having trouble with the ILS approach, and all sorts of other mistakes with things I found easy. I had been very skeptical of my very green skills, but compared to him I was pretty darn good. Quite the confidence booster right before my first solo.

I'm a member of a local flying club, so there are tons of experienced pilots. Most of them are more than happy to take someone along for a trip. You learn a lot flying with different people. And the more often you're in the sky, the more normal that environment becomes.

It was almost 6 months between my first solo cross country and the "150 mile" cross country, with almost nothing inbetween due to aircraft and weather issues. I went out to the hangar 2 nights before, plugged in the ground power unit, turned everything on, and "flew" the flight in the hangar. I also reviewed my flight plan with a couple of more experienced pilots who gave some good intel about some of the airports. (ie: avoid the one after 10am, as its infested with students) One also suggested that I take off, immediately head over to the next towered airport just 10 minutes away and do a few T&Gs there first, then continue on my journey. Also quite a confidence booster. It was a wonderful x-cty trip. Even with a nightmare-ish, gusty, variable winds, landing on a short runway which was surrounded by water and all of the PAPIs were out of service. Challenging enough to be interesting, but not enough to get me swearing at the plane or situation. I couldn't have asked for a better, more rewarding flight.
 
Thank you everybody! It is really helpful. I was able to get out today in the pattern a few times solo and it was great. I think I’m going to go to a different airport tommorow to break into the fear. Thanks for all of the helpful advice!
 
I think most newbies are like this..I was..first solo right before i got take off clearance my feet where shaking on the pedals...but once airborne I went from fear mode to think mode..I completely let go of my fears once I started to 'fly' the plane...after a half dozen of pattern circuit's I was over the nervousness
 
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