Ready to give up

Just my two cents...I spent a few years doing formal aircrew instruction in my Air Force career. In that environment, you had a different flight instructor just about every ride and never had more than three flights in a row with the same instructor. This forced the student to bring their best airmanship game every time as a failure to progress could easily end a career before it ever started.

It sounds like you've done most, if not all your training with the same CFI. This type of relationship can prevent the instructor from identifying and working on your weak areas, hence the pre-check from a different CFI. I view the pre-check as a grade of the CFI, not the student.

Now, you also need to be comfortable with other CFIs who you may not necessarily want to fly with, but have to for one reason or another. If you can't handle a stranger in the plane telling you what to during the course of a flight, then you're not ready for the check ride.

One question: do you have a problem following ATC instructions on XCs?


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It's not always easy. That's what makes it great. If it was easy it would not be great.
 
Take the fact that you recognize you are not performaing as well as you know you can as a real positive. Improvement requires that realization, and it shows you are building the basic airmanship/judgment that will ultimately make you a safe pilot.

As others have said, we all have good and bad days, the key is to not have 'really bad' bad days and having the awareness to recognize when you are not on your A Game is actually a big part of preventing 'really bad' bad days.

Take a couple days off and fly for fun, work on things you feel you need to but remember this is supposed to be fun, challenging yes but fun.

Good luck!

'Gimp
 
saracelica said:
You're at the 25 mile marker of a marathon and you want to give up?!
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Exactly! Look, I was great one week with my steep turns, short fields, blah blah blah...then the following week I forget everything. The more you do, the more it becomes second nature to you. My checkride is far from perfect and I think you got the "right stuff" (pun intended) and you are just too hard on yourself.
 
Your story sounds familiar. The week before my checkride I couldn't perform ANY maneuvers to standards on three separate prep rides. Didn't help that we were flying at 3pm, 103*+ temps with massive thermals, turbulence and high winds. Work got in the way as well with me getting an extra night call shift right before the checkride.

Result:

Arrive for checkride with minimal sleep over 3 days and the thought of a LOT of blown practices leading upto the ride. Checkride was in he morning on an overcast windy day, BUT no thermals or high temps. Plane felt like it was on rails for EVERY maneuver. Often I think my instructor had me out at the worst time of day in the desert on purpose ... checkride seemed a non-event as a morning flight. Hang in there ...
 
NEVER EVER GIVE UP! I had a CFI from hell half way through my training and a horrible time going at it and persevered with a great instructor that I discovered by accident and finished up last year. It is so worth it. Please hang in there. You will thank me later.
 
why would anyone put up with a CFI "from hell" for more than a single flight, which would end early?
 
Long story short, the initial guy was burned out and not teaching me what I really needed to learn. Fortunately I finished up with a pleasant excellent instructor. I'll spare names and details but after an initial botched checkride, I almost lost all hope and completely gave up. It was thanks to support from friends and family that I persevered and made it. Funny flying now on my own is more fun and less stressful than training.
 
Update: Sunday was supposed to be so beautiful here I figured I'd go by myself and fly around without someone yaking at me. My instructor called me Sat. and suggested we go together or I could just go solo. We went together and all in all things went pretty well. Last week I was trying to make everything to perfect. The curse of being a machinist for 30 years. My friend Kat had something profound to say. "Don't let perfection be the enemy of good enough" Works for me.
 
patmike said:
Update: Sunday was supposed to be so beautiful here I figured I'd go by myself and fly around without someone yaking at me. My instructor called me Sat. and suggested we go together or I could just go solo. We went together and all in all things went pretty well. Last week I was trying to make everything to perfect. The curse of being a machinist for 30 years. My friend Kat had something profound to say. "Don't let perfection be the enemy of good enough" Works for me.
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Being s machinist you should know nothing is perfect, that is why they have tolerances. ;)

Glad you figured it out. Reach the goal, no matter what is in your head.
 
Welcome back Pat!:happydance: And I can't claim credit for being profound -- that's just an expression I've heard. But I will say this, which I think is original, since I just thought of it in the context of your situation: How much more satisfying will it be to say, even if you don't fly a lot after getting your certificate, "I AM a pilot," rather than "I USED TO BE a student pilot." You will definitely not regret finishing and getting your certificate, no matter what you do with it afterward. Hopefully you will still be motivated and financially able to fly. But even if not, who cares: you will have done what so few people have been able to, and it will mean a lot to you!

Also, I'm soooo jealous you got to fly Sunday. After being grounded due to mechanical problems, I had to drive the two hours back home, looking at the cloudless sky and limp flags that seemed to mock me. Sometimes the aviation gods just plain suck! Wait, I take that back: I'm lucky my problem happened on the ground and not in the air.
 
Way to hang in there! :thumbsup: Just relax, demonstrate what your CFI obviously already knows you can do, and you'll do fine.
 
Thank you to everyone for the great words of encouragement. Check ride passed
 
Awesome news, Pat! Congrats! But yeah, we want a full report! :)
 
VERY COOL! Gotta be a great feeling! So, tell me, it has to be even more fulfilling than the first solo or XC, right??

Mine's been put off a couple of weeks, so I'm beginning to chomp at the bit and need to live vicariously through you now... :lol:
 
Thanks everyone. I'll try to put a writeup together tomorrow. I've been up since 3 A.M. and I'm exhausted.
 
Been sitting here sick w/ the flu and working on homework, thanks for the uplifting news Pat! Congratulations!
 
patmike said:
Thank you to everyone for the great words of encouragement. Check ride passed
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Congrats, I'll have to buy you lunch and pick your brain a bit one of these days if you are free.
 
I was in the same boat as you when I got my PPL. I was flying once a week, working graveyards, new baby, nagging wife, and had a break because of the great Nashville flood of 2010. I was extremely frustrated a few weeks before my check ride because it seemed all I did was rework the same stuff over and over. I'm glad I stuck in there. The check ride was not as bad as what I hyped it up to be. Stick with it. You are almost there.
 
patmike said:
I'm at that point right now. Last week I did mock checkride with different instructor and did ok. He shared his observations with my regular instructor and today we went up to polish up the rough edges and if all went well call the DPE. Things started out ok till we diverted to a different airport to do soft field and short field landings. First 2 attempts were go arounds so now I was frustrated. Took me a while to get my site picture dialed in but by then I couldn't seem to get anything right. We headed back back to the home field and on the way did a simulated engine out, that went well. Did a short field landing at home base. After a critique of the flight my instructor asked if I was able to fly twice a week. The airport is 50 miles from home and I work all the overtime I can to pay for flying so Sun. is my only flying day. If all I can do is once week and at that rate I'm just always polishing the rough edges I figure I might as well quit while I'm ahead.
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If that is the same logic and decision making rationale you use flying by all means quit. ;)
 
And now you are sitting there in shock realizing that the blessing of the examiner, while a wonderful endorsement of your skills and training, does not confer any special powers. That was the strangest thing for me. I don't FEEL any more piloty....

Congratulations!!
 
Congratulations, Now you can relax a bit.

There is something about the checkride the cements your flying skills at a certain level.

I have flown with people that almost made it and quit and others that took the checkride and essentially never flew again for over 10 years. The difference in their flying skills when they decide to pick it up again is remarkable. Now it will be a lot more enjoyable now that you instructor is not directing everything you are doing.

Brian
CFIIG/ASEL
 
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