Deciding to break from my normal schedule of one flight lesson per week (or sometimes only every two weeks), usually on a Saturday or Sunday, I headed over to Vero/FlightSafety for three days last week. I ended the last of my three flights, let’s say, deflated. Really deflated. I had hit a wall (figuratively, of course…the instructors prefer to call it “reaching a plateau”). Just when I thought I had the maneuvers we had been working on down pat and had been making progress the prior two days — even with radio work — my mind basically froze and I confused the power-off and power-on stall procedures (the recoveries I completely get, but I crossed wires on the setups). My performance for the rest of the lesson was less than stellar. I was so bummed and disappointed with myself. Admittedly, I was tired. I hadn’t slept well the two nights before and, at this stage, flying three days in a row was in some aspects like taking three big tests in a row. To be honest, I wouldn’t have left the ground that day if I had been on my own, even with lots of experience and hours logged (the bright spot here is at least I know my limits and am very conservative with decisions like this!). But still, I couldn’t help thinking, “How was I ever going to solo at this rate?”
FlightSafety follows an accelerated flight lesson plan, and understandably so. (It’s an academy for those seeking professional careers in aviation and students from all over the world attend the school.) That day I finished Lesson 6…I’ve about 8 hours in the logbook. When Lesson 10 rolls around, it’s time for a pre-solo. Reaching it could take four flights from now or six or eight, depending if we finish each lesson within one flight, or if I have to repeat any. At any rate, during the presolo, the student flies with another instructor who serves as a second pair of eyes and wants to make sure the student’s regular instructor is doing his/her job. It includes an oral test, a written and then a check ride with this guy/gal. If you’ve been performing ideally up to that point, that’s about 15 hours logged. If all goes well, Lesson 11 is the day: After a warm-up with your instructor — to make sure your mind hasn’t gone blank (!) — and that you can perform certain maneuvers and landings, he gets out and you do your first solo, performing three landings, staying in the pattern. I’m estimating completion of Lesson 11 will mark about the halfway point to earning my private license (that’s including the time to complete the 10-day ground school and taking the written).
