When To Fold Em

From the time in the late 1940s, when my father hired a small plane to take my brother and me for a ride around our home in northeastern Ohio, I wanted to learn how to fly. About 50 years later, I finally had the time and money and started training for the private certificate: A flight school, with excellent instructors and two long runways was only a few minutes away from my home. Things went well for several months as I learned basic maneuvers aloft and attended ground school in the form of John and Martha Kings interactive DVDs. As a former math teacher, I easily understood weight and balance calculations. Navigation using VOR radials was particularly interesting. An early case of "mic fright" gave way to comfortable conversations with controllers at the Class D airport and with other pilots at non-towered facilities.

Key Takeaways:

• The author fulfilled a lifelong dream by starting flight training in their late 40s, initially excelling in basic maneuvers, ground school, and radio communication.
• However, significant unease developed during solo and advanced lessons, stemming primarily from an innate inability to multitask effectively and a "mild disrespect for the rules of the sky" and precision requirements.
• After a challenging cross-country flight, the author concluded that these fundamental incompatibilities posed safety risks and decided to discontinue flight training.

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