Dear Rod:
I’m having a crisis of faith, of sorts. This morning, I canceled my training time because I just didn’t feel like going through the hassle of the drive to the airport, performing the preflight, et cetera. This isn’t the first time I’ve done this—I added the fewest hours to my logbook in 2015 than in any year since 2010. This isn’t because I don’t feel well, or that I’m depressed, or anything like that. I just don’t feel like flying. I still love aviation, and the idea of flying. I still enjoy my job of writing about it...but I don’t know when I’ll actually get in the airplane again. It’s like a fire has gone out.
No Name Given
Greetings No Name:
While I don’t have sufficient information to posit why you’ve lost your enthusiasm to fly, I can make a good observation on the reason you feel conflicted. As you’ve stated, you love flying and have spent much time and effort learning how to do it. Not wanting to fly makes that investment seem like a big waste of time (it’s not, of course). A diminished desire to fly might also make it seem as if you’re missing out on something—something important. So here’s what I suggest: Make an agreement with yourself to stay in love with flying, to think about it, to write about it, but not to do it for at least (pick a number) months. This isn’t a permanent exile from aviation; it’s temporary and self-imposed.
This solves two problems: First, it gives you a break to explore other unexplored areas in your life. Second, it makes you feel less guilty about not flying. After all, at the end of your self-imposed hiatus, you know you can go back to flying if it pleases you. Perhaps you should take up another activity in the meantime. What about dancing or karate? Karate is like dancing, except that you get to kick your partner.
Dear Rod:
I’m a 60-year-old, instrument-rated private pilot. I think I want to get my CFI certificate. I love to teach and I love to fly. It’s a big investment in time and money, though, and I’m having trouble pulling the trigger on getting my commercial and then my CFI training. Something is holding me back, and I was hoping maybe you could offer some advice or perspective.
Mr. Z.
Greetings Mr. Z.:
If you’re worried that being 60 is in any way a detriment to being a flight instructor, I’d love to help disabuse you of that notion.
As I see it, two things that the flight instructor community can always benefit from are maturity and wisdom. Wisdom comes with age and experience, and my guess is that at 60, you have a fair share of life experience, maturity, and wisdom. Should you decide to earn your commercial and flight instructor certificates, I can assure you that you’d most likely have a very positive effect on your local flight training community.
In many instances, the biggest problem young flight instructors face has little to do with the airplane, or the knowledge needed to fly it. Instead, the problems that challenge them are psychological and philosophical in origin. Unfortunately, not all young people are capable of handling these issues wisely (yes, some do, but certainly not all). For instance, how do you build trust with a student who is clearly anxious about learning to fly? How do you deal with a student’s self-doubt? How do you impart the personal values necessary for a student to behave properly in the cockpit?
At 60, it’s highly likely that you’ve already learned to deal with these issues as they relate to those in your charge, whether they are your children, your employees, or members of your social circle. That’s why I’m such a big fan of encouraging more mature individuals to become flight instructors. Yes, the younger folks may run up and look for your medic-alert bracelet if you accidentally fall down during the preflight. But they do it out of love, not malice.
Dear Rod:
Any suggestions on making it easier to pick out my destination airport from the local terrain on cross-country flights? I can’t seem to identify these easily.
Tommy
Greetings Tommy:
I have a suggestion for you: Fold your thumb and index finger on your right hand to make a pencil-size hole. The next time you’re looking for an airport, look through the hole as you scan the area ahead of you. This gives you less real estate to analyze and makes airport identification easier. Do not use two hands and two holes for stereo viewing, either (especially on your checkride).
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