Winnie and Poppy
Putting egos aside and taking setbacks in stride
Arguably, one of the most important skills of successful individuals is the ability to push past a fear of failure. Think of a pilot you respect. He or she probably has lots of hours in several different airplanes, all kinds of advanced ratings, and a varied repertoire of interesting hangar talk. Nobody gains that kind of experience by remaining stagnant. As uncomfortable as it is to not be good at something, you don’t get the 30,000-foot view without a little struggle. Unfortunately, those of us who have been flying a while sometimes forget to keep pushing ourselves. Luckily, I recently had the chance to fly with someone who hasn’t forgotten the value of a challenge.
Winnie Bradley was one of the student clients who progressed up through employed CFI at our flight school. Rarely a day goes by when she doesn’t stop by my office with a question. There’s no shame, just a persistent desire to understand and that rare ability to put ego aside in favor of growth. Our recent flight together was a quick overnight trip to middle Tennessee to visit our respective families. When we landed in Waverly, Winnie’s father, affectionately known as Poppy, was there waiting for us. Recovering from a recent stroke, with one hand on a cane, he called out across the ramp, “Hi Winnie. I love you!” She walked over and looped her arm through his, and I heard her say something about chicken wings and dinner as they walked toward the car.
Set to return early the next morning, we picked up an IFR clearance because of marginal conditions. After takeoff, we realized we had a problem: The attitude indicator was showing a 20-degree bank despite our actual straight and level path. So, we stayed VFR in the pattern for a while. Winnie took this opportunity to ask me to work with her on soft-field takeoffs. “I’ve never really felt like I had them perfect. Let’s practice some while we wait.” After the attitude indicator righted itself and stayed that way, we picked up another clearance and headed for Olive Branch, Mississippi. Hard instrument meteorological conditions with light rain and turbulence made the flight home less than pleasant. Winnie declined all my offers to take the controls, insisting that she needed the practice. She wanted the landing too, of course, asking me to look and make sure her feet were in the proper position. As we taxied in, she said, with her trademark optimism, “Wasn’t that great? We got to deal with an equipment issue, get some pattern work, and practice IMC all in one flight!” Where most people would have probably handed the controls over so they wouldn’t embarrass themselves in front of their boss/FAA examiner, Winnie did the opposite. And she could not have impressed me more.
When you ask Winnie where she gets her mindset from, she answers without hesitation: “Poppy.” She told me the story about how it took her two attempts to pass her private pilot checkride. On the day of the retest, Poppy called her to share his own, get-back-up story about his multiple attempts to pass the bar exam after law school. He never took the failure to heart though, and has led a wildly full and successful life, owning car washes, rental homes, a liquor store, and his law practice that is still going strong all these decades later. The experts say there are all kinds of reasons why people let their fear of failure prevent them from seeing their dreams come true. Past humiliating experiences. Overly critical parenting. Perfectionism. I don’t know about any of that. Winnie believes her immunity comes from growing up with a shining example of what it looks like to persistently step out in faith. But I think there’s more to it. Winnie was raised by a father who says in greeting, what most people say as a goodbye, and even then, only rarely. She knows that her value has nothing to do with how well she flies that airplane. And the same is true for you and me. Flying is just something we do. It is not who we are. We can define ourselves by our ability to get back up after making a mistake, by our willingness to take on new challenges. Whether we are flying airplanes or running businesses or raising a family, we can be people who take setbacks in stride and keep on moving forward. 
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