Plastic Pilot

In Switzerland, the route to a private pilot license goes through evening classes to prepare the theoretical examination. These are not always fun and animated - I know, I’ve been the “teacher” for a couple of years in Geneva Aero-Club…

Hopefully, most student groups include one “different” student. It can be someone with a strong sense of humor, or with a particular background. Nothing negative here, aviation is not reserved to technical or academical persons. Students are here to learn, and teachers to help them.

When I was a student pilot, there was a guy in our group - candidate helicopter pilot - who initially had a restricted understanding of physics and aircraft knowledge. One the plus side, he never hesitated to ask, and this resulted in some astonishing questions.

I will always remember what he asked when the “weight and balance” course was nearly over. We were already packing our stuff and were close to get home when he raised his hand, and asked… “Does all aircraft have a center of gravity, or is that an option the manufacturer can include or not ?” As you might imagine, this has been followed by a long silence in the room. No one, even the teacher, knew if that was a joke or a serious question.

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Pilots have to keep track of their flight time in a logbook, which contains various columns for time spent in training, as pilot in command, co-pilot, in single engine or multi engine aircraft, by day, by night, flying visually or on instruments…

To me, the best column however is the last one: Remarks and Endorsments. During initial training, my instructor had me writing down the elements of the syllabus we trained by the end of each lesson.

Later, I used to note the route flown, and I always note the name of transported passengers, together with general remarks. When flying IFR, I write down the type of approach flown, and the weather conditions, and any special event is briefly described there.

Each time I fly to a new place, I also use this space to get an airport stamp. I did not logged thousands of hours, but I can no longer remember all of my flights. When I flip through the pages of my logbook, I always stumble upon a forgotten passenger or flight.

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The title of this post may sound slightly evangelistic, but it is true: flying made me a better person. Ok, this is may be part of getting older (I started flying in my early 20s and I’m now in my early 30s), but here are some of the qualities that I developed through my aeronautical activities…

Patience and resilience
All light aircraft pilots know that: many flights have to be canceled or modified, mostly because of weather. There have been months in winter where I could not fly a single time, even after clearing the plane from snow and ice… Some summer week-end have been “wasted” by thunderstorms.

Other factors include aircraft maintenance, airspace restrictions, and more than often a busy work life. There is nothing that can be done against most these factors. One must simply accept them, and wait for the next opportunity.

Humility
I already talked here about my worst landing ever, which happened on my initial IFR examination flight. In fact this was my worst landing… until now. Even with growing experience, each new approach can result in something even worst that this memorable one.

Interpreting weather is also helpful to remain humble. Tell to your passengers that the flight will be smooth because you saw no wind nor thermal activity on the charts, and you’ll certainly get some bumps.

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