Is it weird guys?
Posted by Present-Village-9858@reddit | flying | View on Reddit | 30 comments
I would love to hear some advices from those experienced pilots here. I only trained for a few hours, I made a lot of mistakes, couldn’t be able to keep the airplane on the centerline, struggled to do maneuvers, etc.. I understand it will come with practices. But the thing is even though I did not do well 100% of time but I have a feeling that I can do better in no time. Am I just too arrogant with that mental? Did anyone experience the same in the past? I really want to hear from you all. Thanks in advance!
Tasty_Impression_959@reddit
It will come to you over a short period of time. You are experiencing similar challenges most pilots did during the initial stages of their training. Keep your eyes at the furthest point of the centerline and avoid looking at it just above the engine cowling during your ground roll.
937OYE@reddit
I could land properly for almost 25 hours and now I’ve flown almost 120 hours solo. No one is Chuck Yeager, even he had to earn it.
BagOfMoneyNoChange@reddit
I'm a legacy airline captain and I do not do well 100% of the time. I make mistakes every single flight. I don't always track centerline perfectly. Sometimes I have a really firm landing. Sometimes I miss a taxi instruction, an altitude assignment, or a speed restriction. These things happen.
That's why there are two of us up there. Everybody makes mistakes. It's all about trapping errors and moving on with life. You can't let your ego get in the way.
MrAflac9916@reddit
Yep nobody is perfect. Tiger woods hit thousands of horrible golf shots in his career
MangledX@reddit
He may drive a ball better than I, but I definitely take a lot of pride in knowing that I can outdrive him in a car.
IllRecommendation539@reddit
Worst possible athlete to compare to as a pilot 😂
BagOfMoneyNoChange@reddit
He also hit a lot of other things while operating a motor vehicle...while intoxicated...on multiple occasions.
F1shermanIvan@reddit
A lion would never drive drunk.
But a Tiger Wood.
MrAflac9916@reddit
I’m better at driving than tiger after all…
HateJobLoveManU@reddit
He only had a few bad drives though
x4457@reddit
You upgraded? Good for you man.
BagOfMoneyNoChange@reddit
I had to get off the widebody, it was wearing me down.
x4457@reddit
I feel that. I’ve got a couple friends who do the junior 330B commute and I have no idea how or why they do that to themselves.
BagOfMoneyNoChange@reddit
It seems like most people either love it or hate it. But around the world in 8 days...I've never done anything that difficult. Can't even imagine.
x4457@reddit
Wasn’t great on the old body clock, that’s for sure. The old “eat when you’re hungry, sleep when your tired” advice applies.
Icy-Ad7443@reddit
How stressful is your job as a legacy airline captain? The way some talk on here it seem as if you are comfortable with what you are doing then it’s not too difficult or stressful but I feel like it would be bc you have to rely on so may variables outside of your control like ATC or other pilots making mistakes.
BagOfMoneyNoChange@reddit
The job is as stressful as you make it. But operating the aircraft is the easiest part.
The stressful parts can be - dealing with the company (scheduling), dealing with airports and TSA, flipping your clock, missing a commute, etc etc.
bigbadcrusher@reddit
As someone finishing up commercial whose instructor makes it sound like being an quarter-inch off centerline will cause me to fail, this takes some pressure off of me as my checkride approaches
BagOfMoneyNoChange@reddit
You should aim for perfection every time. And yes, your instructor should be instilling that discipline into you. But obviously it's impossible.
I even remember during my commercial checkride the DPE said "get back on centerline, you're a commercial pilot!"
bigbadcrusher@reddit
And not saying it’s a bad thing. Just a good reminder that if I miss it one time, I’m not a failure who’s wasting his time/money.
BagOfMoneyNoChange@reddit
Ah I see. Yes, that is true.
A piece of advice: when a CFI is a little harder on you, that often means they see your ability and are pushing you a little harder than they would the average student. It can be a little demoralizing, but it's really a good thing.
I'd be more concerned if an instructor went really easy on me. Imagine doing a horrible steep turn and the instructor said "wow, that was really good! you really gave it your best!" vs "dude, that was terrible! I know you can do better than that!"
Obviously there's a middle ground, but hopefully you catch my drift.
MangledX@reddit
No one does well 100 percent of the time. No one. That's the beauty of it. Those who grow and accelerate into becoming great pilots are the ones who always remember that it's really easy to suck in this game.
Having an optimistic outlook that what sucks now will not suck later is not bad.
However, arguing that what sucked now wasn't really as sucky as it was because you thought it was better than suck is going to be a problem. If you're constantly deflecting about it instead of improving it, then that can become a big detriment to your training.
Stay centered, stay focused, and stay sucky. It's the only way to get better.
ExpensiveCategory854@reddit
I found in this hobby (for me) If I was doing stuff without mistakes it was a surprise. Sometimes even straight and level flight was a challenge.
IR training was humbling in that I found that I constantly tried and chased perfection and made every mistake you can make (and still do), and told to not sweat the small stuff about as much as i was “more right rudder” in PPL training. Nothing that would compromise the safety of flight but things (in my mind) that didn’t meet what was assigned. Hand flying approaches, headings, holding altitudes in thermally weather…it takes practice and there are margins. A mistake to me was deviating from what was assigned. Maintain 3000?, I’d bounce between 2900 and 3100. Heading 360? I’d be 350 or 010…look left to brief an approach for a few seconds to see I lost a hundred feet. Not making a no-go call well before starting my IFR oral and later discontinuing due to weather. In hindsight I should have just rescheduled the whole, in the end it was a discontinuance and a pass.
You’re going to make mistakes I’d say almost every time you fly. As you get more experience the margin of those mistakes should shrink but will never be eliminated.
As others have said, they’re all in the same boat from zero timers to 10’s of thousand hour pilots. Mistakes will be made. You learn from them, try not to repeat them but in the end you’re still constantly learning.
Jwylde2@reddit
Way too arrogant.
DisregardLogan@reddit
Half of this post is literally OP being humble
Avreal_Valkara@reddit
I'm new to flying too, but I'll add my two cents. I just started instrument and if I were to pull my track from yesterday morning I have the feeling it'd look like a drunk squirrel was flying. My instructor said I actually did very well, but I know I have a lot of room to improve and also that I will be able to. I've found that flying is simultaneously extremely easy and extremely hard. Sometimes you're a bird soaring gracefully in the wind, sometimes you're two octopi in a puddle fighting over a pickle. Just keep flying, at some point difficult things will suddenly click into place and make sense. In my, albeit inexperienced, opinion, a good chunk of being a pilot is striving for perfection even while recognizing it's an impossible goal, and not getting discouraged by the impossibility.
HighVelocitySloth@reddit
Keep doing it more, have confidence and it will come. Anyone that tells you they don’t make mistakes is lying
LikenSlayer@reddit
For you to admit it & seek additional guidance. Says a lot about you already. I still make mistakes! But you have to learn from it. So you'll prevent it from reoccurring. I've never met a perfect aviator & no two landings are the same. Just think of how far you have come so far in the short amount off time. At some point, you couldn't even land!
TxAggieMike@reddit
Remaining motivated to do better is a foundational part of learning.
rFlyingTower@reddit
This is a copy of the original post body for posterity:
I would love to hear some advices from those experienced pilots here. I only trained for a few hours, I made a lot of mistakes, couldn’t be able to keep the airplane on the centerline, struggled to do maneuvers, etc.. I understand it will come with practices. But the thing is even though I did not do well 100% of time but I have a feeling that I can do better in no time. Am I just too arrogant with that mental? Did anyone experience the same in the past? I really want to hear from you all. Thanks in advance!
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