Opps’
Yesterday seemed to be a particularly bad day for flight students.
One about-to-be instructor, on his check out ride with the Chief Pilot, forgot to latch the door prior to take off. Went through the checklist and missed it. After take off, the plane returned to the ground and the instructor was released.
A’s student had a check ride. They guy had been kind of a punk during his training- not wanting to use checklists, thinking he was better than everyone, that kind of thing. He pre-flighted the wrong plane because he didn’t check and he thought he knew where the plane was parked. Needless to say, the examiner wasn’t too happy. He passed though.
And the kicker, the students who accidently landed at the millitary base instead of the local airport nearby. Not sure aviation they will be doing from now on…
It’s kind of like natural selection, all the bad pilots are weeding themselves out all on their own.
Students
A’s first student as an instructor passed her check ride. Â I’m so proud of him. He was so nervous. And since it was his first students checkride, the examiner and other CFI’s did a little hazing on him. But he made it through and has 2 more students getting their tickets this week.
 After all of the confusion of what/when A was going to teach, he ended up as an add on instructor. So he gets people for a few days to teach them the info for additional license, like an ATP or MEI. It’s definetly the hardest type of instructing, but also the fastest to accumulate hours. It’s hardest because you get all sorts of people with a wide range of flight skills and he has to get them comfortable in the plane and teach them the knowlege, in as little as one day. Occasionally this involves bringing people’s skills up to par.
One of the reasons he ended up teaching the add on’s is his age. At 35, he is more mature and has more credibility than some of the younger guys at his school. It seems that some of these high time pilots who come in for add on certificates don’t really dig being taught by a 21 year old punk. I don’t blame them. He’s also less likely to make an ass of himself in front of a female student. He’ll probably end up with a lot of those because of it. That doesn’t bother me much; if it did, I would just pop on down to the airport to bring them all a snack and make myself known. He’s a good guy and knows what he’s got in me.
On jetcareers, someone made a comparison that was interesting and seems right on. The private pilot students are like your children. They arrive with no skills, you spend a lot of time with them (two months or so) to teach them everything you know. Then you see them progress and you feel the pride of a parent. Add on students are like step children. They arrive out of the blue, you have no idea where they’ve been and what they’ve been taught. You spend a few days with them, teach them what you can and send them on their way.
 The amount of time he is spending at the airport is definetly taking it’s toll on everyone physically. We are all exhausted and he rarely has much time for us, which we all feel and hate. He comes home so tired that all he wants to do is go to bed. I’ve pretty much had to take over all of the household duties for the time being. I’m willing to do it for a few months, to get us through this stage, but it will not become a forever thing. If we are both working full time, it will be a 50/50 split. He knows I would never stand for that. In the meantime, I’m plying him with healthy food and vitamins to keep him going and plying myself with nice shopping trips at the mall to keep my lonliness at bay. As if I needed an excuse for that!
ETA’s
I have trouble with patience. I will admit that to anyone right up front. I can wait for great lengths of time for some things, but can hardly wait an hour for other things. This ties into my hatred of suprised and guessing games. I HAVE to know what is happening at all times, when it’s going to start, when it’s going to end and what to expect. I can hold off, as long as I know when it WILL be my turn. Just my quirk I guess.
So now that A is a CFI, I’m already going nuts. It’s only been a few weeks and it’s already wearing on me. Not so much the 14-16 hour days, 7 days a week that he’s working, nor is it not knowing how long we’ll be doing this for (although I’m sure that will start up soon enough). It’s the little crap like- is he going to be home for dinner or not? Not knowing what to plan for is killing me. He tries to keep me updated, but when he’s with a student flying or in the sim, it’s hard to keep track of time and impossible to call and update me. So it’s hard to plan anything because I never know his evening ETA. At least if he had a jet job, I’d know when he was off and on. All mine vs. the companies. But right now we are at this blurry in between stage.
I do my best to forgive him when I get angry about things related to timing. I know it’s not his fault and things aren’t exactly the way he would like them either. He forgives me for my temper and knows it’s the situation I’m angry at and not him personally. It’s not him being gone that bothers me so much (we’ve done the long distance thing before), it’s the being unsure of when he’ll be available. If I knew he was arriving at 8:15 on Flight 123 and he would be mine for 3 days and then be gone again, it would be easier to deal.
We have so many plans for the future and none of them currently have an ETA. I’m 30 and he’s 35. We want to have more children. Can’t do that until he’s got a stable job (at least as stable as we can get in this industry) and I can stop working. Can’t do that until he gets hired somewhere. Can’t do that until he has enough hours to apply. And we are working on that. At least having some forward momentum makes it feel like we are getting somewhere and will arrive eventually.
Where will he end up today?
Now that A is actually out flight instructing, I get calls like this:
Someday: Hello, this is Someday, how can I help you?
A: Hi babe, it’s me, I’m in Stuart
S: Hey, what are you doing there?
A: Well, we were going to fly to Atlanta to deliver a package, but the weather looked bad so they sent us to Stuart instead.
S: Oh, ok, ummm, where is Stuart again? I know you’ve been there before.
A: South FL, about 2 hours away. I have to go, there is no place to eat lunch here, so we want to get back to Jax and eat. And beat the afternoon storms
S: Oh, ok, well have a nice flight, talk to you later.
 They say that good communication is key to having a successful relationship with a pilot. I wonder if this counts.
Tomorrow me and someday jr. are flying out to San Francisco for a friends wedding. It will be the first time I’ve been there in 8 months so I’m excited to see lots of friends. I have some busy days planned. It’s kind of exciting that, since I’m flying Continental/ExpressJet, I may actually know one of the pilots. It would be a random fluke, but you never know. We know more than a few who are flying for them now. It will be interesting to see, as we progress in the industry, how often that happens.
I’ve gotta get packing.