By Anonymous Pilot
First, my name is……Blank. For the same reason most everyone else’s is. I went to a flight school with the intention of starting a career in aviation. Like many others, I didn’t have a clue what I was getting into. I did as much research as possible and knew it would be very difficult. I watched videos on what the best Flight school is, where the best location was, and so forth. I finally decided the best route would be to do it close to home at small place that had 2 Cessna 172’s and 1 flight instructor. After about 2 months I still hadn’t been soloed and was told the reason for this was because “I hadn’t perfected my slips” so I kept trying…….and trying after around 30 hours I had a flight where my instructor tuned the radio to a baseball game and stopped teaching. I had a bit of an issue with this and I later found out I was the 7th student to leave this particular CFI.
So, I decided to change the approach and switched to looking for a part 141 school. After some searching, I found what I thought to be the perfect school. It was fast paced and seemed to promote safety (which has always been my #1 priority) SO I decided on a date, decided on a price around $75,000-$80,000 (ended up being more like $112,000 with required purchases and living expenses) and after 6-8 months and no CFI-CFII or Multi: due to, taking too long and “NOT STUDYING” I am where I am, a commercial pilot making $16 an hour and haven’t touched a plane since my last flight lesson. In my defense, I was told I didn’t study because I chose to study in my apartment rather than at the school.
While I was at flight school I lost three people one of them was a very close friend I was told “You can take a day or two off,” but that I would best respect their life by “getting right back into it, and studying harder.”
I wasn’t in a frame of mind to study, much less fly, what was I told when I said I didn’t meet my personal minimums???
“Your flight instructor is your safety net.”
Basically, if you don’t fly, we won’t help you get thru this course, but it was worse than that. In fact, when I had to skip CFI-CFII and go straight to multi I couldn’t even add 1 more hr. of flight time to that multi course which was only 3 flights long. Needless to say, I didn’t get thru multi, I don’t blame anyone for this but myself, but if things can change, they should!
I went thru SO much mental pain and frustration it seemed like getting my Private and IFR in 4 months wasn’t even the slightest accomplishment if anything it was a failure for taking so long. When I did try to say something it was along the lines of “well, I tried my best, I’m a commercial pilot I’m happy with that.”
I was told “You have a lot of growing up to do….People don’t care that your only 18….You understand?” And while I know this to be true I had been thrown these little speeches every time I struggled, I was in a dark place (maybe I still am, if I’m honest with myself) I’m stuck, nobody is hiring and if they are I wouldn’t be on the list. Why hire someone who had all of the joy of flying taken from them to the point they start to sweat at the very thought of flying (think about that, a Commercial pilot with a fear of flying) I miss “enjoying flying”…..If I could go back and not be a pilot but rather have the passion I once had for it………..
I would.
I do get it, this 18-year-old kid didn’t know what he was getting into, and fell down a dark hole, but what I found down here is a lot of kids just like me struggling with a way to pay off $112,000 of debt and no ability to enjoy life with a cloud of frustration and darkness always hanging over them. What is this cloud? Its aviation.
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