Time to Correct

I am learning to fly. Literally. I took my first flying lesson this weekend and it was incredible. We flew over farms west of Columbus. My instructor who looks about 18, but is probably older was very encouraging and kind. He is a good teacher.



This lesson had been planned for over 2 months, but weather had cancelled very previous lesson scheduled. On the 4th cancellation the guy at the flight schools just said "Welcome to avionics". Welcome to the worst February on record for snowfall and general bleakness.



On Saturday I was actually doing the "check list" in the Cessna with my young mentor and getting a bit overwhelmed by the instruments and procedure. I am an alcoholic so I am not only unused to following directions and procedure, I have made ignoring them an art form. The surest way to get this alcoholic to do anything is to tell her NOT to do something. The first lesson that God seems to be giving me in all this is that I will have to learn to follow directions or bad things will happen at 3K feet. Following instructions, check.



We taxi down the run way. Who knew you drive planes with your feet ( ok everyone but me). I adjust but I look like I am driving drunk and I do know about that sadly. We do a final checklist (there are three sets at least) and we are up. It was worth the wait. My instructor is calmly and reassuringly showing me how the plane maneuvers and how the parts of the plane we have just reviewed work to make a graceful movement in the air. It is beautiful. This is my first flight and this is light and fluffy. I got this.



Chris, which is his name, then says in my ear (headset) "OK, I think you are ready to try a stall." My mouth goes dry. I explain that on my first flight I had no expectation of having to learn anything really and that seems unnecessarily scary. I am sure he said something but "Naw, come on" what what I heard. He began to prep me for the stall. "Losing power and beginning to fall is the worst thing that can happen in a plane" he tells me. I agree and begin to argue again. "Once you experience that, you will never be afraid in a plane".



Right.



I warn him that I will scream and behave badly, but be laughs and reminds me it is like a roller coaster. Didn't I say I liked those? Stupid of me and completely different from what we are doing today I am prepared to argue when he puts down the flaps and begins to throttle down the engine.

In about 30 seconds the warning sound comes (its like a dying bird sound so its not really an alarm or a buzzer) and the nose begins to drop. He shows me how to look at how fast we are dropping and encourages me to keep the nose up as I can. I hold my breath and pull back on the yoke. The decent isn't steep(I do think he took it easy on me) and he shows me how to hold it while he shows me to throttle back up and get the plane back on track. He said "you need to learn that you have time to correct" . You can recover. You have time.


I need to hear that in my life all the time. Knee-jerk reactions in my life are so commonplace that I thought of them as decisive and powerful. They are anything but that. They are fear-based and based on only partial, often superficial, knowledge. I had pride in that ability. Like most things in my inventories it does have a positive side. Being reactive isn't bad, it just isn't always necessary and isn't always helpful.

Chris told me that in flying you have to do small corrections and see how they go. Large knee-jerks, while they may have their place, don't seem to have much value in flight school. I have my doubts about their value in general, but the jury is still out. So I am brushing up my checklists, following instructions and remembering I have time to correct. Thank God.



And thanks Chris.