Autumn is coming here in upstate New York and the leaves around Harris Hill are just beginning to show signs of yellowing. I noticed from the air today that you could more clearly see some trees beginning to change.
It won't be long before we put the soaring season to bed here. By the end of October it will be too cold to get out there and fly. This season has been fantastic for me. I've joined the ranks of FAA certified glider pilots, which was my goal for the summer.
Trouble is, I accomplished that before the summer was over, leaving me with a desire to do even more. Right now, I'm letting the anxiety of stepping up to our club's 1-34 get to me. I need to calm down and recognize that when I'm ready, I'll be ready. No need to rush things.
It's tough, though. For one thing, it seems like every other pilot in our club has a kazillion years of experience and they head out on cross country flights that last for hours in sleek, incredibly high performance ships that I'll likely never fly. Our junior members spend all summer long working operations and flying and I see them pass me up and move on when once we were at the same stage.
Sometimes it seems like everyone else has gobs of time to fly while I have to work every day. You can go out to Harris Hill on any decent soaring day and find empty glider trailers waiting for the return of their occupants. They descend out of the sky in the late afternoon with tales of the challenge of flying hundreds of miles into neighboring states.
The vast majority of these folks are usually quite friendly and willing to exchange some small talk with you but it is really intimidating to deal with people who can tell you about events that happened on the field when you weren't even born yet. I keep thinking to myself that I'll simply never have that level of experience.
But I know there are others like me who are still working on their solo or rating. They, like me, have families and responsibilities that take precedence or compete with, flying. They are my peers and we are the newbies. All of the pilots on the field were once newbies, I remind myself. They've just forgotten the experience.
So I tell myself to slow down, concentrate on flying safe, flying well. Make good decisions -the kind that don't jeopardize my safety and allow me to learn about the sport. It doesn't really matter if I'm flying this type of aircraft or that type of aircraft. What matters is that I'm flying. I'm flying and learning and gaining experience and I'm new and I need to remember that.
Because when you get complacent, that's when something goes wrong and I haven't been in any real challenging weather since I got my rating because I'm trying to be cautious and fly within my abilities. But one day I'll find myself on the negative end of a massive downdraft on final or a broken tow rope right after takeoff and I'll need to summon up both that experience I've been tucking away and also those decision making skills to do the right and safe thing. THAT's what I need to be concentrating on.
