"Jay Honeck" wrote:

This seemingly innocent incident scared him so badly that he walked into
the FBO, sat down with his instructor, and told him he was through.

New pilot anxiety is pretty common, I suspect. I felt it to a lesser extent
myself for the first couple of hundred hours I flew, and only my extreme
addiction to flying kept me going long enough to get over it. Posters in
r.a.student mention it fairly often, too.

An airplane nut I know quit training without any scary incident to nudge him
out of the cockpit. He said he was filled with dread every time he walked
into the FBO for a lesson; nothing he could put his finger on, just general
fear. Another acquaintence completed his training all the way through the
instrument rating but now never flies. He says the fear he feels takes all
the fun out of it for him; the only reason he finished is that he prides
himself on never quitting anything he starts.

--
Dan
C-172RG at BFM