Frustrated Student Pilot About to Quit

Cecil-

I wish I were young at 40. And yes, I enjoy flying and want to fly.
And no there isnt more to the story, but one of the posts about poor
maintenance is too eerily familiar. It is something called way too
many obstacles (and not the 50' ones). But I also have a life to
lead, and not spending endless hours on the road, you have to draw a
reasonable line and balance somewhere.. I cant change the behavior of
an otherwise decent CFI who has serious punctuality problems, in a
situation of near monopoly, and a pathetic FBO that is the only game
in town. People like myself, despite having the money, the interest,
and desire are not a big priority in GA, and I have reconciled to that
in my decision. (E.g. only one AOPA "mentor" for my entire state). The
weather kind of tipped the scale for me. Watching those poor slobs
trying to handprop that junky tomahawk out in the snow today just
reinforced things for me. I really feel like i am missing out, but
the ecomomic health of GA really says a lot to people like me.



"Cecil E. Chapman" wrote in message .com...
The next closest ga instruction is 90
miles. College and post grad were closer, and yes I want to fly, but
what preposterous conditions, its just not a reasonable sacrifice for
me. I guess it is different in the big city.

? I drive 60 miles to my flight training and like the school so much I
would easily drive another 30 miles to get there.

Sounds like you already bought in to the 'oh I give up', mindset already, so
I might be more than a little too late... but here it goes.

At my first flight school (which I fondly refer to as the Nightmare On
Skyway) I went through four or five instructors (they kept leaving for
better FBOs) while trying to work for my PPL and don't even get me started
on the 'interesting' flight time & flight accounting methods that were used
there. Anyway, at some point I said enough was enough and found a
flightschool that was a little over an hour away from my home. Finished my
PPL there, rent from the FBO, and am now finishing up my Instrument rating
there (to be followed by more ratings immediately thereafter).

I did this and persevered because I wanted to fly,,,, nothing was going to
prevent me from becoming a private pilot. NOTHING.

Geez, man,,,,, ya got to WANT to fly! Just conjecture here, but are you
sure that there wasn't something that spooked you along the way and that
blaming that sad excuse for an FBO for your wanting to quit isn't a cover
for something else? Did you REALLY REALLY LOVE IT (flying)? Or was it just
a bit better than renting a good video, for ya?

I'll bet you're young, so I'll share a 'life secret' you probably haven't
really took to heart, yet - Life will throw obstacles in your path, which
you either succumb to (playing the victim) or actively choose to rise above.
You will learn, eventually that the real measure of a man (or woman) is not
what happens to them but how they handle those things that stand in their
life-path. Experience is not what happens to us, but what we THINK about
what happens to us.

[Cecil,,, hops off the tree stump]

Good luck!

--
--
=-----
Good Flights!

Cecil
PP-ASEL

Check out my personal flying adventures complete with pictures and text at:
www.bayareapilot.com

"I fly because it releases my mind from the tyranny of petty things."
- Antoine de Saint-Exupery -

"We who fly, do so for the love of flying. We are alive in the air with
this miracle that lies in our hands and beneath our feet"
- Cecil Day Lewis -
I am giving my flight bag with the books, videos, kneeboard and
headset to my nephew down south, if he wants them, perhaps he will
have more enjoyable circumstances than i encountered when he is old
enough to fly.

I learned a lot and progressed better than I imagined, and enjoyed the
very few good days. I never thought I could learn to control and land
an airplane unassisted, but I did. The fact that i could at least do
that is pretty cool.

I drove out after my "resignation" in a developing whiteout, knowing
that the coming 3 or 4 days of low IFR left me confident that learning
to fly is not practical in these parts, as the headlights of my former
CFI were turning into the airport, 45 minutes late

I understand your frustration. When I started I got discouraged by
everyone including family and friends, and even the first CFI put a
wet blanket on the whole idea. I stopped for a few months, but I
started again, at a different FBO. Now I am a CFII, I teach aviation
at a community college and fly regularly. You have to want to do
something badly that you will not let anything get in the way. Since
there are no other FBO's in your area, you could consider taking a few
weeks off to go somewhere sunny and get your certificate.
Alternatively, do the hour long drive to the next airport until you
solo, then buy an airplane and fly yourself there for each lesson.
There are ways around every obstacle.



(Litwin) wrote in message . com...
Cecil-

I wish I were young at 40. And yes, I enjoy flying and want to fly.
And no there isnt more to the story, but one of the posts about poor
maintenance is too eerily familiar. It is something called way too
many obstacles (and not the 50' ones). But I also have a life to
lead, and not spending endless hours on the road, you have to draw a
reasonable line and balance somewhere.. I cant change the behavior of
an otherwise decent CFI who has serious punctuality problems, in a
situation of near monopoly, and a pathetic FBO that is the only game
in town. People like myself, despite having the money, the interest,
and desire are not a big priority in GA, and I have reconciled to that
in my decision. (E.g. only one AOPA "mentor" for my entire state). The
weather kind of tipped the scale for me. Watching those poor slobs
trying to handprop that junky tomahawk out in the snow today just
reinforced things for me. I really feel like i am missing out, but
the ecomomic health of GA really says a lot to people like me.



"Cecil E. Chapman" wrote in message .com...
The next closest ga instruction is 90
miles. College and post grad were closer, and yes I want to fly, but
what preposterous conditions, its just not a reasonable sacrifice for
me. I guess it is different in the big city.

? I drive 60 miles to my flight training and like the school so much I
would easily drive another 30 miles to get there.

Sounds like you already bought in to the 'oh I give up', mindset already, so
I might be more than a little too late... but here it goes.

At my first flight school (which I fondly refer to as the Nightmare On
Skyway) I went through four or five instructors (they kept leaving for
better FBOs) while trying to work for my PPL and don't even get me started
on the 'interesting' flight time & flight accounting methods that were used
there. Anyway, at some point I said enough was enough and found a
flightschool that was a little over an hour away from my home. Finished my
PPL there, rent from the FBO, and am now finishing up my Instrument rating
there (to be followed by more ratings immediately thereafter).

I did this and persevered because I wanted to fly,,,, nothing was going to
prevent me from becoming a private pilot. NOTHING.

Geez, man,,,,, ya got to WANT to fly! Just conjecture here, but are you
sure that there wasn't something that spooked you along the way and that
blaming that sad excuse for an FBO for your wanting to quit isn't a cover
for something else? Did you REALLY REALLY LOVE IT (flying)? Or was it just
a bit better than renting a good video, for ya?

I'll bet you're young, so I'll share a 'life secret' you probably haven't
really took to heart, yet - Life will throw obstacles in your path, which
you either succumb to (playing the victim) or actively choose to rise above.
You will learn, eventually that the real measure of a man (or woman) is not
what happens to them but how they handle those things that stand in their
life-path. Experience is not what happens to us, but what we THINK about
what happens to us.

[Cecil,,, hops off the tree stump]

Good luck!

--
--
=-----
Good Flights!

Cecil
PP-ASEL

Check out my personal flying adventures complete with pictures and text at:
www.bayareapilot.com

"I fly because it releases my mind from the tyranny of petty things."
- Antoine de Saint-Exupery -

"We who fly, do so for the love of flying. We are alive in the air with
this miracle that lies in our hands and beneath our feet"
- Cecil Day Lewis -
I am giving my flight bag with the books, videos, kneeboard and
headset to my nephew down south, if he wants them, perhaps he will
have more enjoyable circumstances than i encountered when he is old
enough to fly.

I learned a lot and progressed better than I imagined, and enjoyed the
very few good days. I never thought I could learn to control and land
an airplane unassisted, but I did. The fact that i could at least do
that is pretty cool.

I drove out after my "resignation" in a developing whiteout, knowing
that the coming 3 or 4 days of low IFR left me confident that learning
to fly is not practical in these parts, as the headlights of my former
CFI were turning into the airport, 45 minutes late

Alternatively, do the hour long drive to the next airport...

When I started flying as a student pilot, it took literally all afternoon to
ride the buses (3 different city busses - one of which ran only every hour) to
the airport and 3 busses back (no car as a college student) to get an hour of
flight instruction.

If you want to fly bad enough, you do what you have to.

Soapbox mode OFF.