I am in The Killing Zone

On Fri, 04 Jun 2004 14:16:28 GMT, "Marco Rispoli"
wrote:
snipped.....
But the most pressing question that is gravitating my mind is: am I
"damaging" my experience by avoiding danger and risk and thus never learning
how to deal with it? Is it wise not to push the envelope at all? Wouldn't it
be wiser to push a little bit more and just learn how to deal with the
problems? I mean ... you gotta see the problem and solve it in order to
learn anything and if I am too defensive of a flyer ... I will never learn.

Give all of the above considerations ... should I have flown last weekend
instead?

I am still thinking about this ... and i don't know that i have the answer
... yet. And I don't know if I will have the answer out of the killing zone
... at 400 hours. Or 1000.

Marco,

I have been reading your posts since you started. You sound like you
have a good head on shoulders and you have a healthy respect for the
responsibility of flying. You ask good questions and show no false
bravado. I don't even know you, but I'd fly with you in a heartbeat.

I'm in the zone, too. And yes, I read the book and I take the message
seriously. I think you're doing fine and just the fact that you are
aware of the issue and also aware of the consequences of retiring to a
cocoon confirms that.

It's an exhilarating but unsettling situation when all of sudden you
are no longer under the wing of a CFI. Most everyone feels a certain
level of discomfort at first. You have to continually, but gradually,
expand your experience envelope at a pace that suits you. You'll find
that, as time goes on, you become more comfortable with less than
perfect conditions. At the same time, you still have to honor
personal limits and make objective decisions. Don't worry about it,
you're fine.

One last thing. I do know a pilot that has 150 hours and has gone
almost nowhere. He remains within ten miles of the airport and rarely
lands anywhere else. While your fears of remaining in the zone by not
expanding your horizons may be valid, you have already demonstrated
that this is not something that will happen to you. Keep flying and
be concious of the zone, but don't let it scare you too much!

Rich Russell