Originally Posted by
galaxy flyer
Don’t take for granted your experience in life—business, college, even sports— means anything to an airplane. Lots of new learning in a strange environment. Many new pilots believe being a passenger and reading about flying means they understand it. They don’t.
This sounds over dramatic, but flying a light jet is much closer to flying the Space Shuttle than driving a Tesla to the office. The Shuttle and the light jet operate in environments that are very hostile to life, environments that can fool the unwary, environments that require similar systems to support life while carrying their passengers and crew. Be humble.
I always thought military pilot training was about “how to be comfortable in inherently uncomfortable situations”.
GF
Interesting, indeed. By the way, I flew the C5 Galaxy for a whopping whole 15 minutes as part of a four (4) cadet ROTC incentive program back in college between Travis and Columbus. We went there for one week of "shadowing" UPT students. We did what they did. They ate. We ate. They flew. We flew. T-37 and T-38 rides with a little stick time in each.
I washed out. Failed my last Class I, early detection of nearsightedness. No RK or Lasik back then that I would trust and acceptance of such procedures was next to nil. The highest AFOQT return in my detachment. 4.0 GPA up to that point.
The ultimate goal was to apply to TPS at some point, then the Space Program (we still flew the Shuttle back then!). None of that ever happened. I became so disillusioned with not even making it to UPT, that I walked away from everything, crushed. I came back to college one year later, finished my BS and then went on to earn my MS and eventually a PhD. The pain of failing to get to UPT was enormous back then - it was all I ever wanted to do. However, I never forgot the fun we had at Columbus that week! Oh, the memories.
I am fully prepared to engage and respect the process along the way. I am willing to do what is necessary and prudent to become the best I can possibly be. Love learning new things. A bit older and hopefully a lot wiser these days - so I am hoping that makes me a better student.
Thanks for the input and the walk down memory lane with your UID.