What if I Can’t? A Future Student Pilot Wonders About Making the Grade, and How to Know if You Just Aren’t Pilot Material
Hi Mom,
I’m not even a pilot yet, but I thought you might be the one to ask. Does it ever happen that somebody starts learning to fly but can’t finish because they just can’t do it? It must come up. How do you know if you just don’t have what it takes, and as a pilot instructor, how do you tell someone if you can tell that they aren’t going to be able to do it? Can you usually tell right away, or does it take a while? I just wondered. I’m hoping to start learning to fly later this year and was just curious about what happens in a situation like that.
Thank you, and wish me luck!
Ready For Takeoff,
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Hi, Ready, let’s see if we can’t give you the clearance you’re looking for.
Should I ask if there’s something specific you’re worried about in terms of your capacity for learning to fly? If there is, tell your flight instructor of choice right off the bat so that she/he/they can help you find your way around it from the beginning. That said, in my experience, most people who want to can learn to fly. It’s just that some of them will take a lot longer to do it, and spend an extraordinary amount of money in that very long process! Of course, there are exceptions and if this is you, it will usually become obvious to both student and instructor fairly early in the game and become still more obvious as the lessons progress (or fail to). Keep in mind, though, that it’s usually worth your while to have patience as learning is not a linear thing and many, if not most, student pilots will get frustrated with the process at some point. A slow start doesn’t necessarily mean you won’t get there. A lot of it has to do with what kind of experiences you’ve had before you plunged into your flight training. Have you driven tractors/go carts/boats/lawnmowers or anything else? Have you learned any new skills in the last few years? Are your study skills up to snuff? Are you afraid of the airplane, so much so that it impairs the learning process? Is airsickness getting in your way? Does the rest of your life allow you to keep a consistent enough lesson schedule that your practice is paying off? Any of these things can make your progress slower than what you’d like to see.
To be realistic, many student pilots underestimate the amount of time, effort, and money required to land that license. 40 hours is the minimum, with 75 hours being the national average in the US. That 40 hour minimum is highly unlikely. It simply isn’t realistic for most people if the AVERAGE is nearly double that. Keep this in mind when gauging your progress; there’s no sense in beating yourself up over this. If it was easy, they wouldn’t be requiring all this training and testing in the first place, now would they? The other thing to keep in mind is that most student pilots will also get frustrated enough to quit before it’s all said and done, often for the reasons listed above. Know what helps? Tell your instructor about it. Ask them to tell you exactly where you are in your training, exactly what it will take to get you to the next level, and precisely how they expect you to do that with details about how you’ll both know when it has been accomplished. Perfection is never required. Instead, we have a very objective list of requirements in the PTS (Practical Test Standards) so you’ll know precisely what will be on each check ride and the standards you’ll have to meet or exceed to pass it.
I have seen a few very students commit whatever resources were necessary to the project when it became clear that they were on the long road to certification. And they were successful. I’ve also seen quite a few decide that, due to the unanticipated length of the training process and the associated expense, this wasn’t what they’d signed up for. Both legitimate decisions. No honest instructor can tell you when you walk in the door how long it will take to make you a safe pilot, but after having spent some time flying with you, we can usually give you some sort of estimate based on your past progress and present rate of learning. And this can and will change, so don’t be shy about asking where you are in the the syllabus and then asking again if the situation seems to be shaping up differently than anticipated.
Yes, there are a few people who just should not be pilots. For some, situational awareness isn’t consistent enough. Others don’t respond consistently or quickly enough, don’t make good decisions, or don’t respond well to changing conditions. Flight training tends to be very stressful and less than rewarding in these cases. Most often, the student recognizes this and makes the decision for themselves, although rarely, it can surprise them when the instructor points out the concerns and recommends discontinuing training. Often, if this is the case, this is not the first time the person has come up against these limitations in their life. If you have concerns about these things, please discuss them with the person getting into the airplane with you. Sometimes the difficulties are insurmountable, but most often your capabilities will be stretched by your aviation experience, and you’ll be able to take that growth with you into the other arenas in your life.
Your concern about this is (statistically, at least) unwarranted, unless there’s more to the story than you’ve told me. You don’t have to tell me if there is. Instead, discuss your concerns with your flight instructor at the beginning of your flight training and continue that dialogue as your training progresses.
Have fun, be patient with yourself, and study study study….
Mom
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You’ve got questions? I’ll find you an answer. Email your aviation related question to mom@myskymom.com and check out myskymom.com to read the answers to questions previously posted. An educated pilot is a safe pilot is a happy pilot. Remember, the only stupid question is the one you didn’t ask! Fly smart, fly safe, fly happy.
