How Becoming a Pilot Can Help You Live a Better Life

You chose to become a pilot for some reason. Whether you are currently a student pilot or you are a professional with tens of thousands of flight hours under your belt, there was some reason (or reasons) you began your flight training.

You might have started to learn to fly because your father was a pilot. You might have started to become a pilot because you have a friend who flies and she took you up once and you got hooked.  You might have started your flight training because, initially, you wanted to be able to tell other people you flew in “one of those little airplanes” and after your scenic flight or your introductory flight lesson, you actually found that it was fun, not scary, and you decided to get your pilot license.

My guess is that you did NOT start your flight training because you wanted to become a more rounded individual in general, or because you wanted to get a better understanding of physics and weather, or because you wanted to improve your decision-making skills.  But even though those were not the reasons you started on the path of becoming a pilot, these were, indeed, results that you received – maybe without even realizing it.

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This post is part of Month Six of the Blogging in Formation series, where six heavy-hitter aviation bloggers (or five plus me) post “in formation” on an agreed-upon topic for six days straight.  October’s topic is “My Best Instructional Moment.”  I have taken a little more license this month than other months in shifting away from one moment in particular to an overall impression and recognition of the entire flight training process, and how becoming a pilot can help you improve your life overall – beyond the new certificate in your pocket and the freedom and responsibility that it represents.

 

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You may have started your flight training knowing exactly what you were getting into and what it was going to take to reach your goal.  I’m willing to bet that you struggled through parts of your training anyway, even if you came from a long line of pilots and knew from the tender age of negative one that you would learn to fly.  I’m also willing to bet that you came out of flight training as not just a new pilot, but as a better person overall.

“But, Andrew, aren’t most pilots egotistical, bull-headed jerks who think they know better than everyone else?”

Sometimes.  But that stereotype comes from a small handful of pilots who have… let’s say “character flaws.”

The archetype pilot is one who has strengthened aspects of their personality like their ability to focus, or their penchant for individualism during their flight training, and just over-emphasized it.  Often, you”ll find that a pilot who fits this mold also falls into the trap of one of the “hazardous attitudes” defined by the FAA:

• antiauthority
• impulsivity
• invulnerability
• macho
• resignation

This is a danger of flight training, as much of the improvement or growth you can make in your life can lead to, in the extreme, one or more of the five hazardous attitudes above.  Mostly though, if your instructor recognizes the impact of flight training on not just your skill handling an airplane but on your life overall, s/he can help nurture your growth while still avoiding the attitudes above.

“Okay – we get it.  Can you please give us some examples now?”

Sure!

When you choose to become a pilot, you begin a process that will specifically take you from zero time to becoming a safe, competent pilot.  And while working on that, you and your instructor will be improving your ability to:

Focus

With so many things competing for our attention today, becoming a pilot requires you to focus on one thing for a pretty significant amount of time. I have had students who were/are learning to fly while working full time and going to college. Some of them are doing this successfully all at once, others struggled at it but moved along and were able to complete it. Still others recognized that it was all too much and took a break from flying so they could focus on the other aspects of their lives for awhile. No matter what the decision, part of flight training was them being able to decide where to focus. Even if it ultimately was not on flying.

Step out of your comfort zone

Call this courage or bravery, perhaps, but no matter how your phrase it, being able to step out of your comfort zone is critical to success in life. As a student pilot, I attempted a power on stall while flying solo and did not set it up correctly – scaring myself pretty badly and making me very uncomfortable with that maneuver. But I continued to demonstrate them for each and every rating and certificate I have achieved since. I also have an MBA in entrepreneurship and am a student of small business, and the idea of “getting comfortable allowing yourself to be uncomfortable” is a crucial first step to getting anything you start off the ground (pun intended).

Set and achieve goals

Commitment and perseverance is required to become a pilot. Commitment and perseverance is required to get where you want to go in your life, hobby, career, etc. It’s one and the same.

Make good decisions under pressure

This is simply good judgement. Some flight instructors and other experts say that you can’t teach good judgement; that a student either has it or does not. I don’t buy that. I think good judgement comes from really thinking through a situation and understanding what is happening. The stronger the foundation of understanding a student has, the more easily and more quickly s/he can run through possible solutions or courses of action and come to a conclusion as to the best decision. In aviation, we call it “Aeronautical Decision Making” or ADM; in life we call it decisiveness. You get there the same way – with a good foundation of knowledge and understanding of the topic. Whatever the topic may be.

Take responsibility

As a student pilot, you will quickly learn that being “Pilot in Command” is something that is a huge responsibility. you simply can’t do it if you lie to yourself about your skill level, your knowledge level, or anything else related to flight. I know that I learned that this applies to life in general as well during my training – taking ownership of your decisions and attitudes and situation is the first step to changing them and improving them.

And more…

Other ways that learning to fly relates to and improves your life in general is in helping you learn how to learn (as Ron Rapp points out as critical in his post in this month’s Blogging in Formation series); learning how to work better with other people; trusting yourself (increasing your confidence); improving your organization and time management skills (Cockpit Resource Management – CRM); becoming a more precise and clear communicator; and to see the positive in tough situations (remember struggling with your landings? You will…).

So, I guess I would have to say that my best instructional moment was realizing how much further into people’s lives becoming a pilot reaches. It goes much further than the pride of accomplishment; much further than bragging rights and better trips over long weekends. It reaches into people’s confidence in themselves in all areas of their lives when they realize (and prove) that they are able to gain skills and learn complex information; to memorize and make sense of cryptic rules and regulations (and apply them to what they are doing); and to simply understand that they can. That it’s up to them. Whatever they choose, they can.

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Thanks so much for spending your time with me on The Smart Flight Training Blog. I really appreciate that you could spend your time anywhere on the World Wide Web, and the fact that you spend your time with me makes me incredibly grateful. Please contact me if you have any questions or suggestions – I would love to hear from you!

Additionally, don’t forget to check out the other Formation Bloggers:
09/29/13 The House of Rapp – “The Third Rail”
09/30/13 iFLYblog – “My Most Instructional Moment”
10/01/13 Adventures of Cap’n Aux – “There I Wuz! My Best Instructional Moments”
10/02/13 Flight to Success – “Secrets Of Success…”
10/03/13 Smart Flight Training – “How Becoming a Pilot Can Help You Live a Better Life”
10/04/13 Airplanista – “TBD”

Andrew Hartley is a certificated flight instructor and commercial pilot in Columbus, Ohio.

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