There's no substitute for hard work

It's important that I address something. This blog was made so I can keep track of my adventures in the aviation world. It's also so friends and family can keep up with me as I go along. I also hoping that it'll help other inspiring pilots, like myself, but by no means is that one of the main reasons I'm writing it.

Realize though that it's only help...and that's all. It's only an outstretched hand, but NOT hand holding. DO NOT use this or your instructors or your new circle of aviation family in place of hard work. As they say, "There is no substitute for hard work". If you aren't willing to think about and write down the questions you want to ask, if you aren't willing to go door-to-door of different flight schools to try and find the right one and if you aren't willing to spend hours alone with your textbook at home while everyone else is out having fun, then maybe aviation isn't for you. Having a love for it just isn't enough. I say this jokingly, but there's a little truth in it, too - you need to be a little bit insane about it.

When I was just starting out, I sat down and thought about what I wanted out of a flight school - so I started asking questions based on that. Then I went to Google to do a little research about what other people were asking. (Google has been my best friend in this whole process. It can answer about 90% of the questions I have.) I asked some of my pilot friends what to look out for. I compiled all of my questions, tried to put them in some sort of order, wrote to the first school, set up a meeting with them, printed out my questions and used them as my guide (all 1.5 pages worth). This meeting made me think of other questions. Learning from the first meeting, I added those to the list, reworked some of my older ones and repeated the process.

I learned more by each school I visited. It was the best "free" training I received. It was free in the fact that I didn't pay the flight schools for it, but it cost me time and gas money. Minimal expense for what I learned in those visits - I had more of an idea of what I was looking for and what I wasn't, I learned more aviation vocabulary terms (never heard of high-wing vs low wing planes before that), I got to explore many different types of planes, got to meet many different types of pilots and got to talk about aviation, which I loved! I also discovered during this time that I was apparently a bit unusual... apart from just being female. It was perfectly normal for someone to go from flight school to flight school and check out their programs. It was apparently NOT normal for someone to check out flight schools asking as many questions as I did and with a small knowledge base after only taking an intro flight. I got quite a few "where did these questions come from?" or "how do you know this?". One school figured I was posing as a student, trying to find a school for a friend (that school ultimately got the axe, by the way...). Another school accused me of lying about taking only one intro flight.

Now we all know how the story ended and even with alllllllll of my preparation, I still didn't end up choosing the right one. I blamed myself for that for the longest time. My mistake? I by-passed a lot of the red flags I saw at the flight school, just because the instructor and I connected well. Now I can tell you not to do that (hand up), but I can't tell you which instructor to fly with (hand holding). Not to mention - the right instructor for me will probably not be the right instructor for you. Ditto with the flight school. Double ditto with the type of plane, how to pay for everything, and how to study.

I visited flight schools so much that when I got towards the end, I was soooo tired of visiting them. I think I got up to 7 and eliminated two of them because I was just too tired of the whole process. I had "get-there-itis" and was too eager to get started.

Now back to the school I chose: do I want to help others to prevent that happening to them? You betcha! I went through hell and wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy, so of course I'd wish to keep other aspiring pilots from going through that. As I was told, that whole ordeal would have caused a person with less enthusiasm towards aviation to give up completely. I didn't realize it until I got back into the air again, but my drive had been significantly diminished. I still loved it with all of my heart and soul, but my motivation was gone and my excitement had fallen dormant. The good news is that they came back pretty quickly. ;)

But I got through it and am better off for it. I wouldn't be where I am now if that hadn't happened to me. Once again, I learned a lot from it and came out the other side in one piece. Fortunately, everything worked out in the end.

As for studying- do I wish someone could open my brain and pour all of this information in? HELL YES. But that's not going to happen... No one can do that for me (nor would they want to) and I can't do that for anyone else (nor would I want to). Again: There is no substitute for hard work. It's not helping me or you if someone can just pour the information in. You have to take the time to drill it in... and go through the frustrations when important information falls out and drill it back in there again so that it doesn't fall out the second time around. Lather, rinse, repeat.

Some people mistakenly think this comes easy to me. It may only look that way, but they don't see me staying up until midnight reading textbooks or watching training videos or see me locked away in my office at work during my lunch break, going over flash cards or taking practice tests. Fortunately, it doesn't seem like studying to me - it feels like a nice massage to the brain and is kind of fun actually. Does that mean it's easy? No.

Ok, so to close up this rant (and consequently get to more studying)- There's no substitute for hard work. Do the leg work yourself; you'll be better prepped for when you get started and you'll get into the habit of being self-motivated in your studying when you do get started. By all means, have a network of aviation friends and ask them questions to your heart's content. Most of them are nice enough and are more than willing to answer questions. Never, ever be afraid to ask questions. I ask A LOT (and that is even considered an understatement) and the worst reaction I've ever gotten was "Whoa, you ask a lot of questions", seriously. If anyone tries to shut you down or doesn't want to answer questions, thank them and move onto the next person. You need to invest a lot if you want to get into aviation (and more than just money), but the good news is that you get what you put into it (maybe not financially... at least not at first). Put in the effort and you will be even prouder of what you accomplished. There might be long hours of studying, but nothing to compares to something clicking in your head and being able to put that to use in the airplane.

One of the best things I ever read was in an article, written by a flight instructor, who said the worst students were the ones that showed up and said "Teach me how to fly". He said the very best ones were the people who asked "What can I do to learn how to fly?". Something to think about...

Use this and other resources as a guide only. Learn to find your own wings.