It was a tremendously turbulent time in our lives when my wife made the suggestion of becoming a pilot. Up until that moment I had never even considered the possibility. My life had been full of concerts, recitals, choirs, orchestras, marching bands, jazz bands, pep bands, string quartets, vocal quartets...whew! I could go on, but I won't.
At the time of my decision to become a pilot I was also very thoughtfully contemplating going back to school for my Masters Degree from Boston University. I had planned of course to follow that immediately with my Doctorate. So instead of Dr. Findlay (as per the British drama 1962 - 1971) it's going to be Captain Findlay.
I have often heard being a pilot compared to being a doctor. I certainly believe the required knowledge base and familiarity with a great number of procedures and possible situations grants the comparison. "Use it or lose it" is an adequate phrase when describing the kinds of things you have to know as a pilot. Hence, in the airlines you are given a flight review every 6-12 months. Please understand that I don't speak from experience, but from what I've heard you jump into the simulator and they throw a myriad of possible emergency situations at you. If you don't perform well...well you can say goodbye to your job. That should make all of you travelers out there feel a little better.
For example, the emergency landing into the Hudson River. I don't mean to discount the quality of the captain or the crew in handling that emergency, but ANY PILOT should be able to do the same. We train, and train, and train, and train, and train for situations like that. We should remember the procedures. Aviate, Navigate, Communicate. Those are the cardinal rules to remember.
With this purpose (use it or lose it) in mind, I have planned to complete my CFI, CFII, and MEI ratings and hopefully gain a teaching position at a flight school. This will enable me to practice my skills and continually refine my abilities. Teaching, as everyone knows, makes the teacher better much more than the student (this IS experience talking, trust me). When I have an active private violin studio, my violin skills go through the roof (in the most humble way of course), but when I go for a summer without teaching my skills regress...horribly.
Anyway, I've babbled on long enough. I just wanted to give my 3 readers a feel for where I'm coming from and what I expect to get myself into. And share my hopes of staying current with all of my newly-learned abilities. Of course, if I should happen to find a job flying a Gulfstream or a challenger jet who am I to say "no?"
