CFI-to-CFI Newsletter - Volume 12 Issue 4 - 37

CHIEF'S CORNER
" MR. COLLINS, I CAN'T DO THIS, I'M SCARED. "
This wasn't the first time I'd heard this from
my young Scout. In fact, that had been a pretty
frequent statement from him this entire trip. My
troop was weekend camping and participating
in an open events day at our local Scout camp
and this was his first camping trip with us.
From setting up his tent to helping cook and
then on to the fun stuff of shooting a rifle for
the first time-and learning to shoot a bow and
arrow-to the natural rock face that rose out of
the ground in front of us, everything was new
to him. I reassured him that like those other
things that he had experienced he could climb
the rocks safely and that he would have an expert
instructor there to help guide him and ensure
that even if he slipped he wasn't going far and
would be under control at all times. He nervously
put on the climbing harness and adjusted his
helmet then walked over to the instructor to
begin the first of what became many attempts
on the rock face that afternoon. With cheers of
encouragement from his fellow Scouts-some
he didn't even know from other Troops-he
managed a good first climb of about 15 feet.
After the instructor lowered him down, he was
all smiles and wanted to go again to see if he
could get even higher. I'm happy to report that
he was able to double that height in his next six
attempts and was even talking about taking the
Climbing Merit badge at summer camp next
year. Later that evening around the campfire
he acknowledged his earlier fears and then
exclaimed how much fun he'd had doing each of
the events.
As a flight instructor, I have had my share of
learners over the years who have been scared of
various things: stalls (always high on the list of
student fears), steep turns, weather, night flight,
getting lost on a solo cross-country, approaches
to minimums, engine failures, the list goes on.
To the individual concerned about these things,
they seem insurmountable, big boogey monsters
ready to pounce and cause them all sorts of grief.
I had similar fears as a student and a few of them
came true. On my first solo out of the pattern
I got lost. I had gone out to our practice area,
performed my assigned maneuvers and managed
to get back okay to the monastery that marked
the edge of the area. I contacted the tower to let
SOMETIMES IT TAKES A CALM MEASURED APPROACH TO REASSURE THEM THAT ALTHOUGH THIS
TASK MAY SEEM PRETTY OVERWHELMING AT FIRST, IF WE BREAK IT DOWN AND PRACTICE ITS
COMPONENTS IT WILL BE MUCH EASIER WHEN WE PUT THEM ALL TOGETHER.
them know I wanted to return for some pattern
work, got my instructions, and then had a
momentary minute of panic trying to remember,
" Did I turn slight left or slight right to get back
to the airport? " I chose to turn right and ended
up in an area I had never been before. Nothing
looked familiar. I could see the Mississippi River
getting closer but I had no idea where I was. I
contacted the tower and told them I was lost and
not sure where I was. They gave me instructions
to contact Chicago Center. After doing that and
getting a transponder code, Center told me I was
seven miles southeast of the Dubuque airport.
I thanked them, turned around, flew back over
the monastery and turned left to get back to the
airport. I got back before the end of my scheduled
time. My instructor, who had monitored the
exchange over the radio, wanted to know why I
didn't just tune in the on-field VOR to get back. I
reminded him that he hadn't yet taught me how
to use that navaid, and then caught my ride back
to campus.
At the time I was a bit scared because I had no
idea where I ended up, but the lost procedures
that my CFI taught me came through: climb, call,
confess, comply. What could have been my first
cross-country flight, albeit non-authorized, was
averted. Remembering that incident years later
as a flight instructor, I pay attention to when a
CFI-to-CFI Newsletter - Volume 12 Issue 4

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