Flight Training - August 2013 - 6

RIGHT SEAT

By Ian J. Twombly
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BECOME A PILOT

BEYOND THE BASIC SKILLS

light lessons teach us how to fly. What they don’t teach us
is how to become a pilot.
I’m a big believer in context. I’ve preached it here, and
I talk about it often when we’re planning the magazine.
Without context, the things we learn during flight training are nothing
more than a bunch of disparate skills and Jeopardy answers. Most of us
successfully earn a pilot certificate with that level of understanding,
but we’re not pilots in the truest sense.
Being a pilot is about so much more
than taking off and landing an airplane.
Aviation is a mini-universe with its own
language, economy, holidays, social
norms, leaders, and followers. Virtually
none of this is taught in flight school,
which is a big reason many people either
get only halfway through training, or
quit soon after they do finish. That’s hard
to believe now when you’re working
your way through the training, but a fair
number of newly certificated pilots simply
stop flying soon after earning a certificate.
Most stop because they hadn’t yet learned
how to become a pilot.

I think it’s important we begin to
incorporate pilot training into flight
training. Scenario-based training, which
we featured last month, can help if the
scenarios are properly constructed.
Although the instructor or flight school
owner should facilitate the training, you
as the student can help it along. Talk
about why you want to fly and act on it
while still in training. Bring your spouse
or date on a flight to a restaurant. Go with
your instructor to local aviation-themed
club meetings. Just hang out at the flight
school on a day you don’t have a lesson in
order to meet people.

BEING A PILOT MEANS BEING A PART OF A
COMMUNITY AND HAVING A SHARED SENSE
OF VALUES, GOALS, AND INTERESTS.
I’m not suggesting you have to buy
a leather jacket and cool sunglasses
to enter the pilot ranks. A flight suit
may be a bit much, but it doesn’t hurt
anyone. Being a pilot means being part
of a community and having a shared
sense of values, goals, and interests. It’s
not unlike golf—although with golf, this
process is much easier. Show up at a local
golf course, wear a collared shirt, swing
some sticks, maybe hang out at the club
afterward, and you have joined a golfing
community.
Aviation is tricky. It’s scattered. Not all
airports are conducive to the club atmosphere, and we’re so focused on safety and
proficiency that it’s sometimes hard to
break out of the rut of flying the pattern
over and over and over again.

FLIGHTTRAINING.AOPA.ORG

Do the types of things you might do
in your own neighborhood—because
that’s basically what aviation is. The vast
majority of us are in it for recreational
purposes. So recreate. Offer to help
another student. Ask for help. Join the
Flight Training Facebook page. Learn how
to fly to another airport for more than just
a touch and go (to learn how to use the
crew car and FBO procedures). Have a
landing competition with friends, or organize a fly-out to a fun event. So instead of
taking a flight lesson, the next time you
work with an instructor, work on becoming a pilot.
Email Editor Ian J. Twombly at ian.twombly@aopa.
org; Twitter: ijtwombly; and visit Flight Training on
Facebook.

Publisher | Craig L. Fuller
Senior VP, Media/Editor in Chief | Thomas B. Haines
Editor | Ian J. Twombly
Editor at Large | Thomas A. Horne
Managing Editor | Julie Summers Walker
Technical Editors | Mike Collins, Jill W. Tallman
Senior Editors | Dave Hirschman, Alton K. Marsh
Editorial and Production Assistant | Sylvia Horne
Administrative Assistant | Miriam E. Stoner
Contributors | Pete Bedell, Greg Brown, LeRoy Cook,
Budd Davisson, Rod Machado, Walter Miller, Dan
Namowitz, Wayne Phillips, Bob Schmelzer,
Jack Williams, Kathy Yodice

Design Director | Michael E. Kline
Art Directors | Elizabeth Z. Jones, Jill C. Benton
Senior Photographer | Mike Fizer
Photographer | Chris Rose

eMedia Managing Editor | Alyssa J. Miller
eMedia Editor | Sarah Brown
Web Production Manager | Lezlie Ramsey

Editorial and Advertising Offices
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301-695-2350 / FAX 301-695-2180
email: flighttraining@aopa.org
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Flight Training - August 2013

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Flight Training - August 2013