AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2025 - 22

FLYING LIFE
Well, we're
waiting...
Patience is a hard virtue to learn
BY NATALIE BINGHAM HOOVER
WE HAVE A new office manager at our flight school. Although her
background is not in aviation, she has the dry sense of humor of
most of the pilots I know. When fall arrived last year, Brandy
decided to do a little flight school redecorating, complete with
a headset and kneeboard-wearing skeleton to welcome students
as they walked in the front door. Mr. Bones wore a different
note taped to his chest every couple of days or so: " Waiting on a
checkride date " was the first one. As an
FAA designated pilot examiner, I could
empathize. No one wants to diligently
prepare only to realize they must wait
weeks or even months for a practical test.
The other notes were equally apropos:
" Waiting on plane to get out of maintenance. "
" Waiting on the fuel truck. " They
went on and on. For a bunch of go-getters
like us pilots, we sure did choose a lifestyle
that involves a lot of waiting around.
Some of us are better at waiting than
others. (I'd be squarely in that others category.)
Early in my career, I was talking
with one of my mentors, June Viviano, a
FedEx captain at the time, about how I
was tired of flight instructing and couldn't
wait until I was qualified to do something
else. " Don't rush it, " she said. " I still look
back on instructing as one of the best
times in my career. " It's precisely that
sort of embrace-the-moment mentality
that many of us struggle with. Sounds a lot like the ever popular
serenity prayer: " God grant me the serenity to accept the things I
cannot change... " Serenity in acceptance? Bull hocky. Waiting, to
me, always feels like doing nothing at all. If there's something we
can be doing, we want to do it, right? Well, maybe we can.
One of our more experienced flight instructors walked into my
Parker Alan Davidson (right) with Mr. Bones.
course of just one year. I recognized the restlessness radiating from
him as an old familiar feeling. Parker was burned out and ready
for a new challenge. I tried to reassure him that he'd be fielding
interview requests in no time. He thanked me and said a family
member in middle Tennessee had been helping him get right-seat
Cessna Citation jobs, some paid, some not. He was going to be using
the downtime to build experience and make himself a better pilot
so he'd be more qualified for any airline
opportunities when those doors opened
again. In Parker's case, waiting didn't
mean stagnation. He was still controlling
the controllables, finding a way to move
forward. I found him sitting in the lobby
later, next to Mr. Bones. Guess what the
note said? " Waiting for the airlines to call. "
My instructor was another one who
tried to teach me the fine art of waiting.
We would call for the fuel truck and
find out we were fifth in line. So, she
would play the old guess how much fuel
it's going to take game. Have you heard
the She Thinks We're Just Fishin' song
by Trace Adkins? Well, my sneaky CFI
was doing something similar. I thought
we were just waiting, killing time. But
she was teaching me about precise fuel
burn, fuel reserves, personal minimums,
and more.
I've been flying for a while now and
office recently to give me a two-week resignation notice. Parker
had nearly reached the 1,500-hour threshold he needed to be eligible
for his ATP certificate and airline job. He had worked his
tail off to get to that number only to find that the airlines weren't
hiring. If you've been in aviation long enough, you know that it's
cyclical, booming to stagnant to booming again, sometimes in the
22
AOPA PILOT / January 2025
haven't gotten any better at waiting than I was when I started.
Some people just never learn. I prefer Brandy's method of dealing
with this frustration. Once you've done all the self-improvement
and embracing the moment stuff, there's only one thing left. Find
the funny. See if you can get
a laugh out of it. I'd call that
waiting well enough.
By the way, Parker
recently sent word that he
has a start date at SkyWest.
The wait is over.
myaviation101.com
NATALIE BINGHAM HOOVER
began flying in 2004. After
corporate and airline work,
she now serves as an FAAdesignated
examiner and chief
flight instructor of a flight
school in Mississippi.
http://www.myaviation101.com
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2025

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