Private Pilot Flight Training and Instruction Flight Training Article Library | Back To 4VFR.COM Pilots Are Special A pilot has overcome his fears. He has replaced superstition with rational thinking and knowledge. It takes a special degree of courage to face your instinctive fears, over come them only the face those things that deserve to be feared. The conquering of these fears must be approached gradually and can be proven to be partially overcome by passing the FAA flight test. To become a pilot one must become a time and energy manager. Finding the time in this day and age requires sacrifice and perseverance. A pilot must forgo immediate pleasures. However, it is difficult to devote study and money into what can only be perceived as an improbable future. As a pilot you become a different person. You have reached down into yourself and found new levels of self-reliance. New heights of confidence and assurance make it possible for you to challenge your teachers. Make them prove to you their way to perform works. You have learned to share responsibility if you must and to take total charge when required. You have confidence in doing those things you know you can do. You are also willing to accept your limitations by not doing those things you are not qualified for. You know what you know with certainty. You accept humbly that there is much you do know and much more may never know. You have learned to replace resignation and panic with planning and anticipation. As a pilot you take care of your physical self just as you take care of your plane. You are moderate in your demands of your peers except when it comes to safety. Humor is a part of your personality. You can find a laugh in the direst of circumstance. The costs, waste, delay, and failures of the system are accepted as a fact of aviation life to be laughed at when there is no other recourse. The joys of flying build with each experience. Experience builds on past experience in an ever-growing pyramid. Confidence builds in your own capability to deal successfully with the present and in anticipation of what the future offers. Flying success is built on faith. You have faith that the design and operation of the engine, the airplane, and all its parts will continue to operate in approved fashion. You have faith that the electronics of the plane and system will provide reliable guidance and communications. You have faith that at the certain speed the airplane will fly and that the runway will be below the wheels even though you cannot see it at touchdown. You have faith in yourself and confidence that what you have planned is both possible but worthy of doing. Together all things built on your faith makes flying the most rewarding individual achievement you will ever have. Written by Gene Whitt Flight Training Article Library | Back To 4VFR.COM