Page 2 - Dear aviator...

Foreword

Dear aviator,

It is very likely that you are reading the wrong book.

If you are reading this thinking that it will give you an idea of how to get through
training and how to pass your exams and flight tests and get yourself into a paying
job as quickly as possible then let me set the record straight: I am a freshly minted
commercial pilot with two years’ experience in aviation. If you think that that
makes me somewhat of an expert you definitely need to do some more research.

Seriously though, there are plenty of very good books, web series, blogs and vlogs
and fora managed by legitimate experts that you should read and watch; I’ll include
a list of some of the ones I use in the reference section.

So “what is the purpose of this guide?” I hear you ask. Its purpose is twofold: on
one hand it is cathartic. It is designed as a tool for myself to debrief and
decompress these past two years in order to gain a fresh perspective of my journey
from zero experience to a Commercial Pilot’s Licence with Multi Engine Class
Rating. In turn I am hoping that by doing this I will be able to gain some insight
into what I’ll be doing next as I progress towards finding a place within the
industry. As a by-product of this self-analysis (some might say over-analysis) I am
also hoping to create a narrative which may prove useful to someone who, like me,
became interested later in life in engaging with some sort of career change in order
to replace the deck of cards they were dealt and wishing to challenge themselves
with something new and unexpected such as aviation. The usefulness of this guide
is not inherent in its content; it is not intended to contain advice or tips and tricks;
those are all things that are meant to be discovered during the journey, including
the inevitable pitfalls and disappointments. The journey, as it were, would be
incomplete if everything flowed flawlessly and there were no negative experiences.
Hence, its usefulness lies in the short period between your decision to look into
pilot training and the choosing of your flight school, while your feet are still firmly
planted on the ground but your mind is starting to test the fantasy of flight. The
content stems from the mental processes that I found myself going through and
which might inspire similar - or completely different - processes in the mind of you
the reader. As far as I’m concerned, if these pages will inspire you to stop a while
and think about where you are in life, where you would like to go and what you are
prepared to do to get there, then I will consider it a success.

In broader terms, rather than an account of the course as the progressive
acquisition of proficiency in a technical skill, it is an attempt to acknowledge
aviation training as a deeply human experience; it has a lot more to do with
“feelings” and “sensations” than it has to do with hard facts and technical know-
how. I would like to show in what way the human spirit can guide you through this
extremely rewarding path.

1