Most Difficult Parts of Flight Training/Flying
During my training, I found some things more difficult than others. Although most things just came naturally to me, I found that I needed a little more practice with landings, radio communications, procedures, and just getting some butterflies out of my system.
When I first started training, I would write down every radio call on a notepad so I could practice reciting them and responding to ATC. However, the more I learned, the more nervous I got about making calls; I didn’t want to make a mistake. But after a while, I eventually became more fluent at making calls, and even today, I find myself reciting the call to myself before I put it on air.
Another item that took me a while to nail was landings. I could land the plane every time, but I was missing something that would elevate my landings to the next level. So I watched videos and practiced chair flying at home, going over the speeds around the pattern while working in incremental flaps. But I really nailed it when I realized I would pull power to idle once I was over the runway, and I decided to keep a little bit of power until right before I entered ground effect, which leveled up my landings from good to great.
Memory items were always something I had to really study to keep procedures fresh in my head, and I felt that no matter how many times I looked at them, I would always forget one thing. But that was until I started using acronyms to remember important procedures.
And even with all my hours, I still get some butterflies in my stomach. Unfortunately, I have not figured out how to get rid of them totally, but I have learned to manage them so I don't lose focus on flying the airplane, but just enough so I never get too comfortable.
