What did I learn in school today?

Does that question sound familiar?

Well I wish I could say today I learned how to handle a cross wind landing, or I learned how to start the engine after it was over primed, or I learned how to handle being extended downwind… but today - I am wonder …’what did I learn today?”

It may be that the lesson learned today was that there are days that are not conducive to learning… well that seems pretty obvious and easy to say when like two weeks ago I had arranged what seemed to be an ideal flight schedule with some extra sessions in the morning only to have those all cancelled due to unusual weather conditions at San Carlos. It was pretty easy to rationalize the decision not to fly.

It was nearly the same situation last week, when with gusting winds, it was pretty obvious that those days are not meant for learning. Now throw in a planned weekend away to celebrate my brother’s Birthday and it seems I am trying to remember when did I actually fly last??? So today should be a good day to get things back on track. Even stacking the odds by starting an hour earlier is going to make it a good day for flying. Arriving at the airport and getting the wind conditions proves my point, winds from 310/320… heh, those are good winds! Nearly right down the runway… so this is going to be a good day to get back on track. But how comes things are just not feeling right? Why am I not able to consistently fly the plane? Why or why? Well in the end it seems like there is this internal force to push through these inconsistencies but obviously in hindsight today wasn’t a good learning day. Why? Who knows… I may never know… but maybe what I learned today is despite the high expectations and the desire to get back on track, making a decision to not fly is hard to do when logic screams that the conditions are not that “bad”… but making that decision quicker and moving on is the smarter choice.

Whew!.... glad I got this off of my chest.....