Much better

I flew much better today. I cleaned up everything in my gradebook, but I messed up the break entry to the pattern. We waited for an hour to fly, but eventually got a plane. It was going to be a 3-student sortie, but daylight left wouldn't allow for two contacts to go. My wingman got sent home, so I could catch up. He was one ride ahead of me. We flew the highwork, I took all the IP's techniques and advice to heart for this flight and it served me well. The stall, ditching, and engine cut all went fine. We headed back to the aux field and all the SSE stuff was within limits. In an effort to not get slow on SSE landings I was carrying a little extra power on touchdown, which we fixed as well. On the RTB I was didn't get the flaps and gear down quick enough so we were still high on downwind at the perch. I'll fix that tomorrow.

Short day

After giving the morning brief, I sat through a standup, listened to a couple of war stories courtesy of our resident Eagle driver, checked my gradebook, studied a bit, and then we all left. Only four guys were flying, so we all had nothing to do. I swung by finance and changed my pay to get paid once a month, bought some milk and orange juice, and here I am now, about to get an early start on a much-needed weekend. I might go down to the lake today. It's been too long.

The past week

I like to keep it mostly positive on this blog, but the past week has not been cooperative. My gradebook looks like a bloody mess. It has a line of 5 red boxes filled with U's along the top. Today however, I got a G. I passed my elimination checkride. It came down to one ride. I was reminded of a quote, "The quest stands upon the edge of a knife. Stray but a little and it will fail." Though not entirely accurate, since my fate is in God's hands, I felt myself in quite the precarious position. After failing my Initial Progress Check on Thursday, a weekend of soul searching left me better prepared to take on the challenges ahead and not let them ruin my life on a daily basis. I realized that's what was happening. I was unable to enjoy the fact that I was living the dream. The pressure was getting to me. I'm done with that. All I have is the next flight. I'll make it better than the one before. For any number of reasons my next flight could always be my last. An elimination checkride does not change that. Thankfully I passed today. I'll have some good rides, I'll have some bad rides. I'll have more setbacks, but that won't be the end.