Cool at last!

Yes dear blogees, after what seems like an eternity I have finally finished my flight training and taken my pilot skill test. What makes this a happy blog is that I passed first time, with the result that I am now a qualified pilot. Well, I’m properly qualified to fly a single engine piston aircraft with passengers, as long as I pay my fair share of the costs of flying the aircraft. Flying professionally requires an upgrade to a commercial licence and, understandably, a fair amount of experience.

I have no idea how I passed, since I flew worse than I think I’ve flown for a long time. Indeed, I think I answered the examiner’s question of how I thought it had gone with the un-PC answer “let’s face it, I flew like a spaz.” It takes nearly three hours of flying before getting the news of pass or spaz, which can feel like dragging out the agony if you're convinced you've already messed up. Apparently what saved me was my own recognition of spazzy behaviour and timely correction of errors (one of which was kind of the equivalent of driving on the wrong side of the road). Hell, I was nervous. Give me a break. Who could have imagined that muttering "arse" under one's breath could have such positive results? Apparently it made it clear that I'd spotted errors and could correct them. A positive side of my quasi-Tourettes manners!

As one “friend” recently told me, I’m not exactly a geek, because geeks have a certain odd anti-charismatic charm. No, I am one level below geekiness ; languishing in the nadir of social existence that is nerddom. Well, I’m now a nerd with wings, which I think makes me passably cool and might even drag me up to geek status. To support the nerd diagnosis however, immediately I got home, I laminated the pass certificate and put it on my fridge before celebrating with a coffee but no champagne. OK, I’m a nerd and I should stop trying.