Burn Out

I am sitting at home, in front of my computer, wasting time on the internet when I should be flying. It's dark out and I should be working on my night rating right now. But I'm not. Why? I'm not sure. The desire to fly is not there. Actually, that is not true, I want to fly, I just don't want to train.



When I was working on my private licence, I was desperate to finish. The freedom to fly by myself, whenever I wanted, was enough to push me through the doldrums of flight training. Tired or not, I was running out the door for my flight lesson, because every hour I spent training got me just a little closer to my PPL and the ability to fly unsupervised. Now, however, I've got my PPL so I can fly whenever I want (during the day, hence needing to work on my night rating), with whomever I want (as long as it's one person and not a very large one at that), wherever I want (within the very low powered limits of the Fargo). This makes running out the door for a flight lesson much less motivating. Actually, I can't even seem to motivate myself to pick up the phone and call my instructor to set up a lesson, nevermind make it to one that's already been planned.



I guess you could say, I'm burned out. I pushed myself pretty hard during my private licence, so now, I just want to enjoy myself. Fly for the fun of it. And what's worse, when I go up on my own to play around or take someone for a little sightseeing, I fly better than when I take up an instructor. The moment I know someone's not monitoring my heading and airspeed (not to mention everything else), I seem to keep it steadier than ever. Then I end up feeling completely relaxed and contented by the time I've tied down my plane and walked away from the airport. Something that doesn't seem to happen after a lesson.



I wonder if this is the case with everyone or if it's just because I have my own plane on which I trained and now fly. If I was simply signed up for a commercial program and lessons were the only opportunity to fly, I'd probably appreciate them a great deal more. I used to say that purchasing your own plane and training on it was the best way to get your licence. In fact, I wondered how people without an airplane managed since they couldn't go fly and improve whenever they wanted once they'd gotten that coveted pilot's licence (well, they can, it just costs a great deal more). But now, I'm not so sure. I still think every pilot should have a plane at their disposal to use any time the weather is perfect for a flight (or not so perfect but good enough) and I do actually feel sorry for those who don't. However, having my own plane has allowed me to fly without the supervision of a school and it's really hard to go back to the "student life" again. It's like I've had the best spring break ever (or seeing as it's September I guess summer holiday would work just as well) and have to leave the sun and fun for books and teachers. Who knew getting my commercial licence would make me feel like a kid again.