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Thursday, June 01, 2006 

CPL IR NT Rating (The Preparation)

Passed. That't the only thing that's going through my mind right now. I'm sitting in my cleaned out room with only my laptop left unpacked. The slow warmth of fatigue is just setting in.

I finished a very messy last sortie with my instructor on the 30th of May. My procedures were off, my radio calls were messy and other than being within flying tolerances, every other aspect was messy. I came down frustrated with myself. Knowing well enough that I could do better and have done much better. As my instructor walked into the debriefing room, he looked at me and shook his head. I prepared myself to hear him tell me that we have to repeat this sortie, which would mean I'll be staying here for another week or so. He sat in front of me, looked at me for awhile as I sat there in front of him dejectedly.

"Well, your flight test is tomorrow." he said.Stunned, I kept quiet.

"I know that you know all there is to know. It's just that you need a push to excel, to grab the ball. I don't know, maybe you should drink coffee before your flight....wake you up a bit. So since you need a bit of a shock, your flight test is tomorrow, I've talked to the CFI and he's put you up at nine a.m. tomorrow. Go and ask him the route you'll be doing."

I got the route at seven p.m. I couldn't sleep that night. Locked the door to my room. Set the alarm to four in the morning and shut my eyes at nine that night. My mind kept playing every scenario that could happen for the flight the next day. In the dark, I checked my phone and saw it was past midnight. Several more thoughts raced through my head and the next thing I knew, my alarm was blaring away.

Washed my face, coffee mug in hand, I began preparing for the flight. Reviewing procedures, calculating the winds, calculating times, drift allowances, planning contingency plans, and just plain pouring over a visual map to make sure I knew the ground features to heart.

By seven thirty and my third cup of coffee, I was ready.