Congratulations to Stine Angen from Trondheim,Norway who recently passed her PPL after only four weeks of training.
During that period of time she flew 45 hours of training and passed all her ground school subjects and skill test.
This was especially remarkable when you understand her initial introduction to flight training.
Four years ago Stine booked some lessons in Kissimee Florida,she was hoping to gain her PPL,sadly she had a difficult time there and after 30 hours of being "flown around" by an instructor ( she was never allowed to actually use the controls,the radio or to see a map).
She left the school in tears after being told by the president of the Aero club that "flying was not for her" and "as she was staying in a cheap hotel she may want to use her remaining money on a better hotel rather than wasting it on flying"
As one might expect this experience had caused her to lose confidence in herself,however she still had a burning ambition to fly, encouraged by her family,she decided to give it one more try,after her father had read of some of the success stories on the Franco Flyers blog.
After we had discussed her previous training, I related to her a similar story which had happened to me about ten years ago.
Twenty years ago I took my PPL and night rating followed by an FAA IR.After completing that training I had a burning desire to pass my commercial licence and to become an Instructor.
However, life is not always predictable and I subsequently went through a divorce which completely curtailed my ambition of working in aviation. In fact with four children to support I could only afford to fly enough hours each year to enable me to keep my licence valid.
Many years passed, then I had a serious horse accident, the subsequent injuries caused me to be unable to walk for three years.
Finally owing to my injuries, I had the time to study so I used this forced confinement to study the CPL by correspondence course, with the help of my original PPL instructor Phil Matthews( Cotswold Aero Club) who received many plea's from me by fax "help I do not understand this question".
After passing the 16 ground examinations ( the hardest work I had ever done in my life) I was ready to commence my training for the flying part of the CPL licence.
I arrived at the commercial school full of joy and enthusiasm, sadly this did not last as I became more and more nervous, it seemed that my instructor did not teach me,he expected me to know everything and just chastised me if things were not going to his plan.
After ten hours of "training" I had become a complete nervous wreck and I found that even the task of speaking normally on the radio ( which previously had never been a problem to me) was becoming a a nightmare I was not good enough to pass a PPL never mind a CPL.
I had lost confidence in myself.!
I was not making any progress at all, and after another disastrous lesson my instructor asked me to come into his office where he imparted the soul destroying words "you are wasting your time and money, you will never pass the CPL or become an instructor , why don't you just enjoy your PPL".
I am sure that my readers will understand the feeling of utter devastation that I felt upon hearing those words.
I returned to my PPL school in floods of tears and was informed by everyone in the club that they were supporting me and I could make it!
I cannot describe the feeling of depression that lasted for days after I had been dismissed from this school as I had thought of nothing else except obtaining this CPL licence for over three years.
However I am not someone who just gives up, life as an amateur steeplechase jockey had taught me that.
Luckily, I was introduced to Tizzie Hodson she was a CPL/IR instructor at Oxford Flight training (Gloucester ) who upon hearing my story told me "that there are no bad students only bad instructors."
She suggested that we go for a flight together and afterwards if she felt that I was not good enough she would tell me the ugly truth about my flying skills and future prospects.
We took a Slingsby Firefly Aircraft ( which I had never flown previously) and she threw me around in various aerobatic manoeuvres (which I hated) then she turned the plane around several times and said "take me back to Gloucester". I had no trouble doing this and surprisingly I spoke on the radio without any problem,we arrived at the field and I touched down gently on the runway without any problems and at that moment I felt totally calm and positive, I was no longer a "bag of nerves".
Tizzie's words to me were " you are much better than most of my current students I will take you on"
I subsequently passed the CPL and the Instructor rating without any further problem.nHowever I have never forgotten her words about bad instructors and I vowed that I would always give confidence to students no matter how difficult they found the task of learning to fly.
Within a very short time Stine was soon relaxed and happy and enjoying solo circuits at Limoges, followed by her qualifying cross country flight.I was so proud of her as she was improving and gaining confidence every single day.
She joined Matt and I on our flight to Cannes this gave her untold confidence and knowledge.
Upon our return home we did some revision work and soon it was the day of the skill test.
I listened to her calm voice on the radio prior to the flight and I was filled with happiness.
In fact after passing her skill test the examiner Mike Grierson told me she was a "natural" pilot.
Sadly too many students never obtain their dreams owing to the situations as described above.
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