In a year's time

Today marks a full year since A started his training.

I can't believe how far A has come. When we came here, he had 0 flight time and no licenses. Now, he's got all the licenses, nearly (19 hrs to go) 500 hrs tt, had 20 of 22 students pass their own exams and is a well regarded instructor here at the school. It's been a hard road, but I am so proud. It's taken a bit longer than we both anticipated, admittedly. We both thought that by now he have that coveted FO job. With all the year has brought, we've been slowed down by a few months, but still steadily on course. And most importantly, a)our family hasn't fallen apart and b)we haven't gone completely broke. Any year in which those two things don't happen can pretty much be counted on as a good one I guess.

This week A is taking the regional jet transition course. It is very intensive and he's been putting in even more hours at class than he did as an instructor. I didn't think it was possible, but it is. He's there at 8:30 am to study, ground school and then sim from 7-11pm. Luckily he was home this morning to kill the cockroach that appeared in our shower. Can't say the man is never there for me when I need him...

I have to give the teachers of this class some credit for taking extra time with him to make sure he gets through. He wanted to take the class 2 or so weeks ago when one of his friends was taking it. But they said 3 days prior was too late to sign up b/c he wouldn't have time to study the pre-course materials. So he signed up for the class this week. And they forgot to mail him the materials until 3 days prior to class. The notes say that you should plan to spend about 40 hrs studying prior to class. Well obviously that didn't happen. His teacher is helping him cram and from what A reports, he is doing as well as everyone else in the class. As stressed as he is about this class, he had better be. He is so worried that we will get angry at him for not being here. As if...

I noticed that one of the things the school told him to get ready for an interview is a copy of the marriage certificate. I'm questioning this. I can see needing one as proof of marriage when applying for benefits, but for an interview? As far as I know, it's illegal to discriminate against a person on the basis of marriage. It's illegal to even ask about it in an interview. Although I doubt some hopeful FO is going to stand up in an interview and announce that what they are doing is illegal if they are in fact asking for marriage info. He'll shut up and hope he gets the job. I'm having A investigate further why one would need this.

Got a burning question for me? Ask away.

Burnout

A has hit a critical phase- burnout. I can tell b/c when he comes home he doesn't talk about his students and his day, he just wants to crash and sleep. With the intense schedule he's been keeping, I'm not surpised. But he only has 25 more hours to go. His good friend is coming to FL to start the program and he'll spend 10 of those hours with him, which will be good for them both. I'm glad we are almost at the end (and sincerely hope that we are almost at the end). I can't imagine having to keep on this for another 100+ hours!

I know it's been hard for him to see several friends leave for airline jobs and to have passed on the chance to have a job already while he's been waiting for his preferred airline. I know he's tired of incompetent students who throw him under the bus when they don't know something during a check-ride, harried schedules, being overworked and not being able to take care of personal things. Of his guilt for not spending more time with his family (which, if you've been reading this blog you will know, is self-imposed).

I called him on his procrastination the other night. It wasn't pretty, but it wasn't horrible either. I told him it wasn't fair to us to use us as his excuse if he failed b/c he hadn't really applied himself. There is so much he needs to study- airline regs, gouges, prep for the jet course, ATP and AGI stuff- that he doesn't do any of it and instead says he can't because we need him. It's hard for him b/c he is overwhelmed and feels the pressure to succeed and doesn't want me to be angry with him. It's hard for me to be so helpless and unable to make things easier for him.

I have faith that this too shall pass in a matter of weeks.

Today is...

my birthday. And A will be spending the evening in the sim with his study buddy doing prep work for the jet transistion class he'll be taking in a few weeks. Such is life, it's no big deal. Surely not to be the last time this happens. At least he's in the same city this year.

Patience is being tested again. A's flight school called him out of the blue and asked him to tell me to submit my resume. So I did. Haven't heard anything back yet though. Patience is sooooo not my virtue. I've turned into a compulsive email checker and that's a horrible trait as well.

More wisdom

I was procrastinating at work the other day (hey, at least I'm honest...) and was reading some other blogs. I came across one at JTrain 609's Blog titled Why Pilots Want To Move On So Badly, all about why flight instructors are in such a hurry to move up to the airlines. The lure of health insurance and free flight calls to us all... It's here

In other news, the school raised the instructor pay by $200/month and increased some of the bonuses available. We just found out that they are now also paying $5/hour during instructional flight time. Great news for us; increased income always is.

Cool stuff

A got to train someone famous. Everytime they went to lunch, people recognized the guy. He appreciated that A knew of him, but wasn't that into what the guy did; he was tired of people talking about it. He was a nice guy and invited A to fly with him in his new Cirrus soon. And of course A got him through his check ride with flying colors.