Regaining Confidence: Finding Comfort from the Left Seat

As I mentioned before, I am currently enrolled in a flight instructor course in Canada, and lately, my progress hasn’t been as smooth as I had hoped. Specifically, I’ve been struggling with consistently executing smooth landings. While they meet the required standards, I don’t feel satisfied with them as a demonstration for future students.

I have only accumulated approximately 10 flight hours in the past 12 months, and less than 20 hours over the past 2 years. I believe this lack of flying time may have contributed to a decrease in the precision of my flying.

This challenge has started to shake my confidence in my flying abilities. To address this issue, my instructor and I decided that I would fly from the left seat today to help me regain my comfort and confidence.

The difference has been remarkable! It has brought pure happiness back to my flying experience. I now realize the significant impact the seating position can have. Flying from the left seat feels like being at home – everything is in its rightful place, and the aircraft seems to respond intuitively to my intentions.

It seems that the challenge lies in adapting to new visual references and adjusting ingrained reflexes. However, this realization is encouraging, and I am determined to continue practicing and refining my skills.

It reminds me of my music lessons from long ago – when encountering a particularly difficult part of a composition, repetition and practice were the keys to achieving perfection. If I can master it from the left seat, I am confident I can do the same from the right seat!


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2 responses to “Regaining Confidence: Finding Comfort from the Left Seat”

  1. Danny Avatar
    Danny

    You’re also a musician? I am also a classically trained violinist and I am still perfiorming to this day. Flying and flight training has many sinmilarities to practicing and performing music. I hope to write about this some day.

    1. avtomaton Avatar

      I was playing accordion and guitar, but I have never done it professionally, so I’d say that I am not 🙂 But the idea is really interesting, hopefully you will find time to write about it!

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04/09/2017: My First Flight
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07/15/2019: FAA IR IPC
07/18/2019: FAA CPL SES rating
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