Something that Bob can’t teach me.

Between them Bob and RTH have taught me so much. More than I ever dreamt possible. Bob has somehow managed to take an uncoordinated hippo and have her fly a plane reasonably safely on her own, albeit lacking a little finesse sometimes. Between the two of them they’ve gotten me to a stage where I can actually formulate a plan of action when flying, whereas at the beginning Bob couldn’t get me to formulate two syllables. After our flight to Lindsay though, it has become readily apparent that I don’t have something that RTH does and I’m not sure if Bob can ever teach me this. It’s an unwavering belief in his own abilities.

I don’t mean that RTH is cocky or arrogant, just that he knows what he can do and therefore has no problem doing it. He’s never been to Lindsay before; never really done an uncontrolled airport like this either and yet it didn’t bother him unduly. He took a quick glance at the chart. It seems (to him) reasonably easy to get to (peninsular in lake points pretty much at it). The weather was pretty sweet. So no problem. I don’t mean that he’s complacent. He checked the info he needed to, quick glance to make sure no NOTAMS etc. and as far as he was concerned off we go.

I’m thinking over logistics like “where will we park the plane?” and RTH is sure we will figure out something when we get there.  Even on approach when we overflew the field to come back round for our descent to join mid downwind, I admitted to him that I lost site of the airport in our turn, “yeah so have I,” he admitted, “it’s around here somewhere though.”

I will NEVER ever have that degree of casual confidence, confidence in my own abilities, confidence that it’ll all be alright somehow. I envy RTH that; it makes him a strong, steady presence in the cockpit and a joy to fly with. I think I will always be an awkward sweaty mess. I just don’t think that this is a lesson that Bob can teach me.