Flight training teaches you how to handle an aircraft.
Decision making teaches you how to control yourself.
I faced that call twice recently, circuits consolidation and my mod check.
Both times, I WANTED to fly. I NEEDED to fly. But I chose NOT TO.
Progress was already waaay behind schedule, and every cancelled sortie felt like another delay I couldn’t afford. But the conditions and my own readiness didn’t line up. That’s when decision-making gets real….when the easy option is to rush, and the right option is to stop.
Circuits Consolidation
It was scheduled just the day before my mod check and that’s what made the decision harder bc It was supposed to be my “final polish” before the check.
ATIS: wind variable 280–330° at 14 knots, max crosswind 18 kt, max tailwind 4 kt on Runway 03
If it had been dual, maybe I’d have gone to up my crosswind limit. But solo? That would’ve been pushing it. Even if i’d departed at pilot discretion, DUTO would’ve called me back once it crept over the solo xw limit.
Part of me still wanted to push it. What if tomorrow’s worse? What if i’m just avoiding discomfort? etc etc all those “what ifs” make perfect sense…until you reckon they’re just ways of justifying bad judgement.
Deep down, I knew it wasn’t going to be training but more like survival flying. So I made the call. No go. It didn’t feel like wisdom at the time, It felt like failure. But walking away that day prolly did more for my judgement than any circuit i could’ve flown.
Mod Check
The next day, it was deja vu.
ATIS: winds variable 220~300° at 20 kt, max crosswind 16 kt on Runway 26
Theory done, preflight done, everything ready…except the weather, and maybe me. And that’s where the internal debate bagan.
Can I fly? Legally and within aircraft limits, yes.
Should I fly? The purpose of this flight is to demonstrate my competency, not a training sortie with a grade 1.
But in these winds, my current skill level won’t support that.
Am I pressured to go because i just wanted to get it done?
If I weren’t stressed about progress, would I still take off?
No. That’s pressure talking, not judgement bruh
What happens if I go anyway?
Best case, I scrape through the check, still uneasy.
Worst case, fail and trigger remedials and damaging my confidence
The cost of rushing is higher than the cost of waiting.
So I called it …. again.
We went back to Mr Caddy’s office, and I explained my reasoning, and rebooked the check. As I said casually, “I just don’t want to rush,” He turned to the whiteboard and wrote
RUSH = Real Ugly Shit Happens
Didn’t say another word. He didn’t need to.
That one stuck because it’s true. Rushed flying looks fine… until it doesn’t.
The Pressure to Push On
When you’re training, especially under a structured programme, the clock feels like it’s always ticking. You start comparing yourself to others, who’s passed, which module they on, and you feel that invisible race closing it. You want to prove progress, to yourself, to your instructors, and to the system.
It’s easy to tell yourself you’ll “manage” the conditions, that you’ll make it work. But that pressure can blur the line between confidence and recklessness. It makes you forget that every check (or even a training sortie) is meant to test competence, not courage.
Progress delayed is recoverable.
Poor judgement isn’t.
Looking Back
I’m still behind my own schedule, but flight training rarely matches your calendar anyways.
But I’m glad I’m a private student, no corporate stopwatch, no cadet spreadsheet, no job waiting at the finish line. Just me, a bleeding wallet, and a weather forecast that never seems to agree with me.
Flight training is brutal. Some days it breaks your confidence before it builds it. For me, the whole mod 2 felt like taking one step forward and five steps back……lasted for months.
But that’s part of the process. You keep showing up, even when it hurts, even when it feels like you’re going nowhere. Because every tear, delay, and no-go day is still one step closer to the pilot you’re trying to become.
NEVERRRRRRRRRRRR GIVE UP.
◃ back