to be perfect

[bamair]

well i did my mock stage check ride today, my CFI said it was good but in his exact words "he wants to repeat the lesson just so he can feel a little bit more comfortable, and he knows he's being really really hard on me but he wants me to be perfect for my stage check" and from reading what everyone posted last night, I don't think its fair that if the flight went well and i'm showing lots of improvment on my manuvers and have progressed enough to move on to my stage check...all of my manuevers are with in the academies standards i'm within 200ft of assigned altitude 10 degrees of assigned heading and within airspeed of +or- 10kts with only haveing appx 15hrs on the books etc...why should we have to repeat the lesson to make him feel better??-----in my mind i'm thinking i have to pay for another flight to re-do everything to have my instructor build more confidence in me, if I have it and he instilled it in me shouldn't he already have it in me aswell????. The reason why I think this is because when my flights sucked, not only do I know that and I have that feeling but he has NO probelm telling me that they sucked, and today wasnt the case, it was good but just one more time....like everyone said this is more of his check ride from the cheif pilot to make sure hes teaching me right and I'm learning from him right!

am I in the wrong or am I in the right in this situation????  :P

[Mobius]

One thing I learned during training is that you should never be satisfied with how you do.  +/-200 ft, 10kts, and 10 degrees is good, but I believe for the checkride you need +/-100 ft, 5 kts, and I don't know compass heading, but still, imagine flying under control of ATC or in IFR conditions, they want you to be very close to where you have to be so they can make assumptions of where you will be for sequencing and seperation purposes.  It sounds like your doing fine though, I wouldn't worry too much, you will start to get more of a "feel" for it.  

Also, if this is a check-ride to see if you're being taught right, I can see why your CFI would want you to do very well on it, so I would just say give it your best, and you should do fine.

[beaky]

well i did my mock stage check ride today, my CFI said it was good but in his exact words "he wants to repeat the lesson just so he can feel a little bit more comfortable, and he knows he's being really really hard on me but he wants me to be perfect for my stage check" and from reading what everyone posted last night, I don't think its fair that if the flight went well and i'm showing lots of improvment on my manuvers and have progressed enough to move on to my stage check...all of my manuevers are with in the academies standards i'm within 200ft of assigned altitude 10 degrees of assigned heading and within airspeed of +or- 10kts with only haveing appx 15hrs on the books etc...why should we have to repeat the lesson to make him feel better??-----in my mind i'm thinking i have to pay for another flight to re-do everything to have my instructor build more confidence in me, if I have it and he instilled it in me shouldn't he already have it in me aswell????. The reason why I think this is because when my flights sucked, not only do I know that and I have that feeling but he has NO probelm telling me that they sucked, and today wasnt the case, it was good but just one more time....like everyone said this is more of his check ride from the cheif pilot to make sure hes teaching me right and I'm learning from him right!

am I in the wrong or am I in the right in this situation????  :P

Without having been there, we can't say for sure who's wrong (only getting your version), but I will suggest you see if you can't compromise: find out more about where you were unsatisfactory and maybe the "re-do" can be a shorter flight. They should be able to give you specifics, assuming you weren't getting comments during the flight.
But if you still get a vague answer, consider that maybe they want you to think about the last flight very carefully, and make up your own mind about what was not quite right.
 This sort of thing has happened to me: the CFI is very quiet one day; says nothing negative but nothing positive.
 It's sort of a test of your judgement, I think.
Final prep for solo flight is a tense time for everybody, including your CFI. If you really shine on your stage check, you may find your CFI agrees with you more often later, as you move into advanced stuff... so why not try to make it even sharper?
 Yes, you will have to pay for the review time, but the money will still be a problem if you say "enough!" and go off to some other CFI or some other school: the reviewing, the fees, etc. You're not exactly stuck, but you may be best off hanging in there and worrying less about time and money.

[Boss_BlueAngels]

Anyone can do something good once.  Maybe he is just looking for consistancy.  I've been in the same place, but I just went on with it.  Worked out to great in the end.

Try not to keep over-analizing everything.  Just let what happens happen.   We certainly don't mind giving advice and trying to help you out... but there is a lot that you need to just do and get through on your own.  This may be what adds so much stress, always asking if everything is OK or not.  And in the end it doesn't matter... you'll get through it just fine.  


Mobius... he doesn't mean checkride... he means stage check.... ride.  lol  I kept getting confused on that too... I've always just called 'em stage checks.  

[Mobius]

Yeah, I know, but I didn't know what else to call it, I guess I don't remember ever having a "stage-check", but I'm not near my logbook to check it out.  I just didn't know what to call it, oh well.

Out of curiosity, what is a stage check?  I know a couple of flights before I took my check-ride, I took two flights with another instructor from the FBO, just to get another CFI's opinion on whether or not I was ready to take my final check-ride.  But other than that, I didn't really take any other rides with any other CFI's or anything like that.

Thanks, and sorry to hi-jack the thread, dial in 7500, and report me.

[beaky]

Yeah, I know, but I didn't know what else to call it, I guess I don't remember ever having a "stage-check", but I'm not near my logbook to check it out.  I just didn't know what to call it, oh well.

Out of curiosity, what is a stage check?  I know a couple of flights before I took my check-ride, I took two flights with another instructor from the FBO, just to get another CFI's opinion on whether or not I was ready to take my final check-ride.  But other than that, I didn't really take any other rides with any other CFI's or anything like that.

Thanks, and sorry to hi-jack the thread, dial in 7500, and report me.

What you're describing is sort of a stage-check; any flight where another CFI evaluates your progress can be though of as a stage-check.

[bamair]

yea thats my problem i'm a little to hard on myself...you hit it on the T...my flight instructor says the same thing "I NEED TO STOP ASKING IS THIS OKAY AND TRUST MYSELF" and stop stressing myself out.also about the consistency I never thought of that..brain fart there...shines a whole new light on everything now ....i just like venting to you guys so full of wisdom and encouragment and its always fun to read what you write  ;D LOL
THANKS AGAIN !!!  8)



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[Boss_BlueAngels]

LOL  

The only reason I was somewhat hard on you in my last response is because there was a point I was doing the same thing... except even worse, to the point I had to take some time off from flying.  (*cough-cough* for 9 months)


Being hard on yourself is part of the game here.  The other part is trusting your instructor, easier said than done.  None of them will set you up for failure... afterall... it's their signature on the forms too!

I'm not even going to tell you good luck, I'm just going to say HAVE FUN!!  Once you get that plane strapped on training will kick in and next thing you know you'll be done with your FIRST stage check!!  

[beaky]

yea thats my problem i'm a little to hard on myself...you hit it on the T...my flight instructor says the same thing "I NEED TO STOP ASKING IS THIS OKAY AND TRUST MYSELF" and stop stressing myself out.also about the consistency I never thought of that..brain fart there...shines a whole new light on everything now ....i just like venting to you guys so full of wisdom and encouragment and its always fun to read what you write  ;D LOL
THANKS AGAIN !!!  8)
.

Yeah, it's easy to get obsessed with moving forward, but consistency is what they're looking for in a PP applicant.
They know all too well how easy it is to lose that edge, and how intolerant of error flying can be  sometimes. Leaving you alone with your thoughts is an effective way to determine that, after a certain point.
BUT: rather than start being too hard on yourself, just look at your current skill set, ask yourself "Am I doing this or that well enough, and consistently so?" and you'll probably realize you have every reason to be relaxed and confident. If something's wrong, focus on fixing it, rather than being down on yourself about it.