What it takes to be a pilot

When I first started flying, I used to say the word scary alot. The thing is, you must never utter it after a certain stage. I used this word to describe stalls. A stall is essentially a maneuver where you are practicing landing or taking off at 3000ft above the ground. In this maneuver, you purposely pitch the plane upwards so that it exceeds its angle of attack leading to a situation where the plane suddenly sinks. The plane in this maneuver is not stable at all, and without proper usage of rudder pedals, you will go into a spin. A spin is exactly what it sounds like: falling to the ground while making figure-eights in the air. Scary right? Well, that is how I felt in the beginning, when I still did not even know the difference between ailerons and flaps. When I told my flight instructor that stalls were scary, he looked at me like I was crazy. His exact words were, “No they're not. If you think they're scary, you won’t be able to advance in your flight training.” He was right. If you let fear create a barrier between you and success, you have already failed. I did stalls yesterday, and the ease I did them along with the calm I felt while executing the maneuver felt incredible. You will get past your fears if you have what it takes.