Day 3 - A Rainy Night In Georgia

"Hoverin' by my suitcase, tryin' to find a warm place to spend the night..." Well the suitcase is really a flight bag, but close enough. A great song, either way. It's been wet and miserable most of the day, and that doesn't just apply to the weather.
I've spent much of the day trying to figure out what to do. I'm terribly concerned about the future, and should have been so long before now. I find myself in a situation that I do not enjoy, with a goal that seems more and more out of reach with each passing day. I have little faith in the educational environment here, as we have already covered. Once again, we wasted much of the day. Lewis and I reported to the airport as ordered, long before any effort took place to teach us anything. Efforts were finally underway at about 3 pm, with a rather informative lecture on the specific characteristics of multi-engine aircraft. Fortunately (or unfortunately, however you want to look at it), the staff's attention was brought to the fact that Lewis and I are being "neglected." As a result of this, a tremendous amount of self-study was assigned to us. This might not be an issue, were it not for the fact that we were kept at the airport until nearly 10 pm with no supper break. We did, at least, get a little sim time again tonight. Unfortunately, the gentleman that was granted unto us by spinning the Wheel of Instructors was terribly crass and unpleasant. Amazingly, I was inclined to be terribly crass and unpleasant in return. Go figure.
We've still yet to fly, and the checkride still looms. The flight that we had anticipated tommorow has been cancelled. This is due to the fact that no one is available to fly with us. The person who had been working with us intermittently in addition to his own primary duties, will be absent for the remainder of the week, and our primary instructor will be absent during the weekend. They are, however, going to try to get other instructors to work with us when they're not busy with their own students. How considerate. Checkrides aside, I'm terribly concerned by the pace and lack of substance involved here. I feel as if we are being made into fast-food pilots; rapidly and haphazardly prepared with questionable quality. Equally troubling to me is what the future holds. Regardless of whether or not I choose to stay this course or pick an alternate one, one simple question remains: Now what??? The airlines aren't hiring, pilot jobs aren't falling from the sky, and I really want to know what happens to me then? Viva la soup line! I know nothing in life is guaranteed, it's just tough to sail knowingly into uncharted waters.
As for the opening line of today's entry: I'm not sleeping well at night for various reasons. They keep it terribly cold, and if one didn't know any better he would truly believe that a moose was being tortured in the bed across the room. The snoring is absolutely unbearable. I've not slept more than two hours consecutively since I've been here. Thus, I plan to start sleeping at the airport. I can think of more comfortable conditions, but least I'll be alone. There's basically a closet with a cot in it at the office for visiting flight crews, and I believe I'm going to take up residence there so that I can get away from the predictably obnoxious Maverick, and his moody counterpart Iceman. They're currently swilling beer in the living room, and watching what appears to be a romantic comedy together. I can hear them through a closed door and over the movie I currently have playing in my headphones. I'm really starting to wonder about them. On the plus side, I met my fourth roommate today. He's a super nice guy from Ghana. I found out why I never see him at the apartment - He can't stand Tom and Val either.

At risk of depressing the audience, it's business as usual here. I keep thinking that it will get better, but it gets worse by the minute. I may try to do at least a little reading before I go to bed, so with that, I will close. On tap for tommorow: figure out what to do with my life. See ya then, same bat time, same bat channel.


Joey