Student Blog

My name is Alicia, and I am a student in the primary program in my third semester here at Mesa Pilot Development.  At the age of 19, I am one of the youngest students in the program right now, and I am in the I2 (third semester) semester. 
It is truly amazing what I have accomplished in the last 9 months.  I came here with no experience in aviation, and they took me from not knowing a thing, to earning my private pilot’s license in four months.  The first semester was really tough for me.  Most people don’t struggle as much as I did, but I was determined to overcome the problem.  It took me forever to learn how to land a plane.  I had a great instructor, but he was very particular on how you should fly a  plane in the traffic pattern.  He would not let me solo until I had everything down perfectly.  My altitude, airspeed, gear, flaps, and radio calls all had to be exact.  Now that I have more experience, I am so grateful that he was so particular on how I did things.  It takes me no time to get everything right on track if I’m too high, or too fast.  I owe my aircraft skills to this point to him, and because of that I am a confident pilot.  I still have my own limitations, like every pilot should, but I feel confident every time I  fly because he made me do things exactly the way they were supposed to be done. If I was in doubt he would not always answer my questions, but he would make me find the answer and made me make the decision on whether or not to go.  He would mentor me if needed, but for the most part, he made me do everything.  This shows you the standards they have here in not only for the students, but everyone involved in the student’s training.  They want good instructors to develop good pilots. 
I can remember my first solo flight.  When he got out of the plane, I looked over to the right seat and realized he was not in the plane.  I got a little nervous, but once I started doing my checklist I completely forgot he was not there and I was not nervous anymore.  I did three full stop landings and it was over!  I almost wished I could have done more because my landings were great!  It does make a difference the first time you land a plane by yourself and there is nobody in the seat next to you. 
The next phase I went through that made me uneasy was the cross country stage.  It did not bother me to do a cross country with my instructor, but the first time I did it by myself I was terribly nervous!  After my instructor looked at my flight plan and checked the weather, he signed me off and said, “Have fun!”  Can you imagine handing the keys of an aircraft over to a 19 year old student pilot to fly around the southwest by herself?  Once again when I started doing my checklists I was not nervous anymore.  I opened my flight plan up right away, and got right on with Denver center to have flight following.  I told the woman on the radio that it was my first solo cross country and she said, “No worries!”  The flight went great!  I nailed all my checkpoints, times, and the ride was smooth the whole way. 
I have had one bad experience here, but because of the good training they have, I did not panic and I did what I was supposed to do and everything went fine.  I was on a solo cross country from Farmington, New Mexico to Canyon Lands, Utah and then over to Page, Arizona and back to Farmington.  Between Canyon Lands and Page I got lost.  I did not admit right away that I was lost because I wanted to figure it out, but the more time that went by, the more and more I was unsure of myself.  When you get lost, or think you are lost you are supposed to Climb, Circle, Conserve, and Confess.  I did not climb because the clouds were lower that day and I couldn’t.  I did not circle because I was sure that I had identified a mountain that was on my sectional (Aviator’s Map) and I wanted to keep going.  I conserved fuel, and called up Salt Lake Center and told them the situation.  The gentleman that answered my call acted on it right away.  He asked me all of my information about my flight and then asked me where I thought I was.  He said he had flown that route a million times, and simply told me to describe what I was seeing outside!  He knew exactly where I was and told me to follow the dirt road that was off my left wing.  He said, “Follow the dirt road until you get to the lake, and then the airport should be to the left of the lake.”  He stayed with me the whole time and made it seem like he was in the plane with me.  He constantly reminded me that I was doing great, and not to panic.  At one time his microphone became stuck and he thought he had lost radio contact with me.  I heard him say, “Oh, no!” and then he realized what had happened and said, “Are you still there?”  Of course right away I told him yes, and he said, “Good to hear!”  The funny thing was in the back ground  I heard cheering and people yelling, “Yay!”  Apparently the whole center knew what was going on and were all concerned with my situation.  It truly makes you feel good to have people that care, and believe me, all Air Traffic Controllers care.  Everybody wants everybody else to be safe while flying.  Safety is the most important thing and they cannot stress that enough here at Mesa Pilot Development.  Not only do you go over safety procedures every time you fly, but once a month they have safety meetings that all students attend. 
Now that I am in the third semester I have flown home a few times to see my parents.  They have a hard time believing it is me when they see me off in the distance when I am coming in to land.