"but it wouldn't be nothing without a woman or a girl..."

What do you do if you're interested in something?
Google.
I'm a huge fan of doing random Google Image searches.  So while I was contemplating this post, I thought I'd do a search for "female pilot".

One of the first few pictures I found was this beauty:

This picture is now my desktop background, and I wish I could find a print of it and get it framed and stuck on my wall.  I then scrolled down the page a little way and found this gem...

Sigh.  This is the sort of thing that makes me want to bang my head against a wall.  I suppose it's no worse than all of the ridiculous female driver jokes, but it really fits what seems to be my theme of the week.  Females in aviation who aren't flight attendants are pretty thin on the ground and thin in the air.  In my class at the college there are two girls, and that's a big number, considering one of the previous classes had almost thirty students and only one girl.

The OFC has always been very welcoming to me, and for the most part it certainly seems like women are accepted.  The comfortable atmosphere and general friendliness is something I love most about my flying club.  I have endured a bit of good-natured teasing from my classmates which is, for the most part, no big deal.  However, I have also encountered some more surprising and backwards attitudes.  For example; on our first day of classes one other student told me that every time I fly I could stick a pink star on the tail of the plane, and then in the same conversation asked me to hem his pants.  Not too bad at all really, mostly just the kind of thing you roll your eyes at and laugh a bit.  Perhaps suggest it was time for the mama's boy to cut the apron strings.  But then I've also had few sincere "What, you train here?!" comments followed by considerable laughter, AND have been told by another student that he would be nice to me when he was the Captain and I was still the flight attendant.  

I had a discussion with another student a week or so on the subject of families.  The student was surprised to learn that I hope to have a family one day, but continue to be a pilot.  I'm not sure if he thought I intended this to be a hobby or not, but he seemed to think it a tall order to hope that I may one day find a man who would be happy for me to continue in my dream career, despite having the family I also hope for.  However when I turned the question on him, he didn't seem to find it at all strange that he should one day have a wife to stay at home with his children while he travels the world.

Many things are noticeably geared towards men.  Like our uniforms, for example.  I bought a selection of the "ladies" size of the shirts, and they STILL made me look like I was wearing a sack.  I had to have them taken in so I wouldn't look quite so ridiculous. 

Every so often, even the Instructors will drop in the odd boys club kind of joke.  Not two days ago we were learning about the VOR in ground school and the instructor presented us with a mnemonic.  "TICS".  It stands for "Tune in the VOR code, Identify the morse code, Check the VOR, and Select a heading.".

'Except I use test instead of check,' said the instructor.  "Haha, see what I did there?"

My response was to start singing the chorus of "It's a Man's Man's Man's World", which had been stuck in my head and seemed fitting.

Things like that aren't necessarily harmful, but they do represent outdated ideals.  I'm not one to go on a crazed feminist rant and denounce men as pigs who just want to keep women down.  I'm a girly girl.  I almost always have my nails painted, I like for my hair to look nice, and My Instructor has laughed at me a million times for forgetting to take out my earrings before putting on my headset.  (I learned my lesson when once in my pre-uniform days I had to ask him to keep my hoops in his pocket because I didn't have anywhere else to put them.  I've now restricted myself to studs on flying days).  

The gist of it is that I can't help but draw attention to my feminine side, and I don't see anything wrong with that.  If I were wimping out about the oil stain on my arm, or complaining about having to refuel my own aircraft then perhaps there would be a problem, but as long as I'm getting on with things, I don't see the issue in having painted nails and the like.  I suppose I could try and be more of a tomboy, cut my hair short and never wear make-up, but I wouldn't be happy, so there's no point.

As I said, I'm no ranting feminist.  I'd much prefer to distract them all with my feminine charms, and then surprise the hell out of them when I do well.  I still remember being told that females in aviation have to be "twice as good to be equal".  And I still have that burning desire to be three times as good to be better.  Eat your heart out, boys.

Now the burning question is, do I buy a pilot headset with pink accents and really add fuel to the fire?

Publisher's Note...

alwayslookingabove.com was originally set up with a wordpress page, but after several weeks I have still failed miserably to make it work the way I want.  So I convinced my friend to set me up with the same website name, but back here at blogger!!  SO that means I can update here and change my page the way I want to!  It also means that there shouldn't be any changes for you, dear readers!  Even if you type in the old site address (alwayslookingabove.blogspot.com) it will automatically redirect you here.  LOVE IT.

I'm going to repost my more recent entries here, and then get back to work on new material, now I'm not in a constant formatting war.  Apologies for the lack of entries lately, but hopefully now I'm back at blogger things will be sorted out!
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Gusting 29kts? Oh no problem...

Before I left my house at 8.30am this morning I had a quick look at the weater.  My immediate reaction was “HOLY CRAP IT’S HOT!”  I was so distracted by this alarming realisation that I didn’t even think to check the winds.  Had I thought to do so, I would have seen something that looked a little like this.

Right.  Challenging.  Interesting.

So we hit the circuit.  My Instructor asked if I wanted to head to Carp airport and do some circuit work there, but with the strong winds I felt more comfortable sticking close to home.  At least then if it proved to be beyond my capabilities it would be a lot easier to call it a day than if we were over at another aerodrome.

During the first circuit My Instructor remarked that we were the only plane working in the circuit for runway 22.  By the end of the second I knew why.  That was probably one of the most challenging flights I’ve had in a long time.  Possibly ever.  The winds were insane.  We had gusts of about 25kts for most of my landings (thankfully they were primarily headwinds), but towards the end they were making it up to 29kts.  Considering that if there is anything above 30kts we aren’t allowed to go flying at all, that was probably the craziest wind conditions I am likely to experience in a C-150.

I was quite surprised to find that I performed relatively well.  Not my best batch of landings, true, but given the conditions they could have been a lot worse.  There was even one landing that earned me an “Oh yeah!” from My Instructor, which made me glow with pride for about three seconds until I took off again and had to concentrate pretty hard to keep control of the plane.

I’d call that an improvement, and we’ll leave it at that for now.

Up next are some more trips out to the practice area by myself, and then my first cross country flight!  Exciting stuff.

I realised while flying this morning that I’m actually going to have to start thinking about flight test stuff.  Now I know all the basics.  After my cross countries there are really only one or two more things for me to lean for my Private License.  Now it’s all about practicing and perfecting the exercises and getting ready for that test.  Scary thought that one, but incredibly exciting!  I can’t imagine how nervous I’m going to be leading up to that flight, but I CAN imagine how wonderful it is going to be to be able to say that I am a licensed pilot.  And I REALLY can’t wait to be my epaulettes with two bars!

After my flight, I sat in the lounge with The Newfie for a while as he went over some of the math stuff I missed while I was in Calgary.  At one point I was trying to explain something to him that made sense, but in the process of doing so managed to completely prove myself wrong.  Oops?  At least it made sense after that!  No one ever said I was going to find math a breeze…

Student Pilot

"Student Pilot".  That's what I am now classified as.  A Student Pilot.  Except that three weeks into the program it feels like all I am is a student.  There's nowhere near enough Piloting going on.  But there is a giant pile of homework and reading to contend with.

The weather this month has been awful. I have managed four lessons in three weeks, and that's it!  I'm on the verge of throwing a temper tantrum every time I check the METAR/TAF.  So much for spring in Ottawa.  I actually had to wear my uniform sweater for half of last week because it was too darned cold outside!

The small amount of flying I have managed to squeeze in has been pretty interesting so far.  The first lesson was just a bit of review.  It had been about two months since I flew last, so My Instructor just took me out to the practice area and we went through the basic exercises.  After that he let me do an hour of solo circuit work to let me buildup my confidence flying solo again, and then back out to the practice area for some work on precautionary and forced landings.  Apologies to any farmers whose fields I buzzed.

On Wednesday this week I finally got the go ahead to go out to the practice area by myself.  My first solo flight last summer was a really big deal - it was like the instructors were saying "OK we don't think you're going to kill yourself if we let you fly a plane alone, so go for it..."  But it also felt like there was a little bit tacked on the end there saying "...but we don't trust you that much yet, so stay right where we can see you, young lady."  Getting signed off to fly to the practice area (a good ten to fifteen minute flight away) felt like the training wheels were finally being removed!

I felt pretty nervous leading up to the lesson.  I'm not entirely sure why - I am confident in most of the exercises, and have a pretty good idea of what to do in case of an emergency.  I'm comfortable with radio communications involved, and in working the circuit.  Nothing really to be terribly nervous about there - it was probably just the whole "what-if" going around in my head.  What if I do forget something and My Instructor isn't there to remind me?

After a quick walk around of my plane for the day I had a short briefing with My Instructor, and received an "Off you go then", so off I went!  I lost most of my nerves once I was in the air.  Working in the Practice Area alone wasn't at all bad.  I picked my area to work in, announced my intentions on the radio, and got to it.

I found it strange to be giving myself directions.  Usually My Instructor tells me to do a stall or a steep turn or whatever else he wants, and I do it.  Now I had to decide what I would work on by myself.  I chose to start small, so I put myself in slow flight for a little while, and then recovered.  Not bad.  Then I figured I'd have a go at power-off stalls.  I did a lookout to make sure no other aircraft were nearby, did a cockpit check, and began to reduce my power slowly, while simultaneously pulling the nose up to keep my altitude.  It worked nicely.  I didn't lose any height, and I waited to hear the stall horn sound.  It should have gone off around 50kts or so, but by the time I reached 40kts in silence I figured something wasn't quite right, and recovered.  I tried again, and once more made it to 40kts without hearing anything.  Feeling spooked, I recovered again and decided to call it a day on stalls.  I thought perhaps the stall speed was a lot lower because of the absence of 160lb of flight instructor in the plane next to me, but it turned out that this particular plane just doesn't like to sound it's stall horn, which is slightly worrying.  It was probably a good job I gave it a rest, in hindsight.

I moved on to work on a few steep turns, which was pretty fun, although I was frustrated to find I still lose about 150ft of altitude during the maneuver, so I am going to have to work on that.  After about 40 minutes out there I figured that was enough of my newfound freedom for the day, and headed back into Ottawa, requesting a few circuits before calling it a day.  It definitely felt good to be flying solo, although I wasn't pleased to discover that I have apparently lost the knack of a good landing.  I can land safely, and it's not terrible, but the landings are quite bumpy and lack grace so I need to work on that again.  My primary goal is not to cringe when I imagine which of my friends are in the club house watching me do circuits!!

Still, hopefully once the weather improves I can start flying more and start polishing up my skills.  The next thing on my training schedule is work on cross-country flights. This is rather exciting, and I'm looking forward to getting into some real flight planning.

Aside from the flying, classes are going rather well.  There is a lot of material to learn, and a lot of homework to be done, but I find it nice to have something productive to do with my brain again.  I didn't realise it but I actually don't mind doing schoolwork.  I had been quite nervous about the math class, but I am surprised to find that I haven't had much difficulty yet.  We are mostly reviewing things that I learned in high-school.  It is just a matter of convincing my brain to remember them.  However sometimes the professor will still go off on a little tangent and I have to look at The Newfie sitting next to me and ask "Is he still speaking English?"

Some things never change I suppose.

Changes...

Well folks...back in January I came to the realisation that this whole training to be a pilot privately wasn't working out for me...

So I applied to full time education and am now training to be a commercial pilot through Algonquin College!  Surprise!

A classmate has recently set me up with my very own webpage, so I'm picking up my darling blog and sticking it there instead!  I really want it to grow and become something I can be proud of, and I feel like having my own page for this will help.

SO if you wouldn't mind terribly, please mosey on over to http://www.alwayslookingabove.com

It's still very rough, and I will be spending a lot of time tweaking it over the next week or so to get it just right. At the moment it appears basic, but I've imported all of my old content to it, and have also written a new post.  Enjoy!

Much love!
-Hannah

More Changes

Well how was your winter?  For me the winter was, to put it delicately, a huge pain in the ass.  At least with regards to my pilot training anyway.  The weather sucked, which in itself made flying difficult - but then I had a number of small and not so small setbacks that meant that from November up until March I barely managed to scrape ten hours in total.  Not good.

Eventually a decision had to be made.  Unfortunately, obtain Pilot's licenses is extremely difficult, not to mention expensive!  But giving up was not even a remote option for me, so I eventually came to the conclusion that if I am going to follow this dream I needed to do it properly.  That's why in January I applied to Algonquin College for the Aviation Management program.  Now it's called "aviation management", but what it really does is train you up as a commercial pilot, and provides you with the starter kit to getting a job.  All accomplished in eighteen months! Sounds good to me!  To make it even more appealing, I was able to continue flying at The Ottawa Flying Club, and even stay with My Instructor.

Initially I applied to and was accepted to the September program, but after speaking to the program's coordinator I was convinced to apply for the May program.  I had intended to work my butt off all summer and then start in the fall, but eventually I figured out that I might as well just do it.  I got my acceptance, got my student loans in line and was ready to go.

Term started May 9th, and so far I am having a blast.  It's a pretty daunting thing - being a full time student again.  But I am sure I will manage.  My classes are pretty interesting, and a lot of them are specifically aviation based.  For those that aren't (English and Math for example), our professors are doing a good job of trying to incorporate aviation into the material, which is much appreciated.  In addition to interesting classes, it's a delight to be around a group of like-minded individuals, and naturally I adore the fact that I get to fly more than once a week - indeed it is expected of me!

I'm still keeping my job at the airport, although I have reduced the hours to part-time on the weekends, and I will take some flights with The Airline if I can at all manage it.  I've been told by several of my professors already  that working while I am in school is not a good idea, but it's not going to make a difference.  When I consider how much this program is going to cost there is no way I can justify giving up my job.  And to be honest, although I understand the workload involved in this program I don't think I will have any difficulty finding the time I need to do my work.  I've only been in the program for a week and a half and already I feel as though I have had more down time than I ever did working full time.  That time can easily be put to good use for studying.

Giving up full-time work was a huge challenge for me.  I didn't realise it, but since I finished university two years ago I have been hugely motivated by the goal of full time work (and then some...in March I worked 23 days in a row without a day off!).  I found that in the week prior to the start of term I was extremely nervous and jittery.  Initially I chalked it up to nerves about the program, but when I really considered this I discovered it wasn't the case at all.  I'm not completely new to training, and I've done full time education in the past.  Nothing there could really intimidate me.  After some time spent thinking on the subject, I realised that what was really throwing me for a loop was the idea of going from full-time employee to part-time employee.  This was an extremely distressing thought for me, and I am quite sure that if it were at all possible I would be attempting to cling to my full-time status AND do school.  But my flying and class schedule simply will not permit it, so part-time hours it is, and a life of full time studies and austerity for me for the next eighteen months.

Really though, if it means I get to fly three times a week, who cares if I don't get to buy that colour of nail polish I really want, or can't buy that shirt I saw in my favourite shop?  None of those things can truly compare to how it will feel when I am a licensed pilot.

Now obviously I didn't do much updating over the winter.  This was due, at least in part, to a severe lack of flying to write about.  However there are a few snippets that I will attempt to share with you soon in order to get you caught up.  I did a lot of flying with The Airline, so there are plenty of stories to tell!  But now that I am in the Algonguin program I should have lots to write about so expect more frequent updates.  I am even going to try and put myself on some sort of schedule so that you know when to expect updates from me.

All this is still to come, but for the time being I have math homework to do.  Now there's something I didn't think I'd ever be saying again after high school!