.png)
Try Not to Crash
"Try Not to Crash". The last thing my instructor said when I went solo. Sound familiar?
Join me as I chat about the ups and downs of learning to fly general aviation from the perspective of an older student pilot. From my near misses to my big mistakes, from what not to do's to things you should do, I have probably cocked them all up.
This podcast could also be titled 'how not to gain a PPL'. So learn from my mistakes, but do not do what I tell you - I am not a flight instructor.
Never use the internet to learn to fly, it will only teach you how to crash!
Try Not to Crash
3 Years as a Pilot - where did I go wrong?
What if the thrill of soaring through the skies is occasionally shadowed by the turbulence of criticism and life’s obligations? Join me, Wayne, as I take you on a journey through the highs and lows of my adventures as a private pilot on the Try Not To Crash podcast. On this special episode, marking three years since I earned my Private Pilot License, I get candid about the challenges and rewards of flying. From the unpredictable UK weather that often grounds my plans to the balancing act between my career, family, and the cockpit, I share it all. Plus, I reveal how the pressure of maintaining my YouTube channel has impacted my confidence and passion for aviation.
Despite these clouds, the silver linings have been the friendships and experiences that have enriched my life. Flying has opened doors to a vibrant community of fellow enthusiasts, where swapping tales of sky-high adventures and technical mishaps becomes a bonding experience like no other. Through laughter and learning, it's these connections that have made the journey worthwhile. Tune in to hear about the joys and trials of a private pilot's life and the invaluable lessons learned over three years of navigating the skies.
I'm a UK based private pilot (PPL(A), who started to learn to fly in my 50s. I passed (just), but every flight is a learning experience.
I currently own 1/5 of a Cessna 172 - but I am not sure which bit is mine.
Follow me on Social Media
Website https://whiskeyalphapilot.com/
Twitter/X https://twitter.com/wayneallenpilot
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/whiskeyalphapilot/
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/WhiskeyAlphaPilot
YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@WhiskeyAlphaPilot
Hello, it's Wayne here from the Try Not To Crash podcast where I attempt to explain the ins and outs of being a newly qualified private pilot. Please note I am not a flight instructor and you should not be using a podcast to teach yourself to learn to fly. That would be silly. But it is why all pilots wear headsets so they can listen to their favourite podcaster Me. Anyway, today, on the 22nd of December 2024, marks something quite special because today is the three-year anniversary of me passing my PPL.
Speaker 1:Yes, I have been a private pilot for the last three years and it's been quite a journey First two years and quite a lot of that's been documented on my YouTube channel. Don't forget link in the description below and all that stuff been documented on my YouTube channel. Don't forget link in the description below and all that stuff. But it's been interesting. The journey's been fantastic. There's been ups and there's been downs.
Speaker 1:The first question I get asked when people find out that I'm a pilot is was it worth it? And the simple answer is I think yes. Why do I sound like I'm qualifying that? And the answer is because I'm being honest. There have been times in my journey where I sit here thinking I've spent all this money and is it really worth it? And then there's other times when I'm generally when I'm flying thinking, yeah, this is great fun, I love doing this, but it's not always the case. I have had a few ups and downs, shall we say, some of which I put onto YouTube, which sometimes that's been a mistake. People have this obsession with me not landing in the center line and then they start to lay into you in other ways, and I've seen it with other YouTubers and it's just not nice and sometimes it's quite difficult to deal with. If lots of people out there are effectively attacking what you're doing, some of that's going to rub off and you're going to start to potentially believe them and start to lose confidence, and I think to a certain extent, that has happened to me. It's one of the reasons I've done less videos this year, but I'm not going to use that as an excuse, because this year has actually been quite difficult, not because of YouTube youtube, but because of real life.
Speaker 1:I happen to have a job and if you've watched one of my previous videos, you know what I do for a living I'm not going to tell you again and I have a family, so I have to fit flying around my real life, career and my family, and sometimes it gets in the way you just can't go flying at the drop of a hat. And then, when I've decided I want to go flying, the second thing that's cropped up and that's the weather. And the weather in the UK this year has been atrocious, and I mean rubbish. Yep, I could go and get my IIR and I decided to stop my IIR again. There's a video about that if you really want to go and watch. The weather in the UK has just been atrocious. We've had low cloud base, we've had high winds, we've had virtually everything you can think of, and you almost guarantee the days that you actually want to go flying are the days the weather's atrocious and the days you can't go flying because I'm working or on holiday or doing something with the family. The weather's been brilliant, brilliant. So a big chunk of this is weather. A couple of times we haven't been able to fly due to the fact the aircraft has gone, the tech. We've had a couple of issues this year nothing massively major and at the moment kilo kilo is actually in an avionics shop because we are having some upgrades done and there will be a video about that coming out soon assuming we can get it back in one, please, because there's been a few issues Not saying that there wasn't going to be issues when you're doing massive upgrades, but it's been a journey, as they say.
Speaker 1:Was it worth it? Yes, it was. But what's the good points Friends and experiences I think I would put right at the top. I've met a lot of new friends from flying, a lot of new friends from doing YouTube, and it's been fantastic. It's great fun listening to people and talking to people about flying, about what they've done, what I do, what I haven't done, what I could do, and even at the top level. When you talk to commercial pilots, most commercial pilots are really great because they have been through the process that we've been through as private pilots. They've gone through the hours of tearing our hair out over doing exams and solo cross countries and tests etc. And they've taken it to much higher levels. So cpl with its 13 exams I think it's 13 they've gone higher and higher and when I've flown commercial and actually had the opportunity to talk to people in the front when they come out from behind their bar doors, it's been fantastic.
Speaker 1:The one anecdote I'd love to talk about is. I got asked by someone I think it was easy, jet, we might be in ba. And the question they asked me when my wife had told them that I was a pilot, not me. My wife had told them so who do you fly with? And I just turned around and went Jack. They were expecting me to say, oh, ba or Virgin, but it was like no, I fly with Jack. And they just laughed. It was brilliant. So I've flown to places I would never have flown to before. I've been to places I would have never have been to before and the journey has been fantastic.
Speaker 1:It's not as expensive as I thought it was going to be. I've actually got money in the kitty to go flying because I paid for things and I haven't then used up to go flying, but as a share, and I own a fifth of kilo kilo. We've managed to keep a handle on the bills. Admittedly, we don't have an engine fund, so if the engine decides to die week, we're going to get hit with a big bill and we've all had to pay a chunk of money out for the avionics upgrades. But it hasn't been as expensive as I thought it was going to be, especially with the local flight school, increasing their prices. I wouldn't say exorbitantly, but their prices have gone up because their costs have gone up. It's say exorbitantly, but their prices have gone up because their costs have gone up. It's fact of life, but it hasn't been as expensive as I thought it was going to be. So once you pass your PPL share great thing to do I'll probably get around to doing a video about doing a share.
Speaker 1:Bad points not flying enough. That's the biggest thing, because that then leads to the fact that flying is a perishable skill. If you don't fly, you start to lose that edge, you start to lose the ability to fly. Yeah, you can still get in the plane to get it off, but do you have that level of finesse to do a safe, smooth landing? Proficiency is one thing, confidence is the other thing, and confidence is something I suffer from. I do sometimes take to heart too much people's comments on YouTube. I look at my videos. I am the worst person to watch my videos, and it gets worse when I'm the person doing the editing of any video that I take, because I'm sitting there watching every single little bit. I'm the worst critic of myself and then I let myself be criticized by everyone else on the planet. So confidence is a big issue for me.
Speaker 1:I've already mentioned social media. I'm not going to harp on about it because this is a YouTube channel. I'm involved in social media because I do YouTube videos about flying. Why do I do YouTube videos about flying? Well, it's to try and give other people an insight into the journey that I'm undertaking. I'm not an instructor. I have no intention of becoming an instructor. These are not instructional videos, but sometimes people take them as that. But it does give you a reflection as to how my experience and my journey has been and whether it reflects in the same way on your journey and your experience. Do I recommend people put stuff on social media? Honestly, no, you need pretty thick skin to put stuff out, because people are going to tear you to pieces, and the more you put stuff out, the more people feel that they need to tear you to pieces. That's life.
Speaker 1:What's the next year going to entail? Well, the first thing is, hopefully, more flying, and I'm really going to push the more flying aspect. I've actually managed to rejig some of my life. Some of the commitments I had in the past few years I've shifted around or I've dropped because I want to go flying. I've spent three years. I've spent more than three years because, if you include the time it took me to learn to fly, I've spent enormous sums of money dedicating my life to doing something that I like doing. I think I need to keep doing it, so I'm going to go and do some more flying Kilo. Kilo has a whole bunch of upgrades which hopefully will make flying a little bit easier.
Speaker 1:Yeah, people always complain that if you start to upgrade avionics, then people are going to rely more on them. But when you're in a situation where you're trying to do IIR and simple things like not having a heading bug on a compass can drive you up the wall, yeah, you can fly without it. You just have to remember it. But it's another thing to remember. So we've come up with some upgrades. We've got new radios going in, because we had a 430W which was on its last legs. We had some 25 kilohertz radios which were minus, being on their last legs. In fact, most of the time you had to push them in to get them to work at all. They're done. They just need to be picked up from the avionics specialists and then we need to drop them off to our engineers because one of the power regulators has gone. So hopefully, early in the year, we get kilo, kilo back fingers crossed. Then it's a case of praying for good weather and keeping fingers crossed.
Speaker 1:But fundamentally, 2025, you are going to see more of me flying kilo, kilo. Hopefully that will then build my confidence. Hopefully that will build my skill set. Yeah, I'm still going to fly with jack from time to time because everyone loves the jack and wayne show, or the wayne and jack show, depending on how you want to call it. It's great fun flying with jack. I like flying with jack. But I will be flying more on my own and flying more with non-pilots because I need to build up my flying skills. I can't just rely on having a professional, experienced pilot beside me who's going to do the radios just because I can't be bothered to do the radios. It gives them something to do. But, yeah, I'll be flying more with Jack. I'll be flying more on my own.
Speaker 1:You'll see a few more videos of Kaz, wifey in the back. Jack, I'll be flying more on my own. You'll see a few more videos of Kaz, wifey in the back. That's the plans for 2025. Hopefully, fingers crossed, the weather will sort itself out and things will take off as they say. Anyway, I hope all that helps and thanks for listening. If you like what I'm trying to do, then please consider leaving a comment. You can follow your video version of this podcast with videos on my other aviation exploits on my main YouTube channel. Just search for Whiskey Alpha Pilot and you should be able to find me. But whatever you do, please be safe and have fun, and thanks for listening. Bye.
