Walking into a small Icelandic Hanger at the Reykjavik airport, I was surprised to see how big Thor was. He was well over 250lb of muscle, with a deep voice to match. He and I had discussed a short training flight while I was visiting Iceland for a vacation in 2022. His real name, Þórður Viggó Guðjohnsen, was and is unpronounceable to most Americans. But I had never imagined his size would so closely match his name.
The glorious flight that followed, just 1 among 63 student flights over a 5 year period, represented everything I wanted in flying. It was fun, adventurous, hard, and unbelievably memorable.
And while back at home my training didn’t include skimming glaciers or landing at international airports, my love of holding the yoke while lifting off of runways never diminished.
After each flight, I would tell myself that if I had to quit before getting my Private Pilots License, I’d have no regrets. The training was really the doing, and I enjoyed every moment.
Until I had to actually take the test: that part I might have skipped.
Did you know that pilots have to know how a mechanical piston driven engine works? They have to know the history of aerodynamic mechanics, be able to identify clouds by sight, understand the effects of barometric changes around high and low pressure systems, and accurately read flying charts with 1000s of unique symbols. And that’s nothing to do with actually controlling an airplane.
The training also taught me to sleep better. I was constantly skipping homework and delaying flights early on, just because of… well, life. It’s hard to work all day, watch the littles, and then fit in 2 hours of intense studying. Netflix shows late at night were often eating into my sleep, and I barely was awake by mid morning.
I learned very quickly that I needed more brain power, and that led down a long-winding path to remove things that didn’t bring me joy. I started eating healthier, made exercise more consistent, started reading stoicism, and eliminated chronic stress. Oh and I quit drinking too – at least until I got my license. I needed every mental advantage.
The FAA has acronyms (they love their acronyms!), and one is ADM (Aeronautical Decision Making) which is a process for making wise choices that starts well before you take-off. Because flying is so hard, your decision making abilities at 5000 feet often reflect your earlier choices at ground level.
All of these lessons were driven home to me in that single 3 hour Icelandic flight. From the hard-to-decipher accents of the control tower, to my trainers’ disappointment in my not memorizing the airplane’s user manual, I felt every bit of my unpreparedness. But I also flew circles around an active volcano, did a touch-and-go on an island runway, and crossed unimaginably beautiful mountainous terrains. I loved that flight so much, I decided late night Netflix shows were no longer bringing me joy.
A video of the once-in-a-lifetime Iceland flight:
Some more imagery:
