We sometimes get asked by prospective pilots whether or not flight training is difficult.  While we all have our own definition of what difficult is, there is no question that flight training is inherently difficult in different ways for everyone.

There is an old saying that learning to hover a helicopter is a lot like balancing a unicycle on a beach ball while juggling bowling pins….trust me, its not that difficult (If it were, I wouldn’t have a pilot license, nor would most of my colleagues..although some probably belong in the circus for other reasons, but that’s another story…).  

Flying will require your complete focus and attention to be successful.  Learning to fly requires mastery of your emotional, intellectual and physical coordination.  Emotionally, your ability to tolerate and overcome stress will be tested on each and every flight.  Aviation is very unforgiving of any mistake or inattention and the consequences are usually severe.  Your intellect will be required to interpret weather charts, apply regulations and understand the capabilities of your aircraft, so you don’t put it in a position that you cannot recover.  Finally, you must apply the correct control inputs in the right amount at the right time to get the aircraft to do what you want it to do.  Combining and mastering all these skills are necessary for you to become a safe pilot.  A person with great hands that doesn’t understand weather is just as dangerous as a pilot that can’t fly the machine.

In our experience, the physical coordination is the easiest thing to learn.  Some people are very concerned about their hand/eye coordination.  We can teach those skills to almost anyone.  There is a myth that there is a ‘natural born pilot.’  That person doesn’t exist.  Everyone has to work to learn to fly the aircraft, anyone telling you different, is probably lying.  We call these the ‘monkey skills,’ because you can teach a monkey to do them.

Our structured syllabus makes learning to fly a ‘step-by-step’ process that breaks the difficult tasks down into smaller manageable steps.  However, to learn these skills, you have to get in the aircraft and start manipulating the controls.  No amount of ground instruction can substitute for actual flight experience, which is why we start all our students flying on the first day.  The ground instruction supplements the flight instruction.

We teach the intellectual side of aviation through the ground school.  Understanding and applying theory requires the most work for our students.  Students must be able to understand and apply weather, regulations, aircraft performance capabilities, navigation, and systems.  This is the area where the student hast the most control over their success.

Students must apply themselves to studying the material to be successful.  Unfortunately, most American high schools have taught our students that 70% is still satisfactory.  In aviation, we must train to the 98^th percentile; because your life depends on it.  You can’t remember only 70% of the emergency procedure checklist when the engine decides to quit…  You better know all of those procedures!

We find that the successful students follow the program and spend at-least three hours of study for every one hour of classroom instruction.  This is probably one of the most difficult areas for students.  Lets face it, flying is fun, but studying isn’t always fun, as a matter of fact, it’s a lot of work.  Who wants to sit inside on a beautiful day and read about aerodynamics? 

We have a mentorship program for students that would like to study in structured groups, and those that participate in housing have access to roommates that are a great resource. It still comes down to the individual having the discipline and making the time to do the work.

Finally, the emotional mastery just comes down to self confidence without being cocky.  Yes, it’s a fine line, but an under confident pilot is just as dangerous as the cocky ‘I know it all’ pilot… 

Pilots seem to have a certain bravado captured in the movies, as tougher than nails hell-raisers.  That isn’t actually always accurate…  Yes, those folks are out there, but they don’t live for very long in real life…sorry Maverick.  Successful pilots are the ones with ‘quiet-confidence.’  They don’t brag or boast, but they know they can fly the aircraft and believe in their abilities and training.

It’s impossible to train for that, but through the professional development program, we evaluate each student’s emotional aptitude and give them specific resources to improve.  Again, it’s up to the student to apply that feedback and make improvements, but sometimes this can be the most difficult hurdle for students.  We have fortunately had very good success working with students and either working up their confidence or toning down hazardous macho attitudes.

To answer the question, is flying hard?  It depends really on your work ethic.  If you have a strong work ethic, it won’t be difficult at-all.  If you have no work ethic, then it’s definitely going to be a struggle.  Without fail, disciplined hard work can overcome every obstacle faced by a new flight student.  If you want to become a professional helicopter pilot, and you’re willing to put in the work, it really isn’t very hard at-all.