day 12 - 02 okt 2007

The train.
Only 3 weeks ago I started with the ATPL program, hunting my dream. And when I make a comparison between my life before the start of the training and now, it's more than a day-and-night difference.

Take for example the daily trainride between Leuven and Brussels. I remember the feeling I had every time the train passed the lightning of the short final of runway 02, with a plane making his final corrections for a touchdown on that runway. Or the noise when a plane passed just over the train ... it was always with the feeling I belong up there, above the clouds or at least in that plane instead of in the train and later on at my desk, in front of a computer. I've always been motivated to do my work as a webdesigner, but now I realize every morning that this was the right decision I made. And even with the sometimes very difficult courses, almost all evenings filled with studying, no income anymore and a less secure future, I feel myself at ease at night, just before I go to sleep.

When I was a kid, I used to spent some time at my grandparents place, playing in the garden or watching tv. They live under the final route for that runway 02, which they use when there are northern/easterly winds. And every time I heard a plane arriving, I ran outside (when I was watching tv) and looked at it as it was gliding in the air, just as long as possible. Even now, if the weather is good and I hear a noise of a plane, I tend to have a quick look or step outside to see what kind of a big bird will touch down in a few moments. Realizing that one day I'll be sitting in front of that plane, maybe even seeing my grandparents house ... priceless.

There is something like human performance and limitations, we learn about that :-), but motivation realy can move the borders of the limitations.

Time for some basic navigation exercises, about great circle traks, rumb line tracks, convergency angles and earth convergency, HOORAY :-)