Lesson (well, it's been a while)

 Wow, have I left this iron unattended for a long time. So, an update is in order.

In February of 2024, my instructor signed me off for my final stage check. This was it. I needed to pass this in order to get the endorsement for my check ride. I was ready. I knew what I was doing. Nothing could stop me! 

Oooooorrrrrrrrrr so I thought. 

After a reschedule or two due to weather, my evaluating instructor had a 7AM time slot available for this check ride. Did I mention I'm not a morning person? Nonetheless, I was confident. I had this in the bag! Take off went well. We started on the cross country portion of the check ride. My instructor asked me to tune in a VOR (navigation) frequency. My mind went blank. Poof. Nothing. He may as well had asked me to recite "Hamlet" in the original Klingon. I knew there was a way to do it, but, nothing. He pointed out the simple button that I had completely forgot. Duh. I tuned things in and we proceeded, but that was pretty much indicative of how the rest of the flight would go. My mind simply was not in the game, one thing compounded the next. We flew a bit. None of it pretty. We went to do stalls. U-G-L-Y, and I didn't have an alibi. When you almost put the plane into a spin on your first stall, that puts a pretty quick end to the stage check. He asked if I wanted to continue and I said yes. I figured I'd at least get past the rest of the requisite maneuvers if for no other reason than to get an appraisal of how bad I had jacked things up.

We landed. We debriefed. It really wasn't as bad as I had thought it was, but it was definitely NOT up to snuff for being signed off for a final check ride with an FAA examiner. I couldn't argue. My evaluating instructor was spot on. Tough, but not at all wrong. It was not a good day for me. Was it just a bad day? Or was it something more? We agreed that a few more flights with my instructor to tweak things, and we'd try again in a month or so. 

Did I mention Spring in the Rockies is a miserable time to try to fly? I got up solo a few weeks later, but then it was maybe once a month until late Summer that I got to flying with any regularity. What followed was 6 months of flying every other week or so, sometimes doing pattern work, sometimes heading out to the practice area to work on maneuvers. Every time, just a little more confidence. I felt like a kid asking "are we there yet?" with my instructor on whether he thought I was ready to have another go at the stage check. At times I was beside myself frustrated because I felt ready. For whatever reason, he was reluctant. I never asked why. I just took it as a challenge to do better the next time. 

Finally, around September or October of 2024, my instructor said I was solid and ready to have another go at things. I couldn't have agreed more. The hitch, the evaluating instructor I had flown with in February was now part time, so I would have to wait for his availability. We originally picked a date in the end of November, but weather would cancel this. So I flew with my CFI ever few weeks to keep skills sharp until we could finally get a chance to fly my final stage check again.