How was it? - Facing air traffic and weather for first time?

[Byrna]

Hello,

This is a question for real-life commercial airlines pilots.

I do flight simulation on my PC where air traffic and weather (downloaded from the internet based on real-world forecasts) can be simulated, and even at this level, it is quite a "hairy".

I am wondering that, more than controlling the aircraft, as complex as it is, the things which would make a new pilot the most nervous would be rough/unpredictable weather and also the highly congested airspace around busy airports like Hong Kong Chek Lap Kok, London Heathrow, Chicago O'Hare, Frankfurt Main etc...

How did you feel on your first flight or two flying to really major/busy airports? Also, how about the first time you encountered rough weather like a thunderstorm, snowstorm or just really bad turbulance - how did you feel? I know that one does not fly into any storm and goes around it, but I assume there would be a lot of turbulence nevertheless...

Thanks for any input you may have on this.

John
Montreal, Canada