Quote:
I see students drop out at that point
I do quite often find myself thinking, on take-off, "hey, the only way I'm going to get down on the ground alive is if I do stuff right". I never have any conscious concerns about any of the non-pilot risk factors!
I only ever thought that once, that was on my first ever solo. I took off, marvelled in the fact that here was I, at the controls of an aircraft when it dawned on me: There is no-one else here to correct you, landing safely is all about you".
Since then I look to fly with other pilots and ask them for their critiques, so they can tell me what I can improve, I also record the flight on a GoPro to review it later. Now, receiving honest critique means I won't argue with them when they say "you could have done that better" but instead I will listen and review that with a) my checklist and b) the video.
Anything which keeps me learning to fly safer has to be ok in my eyes....