美国学飞行不容易
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转眼间，我在美国学习飞行已经快一年了。
这一天，我与朋友驾驶飞机降落在纽约州首府Albany的Saratoga County机场。这天是这个原本以赛马与滑雪闻名的小镇一年一度的Chowder节。（Chowder，译作巧达汤，周打汤，是欧美流行的一种餐前奶油浓汤）周边的居民们或开车，远道的客人或驾驶飞机，纷纷过来共襄盛举，挤得这座清冷小城好不热闹。
而在享用过浓汤后的午后，天气转坏，下起大雪。由于担心机翼结冰，我们暂时没有起飞，而是闲适地坐在机场FBO木质小屋的柔软沙发上享受着热茶与暖气。
战胜挫败感
“我身边所有的飞行员朋友，不论老中老外，都是身边先有人在飞，自己才开始学飞的。像你这样既不认识人，也没飞过，就千里迢迢一个人跑美国来了的，我还第一次见到。不简单，不简单。”同样来参加节日的鹿先生对我说。
我笑着谢谢鹿先生的赞誉，心想，正因如此，我不知道走了多少弯路，又经历了多少未曾预想的失意与沮丧。“不过还好我现在有你们了。”我充满感激地看着大家。
此时FBO里除了当地工作人员外，都是说中文的Weekend Pilot（注：Weekend pilot/业余飞行员，指主业与飞行并无关系，只在个人业余时间享受飞行乐趣的飞行员）――说话的鹿先生，是华尔街出身的股票经纪人，在9？11事件之前就开始飞行，说起这些年纽约空域的规则掌故真是如数家珍。
鹿先生摇摇头，“不容易啊。你知道吗？每十个开始（自费）学习飞行的人里面，最后只有两个能够拿到飞行执照。”
“太夸张了吧，为什么呢？”我吃惊地问道，也想起一件事来。去年，我以学生飞行员的身份拿到了当地飞行协会的飞行奖学金。在准备申请材料的时候，发现资格要求里有一条是必须solo（单飞）过。觉得奇怪，去问过基金主席。她告诉我，学了一半就放弃的新飞行员太多了，协会不希望看到奖学金获取人最后没有拿到执照。所以才加了这条规定――已经到了solo阶段的飞行员，离拿执照已经不远，协会才放心提供这一臂之力。
当时我还对于学到一半放弃的学生们表示不能理解，直到今天听鹿先生解释，才恍然大悟――“一半是学着学着觉得没信心，放弃了。”
听到这里我点点头，表示非常理解。学飞不像考驾照，理论知识和操作技巧繁杂，不是上几堂课差不多上手了，教练就能放胆让你先随便练技术的。尤其飞行受天气、机械以及飞行员当天状态影响，上堂课飞得好，下堂课却飞得糟，这种心理上反反复复的沮丧挫败感确实非常折磨人。
“还有一半是学到一半没钱了，不得不放弃。”
听到这里我也再次重重点头。――这里不得不讲一下。美国联邦航空局（FAA）要求取得飞行执照的最低要求是35小时飞行课和30小时理论学习。好多航校为了吸引学生，就按照FAA的最低小时要求计算飞行学费，甚至举出10小时以内solo（单飞）的个别特例来招揽学生。然而，除个别飞行天才不论，不少美国学生本身出生在航空世家，或者身边有飞行员朋友，在进入航校前，已经随父母、朋友有过相当丰富的飞行经验，“开始学习”那天可能已经比教练飞得好――如是特例，实在不足以作为没这些经历的大众学生，尤其是语言文化都有着隔阂的中国学生的参考。可想而知，绝大部分的学生，尤其是母语非英语的外国学生，都需要至少两倍于法规最低要求的时间来结束学习。
我所在航校的校长是有着超过3万小时飞行经验的老飞行员，同时也是航空局认证的考官，本人几乎就是一部美国航空发展史的范本。一次聊天里他说到，全美国范围内飞行学员拿到执照前的平均飞行时间大概在70到80小时之间。取75小时为中间值，大家不难推算出，学得快的学生也许可以在35小时就拿到执照，但学得慢的学生花掉100小时以上也不稀奇。那些只准备了35小时飞行预算的学生们则大多不能按时完成课业。看似遥遥无期的训练和追加投入，让很多经济上不宽裕的学生不得不被迫放弃。
挑选航校有门道
说到飞行训练时间，航校界也有两种截然不同的态度。一种是以中西部为代表。那里地广人稀天气好，空中交通相对少，飞行费用便宜，无塔台的机场多（这意味着不需要大量的无线电通话和遵守复杂的空域避让操作）。教练比较容易放手让学生尽快单飞，拿证相对也容易，尤其适合外国学生短期训练尽快拿到执照。
另一种相对保守，比如纽约周边的东岸，尤其我所在的学校，由于校长本身很以其3万多小时的安全飞行经验为傲，不愿意任何微小的事故玷污他的声誉，于是对于学生的飞行技巧要求极严。加之纽约周边国际国内大小机场繁多，空域复杂，交通格外繁忙，这对于学生的飞行技巧、安全意识以及无线电通话能力要求极高。我不止听到一个美国学生跟我抱怨最初接触无线电通话时候一头雾水。以英语为母语的学生尚且如此，英语不是那么好的外国学生所面临的挑战可想而知。
同时，不同地区的航校文化差异大到什么程度呢？不禁想起听到过的小故事，可谓生动范例――美国这边有不少飞行俱乐部提供租赁飞机业务，然而并不像租车行，只要有驾照就可以租给你。对于生面孔的飞行员，俱乐部都会先让在地教练与租飞机的人上天飞一圈，确认此人的飞行技巧合格，不会造成危险，才能放手把飞机租给你。――据说有位在中部某州刚拿了飞行私照的新飞行员来纽约租飞机，结果俱乐部的教练跟他飞一圈下来，拒绝把飞机租给他。又换个教练飞一次，还是被拒绝了。最后这位可怜的中部飞行员在纽约没租到飞机，不得不又花钱雇教练多飞了一阵子。
就我个人观点，对于时间预算有限，且英文不是很好，想尽快过来拿个私照回国转成中国照慢慢练技术的学生来说，还是在中西部学比较快捷专心。如果能找到能说中文的教练陪伴最初的语言过渡期就更好。来纽约附近飞行，时间、金钱的花费都较大。除非本来就因为工作、生意、学业、探亲访友之类的原因要来纽约一阵子或者长住，打算利用空闲时间学习飞行；又或者打算暂时抛开事业枷锁，一身清净来美国游山玩水享受人生历经繁华，预算、时间都不成问题，拿飞行执照只是顺便。不然，真的要慎重考虑。当然，来纽约的好处也很明显。四季分明的气候，复杂空域与繁忙塔台能够最大限度地锻炼飞行学员各方面的应变技巧与飞行能力。
一边天马行空聊着天，不知不觉雪已经停了。朋友坐在他的六座双引擎赛斯纳340驾驶座上，用一贯平静权威的嗓音发问道：“Co-pilot （副飞行员），你准备好了吗？”我将目光收到到机舱内，坚定地回答道：“Affirmative，Captain.” （是的，机长）。随着熟悉的引擎声，眼前铺满白雪的跑道飞快地自舷窗两侧滑过，机头抬升，起落架收起，飞机进入了尚未完全消散的雪雾之中。
It has almost been a year since I started flying courses in the U.S.My friend and I landed in the Saratoga County airport at Albany， the capital of the New York State. The town is famous for horse racing and skiing. It happened to be the annual Chowder festival. Chowder is a popular cream soup for appetizer. People drive and fly into the town and it suddenly became so buzzy.
The weather changed for the worse in the afternoon after the delicious Chowder and it began to snow. We were worried that the wings would freeze， so we didn’t rush to take off. We enjoyed hot tea and heating on the soft sofa in the wooden FBO house instead.
Overcome frustrations
“All the pilots that I know of， foreigners or Chinese followed friends into flying. You don’t know anybody here， and you never flew in the past. You travelled all the way to the States. That’s awesome. You are the first one that I know of，” Mr. Lu paid me a compliment.
I smiled and thanked Mr. Lu， remembering all the setbacks and frustrations that I have experienced. “Now I have all of you， how lucky，” I watched the crowd around me.Apart from staff， all the weekend pilots at the FBO are Chinese speakers. Weekend pilots are people who fly on weekends as a hobby. Mr. Lu is a broker on Wall Street. He started flying before 9/11 and he seems to know all the rules above the New York sky.He shook his head， “You are really great. Do you know that out of 10 beginners who pay for themselves， only two eventually get a license？”
“Really？ Why？” I was rather astonished. This did remind me of something. Last year， I got the flying scholarship from the local flying association as a trainee pilot. You have to have solo flying experience to qualify. I was surprised and asked the chairman of the foundation the reason. She said many would-be pilots gave up half way and the association didn’t want to see scholarship awardees failing to get a license. Once you have flown solo， you are not that far away from a license， and the association feels comfortable giving you some assistance.
I didn’t quite understand why people gave up half way then. But Mr. Lu explained it well， “They dropped out because they were not confident.”
I nodded in agreement. Learning to fly is very different from learning to drive. Theory and techniques are very complex to start with. The lecturers would not allow you to practice whenever you like. Flying can be affected by weather， mechanics and your mood on a particular day. You can have a terrific flying for one class and an awful one the next. It is a tormenting experience psychologically.
“Some people run out of cash and drop out reluctantly.”
Again I nodded eagerly in agreement. Federal Aviation Authority （FAA） requires 35 hours flying and 30 hours theory studies at minimum. In order to attract students， some flying schools quote a tuition fee based on this minimum requirement. They even promote examples of people flying solo after merely ten hours to attract students. In reality， only a few geniuses can manage that. In addition， a lot of American students are born in aviation families or they have pilot friends. Before coming to the flying school， they have had rich flying experiences with parents or friends. They might fly better than their instructors on their “first day”. For most ordinary students， especially the Chinese with language and culture barrier， usually it takes at least twice the minimum hours to complete studies.
The headmaster of my flying school is a veteran pilot with more than 30，000 hours’ flying under his belt. He is also a FAA accredited examiner. He is a living sample of the history of the U.S. aviation. He told us that on average， pilots fly 70 to 80 hours before obtaining a license. If you take 75 hours as the mean， you can easily see that quick learners get a license after 35 hours； white slower ones have to spend 100 hours. Most students who have 35 hour flying budget cannot succeed， and they tend to give up when it seems so remote to get a license.
The tips in picking a flying school
There are two kinds of flying schools with very different attitude. In the vast Midwest with a small population， there is not a lot of air traffic and flying costs are cheap. There are a lot of airports without towers， meaning there won’t be a lot of radio communications going on， and one doesn’t have to mind complex rules in getting out of way. Instructors are relaxed about students flying solo， and it is relatively easy to get a license， so the Midwest is suitable for foreign students on short-term training.
The east coast is more conservative， especially my school. The head is proud of his 30，000-hour flying experience， and he would not allow small incidents tainting his reputation. He is very stringent about flying techniques with his trainees. There are airports small and big in the New York region， with very complex and busy airspace. New York asks a lot out of pilots with regards to flying skills， safety awareness and radio communications skills. Even American students complain about radio conversations. If native speakers are lost， one can imagine the challenge for foreign students.
Exactly how big a difference can there be between these different flying schools？ Here is an anecdote for you. In the States， one can lease a plane from flying clubs. But unlike car rental， you don’t rent on license alone. The club would ask an unfamiliar customer to fly a round， accompanied by an instructor. When you have proved your skills， you get the plane. Once a new pilot who had just obtained his license in the Midwest tried to rent a plane in New York. The instructor refused to rent a plane to him. He flew with another instructor and was rejected again. The poor pilot had to spend more on additional training.
My advice is that if you have limited budget， don’t speak English really well， and you want to get a pilot’s license quickly and go back China for additional training， you should go to the Midwest. If you can get a Chinese-speaking instructor， that’s a bonus. It is expensive and time-consuming to study flying in New York. But if you come for work， business， studies and family visiting， and mean to stay for a while， then why not studying in New York？ If you have no budget constraint， or if you just want to throw away everything and enjoy a carefree holiday， again New York works for you. There are a lot good things about New York. With four distinctive seasons， complex airspace and busy towers， you can cultivate your adaptive skills and flying prowess to great extent.
It was no longer snowing as we chatted away. My friend sat on his six-seat double-engine Cessna 340 and asked me in a calm and authoritative voice， “Co-pilot， are you ready？”
“Affirmative，Captain.” I turned my eyes to the cabin and answered affirmatively， “Affirmative， captain.” As engine roared， the snow-covered runway receded rapidly on both sides of the cabin windows. The head of the plane rose， and the landing gear recessed， the plane flew into remaining snow and mist.