Duh! I meant a challenge I could *do*!

As I mentioned on Facebook recently, I took my first helicopter piloting lesson last weekend. After a bit of simulator time, I found myself in the pilot seat of a Robinson R22, taking off from a regional Texas airport.

This is not the vehicle you want to fly unless you have no fear of death.

My instructor seemed to have a very “throw him to the wolves” teaching style, which I very much appreciate. I was flying the thing before I knew it, and felt like we were rolling and pitching all over the place. Any movement you make in that chopper — a slight twitch of the wrist — feels like it sends you careening off in a direction you hadn’t intended. This was bad enough in the simulator, but 1600 feet above downtown Fort Worth, it was terrifying.

It wasn’t easy. I didn’t jump right into that tiny sheet-metal aircraft and just start throwing it around the skies like a pro. I felt like I was — not to put too fine a point on it — sucking. And I’m going back for more.

It helps that my instructor did mention I wasn’t sucking as bad as I thought I was, and that I shouldn’t expect to judge my performance on the first flight. Really, I should be judging my comfort level (which started out as pants-shitting terror before easing into “OK, I won’t kill us both”) and my how much I liked it (which was “tons,” even during the pants-shitting terror phase).

I guess my point is that just because something is hard — very hard, in this instance — doesn’t mean it’s not worth doing. And something that’s easy — like, really easy — might not be worth doing at all.

What’s the biggest learning curve you’ve faced with a new skill? How did you get on top of that curve?