Page 166 - Never Fly Solo

NEW DAY, NEW JET | 139
The day I took off with Major Free on my make-or-break
flight, great things happened. There were so many areas where
I could have messed up. Never mind the landing lights, I
thought to myself. My power-on stalls, landings, and spin-
recovery skills were just as critical. I couldn’t afford to be
stressed about my landing lights, because that would limit my
ability to execute all the other maneuvers successfully.
During maneuvers, Major Free brought out the joy in
what we were doing: flying freely in open sky in a high-
performance jet. I’ll never forget when, without warning, he
took control of the aircraft and simulated a dive-bombing run
on a cloud.
“Woo-hoo!” he howled. “Let’s hit the target, Waldo!” he
said as he rolled us inverted and dived toward the white puffs.
The sheer exhilaration we felt at twenty thousand feet really
got my blood pumping, but it also put me at ease. I was
thrilled and remembered what I had so loved about flying in
the first place. Suddenly, my focus shifted from my fear of
failure to where it really needed to be: in the moment.
But Major Free didn’t stop there. “OK, Waldo,” he said,
“you ready to do some power-on stalls? Show me how it’s
done,” he challenged.
I grabbed the aircraft and flew like Chuck Yeager.
Like the little engine that could, I had someone who
believed in me, and this made me believe in myself. He got me
jazzed, and I went from “I think I can” to “I know I can.”
I have discovered in my life experiences as a combat
fighter pilot and as someone working in the competitive world
of business that friends, partners, or colleagues—our wing-
men—are the ones who can inspire us to take action even
when we feel we can’t. These wingmen not only motivate us,
they activate us. They get us to push through a few more reps
when the barbells of life seem too heavy!