Nerves

[david0tey]

I have had my private for about 6 months now and have flown plenty of flights with friends and family with no issues. My first couple of flights I got a little nervous because of the increased responsibilities of being the sole PIC. However, those nerves quickly faded and I have been fine ever since. Then, the other day I had planned a trip with a friend to the Outer Banks for the day and I started getting nervous again! It was honestly the strangest thing I have ever experienced. The night before, I was almost as nervous as the night before my checkride. I couldn't sleep and I lost all confidence. I kept playing these scenarios in my head of things that could go wrong and I couldn't shake it. It got to the point where I told my buddy that we were staying local. The weather was perfect by the way:mad2: I was just wondering if any other fairly new private pilots have experienced similar situations. Any advice? Thanks.

 

[Jim Logajan]

Was there anything about planning the flight, such as very uncertain weather, that made it difficult to make a decision or would have required you to do something you had not previously done?

Perhaps there was some aspect of this flight that seemed to you to demand a higher level of piloting performance than past flights.

Did the nervousness eventually dissipate? If so, do you recall if it did so during preflight or later in the airplane?