Thinker, Failer, Soldier, Fly

(I work with trainee pilots in the military, and oversee their runs in the flight simulators. The trainee today is a young man who has scored very high in all his written tests.)

Me: “Okay. All ready to go?

Trainee: *smiles nervously* “I suppose so.”

Me: “Don’t be nervous; I’m sure you’ll be fine.”

Trainee: “I over-think these things, that’s the problem. I can do all the math and flight-equations in my head, but I always fail when it comes to the actual simulations. I get so nervous. At this rate I’ll never be a member of the mile-high club!”

Me: “Don’t worry, I am— Wait, what?”

Trainee: “I’ll never be a member of the mile-high club!”

Me: “That’s what I was afraid you said. You know what that means, right?”

Trainee: “Yeah, it means you’re a pilot! Part of the pilot’s mile-high club!”

Me: “Oh, boy.”

(I take a few minutes to educate this young man what ‘mile-high club’ actually means. It takes him a moment to digest this information.)

Trainee: “I’m never going to be a member of that club either!”