I was having a terrible time getting the hovering down. It was continually
chasing things. I was about ready to give up. Then, one day on the way to
the airport, I got something in my eye. My eye was watering and I could not
get it out. I was uncomfortable and the eye was getting most of my
attention. I was going to cancel the flight, but it was such a nice day I
was hoping that my eye would just fix itself.

We started out and the first thing we did was go over to the practice area
and hover until the instructor got sick of it. Once settled, the instructor
said "you have the controls". My eye still hurt. However, I noted the
helicopter was not moving. I looked over at the instructor's hands and they
were off the controls. My thought was then, "who in the hell is flying this
thing?". It was some time before I realized I was hovering. It was the
first time I stopped thinking about the controls and kept thinking about my
eye. All of a sudden, a big smile came across my face and I forgot about
the eye.

So, I finally figured out how to fly a helicopter - you do it with your
mind. Driving home, I was hovering all the way. Days like that are what
flying is all about.

Colin