Goals once qualified.....

[Genghis the Engineer]

I've come across potentially serious issues twice as an instructor.

My day job includes CRM initial and refresher training, so I was in a position to provide a bit of help and advice - from that, not from my SEP instructor training. I wouldn't restrict it to the newly qualified to be honest, and personalities are particularly crical.

G

[Iolanthe]

Genghis and Rob,

Quite aside from the CHippy flying issues; which, rightly or wrongly I would like to do........

I most certainly plan to do the consolidation as you chaps and Paul suggests, and was always going to - just, well, the Chippy is a bit of added fun!

I plan to fly with three pilot friends first...the first being my FI (as a friend not instructor), my pilot friend who is an ex-Harrier pilot, ex RAF QFI who now flies bizjets, and with another pilot friend, ex-VC-10, now Airbus First Officer. So not other PPLs! I think I would find other PPLs rather off putting at first and would want the experience of a professional pilot with some serious experience for longer trips, trips over mountains etc, all the good stuff that you chaps are recommending...

So, I do listen...honest!

[Genghis the Engineer]

We know you do, and they are definitely aviation grown ups. Do however talk to them before flying, about the captain's role. You need to take care with yourself to avoid deferring to them instead of taking full command responsibility yourself, and it's important that you do. At the same time, you'd be daft not to include them in your decision making, ask for their help with lookout, and so-on: but it might be best that they make any "how to improve your flying" suggestions pre or post flight, so that you aren't inadvertently slipping into a student / instructor relationship in flight that in a single pilot aeroplane, with you in command, would be quite inappropriate.

Give them a camera and ask them to take lots of nice pictures

G

[tomshep]

Sign the licence when it gets here in the next few weeks.
Fly. Fly some more.
Take friends flying.
Do some more flying.
Claim back some fuel duty. (Definitely with an instructor; I want to learn this bit well.)
Get my MiniMax wearing a permit.
T/w conversion.
Fly as much as I can in it.

[Iolanthe]

Thanks for that Genghis, I will. All three are my PPL mentors, and each put things their own way and really help, so it'll be great to pick their brains post PPL qualifying too, and certainly to get any post flight de-brief points.

Ok, that being said, what do you (and others!) think about letting them have control, obviously my FI knows the type(!) and my ex-Harrier mate is current on SEP (well, if you include Spitfire and Harvard in your normal SEP ) and not sure about my ex-VC-10 mate - although obviously he has flown SEP and is indeed an aviation "grown up"!

Thanks
I

[riverrock]

On the original question, I plan to mirror those above me - but here is my take:

1. Consolidate being PIC by going to lots of different airfields on my own. Perhaps even go a distance where I need to actually fuel plan (rather than know that I have 2x the fuel I'll ever use the tanks...). Plan to do this initially on my own around Scotland, and maybe do the odd overnight trip or trips to interesting "coffee shops" with my wife. Def. advantages to not having to hire! Maybe cross the sea and go to Donegal International Airport as my Gran has a cottage 15min drive from there (hope they sort out the Annex II / Permit to Fly / EASA licence / Ireland thing!). Maybe fly down and see friends in York...
2. Go to some flyins - initially with some other pilots (probably with them as PIC on the way there) but then as PIC on the way there myself. I know some others at our club who go to a couple every year, but they already buddy up so I'm going to have to wedge myself in there somehow. That and I've only got Saturdays fully free (with commitments Sundays )
3. Do aerobatic training. Flying an SA Bulldog, this would ensure I'm fully confident with the full flight envelope, especially in recovery from all situations, and knowing where the limits are. Should also improve my flying accuracy and I need to make sure I keep in contact with instructors so I don't develop bad habits! I've already done some basic manoeuvres with my instructor which has started my appetite. Also good to know how I can safely show off to mates!
4. Start / complete IMC / IR(r) course. I know I can't start this until I've got X hours PIC but would like to get it done before the next deadline so I have have an IR(r) on my EASA licence. Can't do this in my Permit Bulldog though...
5. Do some beginner Aerobatic competitions
6. Night rating after IMC probably, unless I do it at similar time to IMC. Most pilots I know don't really use it as they are scared of Single engine ops at night.
7. TMG rating (cheaper flying!)
8. CPL / FI rating / IR / ATPLs... who knows...
9. Oh yes - start playing the lottery so that when I win I can stop work and afford a small percentage of the things above

Just need to do a practice skills test and the actual test, and then some (!) patience for the paper work to be processed so i can get started...

[Jwscud]

Be very careful. I started learning to fly for fun and long held ambition 4 years ago. A moment on the road to Damascus, together with a significant amount of time and money, and I now have lots of letters and words on the qualification list - the word "Instrument" on the ratings page was around £15k - and have had the hare-brained idea of doing it for a living.

Dangerously addictive.

[Rob P]

6. It's not only sensible nervousness about flying a single at night, but also the dearth of interesting places within reasonable range for a GA aircraft that are open after dark.

It's a great sensation to fly at night, everybody should experience it, but it's not an incredibly useful PPL qualification.

Rob P

[Genghis the Engineer]

Thanks for that Genghis, I will. All three are my PPL mentors, and each put things their own way and really help, so it'll be great to pick their brains post PPL qualifying too, and certainly to get any post flight de-brief points.

Ok, that being said, what do you (and others!) think about letting them have control, obviously my FI knows the type(!) and my ex-Harrier mate is current on SEP (well, if you include Spitfire and Harvard in your normal SEP ) and not sure about my ex-VC-10 mate - although obviously he has flown SEP and is indeed an aviation "grown up"!

Thanks
I

No problem at-all letting them have control - stick to the same "I have control" / "you have control" drill you have with your instructor, and don't let anybody not familiar with the type try and fly a take-off or landing - that's an instructor's job. Also if returning to an airfield, take control back good and early to let you get mentally back into the groove for the join, circuit, and landing.

And always make sure that what may,or may not, be done - and whom,is clearly understood in the brief. In the air is the wrong time and place to discuss it.

G

[riverrock]

6. It's not only sensible nervousness about flying a single at night, but also the dearth of interesting places within reasonable range for a GA aircraft that are open after dark.

It's a great sensation to fly at night, everybody should experience it, but it's not an incredibly useful PPL qualification.

Rob P

Yep - looking forward to it, especially as since I'm flying from Prestwick all the facilities are there so getting home at the end of a winters day would be more flexible. Unfortunately though - current plane's a permit (although fully night equipped) and the apron it is parked on isn't properly lit so finding the parking spot would be "interesting"... I'm thinking IMC might be better for me before night - but then again - not in a Permit.
Mind you - I still need to "walk" before all of this!

[madmaveric]

I've asked myself this question many times and still have no real answer.

I've always wanted to learn to fly which is why I took it up (that and no wife, kids or many friends in the local area mean I have the money/time to do it at the moment), but what I do when I have the licence is still a mystery.

I'm still in the stages of "do it until I can no longer be bothered/can't afford it", but I have a strange feeling that I won't get bored of it any time soon

Short term goals will be to find interesting ways to fly (I'm guessing flying round your local area every time would get boring after a while)

Longer term, my Dad has an apartment in Calpe (near Alacante in Spain) so I guess one goal would be to get to the point where I could fly myself there, that would take a lot of experience though (and maybe beyond my budget).

The other possibility would be to look at becoming an FI but I have no idea how much time/effort and money that would take. I have found that doing your hobby for a living can take the shine off it so maybe that isn't such a good idea after all.

[Paul_Sengupta]

One thing I would say...this thing about the Chipmunk. The general advice on the forum about people either having trouble landing aeroplanes or having trouble landing nose wheel aeroplanes properly is generally...

"Everyone should have some time in a tailwheel aeroplane as part of their PPL. That'll teach them to land properly."

Just sayin'...

Not arguing one way or the other, just that argument comes up time and again.

So what say the gurus?

[Keef]

Tailwheel time is good discipline and learning, certainly, but I wouldn't call it essential for good nosewheel landings. I was taught at an early stage of my PPL to keep the nosewheel off the runway until it insisted on dropping on. I was OK getting a taildragger onto the runway in a 3-point attitude: the trickier bit was keeping it going in the right direction once it was on the ground.

[Genghis the Engineer]

I agree that tailwheel time has value.

However, a student pilot is learning to fly a particular aeroplane, with its cockpit arrangement, pitch attitudes, control forces, and checklists. In my opinion for an as-yet-inexperienced pilot to spend time with a different set, close to trying to pass their skill test, is counter-productive.

On net, I think that somebody like Iolanthe is better off delaying the Chippie stuff until after passing her skill test. Then, once she's already reached that minimum standard, and consolidated it with a few licenced flights on her own, the chipmunk flying will do more good than harm to her nascent flying skills.

Just, in my opinion, a matter of timing.

G

[A le Ron]

I've asked myself this question many times and still have no real answer.

I've always wanted to learn to fly which is why I took it up (that and no wife, kids or many friends in the local area mean I have the money/time to do it at the moment), but what I do when I have the licence is still a mystery.

I'm still in the stages of "do it until I can no longer be bothered/can't afford it", but I have a strange feeling that I won't get bored of it any time soon

Short term goals will be to find interesting ways to fly (I'm guessing flying round your local area every time would get boring after a while)

Longer term, my Dad has an apartment in Calpe (near Alacante in Spain) so I guess one goal would be to get to the point where I could fly myself there, that would take a lot of experience though (and maybe beyond my budget).

The other possibility would be to look at becoming an FI but I have no idea how much time/effort and money that would take. I have found that doing your hobby for a living can take the shine off it so maybe that isn't such a good idea after all.

More likely lots of budget than lots of experience!