[Whizzchick]

Hi Rachel, bumbling fool happens to me too, regularly! After last weeks first solo trip triumph on Saturday where I felt like I was getting somewhere, my lesson on the Monday for PFL's and low level nav was appalling! It seemed that the 'pick a suitable field' bit was totally beyond me!! No idea why, but as others have said it was new stuff and the brain went to mush. I'm just glad my instructor seems to have way more patience than me!!

[rachelandrew]

Had a much better lesson today, seemed like some stuff had clicked. Of course new stuff was thrown at me, but I didn't feel such an idiot around some of the basics.

You mentioned working away, also. I do have some bad news regarding that - you need to try your hardest to keep on it and keep your lessons regular. I'm a total hypocrite, because I really struggle to do so - but the reality is that it's cost me quite a few quid in re-orientation flights and huge amounts of time. Those little "Let's just go up and see how you get on, before we resume the syllabus" flights really add up even if you don't have to re-do much stuff.

I'm reasonably fortunate in that I work for myself, so although I do travel a lot (just back from 4 days in DC, 2 weeks ago was in San Jose and Vegas) when I'm here my time is very flexible, which means I can make the best use of available weather. I don't need to just wait for the weekend. So other than the odd longer trip, I ought to be able to schedule lessons in with reasonable regularity. But it is what it is, if it means it takes longer to learn then so be it. Have to do the work to pay for the lessons

[Morten]

But it is what it is, if it means it takes longer to learn then so be it.

Quite right. There is no rush.

Regarding travelling, I "played away from home" whilst I was doing my PPL training. E.g. whilst traveling I would go to a local flying school and take an hour with an instructor. The hours would not count towards my 45 hours, but that was moot. What it did give me was a lot of fun, experiences at different airports and with different local/national rules and of different aircraft types.
Also, there was no pressure during these flights, making them even more enjoyable than the ones I had at home.
I also believe that the broader experience was a good thing to have in the long run.

(Although, based on previous threads, I do recognise that what worked for me may not work for others who have a less chaotic brain than mine).

Morten

[alexbrett2]

The number of times I've pushed the PTT to reply to a "pass your message", and then entirely forgotten some combination of where I've come from, where I'm going or where I am is quite large - I think my worst was "G-ABCD is a PA28 from, erm, erm, to, erm... standby", at which point I think the controller must have thought I was a complete idiot, though he still gave me my requested zone transit when I eventually got myself together

[akg1486]

It happens to everyone in the beginning, and occasionally also later. Get a kneeboard, write down what you plan to say, press the button and read. It's as simple as that, really.

[Dave W]

Irv Lee produced a useful A5 kneeboard "Radio Call Reminder" crib that he published at FlyOnTrack - it's available for download from here.

I also pulled something similar together - available from here as a PDF. Most of it is intended as an easy to carry quick reference, but the upper third-ish of the first side is for use in flight as an aide memoire.
Looks like this:

[Melanie Moxon]

The answer is never. Nobody is perfect all the time. The likelyhood is at some point you will do something that will make you utter the words "you fool" in reference to yourself.

On sunday I couldn't get the Firefly started. The engine is fuel injected and you prime using the fuel pump and mixture and then turn the engine over with the mixture at cut off before advancing it to fully rich when the engine catches. For some reason I had a brain fart and kept going for the mag switch first (you start it on the left mag and then when running switch it to 'both') rather than the mixture

Realising what I had been doing after a few failed attempts I shook my head and doing things in the correct sequence the engine fired up on the button and I was away. Don't beat yourself up or feel bad about making the odd tiny mistake

[T67M]

Hot-starting a Firefly is a task best undertaken by Zaphod Beeblebrox - the third arm is essential!

[Paul_Sengupta]

Is there a key/button on the left hand side on the T67? On the Bulldog everything's grouped together in the middle so it's not an issue using just two hands. However it's a little bit more tricky on a new model (fuel injected) 172 as you try and turn the key and juggle the throttle and mixture at the same time.

[Melanie Moxon]

Without wishing to take the thread off course, but then would it ever be a true FLYER forum thread if it didn't deviate a little bit

This is the quadrant lifted from the Air Crew Manual:


The mixture is above the magnetos but opposite the starter button, it can make for some deft handwork especially when the best way for me (being 6' 2") to operate the starter and primer pump is to have my left hand under my right knee and my right hand poised on the mixture. Although this weekends brain fart saw me hand poised on the mags instead; hence several unsuccessful starting attempts before I realised what a bumbling fool I had been.

[Crash one]

Stiff breeze into wind, throttle in left hand, primer in right hand on far right of panel, third hand/leg holding stick back, fourth hand mag switches and starter button, forget to shut door first and get smacked in left ear as it fires up, swings to left with only one brake on!!! Bugger!

[davef77]

No!

Flying seems to be one of those things that whatever your experience level it can throw you a curve-ball from time to time.

At least that is true for me, but I am only a beginner compared to many pilots.

From your perspective I probably look fairly experienced, I have a bit over 500 hrs, but I still feel like a beginner to me. Not in everything.

You will get better and better at the things that you practice. Your capacity will increase so that you can retain your critical faculties in increasingly demanding circumstances. But, you will NEVER make a perfect flight, or even a perfect turn, let alone a perfect landing

In addition, every now and then something will come along and make you feel like a complete beginner again.

My kind of flying, competition aerobatics, demands constant learning. That is one of the main reasons why I enjoy it so much.

One definition of competition aerobatics is that we spend hundreds of pounds to fly our expensive machinery hundreds of miles to an, often rainy, airfield so that we can fly it in front of some people who will tell us that our flying is rubbish

Like you I have a demanding job that involves a lot of learning, so I have found that I actively enjoy the recreational learning that I get from my flying.

I found that the challenge of learning new skills is the joy of flying, for me. I love the challenge of trying to perfect something that can never come close to perfect.

Flying is a real-time kind of thing. Yes you can help a lot by being careful and thinking ahead for some things, and learning some fixed responses (e.g. Common check-lists) for others, but fundamentally once you take off there are a stream of events flowing past you, often in parallel so that you can't focus on all of them all of the time. This is really very demanding!

I love it

Don't be disheartened, this *is* a challenging thing to learn. Anyone can fly, but learning to fly well is the job of a lifetime, that is the joy of it, the obsession.

Welcome to the club

[joe-fbs]

Rachel,
Davef77 has it precisely. Don't despair. You will have, probably already have, a dozen great moments for every difficult one.

[Chris_N]

Rachel
I am still a student at 100 + hours (due to irregular lessons with long gaps) and am always finding new things to keep the instructor on his toes: I have nearly stopped the engine in the circuit by cutting the mixture instead of putting the carb heat on; nearly put the plane on the ground just short of the runway by dropping two stages of flap instead of adding the final stage at 300' on final; on a solo navigation exercise flying directly over an airfield that had given me a magnetic bearing to it without seeing it at all; getting lost and speaking to some very friendly guys at D&D but forgetting to say it was a PAN until they asked me to confirm it was a practice; proved that a PA28 can (just) climb after a touch and go with carb heat on and flaps.

As the others have said then there are the great moments: first solo -technically still day but watching the towns twinkle below me in the twilight: trimming the plane (on rare occasions) so that it flies perfectly straight and level: circuits on one runway with an instructor while the Embraer demonstration pilots were doing circuits on a crosssing runway but due to different length circuits alternating the touch and goes; flying with a new instructor who commented on how well I did a go around (unaware of how many I have done while learning to land!)

[lobstaboy]

Seems to me that I feel like a bumbling fool all the time anyway, never mind when I'm in an aircraft.

Seriously though, if your instructor isn't concerned then you needn't be (as others have said).