Learning to fly, or thinking of learning? Post your questions, comments and experiences here

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By MidlifeCrises
#1871024
Yes, absolutely loved it. Great to get the experience of full ATC as my home base is A/G. A Global Express doing a touch and go in front of me at the hold was quite a sight! At one stage I called Teesside Tower "Humberside" which elicited a swift correction, but otherwise the facade of competency was maintained :D

Looking forward to reading more about everyone's experiences here as it has been a great help so far.
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By TopCat
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1871046
MidlifeCrises wrote:the facade of competency was maintained :D

Keep maintaining that facade and things will work out well for you.

It's all I've ever done. Still feels like a facade, 30 years later.
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By tr7v8
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1871063
And another entry for my logbook for yesterday. Somehow have hurt my back so mild sciatica doesn't help the concentration. Osteo today so hope that will relieve it.
Cracking weather, very light winds & pretty much straight down the runway. Flying off of 20 so can do EFATO etc. But the FI didn't. Did a mix of normal & flapless approaches. Went pretty well, got low & slow on one just before the threshold but sorted that out. Was consistently doing circuits starting at 1000ft on the downwind then ending it at 900ft. That got picked up by my instructor, fixed that thereafter. Just need to sort out the actual hold off. So pretty happy. 1:00 for my logbook.
So now 44 lessons & 43 hours 25 mins in.
Was booked today but cancelled as that would have been in another C172 so binned that one off. Next lesson Tuesday & Wednesday next week.
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By T6Harvard
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1871110
I have just had 2 lessons back to back. Am knackered but happy :D

@tr7v8 Funny that you should mention 900' Downwind..... I had to sort that out twice today (instructor mentioned it but was not over bearing).

Started with an excellent briefing then first task was to check the fuel because a/c has touring tanks and if full we wd be over MTOW (not entirely due to me but....). In fact she needed fuel so we agreed that I'd do pre-start checks then taxi to fuel ON MY OWN -
Oh to have someone trust you not to be an imbecile, what a difference!

Unfortunately as I started up the beautiful Chipmunk beside me also came alive and announced they were taxiing for fuel. So I waited for them to move off. And waited. And waited. Eventually they moved but I reckoned it would cost me nearly 10 mins on the Hobbs with their dillying and then filling ahead of me. Instructor sorted it out later so I didn't come off that badly.

Anyway, first lesson was revision of stalls which got a bit exciting in a slow turn when we got to incipient spin stage - luckily it wasn't me driving :shock:

Then I practised approach to disused runway elsewhere, getting angle correct, playing with speed and ROD. Very useful. A bit more general handling then an overhead join, a slightly wonky approach that I rescued and a pretty decent landing :wink:

Oh, and I finally got lots of useful radio practice throughout.

[As an aside, there was a visiting a/c who made very clear calls on the ground but my instructor said they were too long-winded, taking up airtime. I think the pilot was very conscious of it being AG only and better safe than sorry, it certainly helped me keep tabs on activity.]

Break for a cuppa then into the circuit. A slightly mixed bag but plenty of helpful advice given and no jabbing at instruments so that was good.
Still have concrete shyness too often, starting to flare too high 3 times. Doh.
I think 2 decent landings, 1 OK but a bit firmer than intended... however, my flying degraded by the penultimate circuit due to fatigue and that landing needed rescuing :shock:
I said I'd get my act together for the last one and I did.

Given how long I've been at it it's embarrassing to admit, but finally I feel confident with TO and the climb-out speed was nailed every time, at last :roll: .
I dealt with thermals without too much fuss and even managed to crab one in 'nicely' :D

Far from perfect but I had excellent, encouraging and helpful instruction.

The debrief was a textbook 'sandwich'; you know the drill - the good, the bad, the good.

So I gave profuse thanks to my new instructor (bless him, he even bought the teas) and I left with a lot more confidence and, dare I say, hope!

(Wake up at the back!!)
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By tr7v8
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1871135
Paul_Sengupta wrote:
tr7v8 wrote:Flying off of 20 so can do EFATO etc. But the FI didn't.


Were you expecting that at any time you might get one? If so, job done, good lesson! :thumright:

On my many circuits I have done 4 EFATO & 2 radio failures. The 1st EFATO was a massive cock up. The FI thought I was doing something & I thought he was doing it, We laughed afterwards & agreed that we'd misunderstood each other. The next I went into "Stuka" mode when he called fanstop! :mrgreen: In other words pushed forward much too hard.
The other two were fine, the last one I spotted two horses in the field I had chosen. But had got speed under control & said that I'd call mayday, squawk 7700 if time & close fuel cock. Also pull ICO. Personally I'd want master switch off a well, but that is low down the list.
Rochester, because of its location we can only do EFATO on 20, that goes over the M2 & lots of woods. None of the "emergency" areas are great but the only options. 02 is over the houses & a real EFATO on that runway would be exciting.... Can you land on a school playing field? That's the biggest bits of grass. :shock:
The radio failure I've had 2. Asked what do I do? Squawk 7600 then I call blind & he primes the tower to do red light... Go around & then Green light.... Land on.
Good practice & it gets away from the tedium of circuit after circuit.
By TopCat
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1871151
T6Harvard wrote:I have just had 2 lessons back to back. Am knackered but happy :D
.....
Then I practised approach to disused runway elsewhere, getting angle correct, playing with speed and ROD. Very useful. A bit more general handling then an overhead join, a slightly wonky approach that I rescued and a pretty decent landing :wink:
....
I think 2 decent landings, 1 OK but a bit firmer than intended... however, my flying degraded by the penultimate circuit due to fatigue and that landing needed rescuing :shock:
I said I'd get my act together for the last one and I did.

This now all sounds like.... wait for it....

.... perfectly normal flying training!

Sounds like you're right back on track. :thumright:

So I'm really delighted.
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By T6Harvard
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1871158
Tbh it felt a bit woolly to me and I have flown some things better, although not put it all together in one lesson I guess (obvs not the landing :x ), but it felt like I was indeed learning, esp landing! :mrgreen:

Interestingly, my Instructor said how much longer it takes 'mature students' to learn and cited his own experience. His 19 y.o. colleagues in the RAF were a lot quicker than the 23 y.o ones. Even those few years made a difference. Gawd help me then!

Of course now I am wide awake at 4.30am because my brain is making new neural pathways, apparently. I certainly hope it is :lol:
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By Rob P
#1871219
I qualified at age forty. It took me a handful of hours over the (then) minimum of 40 hours.

Does this mean had I been twenty I'd have been ready in far fewer hours? Personally I don't think so. But hey... Who knows?

Not me

Rob P
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By tr7v8
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1871727
And yet another entry for my logbook for today. Started off foggy at the field apparently, fine where I live 2 miles away. But by 12:00 it was glorious.
Very light winds & very variable, debate going on over which runway direction to use.
Started flying off of 20. Did a mix of normal & flapless approaches. After 2 circuits decision made to change the runway direction so 180 deg turn on the downwind & used 02. I have always struggled on this one as the trees look pretty intimidating! Wasn't too bad, too fast on most so ballooned down the runway. Low winds means speed control has tobe 100% & mine wasn't. Discussion on way back to the office as to whether I am making improvement, yes, Slowly came the answer.....
So reasonably happy. 1:00 for my logbook.
So now 45 lessons & 44 hours 25 mins in.
Next lesson tomorrow, late at 16:00
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By VRB_20kt
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1871736
You’re right about speed control on calm days. It comes down to the kinetic energy you have to dissipate. Landing at 60kts ground speed carries close to 50% more energy than a ground speed of 50kts that you might have with the same air speed and a 10kt headwind.

Just remember you’re trying not to land as the aircraft slows down!
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By T6Harvard
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1871747
@tr7v8 'coming along' is good. Plus you've had another set of really useful experiences today, all building up nicely. You sound more confident, btw!

I've been taking EasyPPL Groundschool tests online while between jobs today and then I sat in the garden and visualised those last few seconds after coming over the fence, NOT raising the nose, moving my eyes past the aiming point, gently flaring, holding off, holding off, holding off ...... :mrgreen: In my head I can hear the stall warner :D

I've decided to concentrate on Comms and if that goes well I'll probably add Human Performance & Limitations because I could sit those on the same day.

MrT6 has booked us a few days away in early November but has made it clear that revising has no place on the trip :roll: so I need to get my act together before then!
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By tr7v8
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1871939
And yet another entry for my logbook for today. Cracking day today, as it was a late lesson (16:00) had time for some work today & a bike ride beforehand. Bike ride was needed as my head was in a weird place today. Almost like I was not looking forward to the lesson! Same feeling when I returned. More later.
Light winds but definitely off of 20. Did a mix of normal & flapless approaches. Pretty much the same as before, poor speed control especially over the threshold. Still landing too flat.
Back to being really depressed at lack of progress. Now done 33 odd hours of circuits and its still Carp with the same faults as I had 20 hours ago. Back to seriously thinking about quitting.
My thought processes are: I have £11K or thereabouts invested in this & it was definitely a bucket list thing. I am not a quitter but there comes a point when you say enough is enough. I currently have 5 more lessons paid for to early November. (Aircraft has annual in Oct) do I book more. Or do I give it a rest for the winter, do my last two exams (met & nav) so I stay in the 18 months rule and restart in spring 22? Or do I do something now.
So in a strange place this evening. 0:50 for my logbook.
So now 46 lessons & 45 hours 15 mins in.
Next lesson next Wednesday
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