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

Moderator: AndyR

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By AndyR
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1817327
7 hours in and you’ve already covered spinning?

Impressive if you have. Stalling, slow flight and spin avoidance by any chance? They’ll be Ex10a and 10b. Spinning is Ex11 and very few schools teach it now (sadly in my opinion).

Good luck in the circuit. February and March can bring some lovely crisp days.
By Fellsteruk
#1817335
AndyR wrote:7 hours in and you’ve already covered spinning?

Impressive if you have. Stalling, slow flight and spin avoidance by any chance? They’ll be Ex10a and 10b. Spinning is Ex11 and very few schools teach it now (sadly in my opinion).

Good luck in the circuit. February and March can bring some lovely crisp days.


Yeah I was told spinning is no longer part of the ppl syllabus, doesn’t have to be taught.

I’m hoping there is some sort of pass plus equivalent for ppl that covers spinning and more upset training etc as it seem very useful stuff.
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By Jammy888
#1817338
Yeah. Recovery from stalls and spins. Was taught them on ex.13 so not quite sure what the syllabus contains but I’m with the CFI at the field.

That’s quite reassuring, it seems I’m progressing quickly. :)


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
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By tr7v8
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1817494
AndyR wrote:7 hours in and you’ve already covered spinning?

Impressive if you have. Stalling, slow flight and spin avoidance by any chance? They’ll be Ex10a and 10b. Spinning is Ex11 and very few schools teach it now (sadly in my opinion).

Good luck in the circuit. February and March can bring some lovely crisp days.

Yup i have 9:20 in & have just covered, stalling, flaps up & down, last lesson was incipient spinning.
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By T6Harvard
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1830804
:mrgreen: here we go again! I have 6 lessons booked for April :mrgreen: .

I can't make the first available date because it is MrT6's birthday, and bizarrely he turned down my invitation to a picnic at the airfield.....

(all being well)
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By T6Harvard
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1830815
Blimey!! That's intense. Good for you. If the cafe opens up in time I'll buy you a cuppa when you pass before 4th June 8)

I turned down 2 days in a row because I think I'll be too tired from concentrating so hard after the layoff, plus I have to travel 90 mins each way. And, tbh, I think my head would explode if I did more than 2 a week right now :lol:

Here's to great weather, like last April!!!!!
By Jammy888
#1830818
I just wanna get it out the way. And cafe should be open by then. Indoor hospitality is 17th May so I’ll take you up on that! 8) mins

Luckily I’m only 25 mins from the field. And I’ll be honest I’m expecting to end up with an exploded head too :lol:

An hopefully it is. I don’t fancy missing too many hours it will put me back too far and it for the deadline :shock:
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By Paultheparaglider
#1831237
T6Harvard wrote:I loved the idea of Eggington (Derby) but the grass runways put me off.


I'm even later to this thread than @Charles Hunt .

Like you, T6, I was nervous at first of grass runways. I did my ppl at Cardiff in Tomahawks, and was very on edge the first time I visited a grass strip. The reality, though, is that grass is more forgiving generally than tarmac. My instructor took me into a grass strip once I reached the cross country stage, and I was very relieved to find they are nothing to fear.

Reading your experiences brings back a lot of memories. Not many of us are natural skygods. I still remember my first take off at Cardiff. I applied power nice and smoothly and off we went. At about an angle of 30 degrees to the centre line. I didn't panic though as I knew my instructor would sort it out as it was going so awry. But, he didn't. He just sat there grinning like a Cheshire Cat as we bounced onto the grass at the side of the runway - trust me, that takes some doing if you see the size of the runway at Cardiff - and eventually lurched into the air. I doubt there is a pilot yet that didn't question their ability to get that licence at some point or other in their training. Just wait until you get to circuit training. :wink:

What does get you there eventually is persistence. Anyway, nothing that comes too easily is worth having. :thumleft:
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By T6Harvard
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1831241
Great story Paul!

I am looking forward to trying out grass when/if my instructor suggests it. I was only put off learning from a grass airfield because I thought there would be a lot of down-time due to water logging.
Oh the irony, given the current situation...

Some of my (hopeful) plans post-Licence do indeed involve grass strips :mrgreen:

I still can't believe that I am having flying lessons! Me?! An ordinary, middle aged, run of the mill person.
How lucky am I?

I've booked onto Duxford's Virtual Spitfire event this evening, for my weekly aviation fix, present company excepted :D

*** Update - the Duxford Spitfire talk was excellent, as one would expect. Well worth the small fee.
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By T6Harvard
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1840516
Lesson 8

Oh it was so good to be back! A lovely day for it, too.

My first flying lesson for 3.5 months. I had fleeting butterflies as I left home. I don't think it was nerves, just think I just didn't want to be cruddy, plus I was excited.

It went well, I was much better than the last time, but last time I had held my head in my hands after shutdown so the bar wasn't exactly set very high!

I was consolidating (yep, by that I mean repeating) climbing and descending.
I managed to answer all the questions posed in the briefing and I even spotted a 'deliberate' mistake, so I felt a little more confident that I had retained something from prev lessons.

I got up to the wing tanks first go, no unseemly scrabbling, just jumped up like a gazelle (OK, that last bit is a gross over-exaggeration). This is a small issue but it bugs me. Those pegs are too high for us short asses. I made my instructor laugh when I told him in all seriousness I had been practising to improve the manoeuvre.

Interestingly testing the fuel revealed some water at the bottom fuel strainer. As soon as I saw it I reported it. We just drained it off but it was a good lesson to always check it. The other drains had been fine.

My walk round felt good, I enjoyed it but weirdly I skipped 2 lines of the written checklist on pre-start up checks. I have never missed them before. Of course that got me a ticking off, rightly so.

It was a long taxi out to the opposite runway due to NNE wind so I got to practice a fast taxi - I found out why shortly after when I was told that I'd be doing the take off with my instructor following on the controls.

My biggest worry was speeding along while trying to steer straight with my feet, all the while watching the t's & p's and that point in the distance past the end of the runway.

It was fine. No drama. Much easier than I thought it would be.

As we reached 300' I was asked to do the post-take off checks which I was able to carry out from memory :D . I later did the enroute checks and finally the rejoins checks without faltering. So the revision last night was worth it.

Then we rehearsed climbing and descending. My word, although I was FAR from perfect it felt soooo much better than my first efforts at the end of December. Obviously I had set the bar very low in lesson 7, but thankfully this was way better.

It was amazing to actually react more quickly, know what to do (not always getting it just right but correcting things more quickly), and to be much lighter on the controls. I didn't chase the instruments this time :D

I even managed to level off at the desired altitude pretty well. I was very surprised to have improved and also very relieved.

The descending was criticised though! I let the nose drop before the speed bled off. That was the only time today that I got the familiar exasperated voice ringing in my ears :lol:

I did get a ticking off for not watching the balance ball and therefore failing to use the rudder at one point, but at the time, near the end of the lesson, I was trying to keep my eyes on the ASI, altimeter, rpm, all while looking out for other aircraft, and steer straight and level, so I admitted defeat!

I also did plenty of turns and those were mostly fine, except I let the air speed drop a bit in the first turn. Again, I was much better than last time.

A couple of other skills, which somehow I have always managed, were still embedded and I was fine with those, which I was very happy about. Trimming was quicker, rolling out onto a heading, all fine. No praise for those because my instructor had said they were good once, ages ago, and that's it from him 8)

Quite a few more new things were introduced as sort of off the cuff remarks that I now have to try and recall! - details of correct height and positioning on approach to the circuit, some radio calls, and I've forgotten what else (!!).

All too soon it was time to head back.

The classic, find your landmark, in my case "can you see the disused airfield" (fairly close to base) which I have never been able to spot! Once again I admitted defeat and was told, "Look, it's right there, with all those cars parked on the runway". Of course, yeah, how could I miss that?! Cars. On a runway...

It was over too soon.

I was annoyed with myself at not being able to read a list!! I was very pleased that I felt a lot better in the air.

In conclusion, a great day but OMG, I am shattered!! I've had to have a nap this afto!!!

[A slice of cake to anyone that read all the above :lol: ]
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By Fellsteruk
#1840522
Great stuff. Glad you had fun and don’t be too hard on yourself after such a long break your allowed to make a few mistakes or forget a few things.

I watched a video recently talking about Cessna fuel drains on modern cessnas and they have like 15... pre flight must take an age.

You had fun that’s all that matters :)

On to the next one :)
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By editmonkey
#1840527
Ahh sounds like it was a fab and busy flight, really enjoyed reading this and so glad you got the weather on your side today! :)

Watching along with my FI yesterday, it seems quite superhuman that so many tasks can be memorised while simultaneously flying an aeroplane off the runway. So good on you, great achievement especially after the time away! :thumleft:
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