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

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By Rob P
#1848020
I don't often get the chance to start a post here so I thought I'd grab the opportunity whilst I can.

Yes, I got my SEP licence back in 1989, Night and MEP followed within a couple of years. But even now, once every two years I log the compulsory instructor hour in Year Two of each SEP validity.

There is no fixed content to that hour, though some instructors, fewer these days, try and push you into a mini skills test. Kick back against that unless you feel it would be of benefit.

As ever, a VFR only pilot, I chose to fly my aircraft under a hood, to build my confidence in my ability to fly myself out of trouble if needed.

The RV isn't an ideal IFR/IMC platform, a bit twitchy, not at its best boring straight line holes in clouds. But I successfully navigated Tibenham to the coast at Southwold, then executed a rather too aggressive 180 and navigated back home.

The instructor was moderately impressed when I warned him of glider traffic, left to right, 1300ft below whilst still under the hood. (Thank you Pilot Aware)

A few circuits at base to round off the hour working on wheeler landings were for me, money and time well spent.

I do so value my time with an instructor in the RH seat. You should too.

Rob P
MattL, JAFO, johnm and 8 others liked this
By johnm
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1848039
My annual IR revalidation is an opportunity to have any lurking issues sorted out and I always approach it with trepidation in case I've lost the plot and not noticed!
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By David Wood
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1848057
I entirely agree. We're all P/ut in a sense; I certainly am, and I first logged that term over 40 years ago. Any pilot who is afraid of learning from someone else, or thinks he has nothing to learn from anyone else needs to remain rooted to the ground.

Personally I have a IR renewal flight test every year, an FI renewal flight test every 3 years and an Examiner renewal flight test every three years. So I often sit in the cockpit as a test candidate for 2 tests in any year. I love them. They are always a learning experience.

So, like @Rob P, embrace the 1-hour with an FI. It's an opportunity to try, to learn, to practise. If you treat it as a formality or worse as a chore, then you are a fool.
Last edited by David Wood on Thu May 20, 2021 9:54 am, edited 1 time in total.
TopCat, Rob P, JAFO and 3 others liked this
By TopCat
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1848067
Completely agree. I always look forward to these reval hours. I did mine on Monday too, and as I'm planning to get my IMC rating back, I spent it under the hood intercepting VORs, with climbing and descending turns, and unusual attitude recovery on limited panel.

It was bloody hard work, as I haven't done any instrument flying for quite a few years.

I did my revalidation by test two years ago as I wanted to get my UK PPL valid again as well as my EASA licence. That was mostly fine but did throw up a couple of things.

And a few years ago I also booked an hour with the then-CFI at White Waltham, with the specific objective of having him check out all aspects of my flying just in case I was blundering around the sky with all sorts of bad habits but with skygod delusions - I'd done IMC Pu/t hours for all the previous revalidations so hadn't had any kind of formal assessment for a long time.

Highly recommended, any sort of instruction or checkout, IMO.
Rob P, T6Harvard liked this
#1848191
My “flying buddy” lapsed FI, ex airline pilot is willing to give me instruction on instrument flying, general flying procedures etc (my overhead joins are rare and only performed at required airfields).
I am legally obliged to log PIC, cannot log the “training” on a NPPL so it gets noted as “instrument practice”.
I’ll take anything I can get whenever possible, I think it’s all well worth it.
Doing the reval last week, I can see the “mini skills test” thing and felt that I didn’t do as well as I should due to nerves and brain farts after a long lay off plus an aircraft I hadn’t flown for ten years. (My lame excuse :(
#1848997
Wise words, one and all.

As our Tiger Moth season kicks-off, all of the instructors need to do a 'start of the season' check ride. I did mine yesterday and on short final for a wheeler landing the instructor/check pilot told me to lock the slats, saying afterwards that (in theory) you wouldn't want them popping out asymmetrically as you're holding off.

I have lots of hours on Tigers but, if I ever knew that in the first place, I'd forgotten.

['In theory' as the slats on a Tiger make very little difference anyhow - but a good learning point none-the-less].

Always consider yourself PUT... I do. :)
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By TopCat
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1849764
Sir Morley Steven wrote:Doesn’t matter what you do, a good instructor will have a nice long list of your bad habits by the time you get to the local training area.

That sounds like a challenge to me.

How long is a "long list"? And how different from what's taught in PPL training does it have to be to count as "bad"?

And incidentally, it's not ...
The one hour refresher training

It's an hour of whatever kind of training you feel is appropriate. Sorry, but any implication that the Pu/t hour is some kind of test sends me into auto-grrrr mode.

That said, I have no aversion to going through the list of bad habits noticed during said training, as I've hopefully made clear above.