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

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By T6Harvard
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1877834
Ahhh, how well I know that feeling * @Milty . It is, I believe, because your brain is busy-busy making new neural pathways. And...... different things are taking up that crucial bit at the top of the capacity bucket.

I think it was @TopCat who described those first few circuits as like spinning plates, can't keep 'em all going, one will drop off.

* but not today. Today was a better day :D
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By MattL
#1877843
On the base turn many people start staring at the runway and forget to keep looking forward to check and maintain the correct attitude

I teach to start the round out about the height of a double decker bus, make sure you are looking well down the runway and not focussing downwards

Remember control inputs on final approach should be smooth and measured - if you start chasing things it will all get a bit fraught

Good luck, it’s all a very natural progression of things!
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By Milty
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1882008
Frustration based rant incoming...

Last lesson on 22/10 was annoyingly poor as reported.

29/10 - cancelled due to weather.
4/11 - had to cancel as busy with work commitments
This morning - cancelled due to weather.

Available slots reduced due to shorter days.

I want to get back on the horse after my bogey lesson and the longer it goes on, the worse it's going to get.

Nowt that can be done about it (apart from giving up work but that's not sustainable).

Just wanted to pop this on my thread so that any other new students will understand that we are in the same boat. I note @T6Harvard has a similar frustration.

On the plus side, I think I'm close to being comfortable for air law and ops proc. Partially on purpose (to test my retention rather than study/exam immediately following) and partially because I've been silly busy over the last 2 weeks, I've not really looked at either topic but on Tuesday, I took a couple of sample tests and passed (85% and 80% respectively). I'd like to get a bit better than that but I'm quite pleased that what I've learned has some retention to be able to pass. With a bit more study, I'm comfortable that it should be in the bag.
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By johnm
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1882009
Patience is a virtue, remember that the training isn't a means to an end it's an end in itself and it's subject to all the same vagaries as other aspects of flying, using the time wisely on theory is a sound strategy....
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By Milty
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1882014
By chance, there's been a cancellation so might be able to get up tomorrow although the forecast is looking a bit ropey for tomorrow morning too.

@johnm agreed - patience is indeed a virtue. I'm enjoying the training process (most of the time). It's good to be pushed outside of my comfort zone. I don't actually feel like it's a race to get qualified. In fact, I may be one of those perpetual students as I'm already thinking about IFR training once I do eventually qualify.
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By T6Harvard
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1882016
johnm wrote:Patience is a virtue, remember that the training isn't a means to an end it's an end in itself and it's subject to all the same vagaries as other aspects of flying, using the time wisely on theory is a sound strategy....


You're absolutely correct, of course! It's just that as a struggling student (me, not Milty :mrgreen: ) I want to keep up the momentum from a leap forward. I can fully understand Milty wanting to put the last lesson behind him too.

@Milty , just revise the key things that you think need to stick and book those exams, you'll be fine.

(I'm moving onto the ones I'll find more challenging......)
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By johnm
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1882017
I'm by no means the most experienced on here but I have 1400 hours and full IR and I still have days when I'd like to have the chance to do that over again..... :D It's not called a licence to learn for no reason :D It is true though that currency is quite important so regular flying has a role in keeping things up to scratch....
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By Milty
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1882211
Well, that was one hell of a lesson... I certainly know that I'm alive and kicking :shock: :lol:

I saw the weather this morning and assumed it would be off. Got a text from the instructor saying it's OK but will be bumpy and we had circuits booked for 10.

Arrived at the airport and saw the windsock defying gravity and flapping about a fair bit at 50 degrees off the left of runway 27. A very interesting conundrum for a relatively new student given some of the topics on here. Certainly not sure of my own capabilities to fly safely in this but having to put faith in the instructor. How far do you go when learning a new skill with 'if there's doubt, there's no doubt?' Anyway, I cracked on and glad I did.

Bit of instruction on a bit of left aileron down, right rudder, crabbing approach, allowance for wind in the circuit and clarifying what went wrong last time but put it behind me. Then off we went.

Pre-flight is now starting to get more natural. I still like to use the checklists but I realised after I'd called the tower for clearance to taxi that I'd done it without really thinking about it. I must have called at just the point that they split the frequency for tower and approach because I had to do it again on the tower only frequency. Good practice though.

Taxi out all fairly uneventful, power and vital checks done and then off we go.

10kts to start with - not too bad but pretty gusty (for me anyway).

First couple of circuits were a bit rusty and had to be picked up on height but soon got back into the swing of things. Speed on the turn into final back on track again for the rest of the lesson. After the bollocking that I got after the last lesson for forgetting carb heat as we turned base, it was pretty clear I wasn't going to forget that ever again.

First couple of landings I had to fight it a bit and was over-correcting. Down and back up with all parts still attached though.

Third landing wind up to 12kts, I'm proud to say I absolutely aced. I barely felt it touch down, perfectly aligned.

Fourth landing was OK but the wind was increasing and gusting more and more.

For the final 4 landings, each time I was on final, tower reported another kt on the windspeed so the last one was with 16kts at 210 degrees. The last 3 I completed completely on my own.

I genuinely have no idea how you instructors can sit there fully off the controls while a novice of questionable standard makes wobbly landings in crosswinds like today. Fair play to you and a big thanks to those that do.

Strava record of circuit patterns shown for posterity - not the best, not the worst. Definitely works better on the dash - thank you for the tip @Paul_Sengupta

Image

Key progress from today - I've really learned the benefit of looking down to the end of the runway once over the threshold on final. Whilst being told to do it before, I don't think I was really. I forced myself to do it today and I think it helped a lot, especially with kicking the rudder right to line us up. Previously, I was being told to kick right but in my head/visual picture, we were aligned. At one point today, I thought the same, then looked to the end it all became clear why the instructor was telling me more right rudder. The flare seemed a bit more natural and I didn't have to think about it too much.

Had to really force myself as the lesson progressed to just do small inputs on the controls on finals. I found this really hard to do when getting buffeted by gusts but once I managed it, it really did help.

Need to work on concentrating after we've landed - every time I got reprimanded for not keeping left aileron down as we rolled for the next take-off. It just would not stick in my head. I think it was probably a bit of relief each time that we'd landed OK that I switched off a bit. Always good to have something to improve on though.

Radio work is going OK.

It was a tough 55 mins today, but thoroughly rewarding.

So, that's lesson 11, 12h30m.

Was going to try an air law and ops proc exam today but realised that I'd not registered for the e-exam process. Next time maybe...
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By Milty
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1882239
Bit wayward on the downwind maybe but it was pretty gusty at 1000 and the DI seemed to be going out and with the aircraft bouncing around all over the place, it was a bit tricky to set it back to the wobbly compass. Anyone else find the compass high up in the middle of a C152 tricky to read?

I do wonder sometimes if we students are a bit too demanding on ourselves. I accept that a good landing results from a good circuit/approach and we should always strive for perfection. It was good experience today though to see how quick the crosswind leg goes with a decent bit of puff behind us. Turning base, our groundspeed almost seemed to stop.
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By T6Harvard
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1882245
@Milty Oh that's fab!! Well done. And thanks for a brilliant write up.

Yes, I can empathise with forcing yourself to look down the runway but that's the trick :thumleft:

(I'm glad it's not just me who struggles to see the high compass in the 152 :) )
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By TopCat
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1882309
Milty wrote:....we should always strive for perfection.

Generally I agree with this ^^

Milty wrote:I accept that a good landing results from a good circuit/approach

But not this ^^

At risk of excommunication and being burned at the stake by the fundamentalists of this parish, I don't remotely accept this, not even a tiny bit.

A good circuit and approach makes it a bit easier on a calm day, for the simple reason that it makes it more repeatable, which is important for newer students to get the hang of the coordination. Flying good circuits is also good in general, because being able to fly in a disciplined manner is desirable for many reasons.

But as I suspect you've now discovered, if, when you get to 20 feet, you're whomped sideways by a humungous gust, it doesn't matter how beautifully you turned base at circuit height +/- 1 inch, with exactly 30 degrees of bank, and then put down exactly the right amount of flap once level on base. Or whatever else you did perfectly in the preceding seven or eight minutes.

Your good landing results from your ability to fly the aeroplane all the way down to the ground (and beyond), from one second to the next. I daresay that ability has grown partly from being made to fly with great precision, but the good circuit is not the cause of the good landing.

Oh, and don't me started on nerks posting fake stuff on Strava, and nicking the KOMs from the proper roadies. :pirat:
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By Milty
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1882315
@TopCat a fair point well made and today is a great example of your point. On reflection, being 100ft high on early downwind made sod all difference when I got knocked sideways with 50ft left to go.

Appreciate the nudge with your ‘and beyond’ comment. Duly noted for next time.

Fortunately, I’ve not falsely claimed any Strava records in the Gloucester 27 RH circuit. A friend did give me kudos for my ride though. When I asked if they were serious, the reply was ‘I don’t understand km, only miles’.
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