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

Moderator: AndyR

By pipvac
#1912985
Hi everyone!

A little update.

Whilst I have done a couple of circuits on a previous occasion today was my first proper circuit training. The number of take-offs and landings were of equal number so that's a good start. :thumleft: Any more times round and we may have gotten dizzy.

I think it is safe to say that much more practice is needed. However, I came away thinking I was full on flying the plane... an odd thing to say perhaps, but not sure how else to say it. It was all me - warts and all!

Lots of good and not so good....

Good:
- 90% of the radio work was me, and I managed to get that right, with no interventions/corrections
- groundwork was good. cold start I left it little long between prime and start, but otherwise everything else is getting quite routine
- taxiing used to be a challenge requiring tongue out levels of concentration, but now alot more automatic
- take-offs ok. my noise abatement turn was late on the first one but got it after that.
- climb-out, crosswind, and down wind turns all ok
- speed management on downwind much better than before. Not perfect, but far greater awareness and regular adjustment before being prompted.
- downwind checks nailed... i may even be saying them in my sleep
- comfortable with pitch for speed, power for altitude
- made the right decision for the one go around I performed - said to FI "this feels far too high, I'm going around" - carried this out - I got a little pat on the back for that one
- alot more aware of what the plane was doing on base and final. Speed control was not ideal but improved, rate of decent, height etc - less a passenger than before (if that makes sense)

Lots of room for improvement:
- Everything else! LOL!
- Despite using the trim throughout, I never felt I had gotten the plane properly trimmed, resulting in a great deal more effort in managing the aircraft
- need to be more positive on the level out on crosswind
- occasionally drifted above circuit height, which has a cascade effect right through to final
- a tendancy to let the nose drop when apply 2 stages of flap on base before speed is reached
- timing my turn to final - although this improved a little as we went on
- over flaring on landing.... hello sky, I thought we left you.
- haven't nailed the sight picture for landing
- rudder control - everywhere!!!

A day of ups and downs in more way than one. :wink:

FI and I had alot to talk about on the taxi back to the school and the walk to Ops.

Got more lessons booked this week as on leave. With any luck a concentration of a few lessons over a week will help iron out the creases.

Exhausted now. Need a lie down.
Rob P, ericgreveson, T6Harvard and 2 others liked this
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By VRB_20kt
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1912988
Looks like you had fun.

Only a couple of comments. The time from prime to start? Ideally you leave enough time for the fuel to vaporise - so even if you left it for a good few seconds, the priming effect should be OK. (Your instructor will know but in aircraft with an accelerator pump it's quite usual to prime the engine with a few pumps of the throttle)

The base leg is a little known secret of a successful circuit. It's the place where you fix a lot of things. A crosswind will affect the amount of throttle you need; wind down the runway will require a course correction and so on. If you're too high at the end of the downwind you can reduce the RPM further than usual and the reverse is true; it's not flown at a fixed RPM, but with the aim of being at x00 feet at the commencement of the final leg.

A big part of flying is recognising that perfection is rarely attained - good and safe are what matter!
Mz Hedy, pipvac liked this
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By Milty
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1912989
@pipvac loved reading that. Sounds like great progress and that’s what you need. Progress while learning is as good as perfection which will come with time. There will be things as you progress that you will suddenly realise that you’re doing without thinking (like taxiing as you found today).
pipvac liked this
By A4 Pacific
#1912992
Pipvac

Welcome to the journey. The truth is the learning never ends. I’ve absolutely no doubt your instructor is the best. They all are. They study long and hard for the qualification and are almost all invested in the learning process.

Never forget an aircraft is almost certainly the worst classroom ever invented! It’s noisy, expensive, terribly unforgiving of error and there’s no wipeboard! So do your practice before you strap yourself in. Whether you are a PPL, an old hand, a test pilot or frankly even a NASA astronaut, get as many hours flying your ‘armchair’ as possible! It will absolutely polish your performance! A three axis professional simulator with wrap round vision isn’t much more than an armchair if you just use your imagination!

The other thing you mentioned was trim. So remember, in order to control an aircraft you have to make positive acts. You can’t act unless you think. You can’t think unless you relax, and you can’t relax unless you trim. . So trim, relax, think and then act.

You’ll smash it! :thumright:
Milty, T6Harvard, lobstaboy and 1 others liked this
By Cessna571
#1913021
Trimming.

Do you let go of the controls COMPLETELY for a few seconds after trimming?

If you don’t, then you’re either not trimmed, or not sure if you’re trimmed.

When I get into the bad habit of not trimming properly I try to remember the “let go” step, and my trimming improves again.

The “let go” at the end is an important, often missed, step.
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By lobstaboy
#1913038
You spend a lot of time doing circuits while learning. Obviously they are important but also they combine pretty much all the elements of flight (straight and level, turns, climbs and descents etc etc) that you've been learning already, so they are a great way to practice those. Further, by the time you can think about all the other stuff you need to be thinking about in the circuit and still fly the aeroplane, you'll realise you don't need to think about how to fly it anymore - that's become automatic. Eureka!
What I'm saying is that circuit work is important and useful. Experienced pilots, when converting to a new type, do lots of circuits. Or, if you're rusty, lots of circuits - for the 90 day rule too.
TopCat, pipvac, T6Harvard liked this
By pipvac
#1913055
Lots of great feedback. Thank you. Each time I post on here, there comes a wealth of really good nuggets of ideas and suggestions. All of which I take on board. Its very much appreciated.

I've made a particular note of the suggestions about trim. Being able to let go, even just releasing grip for a short time, makes alot of sense. I did this earlier in training, but did not do this yesterday.

After my lesson at this soft field airfield, when I returned to Ops, I ask the team "is circuit training like golf?" They looked at my quizzically, and I said "do I now need to walk the length of the runway and replace all the divots?"

I'll get my coat..... :?
T6Harvard liked this
By TopCat
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1913056
pipvac wrote:After my lesson at this soft field airfield,

Where are you learning?
By pipvac
#1913136
TopCat wrote:
pipvac wrote:After my lesson at this soft field airfield,

Where are you learning?


Goodwood.
By pipvac
#1913139
A4 Pacific wrote:pipvac

There are some great flying channels on YouTube with many good tips. Watching on a video can sometimes be more effective teaching than in a classroom or even in the aeroplane.

This guy is (IMVHO) extremely good, and posts many videos:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=W7DN_HkyOMk&t=311s


Yes! I've watched many of his videos, and other Youtubers....

MzeroA Flight Training
Aviation 101
LewDix Aviation
Zero Three Delta
The Flying Reporter
Noel Philips Pilot Vlogs
Plane Old Ben
steveo1kinevo
and more.

The Finer Points has a video on the Lindberg reference which was interesting. Plus he showed a number of co-ordination exercises that may well be useful to try.

As I have found in life, take a moment to listen to the experience of people who have done it before you can make a world of difference to your chance of success. The reason I post here. One of the most supportive forum communities I've been a part of.

:thumright:
Milty, A4 Pacific, T6Harvard liked this
By pipvac
#1913140
A4 Pacific wrote:Pipvac

Welcome to the journey. The truth is the learning never ends. I’ve absolutely no doubt your instructor is the best. They all are. They study long and hard for the qualification and are almost all invested in the learning process.

Never forget an aircraft is almost certainly the worst classroom ever invented! It’s noisy, expensive, terribly unforgiving of error and there’s no wipeboard! So do your practice before you strap yourself in. Whether you are a PPL, an old hand, a test pilot or frankly even a NASA astronaut, get as many hours flying your ‘armchair’ as possible! It will absolutely polish your performance! A three axis professional simulator with wrap round vision isn’t much more than an armchair if you just use your imagination!

The other thing you mentioned was trim. So remember, in order to control an aircraft you have to make positive acts. You can’t act unless you think. You can’t think unless you relax, and you can’t relax unless you trim. . So trim, relax, think and then act.

You’ll smash it! :thumright:


If only I could log the number of armchair hours. I tried but I couldn't find the hobbs. Armchair or sat up in bed getting funny looks from the wife. The crazy thing is, in my minds eye I am fully co-ordinated, trimmed perfectly, make every radio call word perfect and at the right time, there is almost no wind, gusts., turbulence or thermals, and I nail a greaser pretty much everytime! I have tried Readability 5 as well, which was helpful in providing some radio practice away from the workload and cockpit environment. Not perfect, but helped me to practice some of the sequences and responses, which came in handy in my lesson the other day.

It's a great suggestion, and something which I do near religiously. Usually when I am trying to memorise a procedure (eg engine fire on the ground), process (engine start) , or an extended sequence (eg circuits).
A4 Pacific liked this
By TopCat
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1913142
pipvac wrote:
TopCat wrote:
pipvac wrote:After my lesson at this soft field airfield,

Where are you learning?

Goodwood.

I know Goodwood very well (I learned there too, about a thousand years ago). It's not soft, surely? It's hardly rained for ages.

I know they had drainage problems for a while after they had a lot of work done on runway 32, but I thought that was long since sorted?
By pipvac
#1913166
TopCat wrote:I know Goodwood very well (I learned there too, about a thousand years ago). It's not soft, surely? It's hardly rained for ages.

I know they had drainage problems for a while after they had a lot of work done on runway 32, but I thought that was long since sorted?


"Softfield" as per CAA definition ie not tarmac, but grass field

No issues with the airfield of late. Only seen one day since November when rain had stopped play.

Edit: It certainly feels firm enough when i flippin land on it. :roll: :wink:
By TopCat
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1913173
pipvac wrote:"Softfield" as per CAA definition ie not tarmac, but grass field

Grass will always be a longer take-off run than tarmac, other things being equal, but if the airfield is dry and the surface is hard, it's not normally what we think of as soft-field.

Soft field is when the ground is literally soft, so that the wheels dig in a bit, and you have to do everything possible to minimise the ground run. The take-off roll can be MUCH longer than on tarmac, or even than dry grass.

One to discuss with your instructor. :thumright: