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

Moderator: AndyR

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By Charles Hunt
#1832202
Flaming Nora!

I've been into Paro (Bhutan) a few times as a passenger, Chagual trumps that.
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By T6Harvard
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1832711
editmonkey wrote:Booking system opens on Monday! A nice reminer of how Christmas felt as a kid :)


Even more so for me because I'll be up early on the Big Day! I have an early lesson time, 90 mins drive from home. Have to allow 2 hrs travelling time 'just in case'. Will be taking coffee :)

I haven't booked my medical yet. It'll be a while before I'm ready to solo* :lol: .

* is it just me or does every student get asked what that means by non-flying friends? As in, "Solo? You mean flying on your own?"
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By FlightDek
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1832713
I suppose it seems strange compared to learning to drive

Driving : you can't go on your own until you pass your test
Flying : you can't pass your test until you go on your own
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By pamira
#1832716
Hello, greetings Chris, I wish you much success in this new path that you plan to achieve!
As an aspiring CPL we will be sharing many experiences in this forum.
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By editmonkey
#1832776
T6Harvard wrote:
editmonkey wrote:Booking system opens on Monday! A nice reminer of how Christmas felt as a kid :)


Even more so for me because I'll be up early on the Big Day! I have an early lesson time, 90 mins drive from home. Have to allow 2 hrs travelling time 'just in case'. Will be taking coffee :)

I haven't booked my medical yet. It'll be a while before I'm ready to solo* :lol: .

* is it just me or does every student get asked what that means by non-flying friends? As in, "Solo? You mean flying on your own?"



I'm about the same - 90 mins to the airfield so will be up crack of sparrow once I get booked in. I'm anticipating it being akin to booking Glastonbury tickets on Monday though so just hoping I can get in early!

Aye the head of training advised me not to book in for teh medical just yet but honestly at 46 I'm actually quite looking forward to getting a full check up , and I don't see much point in going past lesson one if the doc declares me crocked for any reason.

First question I get asked by my mates is more like "How the **** are you affording that?!" :D

My brother is GREEN with envy. We both used to sit at Newcastle airport with our air bands as kids, back in teh day you could go on the roof and he's desperate to do his PPL, but my sister in law is somewhat less inclined to donate many £Ks to the cause. Much more sensible than my wife who's properly excited for me but got a whiff of what's to come when she came up last night and saw me reading my Air Law book.

Have you started on teh books yet? Finding I'm actually quite enjoying Air Law :shock:
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By editmonkey
#1832781
pamira wrote:Hello, greetings Chris, I wish you much success in this new path that you plan to achieve!
As an aspiring CPL we will be sharing many experiences in this forum.


Greetings back at'chya Pamira. An exciting journey lies ahead! Yes I'd really love to do my CPL too!

Where are you training?
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By T6Harvard
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1832791
Well I left my professional life just about 5 years ago and now work part-time in my own very modest business so I can cultivate an air of mystery as to how I afford it :D .

The truth is as follows -
Previous hard work and saving
No kids
No pets
A tiny house
Doing without fripperies
Without doubt, some good luck
And my OH has always supported my hair brained schemes so no objections from him about me lashing money around.

Also, listening to my Dad's favourite mantra, "You can't take it with you.", was the final incentive.

Yes, I've started on the books. I actually started the reading before deciding to take lessons! I wanted the mental stimulation, loved aviation, loved physics, had enough basic knowledge of engines etc to enjoy the tech stuff, happy to soak up law and Ops as a bit of a throw back to prev work, so I thought it would be an excellent subject to tackle.

Then friends said I should take lessons because I'd gone on endlessly about my experience flight (a slightly unusual one) :mrgreen:

The rest is history....!

Why did you take the plunge, @editmonkey ?
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By T6Harvard
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1832795
pamira wrote:Hello, greetings Chris, I wish you much success in this new path that you plan to achieve!
As an aspiring CPL we will be sharing many experiences in this forum.


Welcome @pamira !

It'll be good to hear about your training. Start a thread and give us another student to support. You'll get great advice here from very knowledgeable and helpful folk as you share successes and probably some frustration.
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By editmonkey
#1832832
T6Harvard wrote:Why did you take the plunge, @editmonkey ?


Loads of reasons really, primarily to fulfill a lifelong ambition (like everyone else here :D ) but also my little business did well this year and (and this probably sounds really naff) lockdown kinda led me to start living much more consciously and stretch to pursue more challenging goals. And it'll impress the hell out of my youngest son!

But also I'm still young and silly enough to harbour a crazy ambition to ditch my business before 50 and make some kind of a living at flying.

My partner was like, "you need to go and do this right now!", although she's flat out refused to ever get into a light aircraft with me!
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By T6Harvard
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1832859
Good for you!

Funnily enough MrT6 says he'll never fly in a light aircraft again after I dragged him along as photographer during my first lesson (in a C172 on holiday).

He said he was OK with it until we went out over the sea, then felt very nervous. I LOVED being over the sea.

What finished it for him was that I was talked through descent, including base turn onto final, while instructor dealt with power and flaps, then we were heading towards a very large runway and all he could see was concrete and my hand on the yoke!
When there was slight turbulence over some shady trees about a mile out I realised he was anxious and reassured him that by that time I was only following through.
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By AndyR
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1832995
editmonkey wrote:
But also I'm still young and silly enough to harbour a crazy ambition to ditch my business before 50 and make some kind of a living at flying.



It can be done. I sold up a small business (and spent every penny of it and more) and at 47 got my first full time job in flying. Wishing you the very best of hard work, tenacity and a degree of luck (the first two are more important). :thumleft:
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By editmonkey
#1834742
So Air Law... it's much more interesting than I was expecting but how the heck do you get it to stick to the brain matter?

Loving Principles of Flight which is logical and intuitive, but I'll be buggered if I can remember what info is included in a Certificate of Maintenance Review :lol:
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