Learning to fly – advice please!

30+ years of driving a car with a steering wheel has wiped out any memories of using my feet 🙂 – although I’m told I’ll get used to it…..

Did you never build a feet-steered go-kart when you were a kid? :diablo:

The pedals work the other way around…..:cool:

Did you never build a feet-steered go-kart when you were a kid? :diablo:

Well, I thought flying might be a bit difficult, but nothing prepared me for taxying! Steering with your feet is just counter-intuitive….:)

Can’t remember where I read this advice but it made me chuckle.

Always try and stay in the middle of the air, don’t fly at the edges. At one edge is outer space and at the other is the ground. An aircraft doesn’t fly well at the edges.

Any and all comments welcome.

See that big object outside the window called the ground – never hit it too hard. 😀

Stick to that and ye’ll not go far wrong.

Good luck Phil!

Well it looks like I will be (re)joining the student pilot club again soon, as HM (Gawd bless’er) has seen fit to to return me to the UK in October.

All I have to do is find my log book after a 5 year gap…

Badger 1 – As a Flying Instructor can I make some suggestions not yet mentioned:

Stick to one flying instructor for the sake of continuity, that way he is aware of your progress as you go along and gets to know his students strengths and weaknesses in the process – that aids his instruction.

Take a small notebook to write down comments your instructor makes after the lesson, as a reminder for the next one and thereafter, rest assurred the major points you will remember, the finer ones you won’t. Read the comments you have written a day or so before your next lesson.

Difficult I know, but always try and stay one step ahead in terms of reading up for the next lesson, in other words if you are doing Lesson 6 today be at a point of having read 7 as well.

Its hard work but stick at it!! It will be worth it!!

And trim for your current airspeed.

I’d have to say I haven’t got the hang of trimming yet,

Phil

Lower or raise the nose to the attitude that you want it to be. Wait a few seconds to see if the attitude is correct, adjust if necessary. Keep the nose in the desired attitude and then just trim away the pressure. You shouldn’t have to pull or push for it to stay there.:)

Welcome to lifelong poverty!

😀

Moggy

1st ‘real’ lesson…

Well, I had my first lesson yesterday, but thermals made it a bit bouncy, to say the least. I’d have to say I haven’t got the hang of trimming yet, but I know what I’m doing wrong (having referred to the Pooley’s flying training manual) – yes, I took the plunge and bought the starter kit!

I’m now sure that I want to do this, so thanks again everyone for all the sound advice – much appreciated 🙂

Phil

But the odd thing is, if you really have to fly, you find the money somewhere.

But there is no doubt that to continue flying seriously, group ownership is the best option. It brings with it many benefits, including in a good group, a cadre of new friends to go drinking and talking about aircraft with.

Moggy

Phil

Something else to consider is do not just look at the cost of the license, it is the post license costs that causes most pilots to let their ratings and licenses lapse. The SEP rating is quite good because it is renewed every two years and you do not have to do any flying in the first year. The requirements are 12 hours in the previous 12 months, including 12 take off and landings, including 6 as pilot in command and an hour with an instructor. This is the absolute minimum required, and in my experience of instructing, the worst pilots to come through the system are those that have had their licenses for years, and airline pilots. Those that have had their licenses for years tend not to spend money on recurrent training, or any General Handing Practice, and airline pilots just can’t land the damn things 😉

If you hire out a club aircraft to include this minimum, then with the hour with an instructor, and landing fees etc it could set you back the best part of £2,000, so factor in about £1,000 per year and you’ll be somewhere handy should you stick with club aircraft. There are cheaper ways of course, like group ownership, or PFA type aircraft, but alot of PPLs just let their licenses lapse.
This by no means you are flying safely, this is the absolute minimum needed to keep ratings valid. It is hotly debated as to how much one needs to fly to keep “current & safe”, but we’ll leave that for another discussion.

Good luck

D.

No offence taken IndiaEcho, and thanks for the advice – I was thinking about the inevitable stress on finances against the desire to fly – but since my original post, I’ve revisited the finances and I should be ok for some time – so onward and (literally) upward :).

As I said before, it all looks daunting at the moment, but I’m going to give it my best shot. I’m in the fortunate position of having taken voluntary redundancy and an early pension, so don’t (at the moment) need to work, so can easily book lessons during the week. That also gives me a bit more study time than might otherwise be the case.

Thanks again

Phil

I’m sure that there will be a few skygods along in the next few posts to tell you how easy it is and how you will be cloud chasing before you know it, unless you have a particular aptitude for flying

Having read all the WW2 Fighter Pilot books I KNEW I was going to be a natural pilot.

I wasn’t 🙁

But it just makes the sense of achievement greater

Moggy

Good post from IndiaEcho. I concur with all said except it is possible to pay up front, but you MUST do this with a credit card who will refund if the worst happens.

Hi,

I just wanted to echo what Moggyy says about the NPPL – if you meet the medical standards for a full PPL go for that rather than the NPPL, in view of the extra priviledges that you get as a consequence.

And to further echo what Moggy says, don’t scrimp on the training – it is great fun, and there is no reason why you shouldn’t enjoy it, and particularly the sense of achievement as you successfully master something that last lesson seemed impossible.

Dave Wilson gives often quoted advice not to pay substantial amounts up front to your flying school. You will probably never get any better advice – seemingly everytime a flying school goes bust the pilot forums are full of stories from people who have lost often considerable sums as a consequence. And while flying schools all like to paint a rosy picture of their future, you never really know their true financial situation until it can be too late.

One other thing, and please don’t take this the wrong way. You talk about paying for lessons up front to be less likely to find a reason not to proceed. Are you sure that you have the motivation that you need?

I found doing my ppl one of the (if not the) hardest thing I have ever done. There were at least two stages in my training when I could have easily given up, and while I’m sure that there will be a few skygods along in the next few posts to tell you how easy it is and how you will be cloud chasing before you know it, unless you have a particular aptitude for flying (and can have lessons very regularly) this isn’t the experience of many.

Flying schools sell the dream – to get there, though, requires a lot of hard slog. The commitment isn’t just the money – there is the time as well (an hours flying can take much longer with pre and post flight briefings, pre flight checks and don’t forget travelling to and from the airfield), and also the exams. Again, someone will probably be along to say how easy they are, but they are not that easy when it is you taking them and you have to fit revision in around a job, family etc.

I don’t want to put you off – flying is one of the most absorbing, challenging and life affirming things you can do. But to get there ain’t easy, and if you can’t make the commitment required, you won’t get there, and you don’t want to waste money doing ten hours and then finding you can’t make that commitment.

I hadn’t thought of it that way, but that is really good advice – thanks (again!) 🙂

Phil

Without question.

1) The figure of ‘hours’ figures quoted for NPPL and PPL are minimums. Without previous experience such as gliding it is unlikely that you will qualify in the minimum time anyway.

2) Training is flying, and it’s flying that you want to do. I honestly found the training period comprised some of the most enjoyable flying I have ever done, and this at nearly 600 hours now. Don’t think of it as a chore to be got out of the way so you can start ‘real’ flying; it’s a great part of your flying career.

3) Remember, the difference between training rates and self-hire rates is small. Typically £25 or similar. So if a PPL takes you and extra ten hours, you are only talking £250 extra, compared to getting an NPPL in less time and then hiring for the next ten hours.

4) Training is good. Get more not less. I have nearly 90 hours of it clocked up so far, and look forward to my two-yearly ‘instructor hour’ greatly. It’s your life.. ask your nearest and dearest if they would prefer you to have additional training rather than the bare minimum. I know what the answer will be.

It’s a different mind-set from driving tuition. Don’t forget much of the extra time you will be solo in the aircraft anyway. You get that sort of freedom from 15-20 hours onwards.

Moggy

No reason other than I thought I would run before I could walk – thinking that I could upgrade to PPL at some point. Do you think it would be worth going for PPL outright if I can afford the extra tuition?

Phil