A little bit different way

H

Hap's Way

Filing Flight Plan
Joined
May 9, 2015
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8
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Pepperell
Display Name
Display name:
Hap
Hi everyone, I am new to actually flying but I've been thinking about it for a long time. after I turned 50 I decided to start training. My first step was to buy a unicycle. Seriously, it took me about 6 weeks to stay up on it and now after 2 years, I can go about 1 mile. It's really hard to keep it in motion and upwright. It has plenty of pitch and yaw, I only wish it had lift! I like to do figure eights in the driveway and try to keep my left hand on the yoke and my right hand on the throttle. All fun aside, I think the unicycle is an ideal physical and mental training tool for flying.

Step 2: I downloaded the Pilots Handbook and the Testing Suppliment from the FAA website and began studying. After a few weeks, I added in three different test prep apps on my ipad. That was last fall. On the day after Christmas, I took my first lesson and flight. 1.2hrs in the air and 1.8 in the classroom. It was just as magical as I expected. There is nothing like your first takeoff.

Step 3: I got my medical, without that, I couldn't see going any farther.

Step 4: I got really serious about studying. A cup of coffee and I jump into the books every morning at 6am.

Step :5 I took my second lesson in March down in FL at a small field near Cape Canaveral. Another inspiring flight with traffic over water. We practiced stalls and turns in a very old 172. I had so many questions but I was really surprised by the "work load". reading and doing are not the same thing. Still, I think my unicycle training was helpful. I really enjoyed the stalls. We did 5.

Step :6 I took the written. passed with an 87. I had an hour and ten min left and I kick myself for not going through it again. My mistakes were due to not thinking the questions through.

Step 7: This week, I had my third lesson with an awesome CFI/ATP. We practiced touch and go, patterns and I talked to ATC for the first time. it was AWESOME.

This month we have 2 graduating from college and 2 still in HS. I can't jump into flying until i get through a few more projects. Probably next summer. For now, I'm going to have to be content with the occasional flight and lots of ground school. I just got the IFR course materials and a new seat for my uni.
 
Betting there are more folks who can fly an airplane than ride a unicycle. :eek:

Welcome to POA!
 
I just walked up my unicycle instrument. I can ride it in zero visibility now
 
Looking for a PIREP on the best collapsible unicycle to fit in the back of a 152.
 
Welcome to the board. Enjoy your flying,and feel free to ask questions.
 
Thank you all for your welcome. My wife and children are getting tired of my obsession so I thought I might better start looking for a different venue to express my joy. My next lesson will be in Santa Fe next week. I have a 3 hour mountain flying lesson scheduled. I want to find out what DA really means. Also, mixture leaning. I'm anxcious to see how my body reacts to the altitude.
 
Everskyward said:
Betting there are more folks who can fly an airplane than ride a unicycle. :eek:

Welcome to POA!
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Learned to ride a unicycle almost 50 years ago. Still have a couple but don't ride much. I built a tiny one for my son when he was about 8 or 9, since I couldn't buy one small enough. He will teach his daughter to ride it someday soon.

Unicycling is way more work than walking. It has no redeeming values other than a sense of accomplishment of a difficult task, and getting attention.

Dan
 
Everskyward said:
Betting there are more folks who can fly an airplane than ride a unicycle. :eek:

Welcome to POA!
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They say that hovering a helicopter is roughly equivalent to juggling while riding a unicycle. But since I can't juggle or ride a unicycle, I have no idea if it's true. :)
 
Welcome and congrats.

Growing up, we spent a lot of time on trampolines. I learned to do flips and backflips with twists and all kinds of upset training type things and I didn't know it at the time.

Unicycles are evil tempramental beasts... like pogo sticks or stilts. You can bust your ever-lovin butt on them.:yikes:
 
RotorDude said:
They say that hovering a helicopter is roughly equivalent to juggling while riding a unicycle. But since I can't juggle or ride a unicycle, I have no idea if it's true. :)
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There was a time when I could hover a helicopter. I think riding a unicycle would be harder, like hovering with no hands!
 
Great job. Welcome to the after 50 start club. Let me see if I read your post correctly. You have the usual life pressures of family, kids, financial obligations etc. that your current lot in life tends to hoist on alot of us. True that you're not alone there. If I am reading this correctly:

Your first lesson was December 26th. Your second lesson was in March. Your third lesson was this month, in May. You've already bought an Instrument Rating ground course. Your planning to do a mountain flying course next week...You also posted that you're probably going to have to wait till at least next summer to do your license. Remember, your written expires two years from the test date. That might be cutting it close, and you may run into having to re-take the written. Your student license and medical are also life limited to 24 months.

Your enthusiasm is not much different than probably all of us. Your path and timeframe will, in the long run end, up costing you way more in time and money than it needs to be. Five months duration for three lessons can only mean that you're spending most, if not all your time repeating and/or relearning in the airplane. The instrument course materials are interesting to read through, but honestly, you've got alot to concentrate on to master the basics of visual flight right now. As for the Mountain flying course, why not just rent a plane and an experienced pilot and go along for a ride rather than pay for a lesson? My point here is to think about a really structured approach to this goal of earning your private pilots license in a way in which you can fly consistently as often as possible with, hopefully, the same instructor, stay focused on the private pilot ground and flight lessons, and save alot of time and money in the long run.
 
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Welcome.
I can say I enjoyed flying, a little more, when I was learning it than now. The sense of achievement is great.
 
Everskyward said:
There was a time when I could hover a helicopter. I think riding a unicycle would be harder, like hovering with no hands!
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Hovering an R22 with no hands (for more than about a half second) is a certain death wish (at least for the machine). My little niece does a great job riding a unicycle (though no juggling), so it can't be that hard!
 
Thank you all, yes, I am sure my route will cost more in the long run. When I lived in Japan, I took the big bike license. That is the license to ride anything over a 749cc bike. They take the test very seriously. I went to a local riding school and took weekend factory courses at Kawasaki. Honestly, I was a little bummed out when I finally got the license! I went on to ride over 300K miles on 2 different 1100 BWMs into every nook and corner of the country. Those lessons sometimes tought by police riders (black leather suits on shiney white 750s) are stamped in my memory. So far my three flight lessons are playing in my head like a loop in HD. Each of the instructors were very talented and with very different life experiences. It will be interesting to see how many flight lessons I can keep in recall.
 
Hate to tell you this, but juggling while riding a unicycle (or just riding a unicycle for that matter) have nothing whatsoever to do with flying. Either juggling or riding a unicycle are based purely on muscle memory. You "learn" to do it by training your body to do the appropriate reactions. While there is muscle memory in flying, it is but the smallest component unless you're dogfighting the Red Baron. And the other posters are right, as Yoda says:


Fun lessons spaced out over time will result in good memories and nice views. But you will not learn to fly or become a competent pilot. For that you need relatively constant reinforcement, so that the muscle memory can mesh with the judgement and higher order functions needed to be a pilot.

Couple misconceptions. Juggling while riding unicycles is way easier than flying IFR, especially since you are unlikely to die doing it. Like I said, the former is purely muscle memory, the latter involves much more cognitive functions. Oh and I bet there are way, way more unicyclists than pilots. More jugglers too. I bet there are more that can juggle while riding a unicycle that can safely fly IFR. Juggling and unicycling are cheap.
 
When I think about starting to fly at 52, I think my physical fitness is the biggest unknown. It would be a real bummer to get the license and lose my medical. Had my annual physical a couple of weeks ago. I'm 20lbs over weight but otherwise in excellent condition. How long can I reasonably keep that up? The unicycle is an intense workout. I'm also doing an hour of elliptical every other day. The unicycle seems like an ideal exercise for flying for many reasons.
Ballance training; I haven't flown IFR in a cloud yet but everything I read says that disorientation is the killer. The unicycle is all about your mental relationship with the horizon. Riding a unicycle across a bumpy lawn is a lot like turbulance. You are bouncing around and trying to keep your orientation with the horizon.
Rudder control; the unicycle is controlled by keeping your cranks parallel to the horizon. The action is a lot like balancing the rudder.
Posture; riding the uni has improved my posture and made my lower back stronger, quickly. It's amazing how much my back likes it. Several things I've read talk about keeping your posture under control to avoid sudden changes in inner ear fluid level during banking. The uni is perfect for that. As soon as you lose your posture you go down. Usually without dying. As I write this, I am thinking that the Unicycle actually a really good physical trainer for flying. Can anybody think of a better one?
 
I would say that it's nothing like disorientation :(

The fluids in your inner ear lie to you when you are doing maneuvers without visual reference in an aircraft. A lot of those maneuvers are based on constant rate turns that, after a while, make you feel like you aren't turning at all. I don't see any of that happening while on a unicycle.

If you've ever gone up and done unusual attitudes, that's the kind of thing I'm talking about. Where you can't see outside, the instructor takes the airplane, and you sit there and wait through the maneuvers and recover afterwards using instruments only.

You'll sit there...okay, that's nose up, that's a left roll... and you'll count it all to yourself and be almost completely confident on exactly where you are in space and as soon as you look up, it is completely different. The only thing that prepares you for that is actually experiencing the illusions and relying on your instruments. :yes:
 
Welcome. Read and learn a lot here.

Hap's Way said:
I haven't flown IFR in a cloud yet but everything I read says that disorientation is the killer.
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Disorientation isn't the killer. The killer is ignoring the instruments and letting the disorientation take control.

Hap's Way said:
I am thinking that the Unicycle actually a really good physical trainer for flying. Can anybody think of a better one?
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Yes. Flying.

Theres definitely different ways to skin a cat, but youre going about this process in certainly the most different way Ive seen. I wouldn't be filling my head with IFR and mountain flying stuff until you finish filling your head with regular VFR flying. You will get to the point near the end of you VFR training where it feel like you cant stuff anything else into your brain. The IFR will take up space that should have been used for remembering VFR stuff.

At your current rate you will have to retake the written and your medical is going to expire before you get the PPL.

At any rate good luck and keep at it.

And don't run out and buy a complex, high power, tailwheel twin just yet...
 
I'm actually really excited about the process of learning to fly. As I'm writing and reading here, my first question is coming into focus. What exactly is the best physical exercise for flying?
I want to go mountain flying to test my physiological limits. Clearly flying is about organizing and accomplishing complex sequences of processes with as little error as possible. Keeping your mind focused when things get out of control is key. How do you train for that?
 
JCranford said:
.

Theres definitely different ways to skin a cat, but youre going about this process in certainly the most different way Ive seen. I wouldn't be filling my head with IFR and mountain flying stuff until you finish filling your head with regular VFR flying.
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Firmly-held preconceptions can seriously impair the learning process. I've seen that when I was an instructor. Teachability involves learning from those more experienced, not from your own intuition which can often be way off.

We learn to walk one step at a time. Flying is the same.

Dan
 
Mountain flying isn't about testing your physiological limits. That would be mountain climbing.

Mountain flying is about how to deal with low power, high terrain and wind. How to safely pass over a ridge that you can't climb directly over. How to expect the wind to move and change due to surrounding terrain. What part of a valley below the rim is safer to be in when the winds are blowing and you are headed towards or away from an airport down there.

It's a head game, where you are taught what to expect and maneuvers to safely get through, when you are so high in altitude that engine power is significantly reduced, but the ground is still close beneath you and actually well above you to the sides and maybe in front of you, too.

Fly safe! I'd recommend flying more often, so that your written test and medical don't both expire before you are finished with your PPL.
 
Hap's Way said:
I'm actually really excited about the process of learning to fly. As I'm writing and reading here, my first question is coming into focus. What exactly is the best physical exercise for flying?

I want to go mountain flying to test my physiological limits. Clearly flying is about organizing and accomplishing complex sequences of processes with as little error as possible. Keeping your mind focused when things get out of control is key. How do you train for that?
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I would guess that if you're in shape enough to ride a unicycle you don't require any additional exercise for flying!
 
Hap's Way said:
What exactly is the best physical exercise for flying?
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Seriously, ...chair flying. Sit in a chair and fly a standard traffic pattern.
Study all the necessary basic control movements for all the necessary climbs, turns, power settings, etc.
Practice every move: right rudder on take off and climb, looking to clear for turns, trimming, holding pressures as you imagine and time yourself around the pattern four or five times.
Don't relax! Keep flying. Keep practicing control movements over and over.
Exercise- physical and mental.
Practice until the arms/hands/fingers/legs/feet/toes/eyes/ears/swivel neck all know what to do automatically while the brain processes other incoming information.
Seriously
 
JCranford said:
Hap

Engineer by profession?? Just a guess
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Worse, I'm a self employed inventor and high precision sharpening teacher. I can really get wound up in detail. One of the reasons I want to fly; to see our world in a different scale. I'm kind of a surface roughness freak!

I'm going to be traveling constantly for the next couple of months so, I have to be content with the books and an occasional lesson for now. My plan is to fly several times a week next summer. In the mean time I want to prepar as much as I can physically and mentally. I already love chair flying and I have x-plane yoke, rudder controls and a throttle quadrant.
 
Hap's Way said:
When I think about starting to fly at 52, I think my physical fitness is the biggest unknown. It would be a real bummer to get the license and lose my medical. Had my annual physical a couple of weeks ago. I'm 20lbs over weight but otherwise in excellent condition. How long can I reasonably keep that up? The unicycle is an intense workout. I'm also doing an hour of elliptical every other day. The unicycle seems like an ideal exercise for flying for many reasons.
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Don't confuse passing an FAA medical with being physically fit. The objective of the FAA medical is to ding you on some obscure thing that no one else would think was an issue - like getting knocked out a few years ago, getting the "wrong" prescription, or having an ADD diagnosis as a kid. And God forbid you ever get caught drinking.

Personally, I have given up on them. One less thing to worry about.
 
JCranford said:
Hap's Way said:
...and high precision sharpening teacher.QUOTE]

I think youre going to have to expound on that one a little
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Me, too. I do low precision sharpening for my lathe tools (I use them straight from the 100-grit grinding wheel), but I pay more attention to my carving knives and strop often. Hardly "high precision," even when I used to resharpen drill bits and end mills at work.
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Hap's Way said:
JCranford said:
I create edges consistently below 3 microns and measure my scratch depth in nanometers. Shapton.com,
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I used to mold optical parts, and we aimed for surface roughness Ra < 100 nm, peak to valley. But that was a polished radius, not a sharpened edge . . . Whole different ballgame. I'll have to check the website.
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Hank S said:
Hap's Way said:
I used to mold optical parts, and we aimed for surface roughness Ra < 100 nm, peak to valley. But that was a polished radius, not a sharpened edge . . . Whole different ballgame. I'll have to check the website.
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There is a new measurement called "Sa" now that defines 3D roughness. This came about because of huge advancement in 3D metrology. Rather than draging a stylus across a surface, getting a series of parallel measurments and averaging them, you can now see the whole landscape and average/compare everything. Its a lot like foreflight with terrain view or Garmin 1000. And, the comparrison of steam and glass are also very similar.
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