Mike Smith
En-Route
- Joined
- May 15, 2011
- Messages
- 2,627
- Location
- Prattville, Alabama
- Display Name
Display name:
Fresh Prince of PrattVegas
I have seen a few of these types of threads, so I thought I would try it too. The cliffs notes of my story are this. I have always wanted to learn to fly since I was a kid. Life happened and flying didn't. Fast forward to about three years ago I thought I was ready to finally start training, then life happened again. I have no regrets for the path I have taken or the time I have missed, life has been good.
Well, life has finally allowed me to start, this is my journal I suppose.
I had three options for training. A flight school at an airport with in class D, a small fbo with one instructor and a medium sized fbo with several instructors. I talked to the owner of the flight school who was a very nice guy. Had the option of three airplanes, a 152, 172 and a Cherokee 140. I went to visit the small fbo and talked to the instructor. After a short conversation I realized this was not the right fit. Lastly I called the medium fbo and they have me the names of two different instructors. I called a couple of pilot friends and asked their opinion, they said both were good, but one in particular loved to teach. I called him and we really hit it off on the phone. He is a retired military pilot and does some corporate and ferrying as well as instructing. He gave me some homework and we agreed to meet last Monday to talk and go fly.
June 30, I met my instructor at the airport at 630am. We sat and talked a few minutes about how and why an airplane flies. He asked me some questions about myself and why I wanted to learn to fly. He showed me around the fbo and how to use the computer to get the weather. Then we went out, preflight the plane and off we went. Oh, I am flying a PA 28-151. He showed me how to taxi and we took the long way to the runway while I practiced. He showed me how to do the pre take off checklist. Then we lined up and took off. I think he was letting me do most of it, but not all.
We flew out to the practice area while he explained to me how to use the horizon to stay straight and level and not fixate on the panel. A couple of times he put his hand over the panel and said " look outside ". When we got to the practice area he had me do some climbs and descents and several turns in both directions, they were steeper than standard turns, but not 45 degrees. Then we headed back. It was very hazy and I couldn't really make out the horizon. By the time we finished I was getting pretty queasy. It was also very hot! We flew the pattern and landed, he said " we " were flying, but it was mostly him. We parked and went inside. He gave me some homework and I left. As I was driving to work I questioned if I was really cut out for this. I felt bad physically and I didn't feel like I would catch on. But I came around. The next day he called and asked if I wanted to fly Thursday, I said yes but was thinking no.
July 2. I met my instructor at the airport at 630am again and we started by going over my homework. He had me study the different structures of the airplane and also the systems. We spent about 30 minutes going over that. We got the weather and headed outside. This time he demonstrated how to do a very thorough pre flight. He took extra time to not only tell me what I was looking for/at, but why. When we finished he said, " you are supposed to be leaving for work in 15 minutes, you want to wait and fly next time? " I asked him if we could just make one lap around the pattern, he said sure. He showed me how to use the radio and what called to make, it's an uncontrolled field. He had me do all the check lists, we lined up and took off. We made one lap around and he explains altitudes, the pattern flow rpm, flaps etc. We came around and landed and he had me get on the brakes and stop. He told me this is what a stop a go would be if we were going around again. I asked if we could, he smiled and said let's go! We wound up going around three times. I think he let me do most of the landing the second time cause it was bad...lol, the other two were greasers.
We went in and debriefed. I had had so much fun this time, it was awesome. I am on vacation next week, we are gonna fly three days next week. Tuesday will be power on and off stalls, steep turns and slow flight. I will probably get sick, but yesterday reminded me why I want to fly. It was actually a good thing that it got messed up because we were supposed to do the stalls and turns etc. I probably would have gotten sick and I don't know how I would have reacted with two bad ones in a row.
So, two lessons and 1.3 in the logbook. I hope to out 4-5 in there next week. I really like my instructor and the folks at the fbo seem pretty nice also. I am very excited to finally be flying. If my schedule and the weather hold out I intend to fly 2-3 Times per week. I know this long and I did it on my phone so it's probably full of typos, forgive me and I will try to edit on the computer later.
Well, life has finally allowed me to start, this is my journal I suppose.
I had three options for training. A flight school at an airport with in class D, a small fbo with one instructor and a medium sized fbo with several instructors. I talked to the owner of the flight school who was a very nice guy. Had the option of three airplanes, a 152, 172 and a Cherokee 140. I went to visit the small fbo and talked to the instructor. After a short conversation I realized this was not the right fit. Lastly I called the medium fbo and they have me the names of two different instructors. I called a couple of pilot friends and asked their opinion, they said both were good, but one in particular loved to teach. I called him and we really hit it off on the phone. He is a retired military pilot and does some corporate and ferrying as well as instructing. He gave me some homework and we agreed to meet last Monday to talk and go fly.
June 30, I met my instructor at the airport at 630am. We sat and talked a few minutes about how and why an airplane flies. He asked me some questions about myself and why I wanted to learn to fly. He showed me around the fbo and how to use the computer to get the weather. Then we went out, preflight the plane and off we went. Oh, I am flying a PA 28-151. He showed me how to taxi and we took the long way to the runway while I practiced. He showed me how to do the pre take off checklist. Then we lined up and took off. I think he was letting me do most of it, but not all.
We flew out to the practice area while he explained to me how to use the horizon to stay straight and level and not fixate on the panel. A couple of times he put his hand over the panel and said " look outside ". When we got to the practice area he had me do some climbs and descents and several turns in both directions, they were steeper than standard turns, but not 45 degrees. Then we headed back. It was very hazy and I couldn't really make out the horizon. By the time we finished I was getting pretty queasy. It was also very hot! We flew the pattern and landed, he said " we " were flying, but it was mostly him. We parked and went inside. He gave me some homework and I left. As I was driving to work I questioned if I was really cut out for this. I felt bad physically and I didn't feel like I would catch on. But I came around. The next day he called and asked if I wanted to fly Thursday, I said yes but was thinking no.
July 2. I met my instructor at the airport at 630am again and we started by going over my homework. He had me study the different structures of the airplane and also the systems. We spent about 30 minutes going over that. We got the weather and headed outside. This time he demonstrated how to do a very thorough pre flight. He took extra time to not only tell me what I was looking for/at, but why. When we finished he said, " you are supposed to be leaving for work in 15 minutes, you want to wait and fly next time? " I asked him if we could just make one lap around the pattern, he said sure. He showed me how to use the radio and what called to make, it's an uncontrolled field. He had me do all the check lists, we lined up and took off. We made one lap around and he explains altitudes, the pattern flow rpm, flaps etc. We came around and landed and he had me get on the brakes and stop. He told me this is what a stop a go would be if we were going around again. I asked if we could, he smiled and said let's go! We wound up going around three times. I think he let me do most of the landing the second time cause it was bad...lol, the other two were greasers.
We went in and debriefed. I had had so much fun this time, it was awesome. I am on vacation next week, we are gonna fly three days next week. Tuesday will be power on and off stalls, steep turns and slow flight. I will probably get sick, but yesterday reminded me why I want to fly. It was actually a good thing that it got messed up because we were supposed to do the stalls and turns etc. I probably would have gotten sick and I don't know how I would have reacted with two bad ones in a row.
So, two lessons and 1.3 in the logbook. I hope to out 4-5 in there next week. I really like my instructor and the folks at the fbo seem pretty nice also. I am very excited to finally be flying. If my schedule and the weather hold out I intend to fly 2-3 Times per week. I know this long and I did it on my phone so it's probably full of typos, forgive me and I will try to edit on the computer later.
