Difficult Concepts During Training

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LJS1993

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LJ Savala
During your experiences in your training for your PPL what was the most difficult aspect/concept of flight that crossed your journey? Was/Is there one aspect that continues to be a challenge towards your mastery of being a pilot?
 
I think this is a great question to pose on this forum and I look forward to reading the responses.

For me, it was most definitely getting a handle on the tailwheel rudder pedals. For most pilots this will not apply. Beyond that, and common to all trainer planes, I had trouble making a good approach. I was trying to do it in the way I was trying to learn for crosswind landings. That is, just enough aileron to keep on the centerline and just enough rudder to stay parallel with the centerline. Once that clicked, my approaches and landings improved by about 500% all of a sudden.

I'm anxious to read your other replies.
 
In 10 hours of training, it's all difficult right now. :D
 
I'm having trouble with turns around a point and really holding on to that centerline in landings.

Really, though, it's turns around a point. I'm getting better!
 
Physically, like most students, I'd have to say the last 5' of landing. My instructor would compliment my approaches, but then I wouldn't flare enough. I still hear "hold it off" in my head even now. And I haven't flown with my instructor since November.

Mentally, I think it was the stalls. I can do them and understand the procedure, but I still don't like doing them. Making myself pull back on the yoke was real work some days.
 
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Another thread about them was posted here recently. You might find something helpful there, mixed in with all the other bull****.

HerrGruyere said:
I'm having trouble with turns around a point and really holding on to that centerline in landings.

Really, though, it's turns around a point. I'm getting better!
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From the other side of the table, it might be comforting for newer pilots to know that "everybody stuggles with something" over the course of training. Unfortunately, predicting which stuff will prove to be difficult is impossible, so we just work through it when it happens. Best of luck to all!
 
ScottK said:
Physically, like most students, I'd have to say the last 5' of landing. My instructor would compliment my approaches, but then I wouldn't flare enough.
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Ditto, but I think I've gotten over that now. I should know this afternoon when we do another hour of touch & gos.

I'm getting better at T&G but I still don't like 'em.
 
ScottK said:
Physically, like most students, I'd have to say the last 5' of landing. My instructor would compliment my approaches, but then I wouldn't flare enough. I still hear "hold it off" in my head even now. And I haven't flown with my instructor since November.

Mentally, I think it was the stalls. I can do them and understand the procedure, but I still don't like doing them. Making myself pull back on the yoke was real work some days.
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This is true for me too. Also, training myself to look down the runway instead of short sighted ahead.
 
MBDiagMan said:
I think this is a great question to pose on this forum and I look forward to reading the responses.

For me, it was most definitely getting a handle on the tailwheel rudder pedals. For most pilots this will not apply. Beyond that, and common to all trainer planes, I had trouble making a good approach. I was trying to do it in the way I was trying to learn for crosswind landings. That is, just enough aileron to keep on the centerline and just enough rudder to stay parallel with the centerline. Once that clicked, my approaches and landings improved by about 500% all of a sudden.

I'm anxious to read your other replies.
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That's not true in the slightest. The use of the rudder knowledge and ability is applicable to all pilots. Failure to acquire that knowledge is just more evident to the taildragger pilot.
 
My biggest challenge was, when working in the pattern, transitioning from a climbing turn to TPA to beggining to set up for the landing; ie slowing down, etc. Just couldn't seem to get ahead of the airplane.
 
ScottK said:
Physically, like most students, I'd have to say the last 5' of landing. My instructor would compliment my approaches, but then I wouldn't flare enough. I still hear "hold it off" in my head even now. And I haven't flown with my instructor since November.

Mentally, I think it was the stalls. I can do them and understand the procedure, but I still don't like doing them. Making myself pull back on the yoke was real work some days.
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Go up an practice minimum controllable airspeed with the stall horn on for an hour, trim it in and everything. Use that trim for landing.
 
The hardest part for me was in learning to apply myself, especially in cross country planing. I would sit there, with my charts and POH trying to work out every little detail, my eyes would glaze over and I would find myself thinking of anything but what I should be thinking about.

I had to spend a lot of time convincing myself that flight planing was fun, I flat out hated doing it. A friend, after hearing me complain about it, suggested hypnosis to help work on an attitude change. So I agreed and let her try it. I never felt at all like she hypnotized me, however, there was a huge change in my attitude and attention span after just one time.

Once I did that, the whole thing fell in place, flight planing was easy, simply because I could now focus on each step. I went from spending a whole evening to spending about an hour to complete a flight plan. Now I actually enjoy working up flight plans that include all the weather calculations, engine performance, etc.

I'm not saying flying an airplane was all that easy at the time, but what got to me the most, was all the nit picking little details. Listening to my friend was probably the smartest thing I could have done.

-John
 
Struggled with landings (the whole thing) but that won't surprise some people on here. After about #100 or so my instructor said something (I don't recall what it was any more) and I looked at him and said "Is that the first time you've said that to me?" he said "Yup 100 landings that is the first time." It finally clicked for me. I found when I really wanted to be done with the whole training (boss at work was getting annoyed/husband actually wanted me to be home etc) Is when it all clicked together for me. Good luck.
 
Putting it all together in landing. That was the most difficult thing for me. It was the only time in my life when I said "I really can't do this anymore" that didn't involve some degree of physical exhaustion. I don't know anyone who didn't struggle at some point. The idea of a "natural pilot" is just a myth.
 
HerrGruyere said:
I'm having trouble with turns around a point and really holding on to that centerline in landings.

Really, though, it's turns around a point. I'm getting better!
Click to expand...

Turns around a point were always tough for me. S-turns were much easier, though our DPEs like turns around a point...so I had no choice but to figure them out :). Not that I wouldn't have been proficient at them anyway... :). For me, holding the centerline was something of a challenge, but for some reason holding the nose straight was always tough. I kept looking down the spinner and aligning that with the centerline, thus cocking the nose to the left. Finally got it.

ScottK said:
Mentally, I think it was the stalls. I can do them and understand the procedure, but I still don't like doing them. Making myself pull back on the yoke was real work some days.
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That's really interesting...what makes you not like them? I could do stalls all day with no problem if I had to. Easiest part of the ride for me.

steingar said:
Putting it all together in landing. That was the most difficult thing for me. It was the only time in my life when I said "I really can't do this anymore" that didn't involve some degree of physical exhaustion. I don't know anyone who didn't struggle at some point. The idea of a "natural pilot" is just a myth.
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Yup...putting it all together is tough. My instructor likened it to spinning five plates at once. Not an easy task!
 
LJS1993 said:
During your experiences in your training for your PPL what was the most difficult aspect/concept of flight that crossed your journey? Was/Is there one aspect that continues to be a challenge towards your mastery of being a pilot?
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Unfortunately, the science. Also I never "felt" winds (odd). Also I suck at navigation and flip flop runway numbers. I got help last night in a plane from a pilot using the heading indicator, I am trying to create "tricks" so I don't end up on 29 instead of 11. Lots of tools like foreflight draw lines for you from one airport to another but I still struggle visualizing my approach / pattern, especially from far out. I used to draw it out on paper (when I was a student) perhaps I should keep doing that.

So I guess spatial stuff / directions. I got lost driving to Livermore even with directions and GPS. So - if I suck at something on the ground it makes sense I would suck in the air.
 
Interpolation (finding the difference between two numbers) is kicking my a$$ right now. Thank god i didn't get any of those questions on the FAA exam.
 
We all have different things that give us trouble. Then, you'll pass the check ride and you'll be fine. Until you start instrument training, then you'll forget how to land again. Trust me on that one. :D
 
Is instrument training that hard? I have been hearing horror stories from alot of people.
 
Legiox said:
Is instrument training that hard? I have been hearing horror stories from alot of people.
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Oddly enough, I found it was much more difficult than SEL. And I had trouble with the SEL!

Back to the original question: Like others here, for me it was the last 5 or 10 feet of the landing. I think that subconsciously my brain was saying, "OK, I got it this far, what will be will be from here on out." Took far too long for me to keep flying those last few feet.

jkw
 
Legiox said:
Is instrument training that hard? I have been hearing horror stories from alot of people.
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It is only hard because when you are already licensed, it sucks to spend your Saturday flying around under the hood instead of going to the beach or for a $100 hamburger.

I highly recommend getting the rating if you like to travel. Makes your life so much easier when flying x/c.
 
Legiox said:
Is instrument training that hard? I have been hearing horror stories from alot of people.
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With an old style panel you have to learn a system of taking 8+ pieces of independently displayed pieces of analog information and while in the middle of a cloud, interpret your entire situational setting of attitude and navigation and then figure out what you have to do in response to keep all of those instruments reading what you have to figure out what you want. It took a solid 40hrs to get comfortable with my level of awareness using a system and instruments little altered from when Jimmy Doolittle devised it almost 100 years ago.

With an SVT panel the control and situational awareness levels required for flight in IMC take maybe a couple of hours to get comfortable with and you can spend much more of your training effort learning the details of working safely and correctly within the system which takes more time than the learning to control the plane by ref to instruments part. With SVT you just look in front of you and get an immediate 3D pictorial representation of your situation with the details filled in in writing.
 
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dell30rb said:
It is only hard because when you are already licensed, it sucks to spend your Saturday flying around under the hood instead of going to the beach or for a $100 hamburger.

I highly recommend getting the rating if you like to travel. Makes your life so much easier when flying x/c.
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This is why most non working pilots either shouldn't be IR or have SVT. The problem isn't just the cost and time to learn it, you have to spend money and time every week staying proficient for at least a couple of years or you're just lying to yourself about being safe in the weather and are relying on good luck and far too often in my observation, the autopilot.
 
jpower said:
That's really interesting...what makes you not like them? I could do stalls all day with no problem if I had to. Easiest part of the ride for me.
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Early in my training, I didn't use the rudder properly during a power on stall and got a bit sideways before recovering it. Maybe it's a fear of spinning. As I said, I can do them properly now without any problems. Just not my favorite thing to do.

jpower said:
Yup...putting it all together is tough. My instructor likened it to spinning five plates at once. Not an easy task!
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My favorite saying was "it's like drinking from a firehose". I heard that the first night of ground school and it proved to be accurate.
 
ScottK said:
Early in my training, I didn't use the rudder properly during a power on stall and got a bit sideways before recovering it. Maybe it's a fear of spinning. As I said, I can do them properly now without any problems. Just not my favorite thing to do.



My favorite saying was "it's like drinking from a firehose". I heard that the first night of ground school and it proved to be accurate.
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Well go out and get comfortable spinning and realize you can recover it before it gets started or anywhere along the first 2 turns to a desired heading within 500' in most all light singles. There's no bugaboo there for modern planes. There are multiple methods of recovery all effective, learn them, become proficient at it. Now you don't have to fear it anymore. PP should have 3 hours basic aerobatics, that is a big difference in military training, doesn't matter if you're going to a Herc, you get an aerobatic introduction and capability.
 
FlySince9 said:
My biggest challenge was, when working in the pattern, transitioning from a climbing turn to TPA to beggining to set up for the landing; ie slowing down, etc. Just couldn't seem to get ahead of the airplane.
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This. Climbing out, turning crosswind while still climbing, leveling off, then 30 seconds later starting the landing routine. Staying ahead of the airplane is really hard for me right now. I usually end up a 100-300 feet over TPA and then I'm behind the airplane the whole way back to the runway. I really focused on this yesterday in training, but it's still an issue. I guess I'm just getting good at coming in from a high approach. :rolleyes:
 
I have gotten way better now. But one thing that was funny when i first started PPL training on landings, was i had a tendency to start my final approach to high up. My instructor would always say.... "as we are descending from outerspace" HAHA
 
Henning said:
Wives create drag...;)
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It was my wife who suggested I learn to fly (finally) after learning that we could get across the state in about 2 hours flying instead of 5 1/2 hours driving. It was my wife who said I should get my IR after skipping one too many flights across the state because the forecast wasn't good enough for a VFR flight. I wouldn't say she creates drag. :D
 
Ghery said:
It was my wife who suggested I learn to fly (finally) after learning that we could get across the state in about 2 hours flying instead of 5 1/2 hours driving. It was my wife who said I should get my IR after skipping one too many flights across the state because the forecast wasn't good enough for a VFR flight. I wouldn't say she creates drag. :D
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The wind beneath your wings?:D
 
For me it was (and still is) the concept of this "power curve" and what it means to get behind it. Perhaps I need to fly something low powered to really experience it but I don't think I've had a problem with lack of power (or thrust).

But my worse subject is VFR AIRSPACE requirements:mad2:
 
I was a terminally shy 16 year-old. My CFI was 20. He insisted that my solo
XC flights be to airports that had a cute/young gal working the counter. My
assignment, "get HER to sign your logbook."

While I understood the concept; execution was quite uncomfortable.
 
It was my wife who suggested I learn to fly (finally) after learning that we could get across the state in about 2 hours flying instead of 5 1/2 hours driving. It was my wife who said I should get my IR after skipping one too many flights across the state because the forecast wasn't good enough for a VFR flight. I wouldn't say she creates drag.
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My wife is like that too, Ghery. What a blessing!
 
Ghery said:
It was my wife who suggested I learn to fly (finally) after learning that we could get across the state in about 2 hours flying instead of 5 1/2 hours driving. It was my wife who said I should get my IR after skipping one too many flights across the state because the forecast wasn't good enough for a VFR flight. I wouldn't say she creates drag. :D
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Good deal, I wish my ex wife would have liked it. She was a white knuckle fliers but we did reach a truce, she was ok so long as we're between the trees hopping fences.:mad2::rofl:
 
rainsux said:
I was a terminally shy 16 year-old. My CFI was 20. He insisted that my solo
XC flights be to airports that had a cute/young gal working the counter. My
assignment, "get HER to sign your logbook."

While I understood the concept; execution was quite uncomfortable.
Click to expand...

Sounds like he was a life coach at 20
 
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