I hit a wall - any advice welcome

Alani

Alani

Pre-Flight
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Mar 1, 2020
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Huntersville, NC
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AlaniPhantom
I've been studying up for the PPL and went up a couple of times to further my familiarity with the basics.
However, lately I've hit a wall where none of it is connecting. I have the book, literature, instruments etc and have been using YouTube videos (fly8ma). Should I be doing something differently? I read the Pilits Handbook cover to cover (1st pass). Now I've been drilling further in and I don't know what's going on.
Any advice would be greatly helpful. Thanks in advance.
 
How many flight hours do you have? If only a couple, go fly for 20-30, pretty simple, in my opinion.
 
Put down the book for awhile and just fly with your instructor. Learn from them. Don't try to connect the dots yet. I see students get overwhelmed all the time.

My girlfriend is going through the Sporty's course now. I'll take her up and show her what she's been studying and that ties it all together for her. I've found she tries to make the flight adhere to what she feels she already knows instead of opening her mind to accept what is happening. A stall in your mind, from a video, is way different than how it actually feels. If feels like you're climbing straight up your first few times. Relax! I can't say that enough. Relax!
 
A lot of things in books don't make any sense until you are in the air and applying what you've read. You'll get there eventually, just relax and enjoy the ride.
 
It's most likely not going to click after just a "couple of times". There's a lot to learn and it takes some time. Be patient and pay attention.
 
Flying isn't hard but training yourself not to do what you think you should do instead of what is required can sometimes be difficult. I agree with the others here. Relax and enjoy the ride as you will get there, on time, at your own pace.

If you spend a lot of time worrying about "getting it" you might be the obstruction that is in your way. Personally I thing the book "Stick & Rudder" should be required reading for pilots ... but what do I know ...
 
You can't learn to fly by reading books or watching videos. Read, go fly, go back and read the relevant part of the books. It will make more sense. Rinse and repeat until you've covered the essential skills. It's a slow but steady process.
 
Alani said:
I've been studying up for the PPL and went up a couple of times to further my familiarity with the basics.
However, lately I've hit a wall where none of it is connecting. I have the book, literature, instruments etc and have been using YouTube videos (fly8ma). Should I be doing something differently? I read the Pilits Handbook cover to cover (1st pass). Now I've been drilling further in and I don't know what's going on.
Any advice would be greatly helpful. Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

Can you be more specific? When you say "none of it is connecting", what exactly is "none"? Learning to fly involves many different disciplines, like weather, physics of aviation, navigation, communication, etc. Is there a particular area of study that isn't clicking in yet?
 
Alani said:
I've been studying up for the PPL and went up a couple of times to further my familiarity with the basics.
However, lately I've hit a wall where none of it is connecting. I have the book, literature, instruments etc and have been using YouTube videos (fly8ma). Should I be doing something differently? I read the Pilits Handbook cover to cover (1st pass). Now I've been drilling further in and I don't know what's going on.
Any advice would be greatly helpful. Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
You should push away from your computer, put the book down, and go fly the airplane. YouTube videos on flying can't possibly make sense if you don't know how to fly.
 
Are you studying for the knowledge written test? Just keep persisting and accept your knowledge gaps. A pass is a pass is a pass. I got a 77% and I'm a straight A student in general. This stuff is hard and there is a lot of it. Many things I learned in ground school didn't click until I actually started flying. And I took my knowledge test a year before I started flight training. Ex. VORs. I was so confused about VORs untill I actually started using them. A CFI can make a big difference as well. My first CFI didn't try to explain stuff to me, but my current CFI actually explains things to me which definitely helps!
 
coolplane47 said:
Just keep persisting and accept your knowledge gaps. A pass is a pass is a pass. I got a 77% and I'm a straight A student in general.
Click to expand...

We've got a couple of guys on the field taking lessons now. They are/were worried about passing the written (one has since completed it). I reminded them that the difference between 70% & 100% was of no concern as the certificate looks the same at the end of the line. :D

I did encourage them to really get the understanding and not just the rote learning of these things.

Coolplane47 makes a great point in that the parts that don't click now will soon enough ...
 
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