New 56 year old beginning pilot.....

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KansasGuy

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KansasGuy
Not sure how common starting at this age is. But I am! Not sure if that has any special problems.

The place I am going uses the Cessna Ground School online. Any opinions on that? Good/Bad? The online course seems good to me so far.

I am doing first flight next week.

Some quick questions......

When I hear the talk between the pilot and ATC (like on youtube, etc) it seems way to fast and hard to understand. It seems like that might be hard to pick up. My question is if ATC are patient with newer pilots? Or do they get frustrated?

The site I am training at has a Red Bird simulator. Would it be worth a new student to use that for some practice in addition to regular training? Or not realistic enough. I was thinking you could use it to practice things quickly since it can reset to situations quickly. Like landings, etc. But if not realistic I would understand not being useful. It is about 1/2 the cost of a plane hour at this site.

I am sure I will have more questions. I appreciate this forum being here. Thanks for any help!
 
Awesome! People a lot older than you have successfully become pilots, and I've seen several people around your age on this forum starting or re-starting their training. You're definitely not alone.

Yes, it's hard to understand the controllers at first, but it gets better with experience. I listened to LiveATC a whole lot in my training, and I think it helped a bunch.

Yes, controllers are usually very patient, especially when you use those two magic words: "student pilot." There are a few jerks in control towers, but they're rare (and I tend to forgive them given the stressful nature of their work).

As for the simulator, ask your instructor. I did a little sim time for navigation and unusual attitude practice, but that was under the direction of my CFI. Yours may have a different strategy. Just find an awesome instructor and let them teach you.
 
Welcome to POA,your never to old to start flying. Keep listening to atc live ,after a time you will catch on. And remember flying is supposed to be fun.
 
After becoming a CFI 35 years ago my very first student was a 64 year old accountant who walked in one day and asked, "Can you teach an old dog new tricks?" He was one of my best students ever. Cranked right through his private pilot training relatively quickly.

Good luck on your adventure!
 
BTW, at age 57 I'm a "student airline pilot" learning to fly jets for the first time. Never say never.
 
KansasGuy said:
The site I am training at has a Red Bird simulator. Would it be worth a new student to use that for some practice in addition to regular training? Or not realistic enough. I was thinking you could use it to practice things quickly since it can reset to situations quickly. Like landings, etc. But if not realistic I would understand not being useful. It is about 1/2 the cost of a plane hour at this site.
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A sim is great getting you used to control movements and instrument familiarization. I used a home simulator quite a bit during my PPL training to get the procedural things stuck in my head. Now the actual flying part is really off. Doesn't fly like a real plane, doesn't land like a real plane and you're not going to improve your maneuver stick and rudder skills using one.
 
As for ATC communications, you will learn there's a certain order to the content and once you're tuned in to that, it all becomes much easier to understand.
 
Welcome and good luck. It is so much fun to fly!!!!
 
Yes the chatter gets easier but don't forget, ur instructor is there to back u up if u lock up.
 
I got mine at the age of 42 last August. Regarding the Redbird, usually the flight school or instructor has a strategy on using it (my cfi had me in there for a total of 1.2 hours). In my experience it's used for instrument work and VOR navigation. A strategy that really paid off for me was buying a digital voice recorder and a pigtail that plugs into the intercom system. After each lesson I would play those recordings over and over again, often while having my own sim at home fired up so I could re-create the lessons. You will hear how stupid you sound on the radio at the beginning, as well as how many calls you completely missed. But most importantly your cfi will probably be yapping quite a bit, and you will lose much of that due to the mental focus of learning to fly. The voice recording thing helped me immensely, especially since I couldn't fly as often as most students. You will have a blast! Learning to fly is an amazing experience.
 
Are you going to fly out of controlled or uncontrolled field? Communications can be a little intimidating at first, as stated earlier you will pick up the order controllers use. Not a big deal. I am sure you will have a lot of fun with your new hobby. Study hard, learn and have fun.... Welcome to POA. Keep us posted.
 
Thanks for all the great comments!

Also, thanks for the iPhone app suggestion, I will get it today!
 
I'm also a new student in my 50s. I'd recommend the book Say Again, Please, by one of our board members here, for the radio talk. Available on Amazon. The book makes it as plain as it can be. Enjoy your training! Keep us posted.
 
I started my flying at age 60, now I am 74, I have over 800 hours, been to Bahamas 90 times, I got my license to go some where, not just to fly around the airport. Best thing I did for me and family, mostly grand kids now. If you get your license, be sure to get an aircraft that fits your anticipated flying.

I bought a Cessna 172 to get my license, after I got my license, I traded it in for my Cherokee 6, very satisfied with my six it fits all my flying needs. Good luck
 
The "Say Again" book is VERY good. Another option is the audio CD "Squawk VFR". It uses real inflight recordings and explains them in detail. Check out the customer reviews:
http://www.mypilotstore.com/MyPilotStore/sep/4614

Also, download the free 70-page ebook from www.FreeFlyBook.com. It'll answer just about any question you can come up with and includes primary coverage of all the aeronautical knowledge topics. No sign-up needed. Just click and download.
 
I'm 54 and started March 16. I've got 5 hrs under my belt and this is the coolest thing I've ever done!
 
eman1200 said:
Yes the chatter gets easier but don't forget, ur instructor is there to back u up if u lock up.
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Well, maybe. When I was a student my instructor was a native-French speaking Belgian. We were flying into Houston Hobby, which has a mix of traffic and three intersecting runways, and they use all of them in light wind conditions. This was my first venture into a towered airport and it was a busy light-wind day.

The controller fired out something totally unintelligible to me and I asked the CFI, "What did he say?" Answer: "It's your language." It was a teaching moment----I had to ask "Say again".
 
yes, I completely forgot about the plethora of native French speaking Belgian CFI's flooding the market today. I retract my statement about your CFi being there to help you on the radio because as we all know most cfi's can barely speak English these days. my bad.
 
eman1200 said:
yes, I completely forgot about the plethora of native French speaking Belgian CFI's flooding the market today. I retract my statement about your CFi being there to help you on the radio because as we all know most cfi's can barely speak English these days. my bad.
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You completely missed my point, which was that the CFI may choose to throw you in the deep end. I thought that was a humorous and novel way to handle the situation. YMMV.
 
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Welcome aboard KansasGuy. I started last year at 57 and the hardest part for me when I started was the radio Comms. I have about 50 hours under my belt flying out of a class C (KISP). Don't worry, it gets easier, listen to liveatc, and you will see its the same thing, in the same order for the most part.

Good luck with your training, and since you waited this long, whatever you do, have fun with it.
 
First make sure you can get a medical before you pour thousands of dollarsi into training. Good luck on your training!
 
Welcome! While ATC sounds like they speak fast, you will soon become more familiar with it and understand it better, just like learning a new language. however if ATC knows you are a student pilot or you need them to repeat something you can just tell them. "Hey Im a student pilot, could you repeat your last transmission?" Etc. And they will understand. As far as the Red Bird sim, it sure wouldn't hurt using it, especially if you had a lesson scheduled and it happened to get canceled for weather one day, you could then use the simulator for practice. Good luck and enjoy your training!
 
Ryanb said:
Welcome! While ATC sounds like they speak fast, you will soon become more familiar with it and understand it better, just like learning a new language. however if ATC knows you are a student pilot or you need them to repeat something you can just tell them. "Hey Im a student pilot, could you repeat your last transmission?" Etc. And they will understand. As far as the Red Bird sim, it sure wouldn't hurt using it, especially if you had a lesson scheduled and it happened to get canceled for weather one day, you could then use the simulator for practice. Good luck and enjoy your training!
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Also adding to this is talking fast is not always a good thing. Some pilots talk so fast that it all comes out as a jumbled mess and ATC doesn't understand them. You don't need to talk fast just because you hear other pilots doing it. Be clear and concise.
 
Congrats and welcome to POA. Plenty of folks started at your age or older. Learn, fly and enjoy.
 
Flying out of kojc?
I'm 53 and started there last year.
Moved down to Downtown airport. Just about ready for check ride.
56 is certainly not too late to start.
 
52 years young here. Started last August. I am prepping for my checkride right now. First few times out I was thinking "I will never get this radio stuff down". I am training out of KBHM. Class C towered airport. It gets busy at times with a lot of ATC chatter. I am fairly comfortable on the radio now. But still make mistakes. I apologize when I do. They always say no problem that's what we are here for. Good luck. And most of all have fun. I am having a blast!!
 
jordane93 said:
First make sure you can get a medical before you pour thousands of dollarsi into training.
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There are non-medical options that are available as long as you don't attempt a medical and fail.

First find out if the medical is going to be an issue (and be clear that the ability to pass has very little correlation to your actual health).

The AOPA offers a 6 month free trial membership - sign up and use their [edit] turbo-medical tool to see if it flags any issues BEFORE you show up at the AME office. Any issues? Get them sorted out first or decide to take a non-medical route.

Don't count on you instructor to give you good advice for the medical - many will tell you that if you can fog a mirror you can pass. Or they will just tell you to get it out of the way like it is no big deal. Sorta true and totally wrong at the same time. The actual exam is trivial and MOST people pass with no problems, but there are a bunch of medical history questions that the FAA will try to use to disqualify you - don't be one of the few...
 
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Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe said:
Wrong. There are non-medical options that are available as long as you don't attempt a medical and fail.

First find out if the medical is going to be an issue (and be clear that the ability to pass has very little correlation to your actual health).

The AOPA offers a 6 month free trial membership - sign up and use their med-express tool to see if it flags any issues BEFORE you show up at the AME office. Any issues? Get them sorted out first or decide to take a non-medical route.

Don't count on you instructor to give you good advice for the medical - many will tell you that if you can fog a mirror you can pass. Or they will just tell you to get it out of the way like it is no big deal. Sorta true and totally wrong at the same time. The actual exam is trivial and MOST people pass with no problems, but there are a bunch of medical history questions that the FAA will try to use to disqualify you - don't be one of the few...
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Which is what I said:dunno: Make sure you can pass the medical. Don't go to your AME and shcedule the exam until you are sure you won't get disqualified.
 
Great advice on the medical. I am 42, with no health problems, but i have had a couple of surgeries and take medication that have me jumping through hoops. Not bad stuff....just collecting records and documentation that the AME is going to need to see.

I wouldn't have known what I needed to have ready if it weren't for AOPA. Great resource here. I expect to pass my exam, and expect it will be because I will have everything I need for the AME to make a decision on the spot. (That's what I'm hoping anyway).

 
I started training at 59. We have 8 children spread all over so I finally had an excuse to get a plane. Before starting I read this forum and the aopa one for a year or more, read the free flying manuals from the faa website, and a lot of other online research. Never did any ground school--used "The Complete Private Pilate" by Bob G. (a member here) to supplement the online stuff and took the sample tests online (I think it was on the Sporty's website") until I was scoring in the 90's and did fine on the written.

After getting the private cert. w/ a little over 40 hours I bought a Warrior and now have over 600 hours and have landed at over 100 airports. I have flown from here (So. Dak.) to Fairbanks twice, Prince Edward Island once, and Phoenix, Mpls, Sioux City, Billings, Helena, Las Cruces and northern MN all multiple times.

I don't fly in circles much--I go places to visit children/grandchildren. The wife nearly always goes along. She gets quite upset if I fly without her.

I hope I can keep my medical for a few more years. I'm 65 now. Don't thinkk for a moment that you are too old! I think after the family is out and on their own is a GREAT time to start!
 
My dad was 67 when he started. Private took him longer than average, but he had scheduling issues and a change in school that contributed. That said he then blasted through IFR in average or better time, and now has almost 400 hrs.
 
Welcome and do not worry about change coms once you do it for a bit it becomes second nature
 
Welcome to POA. You're never too old. I passed my private ride at 49 and my instrument ride at 59. Go for it and have fun!
 
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