Overcoming extreme nervous/irrational fears

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Sam Gordon

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SamG
So I'm just under 10 hours into my PPL, and am having a problem that neither I nor my CFI have ideas on how to solve... I get extremely nervous at take off and landing (landings being the worst).

I've taken off 4-5 times, of which 2 have been "acceptable". I have a hard time staying on the center line (drifting left) and maintaining RH after lift off (again, drifting left).

Landings are absolutely terrible. Out of my 7-10 attempts, I have put two "on the ground" (calling them 'landings' would be a stretch), only one of which I accomplished the rollout. Once I get turned onto final, I have a hard time getting lined up appropriately. I know I'm not lined up, and end up over correcting (first one direction, then the other).

My CFI and I talked about it on the ground after one failed attempt, and I think I just have a fear of messing up so bad, I'm going to "break" the airplane. The CFI says he won't let that happen, and I believe him, but just hit a block the last 200-300 feet. He asked what I've done in the past to get over this kind of fear, but I haven't really faced anything that could truly be dangerous if I screw up (since I learned to drive 35+ years ago).

CFI will take me through a "normal" approach and he makes it look so easy and smooth, so I understand what it SHOULD look like, but can't associate it when I have the controls.

The CFI said he's not ready to give up on me, provided I'm not ready to give up on myself. I'd be lying if I said I haven't had doubts. I've told myself and my wife I'm going to give it another 10 hours and if there's no improvement (I don't expect perfect, I just want to see some improvement/confidence building), I may have to.

I'm debating investing in a flight sim system (with yoke, rudder pedals, and throttle quadrant) simply to build up my confidence, but I don't know if that will help.

My next lesson is with another flight instructor out of town (at Sporty's) so maybe he'll see something to help.

If you've read all of this, it's appreciated. I've debated about posting this, but didn't know who else I could share with who MAY understand what I'm going through.
 
I'm not an instructor, so take this with a grain of salt, but it seems to me that you have a lot of hours for only having attempted 7-10 landings. What have you been working on for 10 hours?

Based on what sounds like your fear of crashing the plane into the runway, I'd focus on controlling the airplane in slow flight, flying the airplane down to the runway without landing, and then the touchdown. I'd also make sure that you have your seat consistently adjusted, that you know the sight picture in the flare, that you're judging height above the runway, and that you can slowly fly the length of the runway maintaining centerline.

Landings are one of the toughest things to do. You need to just let the fear go though. It's normal, but you've got to realize that your CFI is there to not let you crash. He shouldn't even let you get close. Will be interesting to see how you do with the different instructor.
 
We've been working on slow flight, power on and power off stalls, working with trim & power, and some steep turns. Seven lessons, all of which have had me make at least one approach, most of which I F-up.
 
Can you drive a riding lawnmower straight at a tree? A boat straight towards a dock? A car straight to a point without the use of lane lines?

If you can do any of these, you can fly the plane straight to the numbers. Stop over thinking it, it works the same laterally as any of these other vehicles. Just let the plane do its thing. Now if you have trouble with the other vehicles as well...
 
10 hours with 3 or 4 take off attempts and 7 - 10 landing attempts sounds real light to me, there should be more, make sure you are not stopping the CFI from doing what he wants to do. If you are hesitant your instructor probably won't push as much as he would if you tell him that you are nervous but want to push through it.

My first lesson was many years ago, the instructor told me I was going to take off, ( I had never been in a small airplane before) he would be on the controls with me describing what to do. I did almost every take off from that point forward. For landings, we did stalls, slow flight, then I started landing on the 2nd lesson, I feel it took me longer than most to get the landings down, mostly due to nervousness. But once it clicked I was good. By 10 hours I had at least 20, probably closer to 40 landings. My problem was giving up at flare, once I figured that out things worked.

It takes time and practice, and you will be nervous. That's normal. Spend less time thinking where the controls should be (doesn't really matter) and more time concentrating on where the airplane needs to be, with some practice, the controls will end up where they need to be.

Watch a few youtube videos on landing in small planes, pay attention to the controls, notice they are almost always moving, both hands and feet. What's important is where the nose is, where the airplane is in relationship to the runway, and adjusting accordingly. Maintaining airspeed is critical and learning to use power properly.

One thing I've learned during training, and flying for that matter, is if things don't go like you want, you can't dwell on it. Shake it off and move on. In training you can debrief later. Pay attention to what the instructor is telling you to do, and do it.

I'm not a fan of using more than one instructor, unless there is a problem.

You should probably be spending a lot of time in the pattern by now, working on landings. You should be doing every take off. Talk to your instructor about this.

Finally, it sounds like you have already given up, flying requires perseverance, stating that you are going to give it 10 more hours sounds like you have already mostly given up. Don't give up, you'll get there.
 
PaulS said:
You should probably be spending a lot of time in the pattern by now, working on landings. You should be doing every take off.
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I have ATTEMPTED most take offs for the last 2-3 lessons.
I have ATTEMPTED most landings for the last 2-3 lessons.

Being told I should be able to handle this by now just reinforces the "maybe I'm not cut out for this".
 
Take off is easy. Just work that rudder pedal! (which one? you know which one)

Landing can be easy. Get on speed and configured before base to final turn, and don't look anywhere but out the window until after you land.

It seems to happen so fast... until you step back and look at the clock.

Try this: Attempt one, go around, have CFI demonstrate one, look at your watch and see how long it actually is from Midfield downwind to landing. It may surprise you how much more than 2 seconds it really is.
 
Lindberg said:
Based on what sounds like your fear of crashing the plane into the runway, I'd focus on controlling the airplane in slow flight, flying the airplane down to the runway without landing, and then the touchdown. I'd also make sure that you have your seat consistently adjusted, that you know the sight picture in the flare, that you're judging height above the runway, and that you can slowly fly the length of the runway maintaining centerline.
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Good suggestions, in my non-instructor-opinion. Doing a number of low approaches will let you gain experience in getting consistently lined up, without overcorrecting. Doing that in a planned low approach will let you focus on getting the approach right, and keep your brain from jumping ahead to worrying about the landing that would otherwise follow.

Once you are nailing the approaches, adding a landing becomes a lot easier.
 
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not an instructor, but i was in your shoes at one point. keep at it and it will come. may be your brain needs to be used to the new normal of flying. not everyone is great at flying from day 1. for some people it comes easy and naturally, for others, it takes long time. it takes as long as it takes if you want this badly enough.

you need to isolate what the fear is. irrational or not, its there and its real for you. so figure out what it is. while taking off, are you worried you will get into a departure stall? you wont be able to control the plane when it takes off and all you see is blue sky and not the ground? while landing is it the ground rushing up too fast and you fear you will just get to the ground and punch the nose in the runway? once you figure out what it is, it gets easier to handle. some fear never goes away, we just learn to live with it.

Agreed with the low approach, it will help.

trust me, I have been in your shoes and it gets better - you have to stick to it.

Sam Gordon said:
Being told I should be able to handle this by now just reinforces the "maybe I'm not cut out for this".
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may be you are not cut out for this naturally - fine, but if you want to be a pilot - you will find a way. I had a lot of irrational fears (they were rational in my head lol) . took a long time to get my certificate. for me it was - it takes as long as it takes. i aint giving up
 
Sam Gordon said:
I have ATTEMPTED most take offs for the last 2-3 lessons.
I have ATTEMPTED most landings for the last 2-3 lessons.

Being told I should be able to handle this by now just reinforces the "maybe I'm not cut out for this".
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It is normal to not be able to land the plane (even badly) the first 10 - 50 times you try, depending on your aptitude. I think you started out by expecting too much from yourself, and that's prevented you from making progress. Just a guess.
 
3 things that helped me when learning to land. 1. Light grip on the yoke. Don't have a death grip. 2. Breathe. My instructor noticed I was holding my breath on short final. 3. Talk yourself through it. Talk out loud as to what you are doing rather than just in your mind.
 
JD318 said:
3 things that helped me when learning to land. 1. Light grip on the yoke. Don't have a death grip. 2. Breathe. My instructor noticed I was holding my breath on short final. 3. Talk yourself through it. Talk out loud as to what you are doing rather than just in your mind.
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Optionally have your instructor talk you through it. If you know what to do and just aren't doing it, then talk yourself ALOUD, if you're not sure what to do and when, then have the instructor talk you through it.
 
Salty said:
It is normal to not be able to land the plane (even badly) the first 10 - 50 times you try, depending on your aptitude. I think you started out by expecting too much from yourself, and that's prevented you from making progress. Just a guess.
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The bolded makes me feel better. I don't have anything to judge on "where I am" (if that makes sense) other than the CFI says I'm doing fine and haven't come up with anything he hasn't seen yet. I just FEEL like I must suck based on the posts and videos of 1st time flyers having no issues.
 
Sam Gordon said:
I have ATTEMPTED most take offs for the last 2-3 lessons.
I have ATTEMPTED most landings for the last 2-3 lessons.

Being told I should be able to handle this by now just reinforces the "maybe I'm not cut out for this".
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Sam

The fact that you are discussing it here, and are giving it serious thought is clear evidence that you ARE cut out for this. Don't let these small roadblocks stop you. This is like a toddler learning to walk. Some get up and walk right away, and some fall many times before they figure it out. Years from now, it will make zero difference in how you fly.

Landing is a culmination of many different skills. It takes longer for some than others. It is not an indication of some intrinsic capability. Even after thousands of landings, I still screw up some landings once in a while.
 
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Sam Gordon said:
The bolded makes me feel better. I don't have anything to judge on "where I am" (if that makes sense) other than the CFI says I'm doing fine and haven't come up with anything he hasn't seen yet. I just FEEL like I must suck based on the posts and videos of 1st time flyers having no issues.
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As Wannfly says, it takes however long it takes. For everyone it takes a lot of attempts, some it takes a lot more than others. But nobody is landing a plane by themselves consistently until they've had many, many attempts.
 
If the anxiety is getting in the way of the aviation you might have a problem. If the aviation is causing the anxiety you might not. Hard to see from this vantage. But @Salty had the right of it. You learn to do things at your own rate. Don't listen to anyone else tell you how many hours you should have or how many landings you should have done, to be honest they should know better.

My guess is once things start working on a better kilter you'll find the anxiety subsiding.
 
An attitude adjustment might help too, though it's easier to say than it is to do. I didn't get anxious because I was just so thrilled to have the opportunity to even try. My goal was to go fly, not to be a professional pilot, or even get my license, or even to land. Just to fly. The other things came when I was ready. Well, I'm not a professional pilot, but you know what I mean.

Maybe try to think of your next lesson as "going flying" not "taking a lesson".
 
Learning to fly was no doubt the most frustrating thing I have ever done. Thought about giving it up many many times between scheduling around work, airplane/instructor availability, weather, and the fact I didnt think I was ever going to "get it". That being said the 1st time and every time I lift(ed) off for a flight with my wife in the passengers seat for an afternoon/evening flight it is defintly the most rewarding thing I have ever done.

Don't give up. Keep slugging it out and it will happen at just the right time.

I haven't been licensed long enough to offer any advice other than keep pushing yourself it will be worth it.
 
EdFred said:
Can you drive a riding lawnmower straight at a tree? A boat straight towards a dock? A car straight to a point without the use of lane lines?

If you can do any of these, you can fly the plane straight to the numbers. Stop over thinking it, it works the same laterally as any of these other vehicles. Just let the plane do its thing. Now if you have trouble with the other vehicles as well...
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You've described my wife's problem. Lol.

Not kidding. And she knows it. There's even a genetics bent to it that's a known thing for her.

The whole family jokes that she doesn't drive, she aims.

Most of her issue is with depth perception. And modern medical science doesn't really know why but most people with her genetics have the same problem.

I had her get out and look for me backing up this weekend and "come back up and show me with your hands how far I am from that other car" last weekend.

She did. Then I remembered her disability in that regard and checked myself. She was a foot and a half off. Ha.
 
You feel overwhelmed during takeoff and landing because you haven't mastered all of the individual skills, the building blocks, that are needed to takeoff and land. Your instructor should determine which building blocks are lacking then develop lesson plans to work on them.

It typically takes a student 80, or more, landings before they're ready to solo. At 7 to 10 landings, you've got a long way to go before you should be there.
 
denverpilot said:
You've described my wife's problem. Lol.

Not kidding. And she knows it. There's even a genetics bent to it that's a known thing for her.

The whole family jokes that she doesn't drive, she aims.

Most of her issue is with depth perception. And modern medical science doesn't really know why but most people with her genetics have the same problem.

I had her get out and look for me backing up this weekend and "come back up and show me with your hands how far I am from that other car" last weekend.

She did. Then I remembered her disability in that regard and checked myself. She was a foot and a half off. Ha.
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It's the second X chromosome.

Dear Brave Sir Edward ran away.
 
I echo what all others have written... namely:
  • 10 hours in is still early
  • More RIGHT rudder
  • Heavy workload on take-off and landing
  • You haven't developed the individual skills yet, so there's no chance to combine them
First and foremost - Hang In There! You will get it (it will "click" one day)

Second, talk to your instructor. Maintain wings level as you take-off. Maybe instead of short-field take-offs, practice soft-field take-offs and fly in ground effect so you can feel how to keep wings level and use the runway lines to help with right rudder input.

Maybe ask your instructor for a long (3-5 miles) final so you and your instructors have more time to work out the landing tasks and you can set-up for final by focusing on the approach, flare and landing.

Whatever the case, talking it out (here is OK, with your instructor is best) is the best way to have your instructor tailor the instruction to you and your specific needs.
 
Sam Gordon said:
I have ATTEMPTED most take offs for the last 2-3 lessons.
I have ATTEMPTED most landings for the last 2-3 lessons.

Being told I should be able to handle this by now just reinforces the "maybe I'm not cut out for this".
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Up to and including my post no one has told you you should be able to handle this by now.

I'm really confused now, you first said that you had 7-10 landings and 4-5 take offs in just under 10 hours. Now it seems you have more. If you attempt a take off, that's a take off, even if your instructor has to help. Same with landings.

You need to calm the frick down and be patient, landing an airplane is difficult to learn, it takes time. Watching youtube makes it seem easy, most youtubers don't show their unperfect landings, just the good ones. Remember that. Even when you've mastered it, some will be better than others, the standard is for every landing to be safe, not perfect.

It's a learning process, if your instructor tells you that you are doing ok, you are. Lighten up, it's supposed to be fun. It's tough to learn, but it is so worth it when it clicks.
 
Sam, do you have access to a simulator at the school that can help short of buying one? I'm not an instructor, but if you buy your own, use it to build knowledge of procedures and pacing with your instructor. If you become comfortable with the sequence of events, when they happen and how to sense and act in the same, then that may help with the manifestations of apprehension in the air. Also, your OP sounds like you are not selecting a good reference point on the runway and keeping it focused, and maintaining the correct airspeed for the approach. If you can master your airspeed control and maintain your reference point, this will get you to about 15 feet above your touchdown in a stabilized and repeatable manner. Practice that. Then, move on to the flare portion from 15 feet above, and the control inputs from 15 ft above through the rollout. Again, I'm not an instructor, just reflecting on how I got there a long time ago.
 
Sam Gordon said:
I just FEEL like I must suck based on the posts and videos of 1st time flyers having no issues.
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I knew it Sam. Don't watch those videos, there are aces out there, they are few and far between and most of those videos are full of crap. Watch the videos with instructors giving tips and techniques. There are a lot of good ones on landing.

There are a lot of things going on during landing, as you are learning those things take up all your band width. As you start mastering these things, they almost become automatic allowing you to focus on other things that will become automatic. A few of those things are pitch control, trimming the airplane, adjusting power, figuring out crab angle, maintaining glide slope..... there are many more for landing.

That is why the instructor isn't making you run the radios, or change frequencies, or do more than just rudimentary navigation. As you start getting it, he will add those things in, and it will overload you to the point you think he's pushing too hard, but he isn't, you just need to be patient and let your brain figure out how to do it.

Just relax and enjoy the journey.
 
PaulS said:
I knew it Sam. Don't watch those videos, there are aces out there, they are few and far between and most of those videos are full of crap. Watch the videos with instructors giving tips and techniques. There are a lot of good ones on landing.

There are a lot of things going on during landing, as you are learning those things take up all your band width. As you start mastering these things, they almost become automatic allowing you to focus on other things that will become automatic. A few of those things are pitch control, trimming the airplane, adjusting power, figuring out crab angle, maintaining glide slope..... there are many more for landing.

That is why the instructor isn't making you run the radios, or change frequencies, or do more than just rudimentary navigation. As you start getting it, he will add those things in, and it will overload you to the point you think he's pushing too hard, but he isn't, you just need to be patient and let your brain figure out how to do it.

Just relax and enjoy the journey.
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Yup. Just as soon as you start feeling like you're in good shape the instructor will add another thing for you to deal with and you're saturated again. This is normal until you get close to being ready for your check ride. Then, if you move on to an instrument rating the over-saturation gets even worse. ;)
 
Sam Gordon said:
I just FEEL like I must suck
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Can't compare yourself to others. Only compare yourself against yourself, it's your only real known data point. Society floods us with people that are "better" than us. F all that. If it takes you 100 hrs to land well then so be it. Have you done any simulator work? Even just tool around in X Plane or Microsoft Flight Sim? It's certainly not the real thing but it might help you get used to certain aspects of flying. It certainly helped me on my way journey

steingar said:
If the anxiety is getting in the way of the aviation you might have a problem. If the aviation is causing the anxiety you might not.
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This is important. And it might be hard to tell at first. But something to keep in check.. some "fear" is good to keep us in check, but "anxiety" is bad and leads to tunnel vision

Salty said:
I didn't get anxious because I was just so thrilled to have the opportunity to even try
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Same. I also had a real desire to 'prove' to my instructor that I was ready to land, solo, XC, all that stuff.
 
I am an instructor and I've seen this several times. One of my theories with this situation is that as a normal American, we all learn to drive at a young age and we are accustomed to the sights and feel of sitting in a moving vehicle and being comfortable that we are fully in control and nothing really unusual or heroic must be done to go from A to B. Just watch out for all the other crazy drivers.

When going from that level of comfort to now being tossed around in a loud metal box that has terrible visibility during the important parts of landing- that takes a whole bunch of new and strange skills that cannot be correlated with our car driving experience. The whole left hand/right hand/feet thing is pretty overwhelming and is never the same for each landing. It's not like pulling in to your driveway and garage for the thousandth time and doing it the exact same way every time...

So, it's a combination of negative habit transfer and fear caused by new, uncomfortable conditions that require seeing, doing and correcting your control inputs all at once with only a few seconds to get it done well enough to call it a successful landing. I know I hated losing sight of the forward view over the nose, but I learned to scan to the sides and relax my inputs, knowing the runway is still right where it was just a few seconds earlier and making some semi-educated guesses on when and how much to move the controls.

Flying low approaches that eventually get slower and lower until the wheels touch (without worrying about where on the runway you end up landing) is a technique that works for some people, but that is up to your instructor to evaluate and determine if it works for you.

Once you get the sights and feels of this new environment in your head, the hands and feet will follow. I had somewhere around almost 30 hours before I soloed, so don't sell yourself short. It just takes time.
 
Apologies if i missed in another response, look way down the runway, like the other end. If you feel like you need to look close because you're new, don't! Your instructor is there to keep you from crashing and to teach you. Even if the instructor has to put in inputs, you're learning what the site picture looks like.

And don't worry about your rate of progress, you're well within the range of nromal (its a huge rage).
 
IK04 said:
I am an instructor and I've seen this several times. One of my theories with this situation is that as a normal American, we all learn to drive at a young age and we are accustomed to the sights and feel of sitting in a moving vehicle and being comfortable that we are fully in control and nothing really unusual or heroic must be done to go from A to B. Just watch out for all the other crazy drivers.

When going from that level of comfort to now being tossed around in a loud metal box that has terrible visibility during the important parts of landing- that takes a whole bunch of new and strange skills that cannot be correlated with our car driving experience. The whole left hand/right hand/feet thing is pretty overwhelming and is never the same for each landing. It's not like pulling in to your driveway and garage for the thousandth time and doing it the exact same way every time...

So, it's a combination of negative habit transfer and fear caused by new, uncomfortable conditions that require seeing, doing and correcting your control inputs all at once with only a few seconds to get it done well enough to call it a successful landing. I know I hated losing sight of the forward view over the nose, but I learned to scan to the sides and relax my inputs, knowing the runway is still right where it was just a few seconds earlier and making some semi-educated guesses on when and how much to move the controls.

Flying low approaches that eventually get slower and lower until the wheels touch (without worrying about where on the runway you end up landing) is a technique that works for some people, but that is up to your instructor to evaluate and determine if it works for you.

Once you get the sights and feels of this new environment in your head, the hands and feet will follow. I had somewhere around almost 30 hours before I soloed, so don't sell yourself short. It just takes time.
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YES! You've summed up my thinking that I could not put into words. THANK YOU!

ETA: Thank everyone else also. It's nice to hear from others that what I'm thinking, seeing, feeling is "normal". No, no one has flat out said "you should be further along", it's just an impression I get. My wife even says "you're being too hard on yourself".
 
You are being too hard on yourself. Flying with a different cfi is a great idea. Please report back on how that goes. Takeoffs should be easy ... but you never know. Had my absolute worse takeoff a couple weeks ago after 300 hours. It was hot with high density altitude and the plane just wasn’t ready to fly and let’s just say I learned something that day. Had a cfi along as well since it was my flight review. His comment? “Nice save”. Lol.

Landings take a long time to feel adequate with. I think during most of my ppl training I closed my eyes after getting into ground effect. Felt like it anyways. But you should be doing 5-7 laps around the pattern every flight. The more you do that the slightly more better you will feel. The thing with landings is that no two are exactly alike. With practice you will learn how to go with whatever flow is presented, and when to go around when things aren’t looking good. And even then it’s not an easy call. Last year was on an overnighter with my wife and got nailed by a wind gust while very close to the ground. I should have gone around but forced it in. I got a side eye from her with: well, at least we didn’t crash. The guy behind me was smarter and did go around as he was dealing with the same issues I had been.

This pilot schiz can be difficult. If it’s worth it to you then stick out these early bumps.

About the simulator idea, they are great for procedures, navigation and cockpit flows. They are not for practicing landings. I used a sim a lot during my ppl training but not for landings.
 
PaulS said:
Don't we know it Salty, the instrument rating was a humbling experience for me.
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Yes. I thought I was a pretty good pilot then I started IFR training... I realized I had a lot more to learn. Task saturation was taken to another level.
Then I had learn to land again.
 
Short version: It seems you are still working the fundamentals so worrying about landings isn't something to sweat at all right now.

@Sam Gordon - sometimes thinking about it different ways helps.

Hypothetically, lets say you have $1Million to spend just on learning to fly. Would you quit now? No way. Because It wouldn't be about the money. If you weren't cut out for flying the flight school would probably take about 60...80hrs of your time (money) and the politely recommend another flight school. In other words, funds not being an issue, you would make them say no.

Hypothetically, lets say you could look into the crystal ball and it told you it would take you 35hrs to solo. Would you still quit? I highly doubt it. But I suspect it would get the flying costs on your mind...which in-turn might have you feeling pressured to get through this phase on time...or on budget.

I gave you these hypotheticals because just you being here asking (instead of already quitting) tells us that you are not gonna give up. But sometimes other things like finances can lead to pressure to solo by X hrs...which equates to X dollars. If that is the case, let the people here know so they can give advice on how to continue or shift your early training goals.

The same goes for learning to solo. It seems there is now a internet based standard that says if it takes you over 8.2hrs to solo you are a complete loser, all the pilots will laugh at you and your girlfriend will dump you in fear of being seen with you. Please let that go. Totally un-needed pressure.

About the fear of dying. The first part is obvious...your instructor doesn't want to die. Therefore feel relaxed and even be impressed as he "saves" the landing so you can repeat it again. There is also an irony...your are feeling nervous and pressured right now to be able to land a plane only so you can leave everyone behind and solo with no one else to save you. Only a pilot is crazy enough to pursue that path LOL!

So from that above, unless you have a money problem, you literally have no reason yet to even consider quitting.

I am also no CFI. From my training we really didn't even start landing practice until around your current hours. It seems that many flight schools or instructors want very solid slow flight, stalls, recovery skills before focusing 100% on landings. Maybe a bit of a shift from the old days when soloing quickly seemed to be more of a priority. Moral of the story, I'm not hearing that you've even really started landing practice yet. Rather you are ending each training session with a landing. So try to be patient and wait for the day he says "Lets practice landings :)". You will get in way more repetitions and learn much quicker. Learning to land is not simple. Add in the fact that each landing, that really tough part isn't many second long. Then it takes many minutes (or longer at a busy field) just to take off again and do it over. When I was learning I felt lucky to get in 7...9 attempts if a bit over an hours. So lets say you know it would take 100 attempts, that is over 10 hours of just practicing that skill.

I really don't see how a simulator can help so I guess my vote is spend those $$$ on another hour or two of flight.

I would actually encourage you to ramp up your lessons right about now. Maybe you can find 3 or 4 nice evenings in a row when it comes time to pattern/landing work. Tell yourself you will get it. No more negative thoughts allowed.

You can do one other thing though. Hop in the plane on the ramp when not being rented...this is free! Chair fly! Visualize the landing and work through the feel of the controls. Imagine cases where you are off centerline and need to correct it. Go through leveling off right as you near the runway, reducing power and slowly pulling the yoke back as the plane starts to slow down. Chair flying isn't perfect. But really sitting in the seat, with the actual controls can be very useful.

You won't give up :) I predict you solo at 16.2hrs.
 
Sinistar said:
your are feeling nervous and pressured right now to be able to land a plane only so you can leave everyone behind and solo with no one else to save you. Only a pilot is crazy enough to pursue that path LOL!
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now thats an interesting perspective
 
I found that the fear in some students seemed to be based on the idea that the airplane was going to try to kill them. Maybe they watched too many movies or something. In any case, their view of the reality was warped. I had to show them that the airplane would always do exactly what they told it to do. It would climb or descend or turn or accelerate or decelerate on my command. It would stall on my command and recover when I told it to. If it stalled and spun it was only because I told it to stall and spin. It recovered from the spin when I wanted it to.

Training is all about learning how to tell the airplane what to do, and how NOT to tell it to do something you don't want it to do. These airplanes practically fly themselves, after all, and only need a bit of nudging toward what we want. They aren't the Wright Flyer or some unstable military superjet that requires computers to tame it.

Airplanes have taken off with nobody inside when the guy opened the throttle too much and then hand-propped it. There's also the story of the B-17 that landed in an English farm field and sat there with its engines idling. Nobody was in it. None of the crew were ever found. It seems they had all abandoned ship by parachute over the Channel, for some reason. These things want to fly and they want to stay upright. They don't want to go into a terminal dive as soon as you're not looking.
 
Ok, you have less than 10 hours. That’s nothing! Some people take longer to get comfortable than others. How do you handle the plane doing ground reference maneuvers, stalls, slow flight. You just have to spend more time getting more comfortable doing different things with the plane.
 
First know that your instructor is not going to let you hurt yourself or the aircraft. What kind of aircraft are you starting in it could be too complex or powerful for you. Crazy question I know but a buddy tried to learn in a Piper Lance.

How would you describe you approaches and takeoffs? Ie behind the aircraft or large deviations laterally, vertically or power?

Beginner mistakes are death grip on the yoke, spotting the deck, make yourself look at the far end of the runway as you approach the flair. If the runway is plenty long don’t worry about hitting the aim point at first but focus on sight picture and aircraft control. Be sure you seat is adjusted for proper sight picture.

Do not get frustrated I would ask to stay in the pattern and watch one with verbal instructions from instructor and then you do one. For example instructor saying I am starting to transition to looking at the far end, reducing power, etc.

I bought a tailwheel Cessna 140 with about 5000 hours pic, Captain on a A300 and a IOE instructor for my airline. The aircraft was already at my field so I had never actually flown it or any other tail wheel. I found a older guy with about a gizillion hours in tail wheel instruction and he flew in in a beautiful Cessna 195 to teach me. Well even though I had read all the books and watched endless videos, for me it was like learning to fly all over again. It was truly humbling and to top it off he the instructor was laughing all the way down the runway as I was over controlling it from side to side until we reached thankfully flying speed. He was not ugly about it as it was all in good spirits but humbling nevertheless for a totally civilian pilot. He took me to a big uncontrolled airport and for the next lessons we simply focused on taking off staying in ground effect maintaining centerline and then landing again and controlling the rollout on the runway. I was simply over controlling the rudder and I needed to get the sight picture and aircraft control to combine. Keep trying and flying.

Even as a IOE instructor now I talk my students through their first landing in the jet what sight picture to look for and when to transition to looking at the far of the runway even at our level.
 
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