So, student pilots.. Who are we and where do we stand?

I'm planning to enroll on an Aviation program so i'm reading some threads here, it seems really hard lol but nevertheless, i might start this coming semester.
 
Chief CFI gave me access to Cirrus Learning Portal so I can start instructing in our SR-20/22s. Should be a step up from the Warriors and 172s I fly!
 
enriquegill012 said:
I'm planning to enroll on an Aviation program so i'm reading some threads here, it seems really hard lol but nevertheless, i might start this coming semester.
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It really isn't too hard, I did it and According to some I'm barely qualified to dig ditches.
 
krock918316 said:
Night cross country knocked out last night. Not as good as I would have liked, but within PTS standards. Scheduled Tuesday for the short solo XC, and next Saturday for the long solo XC.

All I lack after that is 1 hour of hood work, and 3 hours of checkride prep. :)
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What wasn't as good as you would have liked?
 
Passed the written today. I have all my flight requirements, so hoping to wrap up the checkride by the end of the month.
 
I'm new to the forum..

I'm a student pilot. I've been flying for a little over a year now.

I'm now on unsupervised solo getting ready to do my dual cross country. I'm at 40 hours. Been learning a hell of allot from Joe, my CFI. Haven't been worried about the "minimums"

I've been training @ 40I Red Stewart which is a grass strip and flying Tail Draggers baby!

I'm really only interested in my Sport certificate for now. All I want to own for now is a J-3 with 85 or maybe 100 horsey's :D

I fly a J-3/85 now. I'm 6' 2" and 235 so it hauls me around the patch a bit better then the 65.

I've always wanted to be a pilot after watching the Rocketeer when I was a kid so damn if I'm not doing it!
 
Foiled again, by weather this time, last time it was maintenance. Argh. Maybe next week. Bag's getting dusty.
 
Passed PPL Checkride today.

Flew out to meet instructor at his other students check ride. Plan was to get a few orientation landings in since the checkride was at a new airport. Everything going well and then after run up, the planes not moving..... apparently after turning into the the run up just fine, and stopping etc it was flat. Sure wasn't like that on the preflight.

We're 40 min away form the school, airport so the school sends someone out and fixes it.

DPE nice guy, laid back, wasn't bothered by the delay. Rapid fire through questions for the oral, once he had what he needed quickly moved on.

Then to the practical, which really was pretty uneventful. Maneuvers, slow flight, foggles, and then back for landings.

Finished up our paperwork, filed to come back into the SFRA and back home. Now to rehydrate because it was 92+ outside and never really got to much altitude to cool down.


Pretty happy, and more so that i finished on time and within budget. In fact i even have left over instructor hours to roll over into getting checked out in a DA40.
46.9 hours and 7 months.

I know there can be some dislike of the large block packages, but at least for me it worked out well.
7k for 50 hrs dual in DA20, + 25hrs for ground, And as a surprise even included DPE fee.
 
If anyone wants a study buddy let me know, Im a full time father, employee, and college student. So the little time i get to fly and study would be more beneficial for me if I can talk with someone and quiz each other.
 
Pre solo still working on my landings. Pattern looks good right to the point I turn base then I let the plane climb and screw my look up. I'll get there
 
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brian109 said:
Pre solo still working on my landings. Pattern looks good right to the point I turn base then I let the plane climb and screw my look up. I'll get there
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I have the problem where I feel like I can't get it slowed down from downwind to base, so I tend to be high, but not climbing. Not sure how you're climbing on base, are you not pulling the power out? Or not pulling enough out? I guess I just need to extend my downwind, or add flaps earlier maybe.
 
jimbilly said:
I have the problem where I feel like I can't get it slowed down from downwind to base, so I tend to be high, but not climbing. Not sure how you're climbing on base, are you not pulling the power out? Or not pulling enough out? I guess I just need to extend my downwind, or add flaps earlier maybe.
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In the Warrior and 172 I teach my students to have the power set to about 2000 RPM once established on the downwind and at pattern altitude. Abeam the numbers is about 80 kts and one notch of flaps.
 
jimbilly said:
I have the problem where I feel like I can't get it slowed down from downwind to base, so I tend to be high, but not climbing. Not sure how you're climbing on base, are you not pulling the power out? Or not pulling enough out? I guess I just need to extend my downwind, or add flaps earlier maybe.
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i am sorry I said turning on Base. Acutally when it is on final I am turning early which is cutting my base off. I am also coming in high and fast.
 
Selecting my flight school and trying to convince my spouse that GA is safe enough to do and could be a HUGE benefit to our family life. We live near seattle, where it can take 4 hours to go 130NM routinely. I want to explore what types of weekend trips become possible with GA that are not practical in a car
 
Pre-solo, hours in the low 20's. Finally got up yesterday after a three weeks off due to maint. and weather. Did an hour in the pattern, 8 landings one go around around noon at 98 deg OAT. It was soooooooo hot! Wow. Had fun though.

Still dragging the medical ball & chain. (working on it, getting close hopefully). Advice to any new guys reading this thread. Don't just assume you can get it, do your research.
 
Passed the private check ride yesterday. What a relief.

To anyone in the GA/NC/SC vicinity, I would highly recommend Randy Haralson as a DPE. He is a very fair guy and was awesome to work with.
 
ATLShaun said:
Passed the private check ride yesterday. What a relief.

To anyone in the GA/NC/SC vicinity, I would highly recommend Randy Haralson as a DPE. He is a very fair guy and was awesome to work with.
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Congrats! Who's going to be your first passenger?
 
Just a few hours into my sport pilot training. I expect to wrap it up in somewhere between 20 and 500 hours.
 
jimson said:
Just a few hours into my sport pilot training. I expect to wrap it up in somewhere between 20 and 500 hours.
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Great, glad you got started, been following you on that sport pilot thread. You using a regular cfi? In case you want to use those hours towards PP later?
 
From my pattern session on Tuesday, my first try at GPS flight path recording with my phone, with Avare. Figured out my cfi shorted me one landing! haha.

w600-no


quick tip, in google earth, you can easily count your landings by right-click on the path in 'places' and select 'show elevation profile':

0pGzbkvy09gdHkDRMpqT_PYp7HHqxLpKkToxyklCt2Q=w600-no


You can easily see 8 landings, one go around. You can also see where i didn't hold my pattern altitude and got high a couple of times, its funny because that is where ATC was giving me instructions and I had to extend or look for traffic etc. I guess I can't multitask well yet...
 
Not sure if this belongs here or in a new thread, but introducing myself anyway:

"New old" student -- I took three quarters of an hour in a Warrior (N4349K, RIP) back in 1999 and again in a Skyhawk in 2013. Money and real life have always had a way of keeping me grounded from the real thing but I have spent literally HUNDREDS of hours of chair time zooming from place to place in my spare time. Aviation found its way into my heart in my childhood and has never really left.

I'm well aware of the difference between what's on the screen and what happens in real life. No pause buttons. No file->save clickery. And the last time I was up I was well aware that meeting the ground the wrong way would hurt bad. Regardless, my last CFI was very impressed by the way I handled the high-wing and only had to take the controls from base to final because low-level CAT finally got the best of me. It was a different experience coming back to the sky after almost fifteen years and I did NOT dig the feel of the Skyhawk as opposed to the Warrior (probably because I was so damned nervous to begin with); every little thermal felt like I was getting slammed around in spite of the harness.

That, and my radio traffic sucked on the way out. :yesnod:

Already long story short: I'm going to start picking up dual when I can. Certain things are falling into place, and while I don't expect to solo in the short term (hell, I'm well aware of what I'm getting myself into; I just want to become more competent at what I'm doing), in the long term I want to see the world and do something not everybody else can do. :)
 
Northern lights, congrats on getting motivated again. When I started not even 4 years ago I decided that I wanted to take a lesson or 2 and see if I like it. Today I'm going to sit down with the chief pilot and get my schedule for the citation. What once was merely an interest has turned into a full obsession and now I getting paid to fly.
 
Congratulations to all in the last few pages. It's fun to watch everyone make progress so keep it up.

I just did my first tail-wheel flight for my first flight review in my CFI's Super Cub. I felt like the worst pilot ever but oh my was it fun. Too bad T+Gs are out at my airport currently, so I didn't have time to really get a feel of landing -- I think I'll need to try some more ;)

Next month I'm taking some mountain flying lessons and slowly building X/C time and studying IR books. So much fun.
 
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