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

Solo'd on 1/20/16 and went on a solo flight for 1.3 hrs on Tuesday for maneuvers with 8 landings. Tomorrow I start x-country/VOR navigation.

Moving right along now that I figured out how to land the dang thing.
 
Was supposed to do a longer x-country today. First flight on the 172 that just got out of service for a rough running engine. It was -5c and she started right up. Did an extended run-up and all seemed fine. Took off from KLHZ and made it to KISO with no issues. My 1st time talking to ATC and got the approval for a touch and go. Entered left downwind (did ggumps checks - glasses off, gas, undercarriage, etc.), turned base and final then made a good landing. Flaps up, carb heat in, full power, on the roll.

Made it to 1100' pattern altitude while turning crosswind and when I pulled carb heat on and reduced power to 2000 rpm's the engine stumbled a little. CFI immediately said "I have the controls" "you have the controls". He made the call to ATC and we got immediate clearance to land. He flew a tight pattern holding most of the altitude til we had the field. He then made a steep approach and a perfect landing. We taxied to the fbo and called the flight school thinking they would send someone with one of the other 2 planes or 1 of the 2 choppers. NOPE. Rent a car and drive back. THAT SUCKED. 40 minutes there, hour and a half back. I didn't get charged for todays flight.

I'm glad it happened right over the field as it was a non event. It could have happened anywhere on the way there or back. KRWI and W03 are about mid route and with our cruise altitude of 5500' there and 6500' back we would have had a pretty good glide distance and hopefully make one of those if needed.

I was amazingly calm and hope I would react as my cfi did today if it ever happens to me while alone. I have confidence I could make an off field daytime landing and survive (me, not sure about the plane) but it really makes me think hard about night flying. I have flown once at night with my cfi and really enjoyed it. It was the day landings clicked for me and I made 6 good night landings. I think having trouble at night is far more dangerous and since no one can guarantee any plane be flawless I just don't plan on doing much (or any) other than what's required to get my certificate.
 
Hello as I am new to this forum. I am 4hrs into my flight training. I am not new flying as I have flown with a friend of mine several times in the years past. He has let me have the controls in the air many times in the past, but I have to say its a whole new experience taxiing, taking off and landing. I am still trying to get the feel in holding the center line in take off. Guess you could call me bicycle Bob. Way too much left and right rudder during takeoff. I think i am more concentrated in keeping the plane centered, and fail to realize only steady pressure is needed the more speed is increased. I have had another friend tell me, that it is a feel that you acquire. At what point did it start feeling natural for everyone else?

I did my first touch and go's today. First one I ballooned pretty bad and the second one was much better. My CFI did comment to me that my approaches are good, and was still pleased with my landings although I wasn't. My CFI is 72 yrs old and has been flying for 50 years and still holds several ratings. He is a straightforward, tell it like it is person which I do like. So in turn, if he still says it was good, Ill take it for now. I am not at all wanting to rush things, because I want to learn correctly and feel good about every time I climb in the left seat. I know I will get there. Cant wait till I go up again!
 
In a c172 in standard student flying conditions there's no L rudder on acceleration rollout, just varying amounts of R pedal. That's an easy one to get, just need a little more practice.

Landings will get better too. I speak from experience. I was to the point I thought I just wouldn't get them and several days while sitting in the CFI's office after the flight quitting crossed my mind. It was such a simple thing for me. I was keeping my weak reading glasses on. With the glasses I could read the instruments and even looking outside everything was in focus so I didn't think anything about it even though I don't wear glasses for driving. One lesson I finally removed the glasses for landings and the 1st 3 got progressively better. Then I nailed 4 thru 16 with the last 6 being at night with the lights on. I haven't been bailed out a single time since that day. Must have about 40 unassisted landings in a row now.

Most people do GUMPS checks, I do GGUMPS checks : glasses off, gas on, undercarriage, mixture, props, seatbelts

Stick with it. Once you get something and the anxiety of that task goes away it frees up your mind to learn the next thing.
 
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With 4 hours under your belt, you're doing fine! Right where you should be. Hang in there.
 
hey all, just signed up.
a private pilot student here, have 8.5 hours.
solo'd at 7.5 hours.
was supposed to knock out my night flying and dual cross country this weekend but fate had other plans.
our plans have been getting cancelled for months now, mostly because either my instructor or i have something come up and can't make it. getting kind of impatient and want to finish my PPL already.
just curious, is it out of line to ask if i can just do some pattern work around our home airport by myself, since he has already signed me off to solo?
i dont want to let myself get too rusty, ya know...
 
Awesome job Chris, keep that up and you could be done around 45 hours, maybe even lower. Yes, once you are signed off for solo you should be able to do pattern work. Once I was signed of to solo I was also allowed to fly out to the practice area, but I realize that some practice areas are farther away than mine and all students do not get to do this.
 
Thank you for the support and encouragement. Can't wait till I'm back in the seat again this week. Definitely will remember staying off the left rudder on roll out. Have a great week of flying everyone!
 
ChrisH said:
hey all, just signed up.
a private pilot student here, have 8.5 hours.
solo'd at 7.5 hours.
was supposed to knock out my night flying and dual cross country this weekend but fate had other plans.
our plans have been getting cancelled for months now, mostly because either my instructor or i have something come up and can't make it. getting kind of impatient and want to finish my PPL already.
just curious, is it out of line to ask if i can just do some pattern work around our home airport by myself, since he has already signed me off to solo?
i dont want to let myself get too rusty, ya know...
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Maybe the CFI wants to be there for another one, at some point he should add a distance and maybe crosswind limit to your logbook and turn you loose. You should ask.
 
After solo you should get some limits that allow you out of the pattern. I have a 5000' ceiling, 5 kts xwind component, and as of now allowed to go to another airport 24 miles away.
 
2Airtime2 said:
Made it to 1100' pattern altitude while turning crosswind and when I pulled carb heat on and reduced power to 2000 rpm's the engine stumbled a little. CFI immediately said "I have the controls"
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They found a cracked cylinder. Luckily the school has another c172 I train in as well.
 
just checked to see what he wrote in my log book and the only limit be wrote in my log book was 18kt wind with 8kt crosswind.
and i also realized that my 90 days is about to expire, sign off was on 11-13.
ill ask him this weekend hopefully he wont cancel on me again.
 
ChrisH said:
just checked to see what he wrote in my log book and the only limit be wrote in my log book was 18kt wind with 8kt crosswind.
and i also realized that my 90 days is about to expire, sign off was on 11-13.
ill ask him this weekend hopefully he wont cancel on me again.
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I'm confused, did you take a couple months off? You got signed off for solo in Nov. and have one hour since? And haven't been solo in the pattern without the cfi on site? Yea, definitely go up with him, knock that rust off and get confirmation from him that you can show up alone and do some laps on your own time.
 
I have an interview at Endeavor Air next Thursday. Looking forward to the next part of my aviation career!
 
jimbilly said:
I'm confused, did you take a couple months off? You got signed off for solo in Nov. and have one hour since? And haven't been solo in the pattern without the cfi on site? Yea, definitely go up with him, knock that rust off and get confirmation from him that you can show up alone and do some laps on your own time.
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yes a few months went by. after the solo in nov we never got a chance to fly again because of holidays and him visiting family far away. then when he got back early jan he had to have surgery on his shoulder. he said he would set me up with his cfi friend so i could fly again but he has cancelled on me twice in a row now. we have plans to go up tomorrow night, crossing my fingers it doesnt get cancelled again.
it taking this long wasnt from a lack of me trying lol believe me, after the first solo i was ready to keep going!
he never said i was welcome to fly solo while he was gone, and he didnt leave me a key or anything so i just assumed that meant for me to wait until he got back. which is understandable, im still a very low time student pilot, i wouldnt trust me either!
 
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Did a long x-country yesterday. Next is same route on instruments in the simulator. After that same route at night. Then I do it on my own, try to pass the knowledge test, prep for check ride, try to pass check ride.

I'm in the home stretch. I've got around 35 hrs and my cfi says I'm likely going to be around 50 hrs when I'm ready to rock and roll. Everything is now coming to me pretty easily but I did have a hiccup during the learning to land stage which put me behind a little and probably cost me an extra $1000.

Flying gets funner and funner as you learn and gain confidence. The anxiety and disappointment I experienced while learning to land made me think (often) about quitting. Man I'm glad I stuck with it.
 
I'm a few weeks into my training now. I have a whopping 4.7 hours in. haha
I'm training in a Cirrus SR20 and the first few weeks were basic flight handling stuff such as slow flight and stalls.
Week two we did more slow flight and both low speed stalls and power on stalls. The power on stalls were a blast.
On Friday we had relatively low ceilings so couldn't get up high enough to practice more stalls so we stayed at mostly pattern altitude and worked on ground reference maneuvers flying a square mile box and did my first simulated engine out.
I was a little shocked that my CFI let me try some landings already so we did 4 laps of the pattern with touch and goes.
All and all I was very happy with the landings. One of them I got a little sideways right before touchdown. I knew I needed to hit rudder, but for some reason my brain was unable to get my foot to move.
So far, I'm really enjoying the experience and plan to do two hour training flights every Friday going forward. Can't wait until Friday each week.
 
Night XC Dual instruction last night, over the Pacific Ocean from PGUM to PGSN. I had to always be looking at the compass or I would start drifting off course. Pull out the sectional for 30 seconds, turn right 30 degrees. Not having any visual references is scary, its just black everywhere you look.
 
Got back in the air finally after a couple weeks of weather cancels. Thought I might be rusty after 3 weeks but felt fine. Got 1.5 hrs dual, departure stalls, straight, left and right turning, same with approach to landing stalls, straight, left and right turning, steep turns, couple of short field landings. Instructor said I did well, smooth. Felt great.

Next up, solo XC.
 
I passed my IR written today. So the clock is ticking on getting this done.

John
 
so finally knocked out my night flying requirement.
then the next day we did dual xc, included touch and goes at class delta and also class charlie. i did all the coms myself.
cfi says i fly very well, got signed off to fly same route solo.
i need more practice on landings though, theyre still a little rough.
 
I bumped my weekly training up to two hours per flight starting today. It was an absolutely blast today, with a bunch of challenges due to very high winds.
First off, we took off with 20k winds with a hefty crosswind component from the west (left side). I had full right rudder deflected at Vr and was still drifting left. It was a little exciting, but we had a very wide runway so no problem.

We did a little slow flight at first, and then a couple stalls. Then we did a couple power on stalls, which are my favorite.

We did a few 360 steep turns in each direction and then spent a good deal of time with circle flying around a ground reference point. It was very bumpy due to the wind sheer right around pattern altitude, but that just added to the fun. The winds were also bouncing around 35-40k, which made the circle very interesting. on the last 90 degree up/cross wind I was practically wings level, and had to pull a very steep turn on the downwind side of the circle to keep from getting blown into Iowa.

We then returned and did a few touch and goes. I had to side slip the landings due to the crosswinds. It was a little hairy and I went off centerline a couple times, but all landings were survivable.

I also made my first ever radio calls. I wasn't nervous at all, so that was good. However, when the clearance, runway, squawk, altitude, etc started coming back my brain went blank and I didn't hear any of it. :dunno:

I did fire up the record on foreflight before we took off so I could see where all we went. I dumped the track into cloudahoy which is way cool.

Today's training flight

It's amazing how much the wind pushed us on the steep turns compared to the ground. You can also see my circle ground reference mess. The wind made it really challenging.
 
tuwood said:
I bumped my weekly training up to two hours per flight starting today. It was an absolutely blast today, with a bunch of challenges due to very high winds.
First off, we took off with 20k winds with a hefty crosswind component from the west (left side). I had full right rudder deflected at Vr and was still drifting left. It was a little exciting, but we had a very wide runway so no problem.

We did a little slow flight at first, and then a couple stalls. Then we did a couple power on stalls, which are my favorite.

We did a few 360 steep turns in each direction and then spent a good deal of time with circle flying around a ground reference point. It was very bumpy due to the wind sheer right around pattern altitude, but that just added to the fun. The winds were also bouncing around 35-40k, which made the circle very interesting. on the last 90 degree up/cross wind I was practically wings level, and had to pull a very steep turn on the downwind side of the circle to keep from getting blown into Iowa.

We then returned and did a few touch and goes. I had to side slip the landings due to the crosswinds. It was a little hairy and I went off centerline a couple times, but all landings were survivable.

I also made my first ever radio calls. I wasn't nervous at all, so that was good. However, when the clearance, runway, squawk, altitude, etc started coming back my brain went blank and I didn't hear any of it. :dunno:

I did fire up the record on foreflight before we took off so I could see where all we went. I dumped the track into cloudahoy which is way cool.

Today's training flight

It's amazing how much the wind pushed us on the steep turns compared to the ground. You can also see my circle ground reference mess. The wind made it really challenging.
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Cool, thanks for sharing that track. Is that with the ipad internal gps or do you have an external? My android phone gps sucks at this, I get WAY fewer points and lots of drops/error data.
 
jimbilly said:
Cool, thanks for sharing that track. Is that with the ipad internal gps or do you have an external? My android phone gps sucks at this, I get WAY fewer points and lots of drops/error data.
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I just used my phone and hit record on foreflight. Then exported it into cloudahoy. My phone is an iPhone 6s.

This was the first time I had tried using it, so I was pleasantly surprised that it was as smooth as it was. I plan to use it going forward on either my phone or iPad so I'm curious if I got lucky or if it's consistently smooth.
 
I'm just getting back into my flight training to finish my PPL. I have around 75hrs and was just shy of doing my first solo XC when I had to stop due to some family matters that hurt the finances. That was almost 6 years ago. Now I am finishing up my BS in something that I have pretty much no interest in, hoping for another ATC OTS bid, and resuming my PPL training, hoping to go all the way up to commercial and get a job flying if I can't get picked up for ATC. I just found this forum too and it seems like a really good community and resource, so I am really looking forward to what the future has in store for me. For the first time in several years I am hopeful for the future again and not felling lackadaisical or depressed about it.
 
Are you trying for FAA or military ATC? OTS as in commissioned officer?
 
mscard88 said:
Are you trying for FAA or military ATC? OTS as in commissioned officer?
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FAA. OTS=Off The Street bid, basically I do not have my CTP certificate. I was thinking of trying to fly with either Air Force or the Air Guard, but the timing is going to be tough as I am 27 and you have to meet the Officer board by the time you are 28 1/2 and start training by 30, I believe? Same with ATC, but I have a little more time with that
 
OK, I was just wondering as I was Air Force ATC. ANG job is the best job IF you can get a pilot slot. A lot of politics. AF Reserve easier to get in from what I read. Good luck! A ton of FAA ATC retiring so your chances might be good.
 
mscard88 said:
OK, I was just wondering as I was Air Force ATC. ANG job is the best job IF you can get a pilot slot. A lot of politics. AF Reserve easier to get in from what I read. Good luck! A ton of FAA ATC retiring so your chances might be good.[/QUOTE

Thanks! Yeah I have a friend of mine who just retired active duty AF and is in the reserves now and he was saying the same thing about the reserves. I'll pretty much take whatever I can get since I am so close to the cut off, just to get my foot in the door lol. As for the ATC, yeah I am banking on the retirements but I applied the last two OTS bids but didn't pass the biographical questionnaire (which I felt was totally BS to be honest). I'm hoping they do bids at least once a year for the forseeable future and I can get in on one of those at least. Only time will tell I suppose lol
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First solo XC in the books. From a D to a C and back. Some good practice switching frequencies and tracking a VOR. Even found time to snap a pic:
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ugg. written passed, solo written test passed, maneuvers pretty good (probably good enough). Just need to consistently nail landings so I can get solo authorization and continue training.

It's been hard with how seldom I've been able to fly and the weather issues.

Going up Fri-Sat-Sun this weekend to hopefully nail it and dial myself in.
 
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