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

Night flight is AWESOME!

First night flight was basically just to practice landings and get familiar with flying at night. Instructor and I went up and did some basic maneuvers, turns, and unusual attitudes. I instinctively went to the instruments in the unusual attitude as I was staring at just blackness outside the window.

After getting used to the darkness, we went over to Lakeland (KLAL) and did some stop n goes. The night visual illusions are real! I could not for the life of me see the freaking airport when coming at it from other than the runway orientation. Once I was about 3nm out I saw it but wow it's hard to find. Once I got close to the orientation of the runway it was super easy to spot. Surprising how different the view of the airport is when lined up with the runway vs not.

After a few landings at KLAL, we went over to Tampa Executive (KVDF). I found this airport a little easier mainly because it's in an easier to spot location: the junction of two highways with not much else around. I had my best ever landing here, just amazingly gentle and there was a second where I wasn't sure if I landed or not.

After that we went back to Peter O Knight (KTPF) without issue.

1.4 hours for a total of 27.4
 
Last night was my night cross country. Again, an AWESOME experience! I can definitely see myself doing a fair bit of night flight.

My wife wanted to tag along so it was good practice checking W&B and fuel loads to ensure we were properly loaded and within limits. Planned the flight from Peter O Knight (KTPF) to Venice (KVNC). My instructor likes to use KVNC for night cross countries as it's on the water and helps to demonstrate the loss of horizon issues that can occur at night.

Got to the airport a little early to preflight with some remaining daylight left. Everything looked good. I left all the interior and under wing light switches on but turned the master off so that when we got back to the plane I could hit the master switch and have all the lights come on.

Reviewed my flight plan with my instructor: I had planned to fly around Sarasota International's (KRSQ) Class C just in case we couldn't get a shortcut through with the intention of calling up Tampa Approach for flight following direct to KVNC.

Once we were airborne and contacted Tampa Approach, they cleared us into the Class B and direct to KVNC as expected. As we're making our way down the Venice, we're hearing a lot of people going missed into KSRQ. "Hmmm....all the forecasts and METARs right before departure had Vis > 10sm and Sky Clear". Better listen into the ATIS and AWOS and KSRQ and KVNC to find out what's going on.

Turns out there was sea fog moving in and KSRQ was down to a 200' ceiling while KVNC was still Sky Clear. We continued to KVNC anticipating that it might get worse. About every 10 minutes we checked the AWOS and it slowly kept decreasing eventually reaching Few at 2500 with Vis 4sm in mist. Still legal but certainly questionable. We agreed to overfly the airport and check it out before making any decision. A Citation Mustang landed right as we were about 4nm away and he told us it was pretty bad. Another Skyhawk was coming in from the east and said he could see runway 23 clearly. He landed as we were overhead and reported that the visibility went to crap about halfway down the runway.

We decided to divert and picked Punta Gorda (KPGD). Went over there and did two stop and goes with an Allegiant airbus making a landing as we departed back for KTPF.

Flight following on the way back showed that there were a LOT of folks going missed at KVNC and KSRQ and diverting to other airports.

Once back near Tampa we had excellent visibility and no real fog to speak of and landed uneventfully.

Overall, this was an amazing experience. I learned a lot about what low visibility actually looks like. From above KVNC we could see the entire runway but could tell that while we could have likely gotten down and landed safely, we weren't going to get back out. Dealt with numerous handoffs on Flight Following: Ft Lauderdale Approach to Miami Center to Tampa Approach to two more Tampa Approach frequencies, etc etc. It was a busy night for those controllers with a lot flights going missed and diverting.

1.7 hours for a total of 29.1
 
Had to push my checkride that was supposed to be today. Weather at the exam airport will be fine. Unfortunately my airport is stuck under IFR/MVFR until just before the exam.

Hopefully Friday serves me better.
 
flight2000 said:
So after 25 years I'll officially be a student again tomorrow afternoon (never really stopped being student though like many have already said). Working on the commercial practical maneuvers after passing the written last month. No ambition to fly for an airline, just want to check it off my list of things to do. We'll see how this goes since the winds are supposed to get interesting tomorrow afternoon in the Reno area.

Cheers,
Brian
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Just an update on the above post that I submitted back in March. I got sidelined by weather earlier this year and then life got in the way for a few months: sold the Mooney, bought the Bonanza, had the flight school owner I was using pass away in a terrible accident and after all that, finally got back to work last month.....and passed the CPL ASEL check ride yesterday. I can relax again... ;)

Brian
 
Congrats Brian. Well, I am a student again only this time for my A&P rating so that I can work on my own planes in the future.
 
Blueangel said:
Congrats Brian. Well, I am a student again only this time for my A&P rating so that I can work on my own planes in the future.
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Cool, are you going through an A&P specific school or self-study based on previous experience?

Brian
 
I am going through the Miramar College Part 147 A&P program in San Diego. It is less expensive than a trade school and allows me to work at my main day job and take classes in evenings. That still gives me time for study and to fly on weekends. Plus I can get a nice discount on a decent set of tools.
 
Passed my check ride Friday! It was much smoother than I anticipated, it felt more like a flight lesson than an exam. Only hiccup was that my attitude indicator was stuck! :eek: Of all the times. Examiner emphasized that it isn't required equipment for VFR and he was fine with proceeding if I was. So yeah, I passed my private exam with only a partial panel.

Oral topic highlights: (1.5 hours)
Minimum flight equipment
CG Envelope
Airspace
Sectional topics
Maintenance
Rules and Regs


Flight maneuvers: (2.2 hours)
Normal Takeoff
Cross country/check points
Steep turns
Power on Stall
Power off Stall
Slow flight
Hoodwork/Unusual attitude recovery
X Country dead engine / simulated field landing (I actuallychanged fields because I discovered a fence in the middle of my first field. In and actual emergency I think I would just hit the fence. My first field was much larger than the second.)
Turns around a point
S turns
Short field landing
Short field take off
Soft field landing
Soft field take off
"Normal" landing/Actually a dead stick landing

Clear runway and a handshake during the taxi back

Feels great!
 
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Due to Christmas, New Years, and then a week of work travel it really took awhile for me to get my lesson in. It had been exactly one month since I last flew (ouch).

We started with hood work. Basic maneuvers, 180s, etc. Following that we did some VOR tracking to an intersection, then stalls, S turns, slow flight, and steep turns. It was basically a refresher for maneuvers day after doing a lot of cross country stuff.

It was a pretty nice refresher and I did pretty well on the short field landings which are the hardest of them for me...

1.2 hours for a total of 30.3

Almost to that magical 40 hours! I expect I will finish just past them at this rate. I have the following left:
  • 5.4 solo hours needed
  • 0.7 hours of sim instrument
  • 3.7 hours solo cross-country time
  • 150nm cross-country flight
  • 3 solo take offs and landings from a towered airport (will do these on my long xc)

And on the syllabus are just a couple lessons:
  • Solo cross country (roughly 1.2 hours) - doing this tomorrow
  • Long cross country (will try to make it 2.5 hours)
  • Solo practice (will make it 1.7 hours)
  • Mock FAA test
  • Final Stage Test
With those solo hours taking me to 35.7 hours leaving 4.3 hours for the practice stuff.

It's getting really exciting!
 
Just completed my medical yesterday and am taking my first lesson today. I've watched more flight training videos than I can count and have read the entire ASA private pilot manual up to the solo information and the Jeppesen guided flight discovery private pilot book. Also have been studying the POH for our clubs 78 Cessna 152. I think I'm a little overloaded on information and just need to get in the cockpit. Super excited for today. Work is going to drag on that's for sure.
 
Ronbonjovi said:
Just completed my medical yesterday and am taking my first lesson today. I've watched more flight training videos than I can count and have read the entire ASA private pilot manual up to the solo information and the Jeppesen guided flight discovery private pilot book. Also have been studying the POH for our clubs 78 Cessna 152. I think I'm a little overloaded on information and just need to get in the cockpit. Super excited for today. Work is going to drag on that's for sure.
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Get it done! You're gonna love it.
 
I'm at exactly 8.0 hours in to my training after yesterday's lesson :D Lesson before yesterday was TERRIBLE and made me start to question everything about flying. Turbulence was awful and I had a miserable lesson, to where I really didn't feel like I was learning much, except hold on for dear life. Instructor said I did fine, but I was NOT comfortable and did not feel as in control as I had in the past. But when I reviewed my video with my father, he said I was doing everything right, so that gave me a little bit of a boost. Yesterday was much better, couple of hiccups, but did pretty well and had a decent landing to cap it off.

And got a nice surprise in the mail when I got home...my student pilot certificate arrived!
 
abqtj said:
I'm at exactly 8.0 hours in to my training after yesterday's lesson :D Lesson before yesterday was TERRIBLE and made me start to question everything about flying. Turbulence was awful and I had a miserable lesson, to where I really didn't feel like I was learning much, except hold on for dear life. Instructor said I did fine, but I was NOT comfortable and did not feel as in control as I had in the past. But when I reviewed my video with my father, he said I was doing everything right, so that gave me a little bit of a boost. Yesterday was much better, couple of hiccups, but did pretty well and had a decent landing to cap it off.

And got a nice surprise in the mail when I got home...my student pilot certificate arrived!
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You;re going to have more days like that, just part of learning to fly. Sounds like your CFI thought it went well, as did your dad. Remember though, if you ever get where you just don't feel comfortable. tell the CFI that you're fried and done for the day. It's your call but just don't throw that arbitrarily if your CFI is trying to teach you something. Use your good judgement.
 
mscard88 said:
You;re going to have more days like that, just part of learning to fly. Sounds like your CFI thought it went well, as did your dad. Remember though, if you ever get where you just don't feel comfortable. tell the CFI that you're fried and done for the day. It's your call but just don't throw that arbitrarily if your CFI is trying to teach you something. Use your good judgement.
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That's exactly what I did on that lesson. We tried to do some steep turns, s-turns, then got vectored out of the area for a C-130 doing parachute drops (benefit/hazard of flying out of a base/major airport). Went to another area, did engine failure simulation. Did fine with that, and I was cooked. Told him let's just call it a day and head back. I was too much in my own head.
 
I've just gotten the required flight Instrument training time to take my rating, im going to continue to log some time before I do though, I'm confident in my skills but also just feel like I want more hands on practice before I go for it.
 
Went out to KCEU to have my first lesson and saw gusts up to 28mph. My instructor decided to not go up for my first flight in those kind of winds. Completely understand but it was like pushing back Christmas for a 5 year old. Flying tomorrow and Sunday.
 
Ronbonjovi said:
Went out to KCEU to have my first lesson and saw gusts up to 28mph. My instructor decided to not go up for my first flight in those kind of winds. Completely understand but it was like pushing back Christmas for a 5 year old. Flying tomorrow and Sunday.
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Exact same thing happened to me on the day that was supposed to be my first lesson. He let me sit in the plane and familiarized me with some stuff, and the way it was rocking from the wind told me it was a good decision not to go up. I was still super disappointed, though.
 
onezuludelta said:
Exact same thing happened to me on the day that was supposed to be my first lesson. He let me sit in the plane and familiarized me with some stuff, and the way it was rocking from the wind told me it was a good decision not to go up. I was still super disappointed, though.
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Hey, where've you been, haven't seen you post in a while, did you finish up yet?
 
exncsurfer said:
Hey, where've you been, haven't seen you post in a while, did you finish up yet?
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Ugh. No. (Thanks for remembering, though.)

My wife got tired of me complaining about it, and demanded that I put at least a tiny bit away from each paycheck so I can start again. Gonna see what this year's tax return is like, too, and balance it with all the bills and see what's possible.

I am SO tired of having to tell a long story instead of just being able to say "yes" when someone says, "Hey, didn't you get your pilot's license?"

Also, gotta figure out WHO to fly with, since the two CFIs at the school that I flew with have since gone on to fly for Endeavour/Delta.
 
So my last flight was a simple cross country flight.

Planned for KTPF (Peter O Knight) to KVNC (Venice). I primarily wanted to do this as it's just a hair longer than 50nm and we didn't get to land at Venice on my night flight and it looked like a fun airport.

Leaving KTPF was uneventful and so was getting to KVNC. One nice aspect is that KTPF and KVNC share a CTAF frequency. However KVNC is a super busy airport with a lot of student pilots and instrument students and on a beautiful Saturday afternoon it was packed. A lot of people stepping on each other on frequency and overall a packed pattern. Other than just congestion there wasn't really anything else complicated there.

On the flight back to KTPF however, it got really really interesting. It was Gasparilla Parade day!

For those of you not familiar with Gasparilla: it's the 3rd largest parade in the country. It also happens to start with a large boat/ship parade into the bay right of the departure end of one of the runways at KTPF. What this meant was a lot of helicopters and one banner tow pilot right next to the airport.

It put me on high alert but otherwise the helos were staying out of the pattern environment as much as they could and were communicating where they were with me as I came in to land.

It turned into a really cool experience.

1.3 hours for a total of 31.6


Next up is my long cross country and I'm thinking of doing:
KTPF - KLEE - KOCF - KCDK - KBKV - KTPF
Roughly 225nm and 2.1 hours

This would be a lot longer than needed but I need the cross country hours and what's the point of flying if not to explore some fun airports. I still need 2.4 hours solo cross country so hopefully this would get me there. The 2.1 hours ignores climbs, descents, taxi, and patterns so would likely be long enough.
 
Logged my first 1.1 hours. Took off and landed at KCEU and spent some time doing basic turns, climbs, and descents. I had controls the whole time except for landing, where he took them and had me keep my hands and feet on the controls to feel it out. I was really pleased with how my instructor was very hands off even on the first trip up. After so much studying it was fun to finally get up there and actually put it to use. I didn't feel overwhelmed, but it was definitely difficult to manage all the instruments, monitor traffic, and make sure to keep my head up instead of staring at the panel. I am HOOKED though. My instructor flies Citations as well so he's gone this week but I have 4 days booked the week after.

And here's a picture of where the National Champions play. :D:D

16473529_10158155263640425_7772634509030441494_n.jpg
 
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Not much of an update for me: Weather around here (KSYR area) has been oscilating between horrible and crappy for the last two months for VFR. With work commitments, and various winter illnesses I've manged to get only 2 flights (3.5h) in since November. Last Saturday was beautiful, but I was really pretty sick, so I decided to not go. Hoping to get at least one more flight in this week - even if it's dual. On my last one a couple weeks ago, I thought I would be really rusty due to not flying in almost a month. So I made it a dual and we worked on all the ACS maneuvers for 2 hours. Emergency descents can be pretty fun :) But I did find that my skills had not atrophied at all, and all my landings and most of my maneuvers were really good. Still need long solo XC and all my night flight for requirements. Just have not had good weather for either...

Trying to make the most of it and studying for the check ride. And dreaming about maybe heading to FL next winter after I get my ticket and getting a glider add-on at lake Seminole... Sounds like that would be a blast and could be done in a week or so. Wife heads to beach/Disney/Shopping and I get to fly gliders.
 
abqtj said:
Had a great lesson yesterday. Did engine out procedure, S-turns, turns around a point, stalls (both), steep turns...all of them were really good.
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Ground reference stuff was some of my favorite training sessions. You get a sense of speed down lower. Once you get up to 2000 or 3000 agl speed just turns into a number and sound.
 
Up to 4.5 hours now and I have covered power on and off straight as well as turning stalls, emergency decent, forward slips, slow flight clean and dirty, sim failure and a good bit of focus on steep turns as well as making radio calls without being prompted. We did a simulated engine out where I picked a field and ran a pattern approach to about 500 feet (a non congested area) on the final and then put power back in and went around. I really enjoyed that. I bet the people on the ground near there did too. I do feel as though we have covered a lot but it gives me a good bit to study in between flights. Our 152 is in maintenance this week and I'm itching to get back up there. Will be in the books and watching MzeroA and other videos all week. I have 4 flights booked for next week when the plane gets out of maintenance. Trying to grind this out!
 
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It's long cross country time! As I said before I planned one a lot longer than needed in order to get some more cross country time for the PPL requirements and to have some fun.


KTPF - KLEE - KOCF - KCDK - KBKV - KTPF
Roughly 225nm and 2.1 hours planned time.

This would be a lot longer than needed but I need the cross country hours and what's the point of flying if not to explore some fun airports. I still needed 2.4 hours solo cross country prior to this flight and I'm happy to day that I got 2.7 from this flight.

I had a blast on this flight, made a few mistakes but nothing major and nothing dangerous. The controller at Leesburg was great and it's a beautiful airport. Ocala was a different experience as it has such a long runway and there was a stiff cross wind actually favouring the shorter runway. They were using the longer one and it made for good cross wind practice.

Along the way to Cedar Key there was some poor visibility and low ceilings. Nothing too bad but I did circle a little bit to double check weather reporting stations around the area. Cedar Key is a beautiful airport with a relatively short runway. Good short field technique practice for me. I wanted to park and walk around but the ramp was full and I didn't want to operate on the grass/sand in a rental. Add the lower ceilings and it made sense to just head out.

Final stop at Brooksville, another friendly tower and my first experience with an airport that actually used a different ground frequency.

The only real issue that day flying were my landings. Every one of them just flat out sucked. Period.

2.7 hours for a total of 34.3
 
Yesterday I planned to do some solo pattern practice based on those awful landings from the cross country. When I got to the airport the reported wind was 19G25 off center from both of our runways at Peter O Knight. So I texted my instructor to see if he was there and wanted to help me do some cross wind practice.

He was and we went and did a number of landings. They all went great. Really nailed them and my Instructor was pleased enough to raise my cross wind limit to 12kts. That flight was a workout, I was fighting the wind like crazy and my arm and hand were tired after .6 hours so we called it after about 6 landings.

That was an awesome practice flight and really required working the rudders and dipping the upwind wing a lot. I had to use full rudder a few times to keep lined up.

.6 hours for a total of 34.9

Next up will be another solo flight for practice maneuvers. I still need 1.4 hours solo time.

I also ordered the ASA Oral Exam Guide to start prepping for the check ride. After I get my solo hours, I'll do a couple mock check rides with some other instructors at the school and then go for the real thing. Will be close to 40 hours, probably around 42 when I think I'll be ready.
 
Ronbonjovi said:
And here's a picture of where the National Champions play. :D:D
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Did you know that Danny Ford and Dabo both played at Alabama? The 2 National Championships Clemson has and the coaches are from Bama. Dabo is from Pelham, right next to my town. The barber shop I use in Pelham is a Bama fans dream, all kinds of Bama pics and such on the wall. Dabo stops in for a trim once in awhile. Last time he gave the owner a signed pic for the wall. Class act, Dabo.
 
Had a good lesson on Saturday, stayed in the pattern at KABQ and did 6 landings. Controller threw me for a loop on the 5th when he had me make left traffic instead of right like the previous 4. Wasn't expecting that but it wasn't a problem. My landings weren't great to me, but CFI said they were all fine. Of course they could use some work, but nothing was super troubling that some more practice won't smooth out.

My lesson prior, my CFI said maybe in the next 3-4 lessons I'll be ready to solo. I'm not so sure I'm nearly ready, but reading other people's accounts of their training that appears to be a normal self-assessment.

I'm at 11.6 hours and about 20 landings (both assisted and not). Personally, I want quite a few more landings under my belt before he hops out!

 
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In my last post I mentioned that I ordered the ASA Oral Exam Guide book. I've only been reading/using it for a couple days but I can HIGHLY recommend it so far. Spent a few hours tabbing the FAR/AIM as well which was beneficial for studying and if needed during the oral exam. But the Oral Exam Guide book is great because my wife can randomly select a question and ask me.

Hidden bonus: I've secretly gotten my wife to read flying related stuff by doing this!







*please don't let her read this* *please don't let her read this* *please don't let her read this* :fcross:
 
I haven't had a chance to get back into our 152 since my last post on 2/20. My instructor flies Citations so he was out of town for a week and as soon as he returned our club plane went in for 100 hour maintenance and has been out since. We are just waiting on the prop to get back from being sent off. I know having flights rescheduled and cancelled is normal for a GA club but I am ready to get in there and grind these hours out. I have absolutely loved every minute up there and can't wait to continue.

Anyways I set a little plan for myself moving forward. I have commercial on my mind. I currently teach 7th grade history and we end June 6th. I want to try to have my PPL done by then. That would require 8 days a month at around 1.5 hrs a day, which is how long I currently fly a session. Next week I have 8 flight hours booked so if schedule holds I think it's a plausible plan. After my PPL I don't want to have rely on a club plane to continue my training so when summer hits I plan on doing a 14 day instrument course as a couple local schools offer those around me. Greenville Aviation has one for $5999 while Blue Ridge Sport Flight seems like a cooler experience but just a little steeper on the price. http://www.blueridgesportflight.com/index.htm. If anyone has used a school in upstate SC, or GA/NC close to the border and has some recommendations that would be awesome.
 
Hello everyone,

I'm telling you, If I can go through this training, ANYONE can so go and just do it!

I started January 1st 2017. One of my New Year resolutions was to learn how to fly, (I didn't even know what a fuselage was, no aeronautical knowledge at all) so I started like this:

*Go and get a FAA 3rd class medical FIRST if you want to obtain your PPL if you are going for your sport you don't need one just a valid drivers license.

*Find a CFI that is reasonably priced, I priced some in a flight school but I just went to an airport and found a CFI onsite. Generally speaking he will be cheaper to use.

*Apply for a Student Pilot Cert, my Doc told me that you receive one at the doctors office, that is no longer the case. You have to apply on the IACRA website.

So far I have done two lessons (So I have a grand total of 2 hours). The first lesson he congratulated me and said I was a natural and then he made the second lesson more difficult by giving me
ground references which I did poorly on but I'm motivated to get it next time. I went up with a Go Pro and I studied all that was said and I will go over it again and again until it sinks in. I'm going for my sport pilot and once I obtain that I will go for my PPL sometime next year when time permits. I'm flying a tail wheel airplane which is more difficult (IMO) than a 172. More rudder is involved in a Champ.

I will send updates when time permits!
 
Flying with a new instructor today. Really liked my previous one but he was part time and just received a promotion to CRJs and will be gone a lot coming up. I read all the stories about people going through 4-5 instructors and really hoping to not be in that situation. My new CFI is full time so lets hope for the best.

Also got a quick question. How long does it normally take to receive your student pilot cert? I submitted all my info electronically on IACRA on 1/23/17. It currently states status: received by registry on 2/03 but haven't had an update since then. The IACRA FAQ states 3 weeks.
 
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