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

1.3 hours today of normal take offs and landings. Total of 16.2 hours. I was a little bummed because my normal CFI had to cancel and I had expected to solo. The replacement was a young 500 hour CFI that is earning hours to move on. I don't want to sound put offish but I'm at the point where I have experienced four different CFI's and would like to have consistency now.
 
Four CFIs in 16 hours... That does sound like a lot. I believe you'll do much better if you can somehow stick with one, good instructor. Can you discuss this with the flight school manager?
 
Missing the skies. I was planning on finishing up my PPL this summer before school started back but was unable too. I need my dual night xcountry, my long solo xcountry, and a few more solo hours left, then the checkride prep. Unfortunately I started back with the school year and I coach football aswell so no flying M-F and my instructor/myself are pretty busy on weekends. Looks like it will be till the end of October before I can get back at it consistently. I will probably have a dual lesson here and there when I can to make sure I don't get too rusty.
 
Lesson today introduced short field and soft field landings/take-offs. Pretty cool stuff learning new things again.

Also while in the pattern, tower had us do some short approaches. First one my CFI did to show me then I did the other two that came up. Lots of fun.
 
Ronbonjovi said:
Missing the skies. I was planning on finishing up my PPL this summer before school started back but was unable too. I need my dual night xcountry, my long solo xcountry, and a few more solo hours left, then the checkride prep. Unfortunately I started back with the school year and I coach football aswell so no flying M-F and my instructor/myself are pretty busy on weekends. Looks like it will be till the end of October before I can get back at it consistently. I will probably have a dual lesson here and there when I can to make sure I don't get too rusty.
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We've all been there. It doesn't take too much to get back on the horse. When the schedule frees up, go go go. :)
 
abqtj said:
Lesson today introduced short field and soft field landings/take-offs. Pretty cool stuff learning new things again.

Also while in the pattern, tower had us do some short approaches. First one my CFI did to show me then I did the other two that came up. Lots of fun.
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Here's a short video on soft field takeoffs that you might like:
 
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Yesterday we practiced S-turns, Hood, cross wind landings, Simulated engine failure's. Twice on downwind my instructor pulled the throttle and said, Oh! you lost your engine! I was able to make the landings. Debriefed on how to do it better. All in all, A great day of learning and flying! Ground school is starting Navigation so cross country's are coming soon!

Ed
 
write-stuff said:
Here's a short video on short field takeoffs that you might like:
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...just to be sure, shouldn't this read "Soft Field"...as the video is about soft field takeoff technique and ACS requirements?
 
I took the day off of work tomorrow, as did my wife, and like an idiot I checked the airplane reservation website, and the plane I fly is free ALL DAY.

The problem? My flying budget currently (for the next 2 weeks or so) has $0 in it. Womp womp.

Also: while I'm not going for my instrument rating any time soon (not enough moolah), there's no reason I can't start learning and studying, right? I think I'm going to pick up a book or two. For my private I went the free route, and studied PDFs of the PHAK and Airplane Flying Handbook, and they were OK, but can y'all recommend 3rd party books for instrument training that are a little less dry?
 
Had to switch planes today as the 152 I normally fly had the tachometer go out. So, I had to fly the 150. After a half dozen take offs and landings my CFI got out. So, I went ahead and stayed in the plane and soloed. It was fun to do 3 take offs and landings by myself. The first one was not very good but the second one was great and the third was good. Now I'm ready for the next step in this adventure!!
 
Came back to flying after a three week (sickness, work) absence from it a couple of days ago. First lesson back was pretty rusty until my last landing. Botched my steep turns because i kept gaining altitude, and would botch the rollout and still gain altitude afterwards. I was likely just too passive, and needed to be more firm with my control inputs.

Yesterday, I was ready to nail those steep turns. I was feeling focused and confident as I completed the pre flight within the aircraft. I put the magneto key on the dash to grab my checklist, and I heard a metal "ku-chunk". Turns out that the magneto key fell into the little defroster hole on the PIC side of the dash! Whoops! Needless to say, the lesson was over.

We took the cowling off and the key was not in there. My instructor told me he would likely have to take off the seats and get behind the control column, among other things. Needless to say, I was very embarrassed, and upset that an hour of flight training time was wasted like that.

I searched everywhere to see if anyone else has ever made this mistake! I could not find a single other report of an incident like that occurring. Oh well, as my instructor said "**** happens" and "another one to add to the safety brief". Haha. Looking forward to getting in some flying time during labor day weekend! The government treats these weekends as a good excuse to have a 4 day weekend, and I am not certainly not complaining about that.
 
ACG said:
Had to switch planes today as the 152 I normally fly had the tachometer go out. So, I had to fly the 150. After a half dozen take offs and landings my CFI got out. So, I went ahead and stayed in the plane and soloed. It was fun to do 3 take offs and landings by myself. The first one was not very good but the second one was great and the third was good. Now I'm ready for the next step in this adventure!!
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First solo? Righteous!

iu
 
First solo x/c today...KASH>KSFM>KASH. Tuned in the wrong radial for the Victor Airway on my return leg and was trying to figure out why my landmarks were way off when ATC asked me my route. Doh...lesson learned I'll be double checking those frequencies when I enter them into the Nav next time...measure twice, cut once.
 
NHWannabe said:
First solo x/c today...KASH>KSFM>KASH. Tuned in the wrong radial for the Victor Airway on my return leg and was trying to figure out why my landmarks were way off when ATC asked me my route. Doh...lesson learned I'll be double checking those frequencies when I enter them into the Nav next time...measure twice, cut once.
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Congrats on you XC
 
NHWannabe said:
First solo x/c today...KASH>KSFM>KASH. Tuned in the wrong radial for the Victor Airway on my return leg and was trying to figure out why my landmarks were way off when ATC asked me my route. Doh...lesson learned I'll be double checking those frequencies when I enter them into the Nav next time...measure twice, cut once.
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Congrats!

Looking forward to mine in the coming weeks.
 
jbaker72157 said:
Went up today and put another 1.3 in the log. Worked on pattern work and then put the foggles to mix it up for .7, also got some more radio time in.

Things are going good and I'm happy with the progression.
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How many total hours do you have and what all requirements have you completed?
 
ACG said:
How many total hours do you have and what all requirements have you completed?
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I have 7.8 hours dual as of today, 0.7 simulated instrument, 41 take off/landings. I would be happier if I could fly more often but that's my schedule not the CFI/plane availability.
 
Back at it for 2.1 yesterday. 0.7 under the hood and the rest working on ACS standards for landings/takeoffs/emergencies/etc. Haven't flown in over 3 weeks again. Check ride was supposed to be today, cancelled that about a week ago when it was apparent that I could not be ready in time. Bad weather, work schedule, and then instructor hurt his back and was out of commission for 4-5 days. Yesterday went really well though, only a couple screw ups. Too short on one emergency landing, would have been in the trees... and screwed up a slip to no-flap landing at KSYR pretty bad. I have the right-slip down, but not the left... (not sure if I have that terminology correct, but I can nail slipping with full RIGHT rudder which puts me looking out my side window. The opposite is not so easy..)

Hoping to go again tomorrow AM for an hour, then likely not until next week. Studying for the oral at every opportunity to keep fresh.
 
jbrinker said:
Back at it for 2.1 yesterday. 0.7 under the hood and the rest working on ACS standards for landings/takeoffs/emergencies/etc. Haven't flown in over 3 weeks again. Check ride was supposed to be today, cancelled that about a week ago when it was apparent that I could not be ready in time. Bad weather, work schedule, and then instructor hurt his back and was out of commission for 4-5 days. Yesterday went really well though, only a couple screw ups. Too short on one emergency landing, would have been in the trees... and screwed up a slip to no-flap landing at KSYR pretty bad. I have the right-slip down, but not the left... (not sure if I have that terminology correct, but I can nail slipping with full RIGHT rudder which puts me looking out my side window. The opposite is not so easy..)

Hoping to go again tomorrow AM for an hour, then likely not until next week. Studying for the oral at every opportunity to keep fresh.
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I know you don't want to get a bust, but I wouldn't wait for perfection either. Most likely you are more than ready, even with a bit of rust. I had 3 weeks down time before my check ride due to weather delays. Whats the worst that could happen, you have to redo a maneuver or two? The examiner I used had a policy of: "no additional fee for retakes for any reason". I really got tired of studying for the oral over and over and canceling.

Hang in there!
 
@exncsurfer Yeah, I agree to an extent - I might be over-preping, but I've had other things that caused the latest delay. Check ride was going to be yesterday, and to be honest I think I could have passed it. But with my instructor down, and only one day in the past 30, PLUS working 36 hours the weekend before, I did an IMSAFE decision and scrubbed it a week ago. I will be ready in October, I'm 100% sure of that. If weather and plane work out...

Went out again today, all simulated check-ride stuff. First time I think I've nailed every single thing he threw at me in one ride. Slow flight, steep turns, around a point, across a road, soft field landing/TO, short field landing/TO, engine out over random terrain, engine fire emergency descent, slip to landing and no-flap landing. All were to spec, but I did make one screw up that probably would have cost me the ride for real. Left a notch of flap in by accident after slow flight, didnt notice it for 5 minutes (and neither did instructor). Ugh.
 
jbrinker said:
@exncsurfer
I did make one screw up that probably would have cost me the ride for real. Left a notch of flap in by accident after slow flight, didnt notice it for 5 minutes (and neither did instructor). Ugh.
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If the rest of the checkride went along without incident, most DPEs might give you a pass on that one. Especially if you ultimately saw it before he did.
 
Ground school will be finished in 2 weeks, Instructor prepping me hard. First X C 3 weeks, Flying Dual on Saturday's, Solo practice on Sundays . Squeezing flights in before ground school on Tuesday's. Weather part of the class seems to be the hardest for me at this point, but, Moving forward!

Ed
 
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Practice, Practice, Practice. Learning VOR's this past Sunday along with unusual attitudes. Weather cooling down so less marine layer in the morning = earlier morning flights in stead of noon to afternoon. Seeing the light at the end of the tunnel!

Ed
 
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New to the forum and hoping to finish PPL this fall. Have about 45 hours so far and just moved to a new area. Been out of training for about 3 months. Looking for a flight school now and can hopefully start back up soon!
 
jbrinker said:
I have the right-slip down, but not the left... (not sure if I have that terminology correct, but I can nail slipping with full RIGHT rudder which puts me looking out my side window. The opposite is not so easy..)
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Lots of people have that problem. I'd still rather slip to the left so I can see the runway out my window than put it on the other side. Especially in the 182 with the high panel. And I've been slipping stuff since the early 90s. It's just more comfortable to see where you're going.

I kinda get annoyed when it's a strong right crosswind and I want to use a slip to kill some airspeed. You get used to it but it always feels weird.*

The airplane in your scenario is slipping to the left, by the way. You're holding it from making a left turn with right rudder. So it's slipping toward the left side of the airframe.



* Note: Now that I'm flying in the right seat all the time that feeling is reversed. LOL. And in a tandem, I don't care. Either way feels and looks the same.. It's the side by side seating that causes that weirdness. Maybe tandem seating was the way God intended pilots to fly. Sitting on the center axis of the airplane? And a stick. Not a yoke. Very nice. I need to do more of that. Very enjoyable.
 
jbrinker said:
All were to spec, but I did make one screw up that probably would have cost me the ride for real. Left a notch of flap in by accident after slow flight, didnt notice it for 5 minutes (and neither did instructor). Ugh.
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Everybody eventually makes one of those mistakes during final prep. It's because you're feeling comfortable with things and you get a little complacent. That's actually a good sign, but so is being mortified by it. :)

Don't forget you can bring whatever you want on the flight. Since checklist use is required anyway, no reason not to make yourself maneuver checklists and use them. If you force yourself to do that, often it'll work well for some folks because they will give themselves permission to slow down a notch and review their checklist/cheat sheet for a moment prior to doing the maneuvers.

If not a checklist, at least a post-maneuver out loud reminder to reconfigure the airplane for cruise flight and jump to the cruise checklist in your copy you're using. Some are missing flaps in the cruise portion.

Don't be afraid to write it in. Just the act of doing that (or underlining or highlighting it) will reinforce it enough that you won't forget it.
 
Brandon White said:
New to the forum and hoping to finish PPL this fall. Have about 45 hours so far and just moved to a new area. Been out of training for about 3 months. Looking for a flight school now and can hopefully start back up soon!
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:cheerswine: Welcome! Don't be hesitant to ask questions or to give your opinion. POAers will provide theirs, and answer your questions.
 
1.9 hours of Dual Cross Country today. Solo Cross Country scheduled for Wednesday.
 
Starting Instrument Ground School on October 7th

class is all day 7-8 and 21-22

I'm doing the King course and Gleim beforehand so that on the 22nd, I can walk out of class, go to the testing station and pass the written.

I've got to find an instructor and start flying in November. I need to determine if I'll use our club (best rates, but they're all PT with day jobs, so scheduling can be hard) or spend a little more and get trained someplace wehre someone can do 3 day a week flying with me.

Also, our club won't have simulators, but if I go to either of the other options on field, they have advanced simulators. So the hourly rate would be higher in the "non club", but I'd get more simulator time, which would be cheaper.
 
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