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

Check ride is scheduled for September 26th. Just prepping like crazy till then!


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I am absolutely just getting started. I haven’t even done my first flight. I’m on here looking for information on where/how to start.
 
Jeff Babbie said:
I am absolutely just getting started. I haven’t even done my first flight. I’m on here looking for information on where/how to start.
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Welcome, Jeff!
Whereabouts do you live, and what airport(s) are near you?

There are plenty of books to read, "learn to fly!" brochures to peruse, and videos to watch, but I think the best place to start is at an airport near you that has a flight school. Call 'em up, and ask to schedule a "discovery flight". You'll be paired with an instructor, and taken up for a short flight. You can ask all kinds of questions to the instructor. Just jump in and get a taste! And you're not committing to anything by doing this; you can even shop different schools and instructors this way. Have fun!!
 
Jeff Babbie said:
I am absolutely just getting started. I haven’t even done my first flight. I’m on here looking for information on where/how to start.
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Start with a discovery flight. If you still want to become a pilot after that, first make sure you can pass a class 3 medical exam by having a consultation visit with an aeronautical medical examiner (AME). You can find a listing on the FAA website. You will need a medical certificate prior to flying solo.

If there’s a medical issue, you can still get your Sport Pilot license if you have a valid drivers license, or you might be able to get a “special issuance” but that can get expensive. A sport license will limit you to light sport aircraft (LSA), daytime VFR flying only, and no more than one passenger.

Then, knowing whether you want to pursue a Sport or a Private ticket, schedule your first lesson. If you’ll be doing sport, make sure your school has an LSA. Download the Airplane Flying Handbook and the Pilot’s Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge (PHAK) from the FAA website and start studying.

And take one last fond look at your bank balance....
 
kath said:
Welcome, Jeff!
Whereabouts do you live, and what airport(s) are near you?

There are plenty of books to read, "learn to fly!" brochures to peruse, and videos to watch, but I think the best place to start is at an airport near you that has a flight school. Call 'em up, and ask to schedule a "discovery flight". You'll be paired with an instructor, and taken up for a short flight. You can ask all kinds of questions to the instructor. Just jump in and get a taste! And you're not committing to anything by doing this; you can even shop different schools and instructors this way. Have fun!!
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I’m in Western MI, I’ll definitely download a copy of that book. Thank you for the info! The regional airport closest to me has a flight school. I’ll reach out to them next week and check it out!

Thanks for the info!
 
Just finished my first solo cross-country this weekend! Had to wait 15 days between maintenance and weather cancellations, but finally did it.
Interesting things that happened:
Found it was hard to find the little airport in the middle of farms and woods.
Second landing was at an uncontrolled airport where an event was going on. Had to land with a small tailwind to match the pattern everyone was doing.
Last leg I had to fly at 2500 as the clouds were closing and I thought if I went to 4500 thru one the wholes I'd be stuck on top of a broken layer at my destination.
All things considered, everything went well, had FF on first leg so oit was fun to be handed over from controller to another.
I do have to brush up on my x-wind technique... :)
 
Half Fast said:
Start with a discovery flight. If you still want to become a pilot after that, first make sure you can pass a class 3 medical exam by having a consultation visit with an aeronautical medical examiner (AME). You can find a listing on the FAA website. You will need a medical certificate prior to flying solo.

If there’s a medical issue, you can still get your Sport Pilot license if you have a valid drivers license, or you might be able to get a “special issuance” but that can get expensive. A sport license will limit you to light sport aircraft (LSA), daytime VFR flying only, and no more than one passenger.

Then, knowing whether you want to pursue a Sport or a Private ticket, schedule your first lesson. If you’ll be doing sport, make sure your school has an LSA. Download the Airplane Flying Handbook and the Pilot’s Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge (PHAK) from the FAA website and start studying.

And take one last fond look at your bank balance....
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Thanks for the info! I’m in fairly good health, I’m assuming it won’t be an issue. I have been looking at costs, and it goes from expensive to REALLY expensive. I will for sure be shipping around for lessons.

My end goal is to be able to fly my family around from where I am to my family that is all over the Midwest... it’s going to be private license or bust.
 
Find a school and instructor that works for you and has a good reputation of airworthy and panes and reliable instructors.

Cheap isn’t better when their planes are down or booked weeks in advance and they go through CFIs like underwear. It’ll take longer thus costing you more in the long run.

I didn’t want a young CFI earning hours for airlines. So I am paying more but my instructor is 73 years old, been a CFI for 30 years and flying for 50 years. Has no humor and it’s very dry, just want I wanted. Doesn’t touch the stick.
 
Jeff Babbie said:
Thanks for the info! I’m in fairly good health, I’m assuming it won’t be an issue. I have been looking at costs, and it goes from expensive to REALLY expensive. I will for sure be shipping around for lessons.

My end goal is to be able to fly my family around from where I am to my family that is all over the Midwest... it’s going to be private license or bust.
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My advice is not to assume; know for certain you will pass, or don't submit the application. A denial will be difficult and costly to reverese. Most issues can be worked so you'll get a deferral and eventual issuance, if you don't screw up and get denied first. Many people have been tripped up here, even though they were in good health. An old childhood diagnosis, a kidney stone many years before, a medication that's on the FAA's no-no list, etc., can leave you hung out to dry.

Download the medical application for a class 3 ( https://www.faa.gov/about/office_or...ces/aam/ame/guide/media/applicant history.pdf ) and review it carefully. Notice that section 18 says "Have you ever in your life..." If you cannot honestly check "No" on every single box, get some professional advice before proceeding.

If you use any OTC or prescription medications, you might also want to look at https://www.aopa.org/go-fly/medical-resources/medications-database .
 
Soloed finally! After 50 hours. New instructor had to teach me landings from scratch and to actually fly, to what does what, what happens if. Rainy season is coming, but now I have more time to do it, so I against weather. But finally soloed! Yes, Virginia, there is light at the end of the tunnel :)
 
beretta said:
Soloed finally! After 50 hours. New instructor had to teach me landings from scratch and to actually fly, to what does what, what happens if. Rainy season is coming, but now I have more time to do it, so I against weather. But finally soloed! Yes, Virginia, there is light at the end of the tunnel :)
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Congrats Pilot!!


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beretta said:
Soloed finally! After 50 hours. New instructor had to teach me landings from scratch and to actually fly, to what does what, what happens if. Rainy season is coming, but now I have more time to do it, so I against weather. But finally soloed! Yes, Virginia, there is light at the end of the tunnel :)
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That’s fantastic!
 
First post, but not really. I had an account as inspectorpacket, I wanted to change the account name and it appears impossible to do, so starting from scratch.

After nearly 40 years after taking my first introductory flight, I decided to work on the PPL. Last fall with the help and guidance from Doc Bruce, I got all the med issues sorted out and was issued. Been training hard since June'ish and I am happy to announce that after 25hrs, I just completed my first solo flight. So yea, I am 52 and basically just starting, but well on my way of making a childhood dream come true. I am flying out of PDK in Atlanta, if anyone local ever wants "another set of eyes" in the cockpit, happy to tag along.

You can follow my progress on Instagram @adventureaviator

Now I feel like I can start shopping for a plane ;-)
 
Did my checkride on Saturday and passed! Got to carry my first passenger on Sunday. The wife loved it! We went down to KMER and took the tour at the air force museum. All in all a great day!
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Peter Anderson said:
Did my checkride on Saturday and passed! Got to carry my first passenger on Sunday. The wife loved it! We went down to KMER and took the tour at the air force museum. All in all a great day!
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Congratulations!!


I am getting ready for my Check Ride, How long was it, any advice?
 
Did you check out the autonomous car track behind all the black fence??

Peter Anderson said:
Did my checkride on Saturday and passed! Got to carry my first passenger on Sunday. The wife loved it! We went down to KMER and took the tour at the air force museum. All in all a great day!
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Did a few more power on/off stalls and started going over emergency procedures today. I have my phase and pre-solo check coming up next week.
I still feel weird about landing, I cannot seem to stick the center line and hold it there during the roll out, today seemed somewhat okay with this. We landed on Runway 4 and winds 060 - 090 @ 9knt.

Currently at 8.4 with 15 landings.
 
Ed Sokol said:
Congratulations!!


I am getting ready for my Check Ride, How long was it, any advice?
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My oral was 3 hours. The flight was only 1.4. Be prepared for the oral! That was the toughest part for me. Know the weather and SRM stuff, airspace, and the how the plane works really well.


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Purchased Sportys IFR course. I also have access to the King course for the written information. Plan on studying and knocking out the written before I begin actual training in the aircraft for the rating. Doing some cross countries now and just enjoying flying.

Tonight I will be flying from KCEU to KPDK, then heading out Saturday morning from PDK to UZA (Rock Hill, SC). Going to hang out there with my old roommate from college then come back to CEU on Sunday. Should be an awesome weekend of flying, weather looks like it should hold up fine. Might have to dodge a storm or two.
 
Passed the written on Tuesday! Got some questions that were not in the prep material at all, like ICAO plans, plans with multiple cruise altitudes. But passed, so that it what counts! Scored 87.
 
MacFlier said:
Passed the written on Tuesday! Got some questions that were not in the prep material at all, like ICAO plans, plans with multiple cruise altitudes. But passed, so that it what counts! Scored 87.
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I also passed Tuesday with an 87. Medical out of the way and a “new” to me plane in my hangar. Looking forward to finishing up.
 
abqtj said:
I've been side-tracked the past handful of weeks. Last flight was on February 10th. Then I had to go take care of my dad, who was having brain surgery (surgery went well, in and out in 48 hours! Modern medicine is truly amazing).

Once back, I had to travel for work, and then this week has been go-go-go with work as well. Finally scheduled a flight for next Monday AM. Hoping we can get it in, we are nearing our windy season here in the high-desert, so lots of cancellations are in my future I'm sure.

I've got to get past the stage check, then my solo cross countries and hone my skills for the practical test. SOOOO CLOSE!
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So I've had to take the past nearly 5 months off (had a few lessons after this post) to take care of my father. His condition worsened and he passed away at the end of June. He battled cancer for 16 years and the last ~2 were progressively worse.

Anyway, this was a dream of his as much as mine, so back at it I go! I had kept in touch with my CFI and he said to just let him know when I was ready to start back up. I met up with him a few weeks ago to get a game plan together. I had about 85 hours at this point and really just need to get past the solo cross country flights and then prepare for the check ride. We figure around 15 total hours and I'll be good to go.

So, we did a lesson working on landings, my first one after nearly 5 months of no flying was one of my best ever! So proud of myself with that. In fact, all of the landings were good. Next lesson we went and reviewed maneuvers. All were pretty good. My steep turns to the right need some refinement. Nothing that a little time in the plane won't cure.

Lesson yesterday we were to go review maneuvers and landings again. When calling for clearance, ATC advised that the cloud base was about 1200'. CFI is instrument rated, so no problem if it socked us in. We decide to try to head to the practice area and see. As I'm climbing out, it's clear the clouds are thickening. We spot a hole in the clouds and he says to climb up through it, and do a circling climb to stay in the hole. Well, as we start to climb the hole closes up. He say to chop the power and let's get back down. Call approach and tell them I want to come back and stay in the pattern. Do that and work on shorts/softs. Ugh...half of my landings were ugly. But, just more to practice on. It's been forever, so I can't beat myself up too much.

This week we are doing a ground lesson reviewing flight planning. Then I'll have a stage check with another instructor to sign me off to move forward and I can start working on the solo cross countries.

The end is in sight!
 
Called one DPE and he said he's booked until the middle of December. Waiting to hear back from the other one...
 
Did my stage check today with another CFI. Pretty windy today, but everything went great.

Start off going over the flight plan I did the day before. Questions parts of it, why did you choose that altitude, how did you come up with X, stuff like that. Went over the sectional and quizzed on air space, symbols, etc. Then down to the plane for the flight.

The flight starts off on the flight plan, then we deviate from it to go cover some other things. Once he's confident I'm on track and my timing is pretty accurate, he takes controls, hands me the foggles, and then gives me the controls back. Fly with those on for about half an hour or so. Making turns, climbs, descents. He makes me do a TON of turns to get me disoriented and far away from the track I was on (and away from where I can easily see landmarks I know). Then lets me take off the foggles and we simulate being lost and what I would do. Grab the sectional and look for landmarks that might show up. Between a high point on the chart and a road/railroad nearby I found where I was easily and estimated it on the chart. He verified it with Foreflight and I was damn close just by eyeballing it. So did good there.

Then we head back to the airport to do the performance landings (short field and soft field). It's blowing harder now, 17kts gusting to 20. Pretty far outside what I'll be permitted to go on solo for now, but with the CFI it's fine. First landing he asks for a soft field. Did ok, but when I was holding the nose off I ballooned up a bit. Not great...

For the next take off we did a soft field take off. And now for the short field landing. With the wind at me and 20 degrees off my left, he said "let's see if you can hit the number and stop before the first turnoff". The first turn off is right past the 1,000 footers. So in essence, land and stop within 1,000 feet. I've never tried that before. But, came down, NAILED the landing dead center on the number (runway 8) and stopped the plane within 500 feet. It's was cool as hell to see that I could do that!

Next are the solo cross country flights. What SUCKS is I got bumped from my plane on Monday for a student that is going to take his check ride. So I can't fly again until a week from Tuesday. But I'm confident everything will go well. I can't wait to go back up.
 
Today I tried something different: 1 hr of dual on a C150 after 33 hrs on a 172. It was nice to see the differences, get the feel of a different plane. Told CFI that I wanted a couple more landings before getting checked out on that one. The good news is that a few people fly her so scheduling is pretty easy, contrary to the 172s that are constantly fully booked.
 
Just restarting. 32 hours training then stopped. Should never have stopped as it's hard to restart. I got bit by the flying bug again and want to jump back in. Jaded by ground schooling last time. I have now found that I can do that online and then take the test. I plan to do that then restart flying. I have a simulator I built with yoke and rudders and I have a few hundred hours on that. So I'm not totally out on the mechanincs of flight. Though I have forgotten that seat of the pants feeling of flying, takeoffs and landings. I miss it. I regret not finishing eariler, so I'd like to not have that regret anymore. After getting a PP I would like to buy a small fourseater (Archer/cherokee - Grumman aa5 - C172) and build time. My end goal would be IFR. No career plans, just want a hobby.
 
Achievement Unlocked. I took my first cross country solo today, 66nm each way. I flew this route several days ago, so didn't expect much in the way of surprises....

Nearing the destination was setup for the short runway, I was a bit high and a bit fast, bounced it pretty good, powered up and went around for try #2, again was high and didn't even try to hit the tarmac, it was then that I wisened up and said screw it, use the long runway.

On the way back came across some sudden clouds which forced me down to 3200ft from 4500. With three large towers in the area at 2600 feet made for a few interesting moments. The rest of the journey back was uneventful and had a rather nice landing. Stressful, fun, exhilarating all at the same time. I think the adrenaline is still flowing. Last year at this time I was recovering from serious knee surgery, thanks to a motorcycle wheelie gone bad and would sit in my lazy boy where I could only dream of flying, today, that dream really came to life.

You can follow my journey on instagram if you'd like . @adventureaviator
 
I did 8 hours 20 years ago while in college before running out of money and motivation. I had failed the color vision test during my medical and figured a military or professional flying career was out of the question. Recently learned that this dream may not have to be dead.

Last Friday I breezed through the color vision test and received my 1st class medical. Now I am studying for my private pilot license again at 41 years old and coming up with a plan to walk away from a stable six-figure career to chase a childhood dream.

Blue Skies.
 
I just booked my discovery flight for this weekend.
I’m 51 and finally decided to fulfill a life long ambition to fly. As long as all goes well with the discovery flight, I will start training very soon. It looks like I have an aircraft, 172s, lined up, and the CFI will be the same that takes me up this weekend.
I’ll fly out of Van Nuys, Ca.
Thanks to everyone for sharing their experiences. I’ll do the same.
 
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