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

New PPL student here. 10 hours and written test down, now just playing the waiting game of stay-at-home orders until I can go fly again.
 
8.5 hours in since I started on 3/18/20 and definitely feeling task saturated and behind the airplane (having a tough time keeping the ball centered, maintaining constant airspeed, landings can be hit or miss). I assume this gets better with practice. Just hate sucking at stuff.
 
SC777 said:
8.5 hours in since I started on 3/18/20 and definitely feeling task saturated and behind the airplane (having a tough time keeping the ball centered, maintaining constant airspeed, landings can be hit or miss). I assume this gets better with practice. Just hate sucking at stuff.
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Normal. :)

Relax death grip on yoke. Trim constantly. :)
 
SC777 said:
8.5 hours in since I started on 3/18/20 and definitely feeling task saturated and behind the airplane (having a tough time keeping the ball centered, maintaining constant airspeed, landings can be hit or miss). I assume this gets better with practice. Just hate sucking at stuff.
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If you can't keep the ball centered and if you can't maintain constant airspeed, landings will be hit or miss (mostly miss). What kind of syllabus is your CFI using? I'm surprised he's working you on landings if you don't have some of the basics down first. How are your ground reference maneuvers?

First things first - get basic control of the airplane wired first (including stall recovery), then get good at ground reference maneuvers, then landings.
 
My CFI says I’m doing well. I may just be too hard on myself. My ground ref maneuvers are actually pretty good. My work schedule only allows me to fly in the late afternoons when winds have typically been around 15kts or more. CFI is great Very patient and explains things in detail. I’ve completed the Gold Seal GS. Just want it all to cement into my head and get to the point where I’m ahead of the airplane.
 
Haha. Maybe. I guess any landing you walk away from is a decent one.
 
Finally flew today. Last logged time was 01mar20. So today i declined doing dual xc and focused on knocking off the rust. Did some slow flight, stalls and steep turns. Returned to airport and did a total of 4 takeoffs and landings. First two landings were rough around the edges but the last two were smooth and nice. Felt better and went ahead and scheduled dual xc for tomorrow. Fingers crossed i can get that done.
 
Half Fast said:
In my limited experience, CFIs tell students they're doing well as long as the student hasn't killed them yet! :)
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You really want one that can tell you something you did poorly today or not as well as you could have, and something you did well.

Lack of a decent debrief misses a major learning opportunity and a chance to correct any misunderstanding about the day’s fun!
 
Completed my dual xc today! I am excited and feel that it went well. This was my first time talking to approach, then switching to tower, requesting t&g, and talking to departure. I felt like a mumbling idiot but at least i knew when they were addressing me lol. I know i need more practice. Today was the first time i made a right turn to final which was weird but i turned base to final and was dead on the runway centerline and made a great touchdown.

i learned that i need to organize all my stuff so i can easily access it and i need to relax. Especially when talking to atc. overall it was a great experience i got us from our airport to another airport and back home without getting lost and made it in the estimated time that i projected. I cant wait to do it again!
 
Did my first solo yesterday. 9.5 hrs in to my training. Did 4 T&Gs and one full stop after my CFI jumped out (edited the vid to eliminate viewer boredom). Think it went ok. Still shallow on my finals so will be working on that.

 
Prepping for my next xc. Did my second one and i was much more comfortable talking to approach, tower, and departure. I had to tell myself to breathe and slow down so my mouth and brain were in synch lol. The xc flight portion went well too as i was more relaxed and organized. This flying stuff is starting to click and xc is so much better than doing circuits around the airport or just going to the practice area to do turns, slow flight, stalls (i know they are important). Pilotage and dead reckoning are fun but sometimes its hard to find my checkpoints.
My next dual xc will be 202nm and i am totally excited and ready to get it completed. I guess im working closer to my first solo xc which will be interesting.
 

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Did a half hour under the foggles today. Flew an RNAV/GPS/ILS approach from 20 miles out. My CFI told me to take the foggles off at 200’ AGL about 300 yards shy of the runway. All I have to say is I have a whole new level of respect for you IR pilots!
 
Did another dual xc today. This time i was very comfortable during flight and talking to atc. I did miss him ask me 3x what type aircraft but at least i caught it on the 4th time lol. Was able to hold altitude and headings and met all my checkpoints within 30 seconds of my estimations. I am scheduled to do my first solo xc on tuesday as long as the weather holds up. Hit 30.9 hrs after todays flight. I was feeling loose and i think that it reflected in the flight. Looking forward to next week!
 
I'm 12 hours into my training and have just dropped my current flight school and am in the process of finding another one. Was entering the presolo stage and have 5 successful landings under my belt. Seems everything else was working out great until I got to landings and am having a bit of trouble with the flare. I was flying a Diamond 20-C1, but not sure if the next flight school is going to have one of those so I may end up flying a Cessna 172. My goal is to become a commercial pilot.
 
20 hrs. First XC. Flew KLVK to KSMF on Wednesday. 16L/34R was closed but even with COVID-19 still had a SW737 land approx 5 miles ahead of me and another one up my arse as I was taxiing back to 34L for take off. Kinda surreal but very cool. Also had a C-130 pass right underneath me about 1,000’ below that was headed to Travis AFB. Handled most of the Class C ATC except for one set of instructions that seemed to get rattled off rapid fire where my CFI stepped in to help out. Headed to O69 (Petaluma) tomorrow afternoon. Gonna bring the wife along for a Bay Area tour next week. For Mother’s Day, she’s getting her very own headset
 
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Hi - very new to the forum. My training initially suffered from the time but no money, money but no time paradox from 2003 - 2017 when I was in high school, college, law school and starting out my professional life. I took my initial discovery flight and completed a few hours in a 152 back in 2003 at 1A0 when I was 17, did another hour or two as a college freshman in a 172 at KDKX; skip ahead over a decade and I completed another discovery flight in a 172 at KROC, and finally now - started 2/22 in the mighty Piper Archer at KPDK. After some initial scheduling logistics which were aggravated by the quarantine, I've now flown 3 consecutive weeks and am going for lesson 5 tomorrow morning.

I'm finally far enough along in life to have the financial resources and professional schedule discretion to permit flying at least every weekend, with time being the biggest constraint now. I know that's not a lot of flying compared to some of you guys, but dang I'm proud of getting to this point. It's never been a matter of not wanting to complete my certificate, I've just had to work my hind end off to be able to chase my training like this. </life story>

Adding everything all together, I've probably got 10-12 hours of duel, but in the Archer I've around 5 hours at the moment. The big "breakthrough" last weekend was actually being able to control the airplane instead of reacting to the airplane (holding altitude and heading with minor corrections made me feel so accomplished!). We'll see how tomorrow goes, but I feel like I'm God awful at landings - I've yet to have the wheels touch the ground under solely my control. I'm still at the point where it feels like there's just so much happening at once. We ran through slow flight last week and feeling how mushy everything gets was helpful - but honest opinion, am I way behind where I should be? I hear people solo at 10 hours, more or less - the training from years ago is of no value, of course, but I don't really see myself soloing in another 5 hours. Plus, all I read on AOPA and other places is what a sweet flying bird the Archer is. My CFI is great - he's a patient guy with several thousand hours of duel. So, I guess I am proverbially riding the aviation short bus? When do landings "click" for people?
 
86Aviator said:
Hi - very new to the forum.

Welcome.

86Aviator said:
My CFI is great - he's a patient guy with several thousand hours of duel.
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Please do not shoot the airplanes. Duel somewhere off airport. :)

Dual however, is approved as an airport activity. :)

As far as landings go, five hours is nothing. But with solid basics taught prior to them, and I’m assuming at least a couple of those hours weeent spent in the airport pattern, but were spent nailing down basic aircraft control in a practice area first... folks solo in completely benign conditions at a little over double that.

All depends on frequency of training, how much has to be re-taught in between lessons, general ability of student, etc etc etc.

The entire path to PIC takes not that many hours overall, and you’ll still be learning about landing in challenging conditions for years after you’ve been deemed safe enough to carry passengers and also more importantly to decide when NOT to try it. :)

Normal, short, soft field, emergency, one-wheel (ha, not a thing — but can be done! — usually inadvertently by low time pilots!), bounce three times... (haha!)... you’ve got all sorts of landing types still to come. :)
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Ha! Yes, only dueling off of airport property. Dual instruction is what that would have read with one less Friday evening Johnny Walker. :-D

Just got back and today was better than last week. It’s nice to see improvement but I’m still staying high too long and translating that into 80 +/- over the numbers. Screaming in an Archer. Glad to know I’m not lagging wayyy behind where I should be. Training is still a lot of fun, so even when I have a frustrating day it’s still a nice way to spend a Saturday morning.
 
My CFI invited my wife and 7yr old to fly the Bay Tour. The wife was a trooper and handled it well. Asked my kid what her fave part was. She said “the bumps”.... convinced her that was weather related and no reflection on my abilities! Got a lotta radio practice done. Was in Oakland class C and skirted around SFO’s bravo while talking to NorCal Approach. Very cool afternoon. Made a wee vid to commemorate the day.

 
Completed my first solo xc! Havnt flown in 24 days so i was nervous during my preflight and taxi- but as soon as i took the runway and applied power; i was on point! Had clear skies and calm winds and had a blast. Flying into KCHA i was placed #3 behind a regional jet and had a 2 mile final. Greased my landing and then headed home. Dodged a few clouds coming over the mountains and greased my landing. My radio communication was relaxed and i felt very comfortable. Such a great experience and i feel like a real pilot! Logged 1.7 hrs! Ready to do it again!
 
crawdaddyjc said:
Completed my first solo xc! Had clear skies and calm winds and had a blast. Flying into KCHA i was placed #3 behind a regional jet and had a 2 mile final. Greased my landing and then headed home.
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CONGRATS! That must be a great feeling. I'm based at PDK, so I'm hoping to do one of my XCs to KCHA (my hometown) when the time comes. Hope you find some time to celebrate!
 
@86Aviator flying into KCHA is a lot of fun! Going there is the only time i talk to approach/tower/ departure. The rest of the time im just talking into the void out of KDZJ!

my wife took me to lunch to celebrate then to home depot and has me installing a floor in our bathroom lol. Quarantine has helped me complete a bunch of my honey-do-list!

Next xc will be my dual long xc. KDZJ-KCHA- KTYS-KDZJ.:)
 
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Well 18,250+ days after first instructional flight I'm only 44 hours in to log book .
My new-old 1959 C172 is in annual at the moment . Hopefully after wife's heart surgery I can get flying again.
 
Half Fast said:
In my limited experience, CFIs tell students they're doing well as long as the student hasn't killed them yet! :)
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And haven't run out of money .
I tell my wife My CFI is my life insurance and I'm his money tree.
 
Did my first night flight last night. XC KLVK to KSTS and back. First landing at Santa Rosa was great. Did a lap and 10 secs before second landing my CFI turned off the landing light. Couldn’t gauge where the surface of the asphalt was, even with the runway lights. Thought I broke the airplane when the mains hit the ground. But the air was so smooth. Zero bumps. The distance and perspectives are so different from daytime. Really enjoyed night flying.
 
I am a PPL student and working on my maneuvers and landings to meet the check ride standard. Hopefully I could finish it soon.
 
Started my PPL training in August 2019 out in Socal but work keeps getting in the way. Currently at 20hrs and just had my first solo. Not in a hurry, I truly enjoy each time regardless of how frustrating it can be at times. Luckily I have a great instructor.
 
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