The one thing I wish someone told me when I was a student

cgrab said:
Simple rules of this thread one line with maybe an explanation for students to skim through.

I wish I was told to wear a shirt with a pocket and put the plane's keys in the shirt pocket.

It was always embarrassing to sit in the plane and have to squirm to get eh keys out of my jeans pocket.
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Ahahaha.... Been there done that several times..
 
WDD said:
Don't assume your CFI will teach everything you need to know. You are responsible for finding out what you need and keeping track of it.
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while true, this bugged me a little. I get the being responsible for one’s self. My hang up was, I recognize I don’t know how to fly a plane so I found someone who does to teach me what I recognize that I don’t know?
 
Tantalum said:
most people get their private pilot license and have no real idea what a stoichiometric mixture is or how the rich to lean curve affects engine performance and overall dynamics
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I knew before I started taking flying lessons. However, it took me a few months to unlearn everything from my CFIs and re-learn what I knew before.
 
NoBShere said:
while true, this bugged me a little. I get the being responsible for one’s self. My hang up was, I recognize I don’t know how to fly a plane so I found someone who does to teach me what I recognize that I don’t know?
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Most people are price sensitive and want to be taught to the FAA minimum standard. And considering that there’s three levels of minimum standards... nobody is going to know everything at the Private level. Heck, nobody knows everything at the ATP level.

Many describe the Private as “a license to start learning”. For better or worse, 40-Ish plus hours in the air and basic ground school isn’t anything but the tip of the iceberg.

And if an instructor can convey that fact as well as an ability and curiosity and motivation to learn autonomously in the student, after they’re long gone, that’s pretty decent.

FAA has levels because it would be difficult to justify making everyone understand “Aerodynamics for Naval Aviators” and test them on the math before calling them a pilot, for example.

As long as one knows they met a minimum standard and doesn’t accept staying at minimum standards as a pilot, there’s always something new to learn or practice.
 
NoBShere said:
while true, this bugged me a little. I get the being responsible for one’s self. My hang up was, I recognize I don’t know how to fly a plane so I found someone who does to teach me what I recognize that I don’t know?
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While I had one primary cfi, I flew with two others. I would recommend it to everyone.

They all had their own teaching style and favorite nits to pick. The biggest thing it taught me is that there is more than one way to go about things, and I would have to figure out what to keep and what to discard.

Scary/unlikely as it may sound, I learned a lot searching old threads here at poa....
 
What you are not told as a student is that once you attain your PPL, you are going to enter a financial death spiral: you will buy a plane, you will want an instrument rating, which will require a bigger or more well-equipped plane, then keeping up with changing technology, etc. etc.

The good news is that if you enjoy this pursuit and all it makes possible, there are no regrets, only a smaller bank account...
 
Lots of CFIs were students less than a year ago,

If you want quality it’s going to be finding a freelance CFI who instructs on it side because he enjoys it, but is a established working pilot already, bonus points if they are doing single pilot IFR.
 
James331 said:
Lots of CFIs were students less than a year ago,

If you want quality it’s going to be finding a freelance CFI who instructs on it side because he enjoys it, but is a established working pilot already, bonus points if they are doing single pilot IFR.
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I had no idea about this when I started. I got very lucky in that by joining a club I got put in touch with some great instructors as well as mentors. Some of the kids I see instructing at the 141 school are not nearly so confidence inspiring.
 
Also.. would have been nice for someone to show me how to buy gas at the self service pumps the first time. Sure, it's not rocket science to figure out.. but it's not exactly intuitive either. And 90% of the credit card machines take a dozen turns to try, and most of the LCD displays are too sun bleached to show anything.. so you just keep hitting yes until the pump turns on

Which, where's the on switch? Next to the pump, in the back?
Why is the static reel always retracting?
Am I determined to get black rubber scuff marks all over my sneakers trying to retract it?
I let go of the lever, why does another half gallon of gas keep coming out?
 
MuseChaser said:
Valid point... you can bounce back if the weather turns crappy for a few days, though. Pretty rare for weather to ground you for a few weeks.
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Still a student and I'll add, don't start training in July in the Pacific Northwest. Been waiting on my checkride for two months now, delays have been for DPE availability, weather, and now ADSB install.

Guess I'll add another one. If you find out the FAA is requiring a major upgrade in the next 6 months, check to see if your school plans to do it before the drop dead date or not...
 
Tantalum said:
Which, where's the on switch? Next to the pump, in the back?
Why is the static reel always retracting?
Am I determined to get black rubber scuff marks all over my sneakers trying to retract it?
I let go of the lever, why does another half gallon of gas keep coming out?
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1. When you get tired of renting, you'll run into several "less than ethical" sellers ... watch out.
2. When you do purchase, you'll find out how lazy most pilots are blasting your plane rather than hand pulling it out of the parking area ... same goes for blasting your hangar if its open:mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:
 
NoBShere said:
while true, this bugged me a little. I get the being responsible for one’s self. My hang up was, I recognize I don’t know how to fly a plane so I found someone who does to teach me what I recognize that I don’t know?
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Bugs me as well, and I am the one who wrote it. Yes, the CFI should be on top of everything. But the reality is that CFI's come in all flavors. And if you get one that is a few months away from leaving for the airlines, he/she may not be on the details as much. Fair or not, you do not want to show up at the check ride being a few hours short here and there. You need to review the check ride items. It may have been 3 months since your instrument training, and while he covered standard turns, he skipped how to intercept a VOR radial. Or he showed you once real quick, and trust me - once isn't enough. And didn't really do the upset attitude drill. Got really good ad holding and changing courses though. Or that time you had to remind him to you show slips, short field, and soft field. Would he have brought it up at sometime? DK - didn't take that chance.

And when we find some things that were a bit light? We find another CFI to "review" things for the check ride, even though a few key things maybe new.

So it behooves us to do outside research to find out from multiple sources what we need to have. Read the ACS testing guidelines as a good start.
 
danhagan said:
1. When you get tired of renting, you'll run into several "less than ethical" sellers ... watch out.
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Man, that's the TRUTH. Used aircraft sales makes the used car industry look like the sainthood.
 
Jim K said:
I had no idea about this when I started. I got very lucky in that by joining a club I got put in touch with some great instructors as well as mentors. Some of the kids I see instructing at the 141 school are not nearly so confidence inspiring.
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It’s a sensitive subject, I say on here to find a ATP/gold seal CFI and catch crap for it lol
 
James331 said:
It’s a sensitive subject, I say on here to find a ATP/gold seal CFI and catch crap for it lol
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The instructor I was using was 1 student away from getting a gold seal. I think that even good instructors can start phoning it in in the last 6 months. But yes, do switch up CFI's if it isn't clicking. Do it carefully without bruising feelings - CFI's in a school are a small group that chat a lot among themselves.
 
denverpilot said:
Can get a Gold Seal for being chief pilot at a puppy mill too, though. :)
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And one can get a ATP sitting most of the time in the FLs on AP.

Still it’s at least something to go off of.

The gold seal thing I like because it doesn’t add anything to what you can do, and it’s more about the demographic who does the work to get it.
 
Ron Levy's checkride advice #18: That the DPE is required to tell you that you have failed an item before continuing.

I did not set the DG on initial takeoff. It was at least 40* off. But I hit the first several checkpoints using pilotage before the DPE gave me a hint that something was wrong. ("Do we really have this much 'winds aloft?", pointing to the DG.) Oops, I was sure I had failed. But I could then relax (Ron Levy's odd number advice) and I passed the rest of the checkride, and the checkride itself. -Skip
 
cgrab said:
Simple rules of this thread one line with maybe an explanation for students to skim through.

I wish I was told to wear a shirt with a pocket and put the plane's keys in the shirt pocket.

It was always embarrassing to sit in the plane and have to squirm to get eh keys out of my jeans pocket.
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I owned a plane for 15 years, and I only had to do that about ever time I flew.
 
James331 said:
And one can get a ATP sitting most of the time in the FLs on AP.

Still it’s at least something to go off of.

The gold seal thing I like because it doesn’t add anything to what you can do, and it’s more about the demographic who does the work to get it.
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T’is true. Some people want to teach, others are forced by the low end silliness in this biz to do so, and have little interest.
 
To be fair, the cfi I liked the best started flying summer 2018 and is headed for an airline job this summer (2020). He had the least experience, but was the best teacher. Unfortunately I couldn't fly with him much as he kept a very full schedule with the 141 school. Gotta get those hours. I think that's the exception to the rule, though.
 
denverpilot said:
Most people are price sensitive and want to be taught to the FAA minimum standard. And considering that there’s three levels of minimum standards... nobody is going to know everything at the Private level. Heck, nobody knows everything at the ATP level.

Many describe the Private as “a license to start learning”. For better or worse, 40-Ish plus hours in the air and basic ground school isn’t anything but the tip of the iceberg.

And if an instructor can convey that fact as well as an ability and curiosity and motivation to learn autonomously in the student, after they’re long gone, that’s pretty decent.

FAA has levels because it would be difficult to justify making everyone understand “Aerodynamics for Naval Aviators” and test them on the math before calling them a pilot, for example.

As long as one knows they met a minimum standard and doesn’t accept staying at minimum standards as a pilot, there’s always something new to learn or practice.
Click to expand...

When I got picked up for the Army I was terrified about the aerodynamics portion. I thought if it’s anything like Aerodynamics for Naval Aviators, I’m done. I was pleasantly surprised to find out it was similar to what civilian flight schools teach. I always referred to our Fundamentals of Flight manual as “Aerodynamics for Dummies.”:D I mean that in a good way though. Unless one is going thru Pax River and their test pilot program, there’s no point in learning aerodynamics to that degree.
 
MuseChaser said:
Taking lessons sporadically and infrequently is a waste of money. If you don't have money to spare, or simply want to get the most value for your dollar, don't start until you're reasonably sure you have the time and money to fly at least twice a week consistently with your CFI, and maybe one or two more times additionally per week solo once you've been signed off, until you are ready for your checkride.
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Alternate viewpoint: train at the same rate at which you will later fly.

If, post-training, you'll only fly once per month, then train at that rate so that you'll reach the point where your skills don't atrophy in a month's time.
 
Half Fast said:
Alternate viewpoint: train at the same rate at which you will later fly.

If, post-training, you'll only fly once per month, then train at that rate so that you'll reach the point where your skills don't atrophy in a month's time.
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If some people train once a month they would never finish.
 
What "back-taxiing" is.

I also wish my flight school had let us do soft-field training on real grass or real gravel. Or fly in the rain. To this day, doing either one feels just a little irrationally transgressive.
 
kath said:
I also wish my flight school had let us do soft-field training on real grass or real gravel. Or fly in the rain. To this day, doing either one feels just a little irrationally transgressive.
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For the “unimproved surfaces” many don’t have insurance coverage for it. Especially leasebacks.
 
cgrab said:
Simple rules of this thread one line with maybe an explanation for students to skim through.

I wish I was told to wear a shirt with a pocket and put the plane's keys in the shirt pocket.

It was always embarrassing to sit in the plane and have to squirm to get eh keys out of my jeans pocket.
Click to expand...
I hang the keys on a belt loop of the jeans.
 
Always have cash, just in case.
Wear shoes comfortable to hike, in case you’re on the ground someplace you don’t expect to be.
Have an extra sweater or jacket with you.
 
Stop while you're ahead.

In other words, once you have made a few good landings or done a maneuver well a few times, end on a good note even if there's still time to keep going. Don't continue until you're fatigued and begin making mistakes. Let good flying get burned into your memory and play it back often. Don't fill up your NVRAM with mistakes and bad sight pictures.
 
Half Fast said:
Stop while you're ahead.

In other words, once you have made a few good landings or done a maneuver well a few times, end on a good note even if there's still time to keep going. Don't continue until you're fatigued and begin making mistakes. Let good flying get burned into your memory and play it back often. Don't fill up your NVRAM with mistakes and bad sight pictures.
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And the opposite. If you’re making continuous mistakes today and it’s not a practice day, quit. No reason to keep tempting fate if your brain is stupid today.
 
Brad W said:
don't let them fluster you when they tell you a different way of doing something than what your instructor has taught you.
They'll tell you stuff and it'll seem they are saying "you're doing it wrong". Something such as what power setting to go for abeam the numbers.
They probably aren't meaning you are doing it wrong. Just consider what they have to say, don't get rattled.
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I was thinking about this earlier today.
The thing that always used to bug me with most of the instruction I've received over the years.....it's hard for them to stop 'teaching'. At some point, later in the training I think it would be great to ask them to keep their mouth shut...just be there to stop any major screw-ups...but otherwise let you figure out your own way..and more importantly build confidence.
 
Brad W said:
I was thinking about this earlier today.
The thing that always used to bug me with most of the instruction I've received over the years.....it's hard for them to stop 'teaching'. At some point, later in the training I think it would be great to ask them to keep their mouth shut...just be there to stop any major screw-ups...but otherwise let you figure out your own way..and more importantly build confidence.
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This is important. I had great older instructors and DPEs push this concept hard. Shut up and let em fly for a bit after a difficult lesson. Have them try again with less coaching each time unless you see them not correcting at all. If they’re fighting to correct, let em do it. They already know, they’re just working on muscle memory and basically letting the brain learn how to manipulate the controls for the desired result.
 
denverpilot said:
For the “unimproved surfaces” many don’t have insurance coverage for it. Especially leasebacks.
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Interesting. When I was instructing I never asked if we were supposed to avoid grass. Took my students into grass strips all the time. I guess they would have said something if I wasn’t supposed to goto grass. I never asked though...
 
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