what was your most frustrating topic in ground school?

korben88

korben88

Line Up and Wait
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For me it's definitely the weather. I'm having a hell of a time with keeping the different clouds and fog straight in my brain. Not to mention the whole frontal system breakdown.

I'm not sure why I'm struggling with it. I've tried reading, watching the videos, and even flash cards. But when I take the online quiz I consistently score in the 60s and 70s.

So what was your worst subject?
 
Weather is a pretty common one, but only because it's probably something you've never studied before.
 
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Weather was and still is my weakest topic. I think because I feel like I should be able to take all of the inputs and tell you what's going to happen out there. But then I remember that the ACTUAL meteorologists can't do it nearly as well as I'd expect, so...

Still, I've spent more time reading and studying weather than any other flying topic... and still feel like I should know more than I do.
 
ADF, RMI, and some other ancient history instruments. Fortunately for current up and comers, much of that is being phased out.
 
yeah, prob wx and adf...wait, I didn't do ground 'school......
 
Never took any ground school, just went flying instead. There were no videos in my day, so I just read the FAA book(s), took the sample tests, then the real one, and was done. Not sure why so much is made of that stuff nowadays.
(Did the same with IFR, helis and gliders, BTW.)
 
Weather here, too. I understand the theory okay, but struggle keeping terms straight.

Second toughest is remembering notification rules, like do I have 30 or 60 days to notify the FAA about a dui conviction.
 
That's one good thing about being from Oklahoma, with all of the different weather systems we have, everyone is pretty much an amateur meteorologist! Now, reading some of the different briefings and trying to decipher all of the abbreviations.....that's a whole different topic.
 
korben88 said:
For me it's definitely the weather. I'm having a hell of a time with keeping the different clouds and fog straight in my brain. Not to mention the whole frontal system breakdown.

I'm not sure why I'm struggling with it. I've tried reading, watching the videos, and even flash cards. But when I take the online quiz I consistently score in the 60s and 70s.

So what was your worst subject?
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Ground school? What's that? (g). Back in the day, we didn't have ground schools, videos, etc. All we had was fellow pilots (and our instructors), and believe me, in Juneau the instructor was out flying charters and you never saw another student. Pure book learning.

Bob Gardner
 
When I was studying, I just couldn't get VOR navigation straight in my head. This was just before the dawn of GPS by 5 years or so and before they redid the airspace. It was so confusing to me, that I kinda just gave up on it. Felt my head wasn't in the game. Until 10 years went by and suddenly there was Class B & C & D...and my Lowrance Airmap 100 to make VORs kinda obsolete once I had my ticket.
 
Weather and random holds. Published holds are now a no brainer but holds out of the blue sometimes make me think too hard. Weather is a challenge as no matter how well you study it, like my wife, can change its mind at the drop of a hat!!
 
The old school flight computer lol. More like the weather questions. The charts can sometimes be confusing. My DME was a hardcore old school radar summery charts and other outdated charts that have been replaced by the Internet. I pulled it off though. My CFI had me prepared for them though before we went.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
korben88 said:
No ground school? did there used to not be a written test?
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There definitely was a written test, and you took it at the Flight Service Station (remember them?)

Bob
StanN45 said:
That's one good thing about being from Oklahoma, with all of the different weather systems we have, everyone is pretty much an amateur meteorologist! Now, reading some of the different briefings and trying to decipher all of the abbreviations.....that's a whole different topic.
Click to expand...
korben88 said:
For me it's definitely the weather. I'm having a hell of a time with keeping the different clouds and fog straight in my brain. Not to mention the whole frontal system breakdown.

I'm not sure why I'm struggling with it. I've tried reading, watching the videos, and even flash cards. But when I take the online quiz I consistently score in the 60s and 70s.

So what was your worst subject?
Click to expand...

Now that I am through being a wise-ass, it was weather. All I had for study materials was the FAR/AIM and Aviation Weather (AC-00-6).

Bob
 
Circumnavigation.
Because old Bob, who fought in WW2 (flew a P51) told us this story:
When Bob was a youngin after WW2 he worked for an airline and in those days all they had were VORs and ADF. There was a big Tstorm up ahead and Bob said to the old salt he was flying with "We better circumnavigate that!"
" Circumnavigate hell" said the old salt. "We're going around that thing". .....

yeah i know its not that funny.
 
StanN45 said:
That's one good thing about being from Oklahoma, with all of the different weather systems we have, everyone is pretty much an amateur meteorologist! Now, reading some of the different briefings and trying to decipher all of the abbreviations.....that's a whole different topic.
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For real, like would it kill you to add the other 3 letters to that 5 letter abbreviation. Lets save 2 or 3 letters and make up a word that nobody knows. CSTL WTRS
I'd like to buy a vowel, A, there are 3 A's. I'd like to solve the puzzle, is it CoaSTaL WaTeRS? I'm sorry it was Castle Waiters, you lose.
 
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I know it's a no no to use any of the current technology until after we get our ticket but, that's a nice thing about Fore Flight and others,,,,weather briefings in plain ol English. I finally saw the other day that you can get the decoded versions on aviation weather.com, as well. Doesn't help much on the test though....
 
Weather.

I just couldn't get much to click and the instructors weren't much help. Once I started to get out, fly cross countries, and experience weather firsthand, it all came together.
 
No ground school required for PPL, except ground instruction by your CFI. Thus was a few decades back. Scratching my head on VOR nav, my CFI said "Just remember all radials are FROM". That did it for me.
 
StanN45 said:
I know it's a no no to use any of the current technology until after we get our ticket but, that's a nice thing about Fore Flight and others,,,,weather briefings in plain ol English. I finally saw the other day that you can get the decoded versions on aviation weather.com, as well. Doesn't help much on the test though....
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If it's a no-no, fire your school/instructor. . .
 
Yea, weather. I agree that you have to simply experience it rather than try to swallow the book work.

I can summarize the only thing I knew about weather when I passed the written in two words but this is a family friendly forum right?
 
Aircraft stability and holding. I still get the aircraft stability terms mixed up in my head. Whenever I'd come up to that topic with my student I will spend the night before getting it straight in my head.

"Aircraft stability about the lateral axis"..... :mad::mad::mad::mad:
 
Weather.

In Southern California we have weird things that you hear about in the weather reports like some stupid pressure (high/low) is coming in, and does exactly the opposite of what it is SUPPOSED to do because of the way winds are being funneled over/through the mountains from the desert.... so then you go into your ground school wx and you're like "Oh! I got this. I see this every day on the news..." annnnnnd FAIL. It may be accurate for SoCal, but it is generally false.
 
mjburian said:
Weather was and still is my weakest topic. I think because I feel like I should be able to take all of the inputs and tell you what's going to happen out there. But then I remember that the ACTUAL meteorologists can't do it nearly as well as I'd expect, so...
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Meteorologists are sometimes just as stupid as regular people. Or should I say weathermen are, not sure it's a meteorologist.

Last week, sitting at the breakfast bar in a Steubenville, OH hotel, the weather man gave a quiz.

"There are two types of fog, radiation and advection, which do we have here this morning?"

Two types of fog?

Brilliant guy. Especially since the fog I was looking at that morning was possibly neither.

I didn't have much problem learning and absorbing the weather portion of my primary training likely because I've always been a weather nerd so it came pretty easy. What I did find surprising is how little I actually knew about weather...I thought I knew plenty...when in reality I didn't know s***.
 
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I never had a 'ground school' either. Just stuff to learn at home when not at the airplane.

That said, weather was always my least favorite, and thus most frustrating subject. It's just so friggin' boring. Everything else I was eager to learn. Weather was something I had to power through.
 
Without a doubt: Regulations.

Most other areas I have some chance of reasoning through the answers, based on general knowledge of aerodynamics or how engines work, or even some aspects of weather. That sort of thing. But there's simply no way to reason through things like "Within how many days must one report an address change to the FAA?"

While they do yield to rote memorization, they were my least favorite part.
 
kayoh190 said:
I never had a 'ground school' either. Just stuff to learn at home when not at the airplane.
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I think that's what most people mean when they discuss "ground school". Some still go to a physical class with guy up front, but there are other ways to learn the material.
 
For me so far it is weather, followed up by radio. I was schooled in and worked as an electronics technician so it is not any of the technical aspects of actual electronics in radio, but the types of airspace, the different calls one has to make. That is all new to me and though I can do the alphabet, I'm struggling a little to what requests and demands on the radio.

But yes, weather so far also is the one I'm currently struggling with. I am getting some of the hang of the cloud types. The thing is often the sky seems to me to be filled with different types all together at times. It doesn't help reading it in a foreign language, but I do go to the english version from the FAA and it seems about the same really. Funny thing, I actually LIKE learning about weather...if I could just LEARN it. I mean I see the value not only in flying but also camping, boating, planning anything, etc. But at times it seems like cold/warm/dense/less dense/humidity high/low ALL always combine to make storms and clouds and rain...except when they make sunshine and daisies.

I keep reading long explanations about what happens when fronts meet (though I don't get why there is more than one, they meet or they don't but somehow it is "when a cold front meets a warm front" is different than when "A warm front meets a cold front", where one slides up on it, the other...oh hell, I'm stopping here.

My wife thinks I've hit bottom, as she sees I'm DVR'ing on the tv (I think it is Discovery channel) "Richard Hammonds' extreme weather" and I'm rooting each show for him to not talk extreme but just "normal" weather which actually he does. My first flight last month, afterwards my instructor also impressed the hell out of me (besides impressing me with the smooth landing in fairly good crosswind) when looking out the window in the clubs room after pointed to two cumulus clouds, one that was "pregnant" and might soon dump but when I asked about the other "no...it's afternoon, it won't have time to build up into anything". That's the kind of knowledge I want to have!
 
Didn't do an official "ground school" but during self study for FAA checkrides and Air Force pilot training, weather was by far the worst for me.
 
Weather was difficult but I enjoyed (and still enjoy) reading and learning about it.
Also aircraft systems. How the carburetor works (I fly fuel injected) and just all the inner workings of vacuum pumps, etc. threw me off a bit. Probably more of a mental block than anything.
 
There are two types of ice, clear ice and rime ice. There is also "mixed" ice. (doesn't that make 3 types?). Ice can form when air is slightly above freezing and water can stay water when well below freezing. Weird but true and NOT what I was taught in Chemistry!

Typical phase diagram for water you see in textbooks
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triple_point#/media/File:Phase_diagram_of_water.svg

note that there is NO supercooled state shown. Anyone ever seen one with the supercooled area delineated?
 
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StanN45 said:
I know it's a no no to use any of the current technology until after we get our ticket but, that's a nice thing about Fore Flight and others,,,,weather briefings in plain ol English. I finally saw the other day that you can get the decoded versions on aviation weather.com, as well. Doesn't help much on the test though....
Click to expand...

You'll find the occasional briefing item that Foreflight translates incorrectly. You still need to know how to read a raw briefing.
 
coloradobluesky said:
There are two types of ice, clear ice and rime ice. There is also "mixed" ice. (doesn't that make 3 types?). Ice can form when it is slightly above freezing and water can stay water when well below freezing. Weird but true and NOT what I was taught in Chemistry!
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Then your chemistry class was a waste of time. A halfway decent one does cover supercooling. Not usually temperature distribution over the surface of your airplane, though. Water does not freeze above freezing temperatures, but the skin temperature on various parts of your airplane may be lower than the temperature probe reads.
 
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