Learning to fly

[Glas]

Originally posted by jigsaw
Glas, that's probably the same as the $49 http://www.beapilot.com discovery flight. Usually lasts about half an hour.

172 rates in SoCal are in the $120 range.  When I got my PPL in '98 it was $57 for a 172 and $60 for a Warrior.

I've been looking around lately for a place to get my tailwheel endorsement or maybe seaplane just for something new.

Maybe you never noticed, but my prices were in £, since im in Scotland

Converting to $, it would be around $140-150, which would seem about the same price you guys are paying.

A question Chairboy:

Would you consider your experience flying in sims has helped, hindered, or done nothing at all for you?

[Golfer]

Originally posted by Glas

Would you consider your experience flying in sims has helped, hindered, or done nothing at all for you?

Definately helped.  Whether I knew it or not I had at least a basic understanding of aerodynamics, certain behaivors and an understanding of inherent behaivors of airplanes.

The biggest training aid one can use nowadays would be Microsoft Flight Sim.  It's incredible the detail they put into the game regarding real-life landmarks (damn near every tower is accounted for) and radio aids.  Every approach is published, in fact there are some that are correct in flight sim that aren't even published on sectionals by the government.  3KY9 being one of them, Miles Field in Kentucky.

I use the CH Flight Sim Yoke with Mixture/Prop/Throttle control when I use flight sim.  I try to spend at least one flight/day in flight sim.  Like a LOFT scenario, all failures are hot and random. (LOFT=Line Oriented Flight Training) I always have something different happen and I made a very generic flight-sim checklist for certain airplanes.  There are some times you can't do certain things (feathering an engine for example) without clicking on a button to view the throttle quadrant, so thats on the checklist as well.

As part of my regular CFII work, I am going to incorporate flight sim into the lessons simply because you can see the way things work without relying only on theory until you get into the airplane.  I did this, and it helped me tremendously with procedures.  Holding patterns, using an HSI for the first time and even some single-engine stuff while training for a multi-engine rating all came naturally in the airplane when practiced in the simulator first.  This saves MUCHO-Dollar-o's.

My first flight with an HSI was as PIC in an airplane I'd only had the briefest of brief checkouts in prior to flying it on a long IFR trip.  The airplane was a Piper T-Tail Lance.  Well equipped, with a multifunction display and autopilot.  I felt very comfortable with the avionics (I'd use the avidyne and S-Tec equipment before) and the HSI came naturally.  So, Flight sim can work to help you out.

[Chairboy]

Originally posted by Glas
Would you consider your experience flying in sims has helped, hindered, or done nothing at all for you?

No doubt about it, it has DEFINATELY helped.  My instructor would give me a maneuver, and I'd get it the first time.  I'd also be able to answer theoretical questions he'd throw at me based on experiences I had in X-Plane (my sim of choice).

On more then one occasion, my instructor has said that he can tell I used to fly R/C and use simulators because of how quick I pick up on things and how I already understand most of the basics of flight.  It's not a substitutde for real flying, but it helps your head get wired properly.

[Glas]

I thought you would reply as you did.

Alot of people I know who fly flight sims (I fly regularly in WBFH) and also fly for RL, say that there is no comparison between the two.  But there was never any doubt in my mind that sims give you a good grounding.

I just felt the need to get the views of someone who was experiencing the real deal for the first time

[Golfer]

There is no way to compare the feeling of actually piloting an aircraft and any experience in a simulator.  The simulator, as you said gives a foundation.  The actual experience of flight is completely unique.

[Chairboy]

I just got back from another trip up north to be with my family, so after a week on the ground, I was raring to fly again.

I get to the airport, and it's all sunny, but I don't notice that it's also really hazy and visibility is pretty low.  By the time we get to the plane, it's up to 4 miles, but there's a haze over everything.

I take off, and because of the haze, I really needed to use my instruments because my usual landmarks (the beach, mountains, etc) are out of view.  The only reason we flew was because we could fly under special VFR if it got worse, but for class D airspace, we were ok.  I probably wouldn't solo in it as a pilot, though.  An aside, we did a short lesson on special VFR in the classroom, and I was able to ask a question that merited a review of the FAR (it's the book of laws related to flight).  My question was how to do special VFR at an uncontrolled airport, and it turns out you can't.  Anyhow, back to flying:  I flew up the coast to malibu, then did some stalls to review, then he had me do stalls under the hood.  

It was a very different sensation, stalling under the hood, because the plane starts to shudder and the horn starts hooting, then it drops out and I had to use my artificial horizon to stay oriented during recovery.  Did a few of those, and that was good.

Had a chance to tell some humorous ATC I'd read about on the internet (for example, the F-16 asking for immediate clearance to land because his engine was running peaked and being told that he was #2 behind a B-52 that had to shut down one of its engines.  He responds, "Ah yes, the dreaded seven engine approach.")

Then I did some steep turns (45 degrees) over the Santa Monica Mountains to review, and he had me do THAT under the hood too.  In some ways, it was easier to do that under the hood because I wasn't staring straight down at the ground.

I landed and went to work.  This afternoon, I went back, and we did closed pattern flying.  This is just taking off, turning, flying back along the airport, then landing, like a box.

I take off and as I passed 1,000 feet and was turning left to get into the crosswind leg, he pulls the throttle back to idle and says 'You just lost your engine.'

So I got the plane to 73-ish knots (the best glide speed of the Piper Cherokee) and looked for where to land.  I looked back at the runway, and decided there was no way to make it there, so I started looking for other places.  We're over Mar Vista/Venice, so it's really dense.  I point out Venice High School's football field and say "I think I'll go there" and turn towards it.  He says "I think I see kids on the field, and we don't have a horn on this."  So I decide to put it down on Venice blvd instead.  I begin my descent for a few seconds before he gives me back power and lets me climb up to the pattern altitude.  In retrospect, I should have turned right and headed for the beach if it were a real emergency, but the thought never occurred to me because I was really worried (at the time) about pissing off ATC.  In a real emergency, I hope I'd be able to put their concerns second so I could get down safe.

We do some landings, then some touch and goes.  As I'm taking off one time, he pulls back the throttle a little and says 'your engine is sputtering', and I pull it back to idle and begin to angle off the runway before he tells me to go ahead and take off, so I throttle up and take off again.

The most exciting moment was a few minutes later when, on the downwind leg, he throws open the door and yanks the airplane onto its side and says 'We've just had a midair collision!  Control your plane!'  So I straighten up the plane and look for the airport.  He asks 'Is it still flyable?' and I affirm, so I begin setting up for an emergency landing.  I begin my descent, now that I know where I am in relation to the airport.  Meanwhile, the cabin is full of noise because we're going about 90-100mph and the air is rushing around inside.  I turn to final and my instructor suddenly says 'Oh crap!'.  I ask him what happened, and he says the hood (that he has me wear for instruments) got sucked out the door.  It's pretty funny, and I have to laugh.  This lightweight plastic hood probably fluttered to the ground and looks so alien, nobody who's not a pilot who picks it up will have any idea what it is.

I come in a little high, so I do a couple of full slips to lose some altitude, then land us.  

Tomorrow morning, we're gonna do some more full engine failures so I can do the whole checklist and on Wednesday, I fly with the owner of the airplanes.  He wants to see me fly before he sends me up alone in a $60,000 airplane (I guess that's reasonable), then I'll be ready to solo.

[bunch]

That sounds like an exciting flight, Chairboy & thanks for keeping this thread alive, it is one of my favorites.  Get yourself a pair of Foggles for "hood" training.  They're a real rippoff at about $20 (probably cost less than $0.20 to make), but every minute in the air costs (maybe about $1-2 for the plane & 0.50 - 1$ for the CFI) & they go on in about 2 seconds  against about 30 for a hood...The guy who was my private pilot & instrument CFI has a Ph.D in economics gave me this analysis

[Chairboy]

Nothing exciting in this one, just a couple of routine flights.

This morning, I flew to Van Nuys airport and did a touch & go, then flew back to Santa Monica.

In the afternoon, I showed up early and did a full pre-flight because I hadn't done one in a while (the instructor had done the external preflights on a few recent flights).  I flew out to Malibu and did a pretty exciting maneuver.  It's called an 'emergency descent', and the idea is to drop altitude as fast as possible (for instance, if there's a fire or a passenger with a heart attack, etc).

I set full flaps, power all the way to idle, point the nose down like 45 degrees and turn the plane sideways slightly.  The plane drops like a freaking rock, the climb indicator is pegged at 2,000 feet per minute.  I get the plane up to 100+ knots and am slowly spiraling down until he tells me to go ahead and recover, so I do.  I climb up and do it again.  Pretty scary, but good to know how to do.

Then he gives me an engine failure without warning.  I set up my speed, find my landing spot, and go through my checklist while gliding towards Cross Creek (at the foot of Pepperdine University) before he tells me to head back to Santa Monica.  I fly back (it's all hazy, but I know where the airport is) and land like normal.  At one point, ATC is calling for me to follow a Mooney in, but I can't find it because of the haze.  The controller is watching the weather pretty good and calls our base when she sees the traffic pass us (and THEN we see it, figures), and the landing is pretty standard.

I did some ground school, worked on my pre-solo exam, and we'll finish it tomorrow morning.  Tomorrow afternoon, I go up with the owner so he can see I know how to safely fly pattern work, then sometime after that I'll solo!  I'm pretty sure it'll be before the end of the week, weather permitting.

[Chairboy]

So yesterday I was scheduled to go fly with the owner of the company for a final checkout before my solo.  I call ATIS and hear that there are scattered clouds at 1100, but they look to be mostly clear of the airport, so, we can fly.

I meet with the owner, he does a quick verbal quiz to check my understanding of various concepts, then we go out to the plane.  I do a full preflight, then start it up.  It's running, and I tune into ATIS.

"Santa Monica Tower, you have information Lima.  Visibility 5, Winds 220 at 4, blah blah blah, clouds 1200 broken-"  whaza?  Since I had listened a few minutes earlier, the clouds went from scattered to broken, and if they're gonna be like that, I need them at 1,700 feet above ground minimum, so I have to shut down the plane and reschedule.

This morning, ATIS tells a different story.  Scattered clouds at 4,000, visibillity 10, slight tailwind on the active runway, but it's all good.  I do my preflight, the owner walks up as I'm finishing the inside preflight, and we head off.  His teaching style is definately different from my instructor, but the difference is really useful because there are some tiny gaps on both sides in terms of what they teach, so it's really good.

I get clearance to taxi to the runway, then get clearance to take off, and finally, we're up in the air!  

I do closed left traffic around the airport and do two full stop landings w/ taxi back to the runway.  After two flights, he says he's satisfied and we can wrap it up.  I ask for one more flight (I've got time before I need to show up at work) and we do it.  On this flight he covers my airspeed indicator (which is new) and has me land without it, and I pull if off no problem.  In fact, I forget to extend my third notch of flaps (I got in the habit of full flaps landings) and my touchdown is glass smooth.  He mentions that he usually lands w/ two for smoothness, so, that's a good thing to know.  

I park the plane and he tells me he likes what he's seeing.  He likes the fact that I'm methodical in the cockpit and says that people who are tense and moving their limbs fast and stuff kinda scare him, and he likes how I think things through and do them smoothly.  

I called my instructor afterwards and scheduled a flight for this afternoon.  The weather might get dodgy, but I'm hoping it's good.  There's a slight chance I might solo, and I'm hoping it'll be sooner rather then later, as I'm running out of shirts I wouldn't mind being cut.

In regards to that, there's a tradition at some flight schools (don't know if it's at this one or not, but better safe then sorry) of, when you complete your first solo, they cut the shirt tails off.  The story is that in the old days, the trainer would sit behind the student and, since they didn't have intercoms, would tug on the students shirttails to get their attention.  By cutting the shirttails off, you're symbolically saying that the instructor doesn't need that 'handle' anymore.

Wish me luck!

[Golfer]

Show your contempt for that age old tradition and wear that fine silk shirt in for your solo.  It'll be fine.

[Chairboy]

Took off this afternoon, and did two touch & goes, then my instructor told me to do a full stop.  So I land and he tells me to taxi over to a hangar by their office.  He tells me I'm gonna solo!  He runs over to grab the handheld scanner so he can listen to me, and I get clearance and taxi.

While I'm taxiing, I keep saying "Holy shit, I'm alone in the aircraft".  I get my clearance to take off, so I methodically check to make sure my transponder is on, mixture is set, lights and fuel pump are on, then wheel it out onto the runway and go full throttle.

The plane jumps ahead and tears down the concrete.  I check my gauges like usual and then, at around 65 knots IAS, I pull back and take off.

ALONE.

The plane shoots up like a rocket, I've got half fuel (it hadn't been refueled in a while, half fuel is like 3 hours of flight) and no instructor, between the two that's like 300lbs difference from usual.  The plane climbs faster then before, and it's GREAT!

I turn left at Lincoln, always watching for traffic outside, then checking my gauges inside.  My altitude is winding up, holy crap, I'm already at 1,100 feet when usually I'm at 800!  I end up leveling out at the pattern altitude (1,400 feet MSL) before I turn to the downwind leg, so like 20 seconds before I usually do.  On my downwind leg, the controller radios me.  "Cherokee 8258 Sierra, you're cleared for the option on two one."

I radio back "Santa Monica Tower, Cherokee 8258 Sierra, I'd like a full stop please."  Technically, I don't have to ask for this because 'The option' allows for me to do a pass, touch & go, or full stop landing, but I figure that by telling her what I'm doing, she doesn't have to watch me when I'm down.

"Cherokee 58 Sierra, thanks, cleared for landing two one."

I wait until I'm abeam the white marks on the runway and begin my descent.  As I pass the I-405, I turn left so I'm heading perpendicular to the runway, then I turn left again near the I-405/I-10 interchange and line up with the runway.  I get a big crosswind up there and say out loud "Oh great, a crosswind landing on my first solo."  I'm not enthusiastic, because crosswind landings are something I don't have a lot of practice with, but as I drop below 800 feet, it disapears.

I check the PAPI lights and see that I'm above the glideslope, so I throttle back and add another notch of flaps, and it turns out I was right next to it, I barely have to adjust at all to get a mix of red and white lights.

I bring the plane down towards the runway.  About 10 feet above the runway I go full idle on the engine and pull back to flare like usual, but the plane is so light, it actually starts to go back up a couple feet.  I bring it down right away and fly a few inches above the ground, slowly pulling the yoke back as I slow down until the stall horn just starts to hoot a little, then the wheels touch down.

It's the smoothest, best landing I've ever done.

I taxi off the runway, get clearance from the tower to taxi where I want, then do my post landing checklist and taxi over to pick up my instructor.

He shook my hand and congratulated me, said I did a good job!

I figure it's gotta be a good job if they can re-use the airplane, and I'm happy as a clam.

He took some pictures of me landing, I'll post 'em later.

I'm just below 20 hours, got something like 40-50 landings, and we're going to alternate for a little between solo and instructor flights as he shows me short field takeoffs, soft field landings/takeoffs, night flying, etc.  We'll probably be doing things like stalls at night soon, sounds scary, but I'm ready.

So anyhow, YEE-freakin-HAW!

[Golfer]

What went wrong?  You lived?  Hmm...foiled my plot again.














Congrats!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  You can move the world without the lever now, can't ya.  You're a real friggin aviatior...how do ya like that buddy!  Well done...enjoy your happy dreams!

[jigsaw]

Grats !

[Straiga]

Just do us favor till you some more hours can you call flight service and let them know when your going flying so all of us can stay out of your airspace. LOL

Way to go congrats.

Straiga

[bunch]

Well done...personally, I like new pilots, they talk on their radios non-stop, so you always know when they're in the pattern & where.