Author Topic: Learning to fly (Read 8606 times)

bunch · « **Reply #240 on:** March 17, 2005, 08:03:32 PM »

That is different in LA, doing your X/C & never leaving the city....I got my PPL without ever having heard the term "position & hold". I've got to go now & price some bib overalls

Dnil · « **Reply #241 on:** March 18, 2005, 12:27:18 AM »

my long x/c was from corpus christi to laredo to mcallen back to corpus. Only instructions I get from instructor were "you see a big river, dont cross it" Ahh the gold old days, damn surprised I didnt kill myself.

Oddly enough a little while later he had another student cross that big river and end up in Mexico.

XNachoX · « **Reply #242 on:** March 18, 2005, 07:49:07 AM »

You guys got it lucky, my long solo x-ctry was from PDK Direct MGM Direct HSV Direct PDK. That flight took over 5 hours and was 420 NM. It scares me that you've never heard of the term position and hold because I hear it every time i fly out of PDK (busiest GA airport in the world).

Chairboy · « **Reply #243 on:** March 18, 2005, 08:17:09 AM »

Quote

Originally posted by XNachoX
I hear it every time i fly out of PDK (busiest GA airport in the world).

Actually, it's the second busiest General Aviation airport in the world. The busiest is Van Nuys (VNY), which coincidentally will be part of my long-distance cross country.

Speaking of which, I did a WX abort. It's pretty crummy today, so I'm going to spend my time seeing if I can squeeze in my written test instead, then try to fly back to Oregon early via standby.

talliven · « **Reply #244 on:** March 18, 2005, 08:29:46 AM »

Actually it is not uncommon for people to not understand "position and hold" especially if it is a non-US trained pilot. The ICAO version is "line up and wait". If you do any flights into canada, mexico or bahamas that is the instructions you will get most of the time. However the tower controllers are so used to american pilots they will sometimes give position and hold clearances as well. "position and hold" thus can confuse people as the term hold means do not get on runway to them so the instrucions seem contradictory.

Heretik · « **Reply #245 on:** March 18, 2005, 09:39:21 AM »

I think I was instructed to "position and hold" maybe twice while I was going for my PPL. 1 of those times was on my 1st solo "not-quite-an-official-XC." Which also was only the second time I'd ever soloed. And the weather was barely VFR. Boy what a CF that turned out to be.

Chairboy · « **Reply #246 on:** March 18, 2005, 09:54:52 AM »

Hmm... maybe I shouldn't be so shocked, then. I've been learning at Santa Monica in some of the busiest airspace in the world, it stands to reason that I'd see some things there that I wouldn't elsewhere. I just assumed P&H was something that happened all the time, but I guess not!

Well... if nothing else, it reminded me you never know how many people are listening on the radio when you scruff something up. I've yorked a couple of calls, mostly because I started speaking before I knew what I was gonna say, and now I wonder how much mirth I caused among the legions of silent listeners. heh

On the plus side, learning with all this traffic will probably serve me well going into the future. I think I'd rather be a city trained student flying into the boonies then a boondock trained pilot flying into the big city. If I had learned at some uncontrolled field, I'd probably be more intimidated by ATC.

Chairboy · « **Reply #247 on:** March 18, 2005, 02:50:52 PM »

I just scheduled taking my written tomorrow morning. Guess I'll be practicing a bunch on ye olde Sporty's study buddy website tonight.

Golfer · « **Reply #248 on:** March 18, 2005, 08:49:49 PM »

Good luck chairboy! The sportys practice tests are great. Score 90's on those and the actual test is a piece of cake.

XNachoX · « **Reply #249 on:** March 19, 2005, 08:08:39 AM »

You are correct Chairboy, learning to fly at a busy airport will be pricless later on when you have no fear about flying into any airport. I've met guys while I worked at my flight school in the summer that would tell me they won't fly into PDK because they "personally" classify it as class Bravo airspace......He was only used to flying out of uncontrolled airspace and I felt sorry for him.

Chairboy · « **Reply #250 on:** March 20, 2005, 09:41:52 AM »

BTW, passed my written. Only got an 82%. I had like 3 questions about the ADF. Guess I should learn how to use it... doh!

Golfer · « **Reply #251 on:** March 20, 2005, 12:29:25 PM »

Screw the ADF they're phasing out the NDBs at airports where its not the only instrument approach or not used for any instrument procedures.

82% is a good score. You're not a know it all, and you're not a dummy

talliven · « **Reply #252 on:** March 21, 2005, 04:40:36 PM »

What, i used the ADF all weekend while flying. Of course it was tuned to 1510 or 1380 so i could listen to NCAA tournement while flying watching the autopilot fly up and down the east coast. BTW NY center has an annoying habit of talking to you during the last minute of close games.

Chairboy · « **Reply #253 on:** March 21, 2005, 04:46:56 PM »

No problem, just squawk 7600 until the game is over, then come back on and say you had to replace the fuse/reset the appropriate breaker.

Golfer · « **Reply #254 on:** March 21, 2005, 04:50:35 PM »

Well said Chairboy. That shows a very good understanding of the ATC and Aircraft systems. You'll do well, grasshopper