Finally restarted my flying lessons.

Definitely don't think the sim helps with primary training. Maybe maneuvers. But for everything else, seat of the pants.
 
It's so hard to resist trying to help Crash. He's so far into the trees he doesn't see the forest, though, so helping probably makes it worse. He has to simplify his perceptions by thinking in broad strokes rather than minutia. If it hasn't happened by now... there's the reason no flight school has tossed him the keys to their airplane.
 
Randomskylane said:
He clearly loves training and can afford it, so why do we care if it makes no sense to us?

Anyway, why is a pre solo student thinking about Va?

I said this a year or two ago: The next nice day do nothing but go around the pattern until signed off and then solo.

That’s the list, everything else he’s doing makes no sense after a hundred pre solo hours.
Click to expand...
IIRC he still hasn't taken the written, which includes questions about V speeds.
 
murphey said:
IIRC he still hasn't taken the written, which includes questions about V speeds.
Click to expand...
Above he posted that he’s getting 90s on his ppc practice tests. IIRC said he was signed off to take the written.


Why not just take it? Get it done. It would make me feel better, having that accomplished, and I’m just an observer!
 
And, let's not forget, that this forum went on for over two years before the OP was aware that he did not have a valid medical...

This topic started in Aug of 21, when the poster commented that they had not lost much in the 13 years since the last lessons they had taken.

Can anyone point to some objective flying skill that in the 3+ years of this topic that the professional student pilot has picked up?

And this is their THIRD serious effort to get the license.
 
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Crashnburn said:
Next step is to set the throttle at about 1700 RPM abeam the numbers and use pitch to control airspeed (duh!) and fix any altitude issues on final with throttle. (Kate wants it done a little differently, but we'll talk about it next week.)
Click to expand...
I’m not your CFI, but I do teach several folks in similar shoes who have gotten sloppy instruction over the years.

Downwind abeam your touchdown point - 1500rpm. Pull back on the yoke (pitch) for 75kts and trim for hands off flight, flaps to 10deg and let the airplane descend naturally. You want 65kts by short final and you need a proper aiming point.

Wish I had an hour or two with you. Would like to try and get things sorted out.
 
I care about Va because my instructor and I were doing a cross country to another airport, and we got some turbulence. When I've soloed, I'll have experienced weather outside the airport environment.
 
RyanB said:
I’m not your CFI, but I do teach several folks in similar shoes who have gotten sloppy instruction over the years.

Downwind abeam your touchdown point - 1500rpm. Pull back on the yoke (pitch) for 75kts and trim for hands off flight, flaps to 10deg and let the airplane descend naturally. You want 65kts by short final and you need a proper aiming point.

Wish I had an hour or two with you. Would like to try and get things sorted out.
Click to expand...
Exactly how my instructor had me do it. Except my plane is mph not knots.
 
Racerx said:
Exactly how my instructor had me do it. Except my plane is mph not knots.
Click to expand...
So? This is a good exercise for you to practice converting between mph and kts.
 
murphey said:
So? This is a good exercise for you to practice converting between mph and kts.
Click to expand...
Im a bit weird. Cross country planning I use knots. Landing I'll use mph if I look at speeds, just cuz it's easier to see on the ASI.

I can use use both...I'm amphibious like that.
 
Kate is my primary instructor, and Aaron fills in when she's not available. Anyway, I flew with Aaron on Thursday and after my fourth landing he put his hands up to his shoulders and said, "These kids, they grow up so fast". The landing was that good.

I flew with Kate today. I made steady improvement each landing to the next, even though we had bumpy air and thermals. After my 7th, and last landing of the day, she said that my pattern and landing for that trip around the field were her favorites, and that I had done everything she'd wanted me to do. She also said she was glad I had to work for the landing so I would know what I had to do during the summer weather (what we are having now is what summer will be like.)

I have more time, somehow, to look at the ASI, so I'm staying at safe speeds until I round out and flare. I'd just barely gotten the plane back to the center line and heading straight down the runway and wasn't quite ready for it to land, but it was ready.

In the office, both Kate and Aaron were bragging to each other about how well I was landing. I need to memorize the emergency checklist and have a few more flights, especially stalls but there's a good chance I'll solo by the end of this month.

As far as finding traffic, I'm getting better at picking it out. At one point today, Kate was pointing to a plane that was a dot vanishing into the sky, thinking it was what she saw on ADSB. Out of habit, before I turned, a looked to my left and there was a twin doing an RNAV approach 500 - 1000 ft above and maybe 1/2 mile from us which she hadn't seen. So, I'm getting there.

I haven't had my simulator put together since I moved to Colorado. I was thinking I would need it to practice keeping my airspeeds correct while in the pattern, but I have plenty of time to look outside, as well as inside and keep my airspeed close to nominal.

I think I'm a much better pilot (even if I have yet to solo) than I was when I almost soloed with Vector Air. Also, safer and more predictable in the pattern.
 
Crashnburn said:
Kate is my primary instructor, and Aaron fills in when she's not available. Anyway, I flew with Aaron on Thursday and after my fourth landing he put his hands up to his shoulders and said, "These kids, they grow up so fast". The landing was that good.

I flew with Kate today. I made steady improvement each landing to the next, even though we had bumpy air and thermals. After my 7th, and last landing of the day, she said that my pattern and landing for that trip around the field were her favorites, and that I had done everything she'd wanted me to do. She also said she was glad I had to work for the landing so I would know what I had to do during the summer weather (what we are having now is what summer will be like.)

I have more time, somehow, to look at the ASI, so I'm staying at safe speeds until I round out and flare. I'd just barely gotten the plane back to the center line and heading straight down the runway and wasn't quite ready for it to land, but it was ready.

In the office, both Kate and Aaron were bragging to each other about how well I was landing. I need to memorize the emergency checklist and have a few more flights, especially stalls but there's a good chance I'll solo by the end of this month.

As far as finding traffic, I'm getting better at picking it out. At one point today, Kate was pointing to a plane that was a dot vanishing into the sky, thinking it was what she saw on ADSB. Out of habit, before I turned, a looked to my left and there was a twin doing an RNAV approach 500 - 1000 ft above and maybe 1/2 mile from us which she hadn't seen. So, I'm getting there.

I haven't had my simulator put together since I moved to Colorado. I was thinking I would need it to practice keeping my airspeeds correct while in the pattern, but I have plenty of time to look outside, as well as inside and keep my airspeed close to nominal.

I think I'm a much better pilot (even if I have yet to solo) than I was when I almost soloed with Vector Air. Also, safer and more predictable in the pattern.
Click to expand...
Keep those simulator parts in whatever boxes they’re in.

All it’s doing is teaching bad habits. Reassemble it in the future when you’re wanting to work on your instrument rating.

It’s true. It’s gotten you where you are today, and that’s not a compliment. Without the sim, you’re finally pulling your head up and seeing a world. One with other traffic and other things to see. Keep the parts in the box and stay on track to improve your progress!!

Sorry you hate me - when it comes to you, since you’re such an example of what not to do, I just find it difficult to filter my words and not say it straight.
 
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Rgbeard said:
Keep those simulator parts in whatever boxes they’re in.

All it’s doing is teaching bad habits. Reassemble it in the future when you’re wanting to work on your instrument rating.

It’s true. It’s gotten you where you are today, and that’s not a compliment. Without the sim, you’re finally pulling your head up and seeing a world. One with other traffic and other things to see. Keep the parts in the box and stay on track to improve your progress!!

Sorry you hate me - when it comes to you, since you’re such an example of what not to do, I just find it difficult to filter my words and not say it straight.
Click to expand...
I don't hate you. I appreciate your perspective. It's just that None of my instructors have ever said that I spend too much time with my head in the cockpit and one of the recent ones wanted me to spend a little more time with my head in the cockpit.

If you would read through my posts, I know it's a Herculean task, you'll find I made a breakthrough on handling crosswinds on my simulator. On one of my last flights at Vector Air, I landed in a 15-knot crosswind, on the center line and pointing straight down the runway. I didn't those reflexes in a real plane. And on one of my previous flights with Aero-Sphere, I was blown off the runway center line by a sudden gust of wind. I fought the plane back to the center line and had it going straight down the runway when it touched down. All my instructor was doing was nodding her head. I didn't develop those reflexes in a real plane, either.

There are things I've learned in a real plane, too. Such as I can now feel when the plane is starting to drop out from under me (I can't afford a full-motion simulator) and know if I'm low enough to pull the nose up a bit to give it a little more lift to cushion the touchdown, or if it's too high and give it just enough throttle to cushion the landing. I needed to juice the engine a bit when I was landing with one of my instructors and he said, "You didn't learn that from me".

People tout the advantages of chair flying, and I think sitting at a simulator is a whole lot more realistic than sitting in a chair with my eyes closed imagining everything I need to be doing. I remember touring some museum where they had a full up simulated cockpit. They used that to train pilots so they could reach every control, knob, switch, and lever with their eyes closed.

Aero-Sphere has 3 172Ns in their fleet. No two cockpit layouts are the same, so it doesn't matter what my simulator's cockpit is like. I have to familiarize myself with whatever the cockpit layout is when I get into the plane.
 
I took a year off from reading this thread, came back and it’s as if that year never happened. I said this back then. Good ole crash doesn’t want to solo. If he did he would have long ago.

Have you blamed solar flares yet? Just trying to help.
 
Crashnburn said:
People tout the advantages of chair flying, and I think sitting at a simulator is a whole lot more realistic than sitting in a chair with my eyes closed imagining everything I need to be doing. I remember touring some museum where they had a full up simulated cockpit. They used that to train pilots so they could reach every control, knob, switch, and lever with their eyes closed.
Click to expand...
Chair flying is meant to help with repetitious tasks without a time constraint and potentially missing something. In a sim, you still have that time constraint, just nothing adverse will happen. So you still can miss things.

Ok, I’m abeam….now what? Reduce power to 1500 (reads checklist) and first notch of flaps. In a sim you’ve blown past where base should be
 
During my flight instruction, I remember my CFI saying that the goal of some people is to just fly the plane, and some want to solo, and that's all they want to do. Perhaps the OPs intention is to just fly, but never solo.

Reading through the entirety of this thread, seems like Crashnburn needs to focus on big picture flying, and like someone said, I think he's too focused on small details that are irrelevant to the task at hand.

I'm not a CFI, but if your goal is to solo, then you need to fly the traffic pattern well, well enough that it happens mechanically, nailing your altitudes, your power settings, your flaps, situational and positional awareness, flying the plane, land well and communicate on the radios well. It all needs to happen, not just nailing the airspeeds. All of it. Forget about all other details, don't think about cross country flying, or flying a more powerful airplane. Fly the plane you have been flying for the last 200 hours and stick to it.

When you have a big goal to achieve, like you even said, eating an elephant, don't focus on how it's gonna look like when you're done, split the goal into smaller tasks and try to nail those little tasks. If those little tasks are too big to achieve or you have issues with them, split them even more and make micro-goals out of them to achieve them.

Say if you're having issues with airspeed, focus SOLELY on that on all lessons until you nail them. Then move to the next task you need help on. Is it traffic awareness like you said? Now do everything you learned and stack up on that knowledge and add little things one by one. Focus on flying the pattern looking out for traffic, listening to the CTAF and in your head put other traffic in the map ("Ah, this guy is 10 miles out and going to enter the pattern soon, gotta watch out for it", "I'm on downwind, and this Cessna just turned final, gotta watch out that he's rolling out the runway before I try to land", and so forth).

Good luck!
 
Feh said:
During my flight instruction, I remember my CFI saying that the goal of some people is to just fly the plane, and some want to solo, and that's all they want to do. Perhaps the OPs intention is to just fly, but never solo.

Reading through the entirety of this thread, seems like Crashnburn needs to focus on big picture flying, and like someone said, I think he's too focused on small details that are irrelevant to the task at hand.

I'm not a CFI, but if your goal is to solo, then you need to fly the traffic pattern well, well enough that it happens mechanically, nailing your altitudes, your power settings, your flaps, situational and positional awareness, flying the plane, land well and communicate on the radios well. It all needs to happen, not just nailing the airspeeds. All of it. Forget about all other details, don't think about cross country flying, or flying a more powerful airplane. Fly the plane you have been flying for the last 200 hours and stick to it.

When you have a big goal to achieve, like you even said, eating an elephant, don't focus on how it's gonna look like when you're done, split the goal into smaller tasks and try to nail those little tasks. If those little tasks are too big to achieve or you have issues with them, split them even more and make micro-goals out of them to achieve them.

Say if you're having issues with airspeed, focus SOLELY on that on all lessons until you nail them. Then move to the next task you need help on. Is it traffic awareness like you said? Now do everything you learned and stack up on that knowledge and add little things one by one. Focus on flying the pattern looking out for traffic, listening to the CTAF and in your head put other traffic in the map ("Ah, this guy is 10 miles out and going to enter the pattern soon, gotta watch out for it", "I'm on downwind, and this Cessna just turned final, gotta watch out that he's rolling out the runway before I try to land", and so forth).

Good luck!
Click to expand...
I didn't know POA had so many people who think they are mind readers. I'm really close to soloing, however the wind here is more than the CFIs can handle right now. It's supposed to calm down starting Monday. I asked my main CFI, Kate, about when I could solo, and she said by the end of this month.

I would have soloed at Vector Aire late last year, but they pulled the rug out from under me. The first day I could have soloed I didn't feel like I passed the IMSAFE checklist, my landings were getting progressively worse, and the wind was squirrely and coming up (all three windsocks were pointing in different directions). Everything was a "go" the following Monday, and that's when they pulled the plug. I like AeroSphere a lot better, and my patterns are a lot better, too.

I could have soloed in San Jose, but life (moving to CO) took priority. I had a deadline of the week before Memorial Day to get all my stuff packed and moved out so the agent could remodel and stage the house. I worked full time packing and had packer-movers come in and do the majority of the work. It was worth it; I got $15 extra on the price for every $1 I paid for the remodel.

I have the full toolset as far as being ready to solo. My last several flights, the CFIs have just sat there and watched while I took off, made my radio calls and looked for traffic, and made good to great landings. I remember one landing in particular. I was on the center line, headed straight down the runway. The stall horn was chirping, and we could barely feel the wheels touchdown, with no chirp. My CFI kissed the back of his hands, shuddered, raised his hands to his shoulders and said, "These kids, they grow up so fast!"

I had a positive aviation induced buzz the rest of the day.
 
Crashnburn said:
I didn't know POA had so many people who think they are mind readers. I'm really close to soloing, however the wind here is more than the CFIs can handle right now. It's supposed to calm down starting Monday. I asked my main CFI, Kate, about when I could solo, and she said by the end of this month.

I would have soloed at Vector Aire late last year, but they pulled the rug out from under me. The first day I could have soloed I didn't feel like I passed the IMSAFE checklist, my landings were getting progressively worse, and the wind was squirrely and coming up (all three windsocks were pointing in different directions). Everything was a "go" the following Monday, and that's when they pulled the plug. I like AeroSphere a lot better, and my patterns are a lot better, too.

I could have soloed in San Jose, but life (moving to CO) took priority. I had a deadline of the week before Memorial Day to get all my stuff packed and moved out so the agent could remodel and stage the house. I worked full time packing and had packer-movers come in and do the majority of the work. It was worth it; I got $15 extra on the price for every $1 I paid for the remodel.

I have the full toolset as far as being ready to solo. My last several flights, the CFIs have just sat there and watched while I took off, made my radio calls and looked for traffic, and made good to great landings. I remember one landing in particular. I was on the center line, headed straight down the runway. The stall horn was chirping, and we could barely feel the wheels touchdown, with no chirp. My CFI kissed the back of his hands, shuddered, raised his hands to his shoulders and said, "These kids, they grow up so fast!"

I had a positive aviation induced buzz the rest of the day.
Click to expand...
You’re going to need a good excuse this time. Solar flares, or maybe to stay topical your cfi was caught up in an ICE raid. Maybe the dog ate your pilot cert?

If you’re flying the flights without assistance, they would have had you solo already, not “by the end of the month”.

There’s something going on that you aren’t saying.
 
Crashnburn said:
I didn't know POA had so many people who think they are mind readers. I'm really close to soloing, however the wind here is more than the CFIs can handle right now.
Click to expand...

So you can handle it but the CFIs can't?
 
Crashnburn said:
I asked my main CFI, Kate, about when I could solo, and she said by the end of this month.
Click to expand...
The end of the month is next weekend. What is going to significantly change in that amount of time to let you solo?
 
Crashnburn said:
I didn't know POA had so many people who think they are mind readers. I'm really close to soloing, however the wind here is more than the CFIs can handle right now. It's supposed to calm down starting Monday. I asked my main CFI, Kate, about when I could solo, and she said by the end of this month.
Click to expand...
Wish you wouldn't have taken this negatively, I believe many would cheer when you finally get to solo. But according to you, you are totally ready. Hopefully the weather cooperates and you finally get to.
 
Salty said:
You’re going to need a good excuse this time. Solar flares, or maybe to stay topical your cfi was caught up in an ICE raid. Maybe the dog ate your pilot cert?

If you’re flying the flights without assistance, they would have had you solo already, not “by the end of the month”.

There’s something going on that you aren’t saying.
Click to expand...
Already used a late night poker tournament as an excuse...

Nike_1280-20150120104711373.jpg
 
@Crashnburn: Like my boss said when complaining about his golf stroke, "There's a thousand little things to think about all in two-tenths of a second!"

I hope you take the FL350 view and just concentrate on big things that can bend your metal, like other traffic, effects of the wind and go-around point if your landing speed isn't slow enough. Those other "thousand little things" will take care of themselves.
 
Been nearly a month since Crash has been here. I trust he's OK and getting that solo done ...
 
Hi All,

I'm back. I know it's been a while since I posted. I felt I was spending too much time on this board and not enough time even thinking about actually flying.

Hope you all are sitting down, but you were right about flight simulation. It got me a long way, including helping me get over my ground fear and especially crosswind landings. All three of my CFIs thought that it was OK to use it,

However, it got to the point that 20 minutes on the simulator felt like an hour, and an hour in a real plane feels like about 5 minutes. But what really happened was Micro$oft kept doing Windows 10 bug fixes, and just like what happened with FSX, Lockheed Martin didn't keep up. Eventually, the plane wouldn't generate enough power to get out of ground effect. I couldn't get TrackIR to recognize XP11 nor XP12, and M$F$ 2024 felt like buying a pig in a poke, so I didn't install it.

And, surprisingly, at least to me, my flying improved. What I call an intervention at Aero-Shere with my 3 CFI's and the FBO manager about not pushing to solo and they would all be happy to fly with me got me to trying harder, and that helped.

Most of the constructive criticism, and what took me the longest time, was to fly a consistent pattern, especially maintain airspeed and 500 fpm descent turning to base and final, and maintain 65 knots until I pull the power and start the round out. I almost never have a problem going to fast on final, it's keeping my speed up. I've found I can take quick peeks at the ASI, and keep the plane on the center line until the runway is made.

Except for my first few landings at Aero-Sphere, they've all been pretty good, except for the time I landed on the nose wheel and got shaken up. After 2 bounces in an underpowered plane, I decided it was best to go around and try again. I applied full power, and with 30 degrees of flaps, it gently settled to the runway, and I pulled the power. That was enough excitement for the day. Aaron said that was the right decision. After that, I've been a lot better about flaring.

I had a flight with Sara Friday, last week. She only had minor criticisms and said overall I crushed it. I flew with Aaron Monday, and he said I should schedule a flight with Kate, the new FBO manager, and after that, we'd talk. They haven't used the word "solo", but I'm sure that's what they are leading up to. I'm scheduled to fly with Kate tomorrow afternoon. It's in the underpowered plane, so I hope the density altitude isn't too high for safe flight.

Today, Aaron said he would be my dummy pilot, let me take care of where to go, and all the details. That's pretty much how it went from Longmont to Greeley for three landings, and back to Longmont. However, he helped with traffic avoidance.

I saved my best landing for Longmont. I was on the glide slope when I turned final, and a slight nudge of trim got me to 65 knots. I pulled power when I had the runway made, rounded out and eventually flared. The plane didn't really want to land for a long time, so I just let it glide in ground effect until it was done flying. Both Aaron and I were happy with that landing.

I have a plane picked out, a Cessna C177B Cardinal. I'm concerned about the spar carry through, but I have a neighbor down the way with a C177 RG. Unfortunately, his seats are out, so I couldn't double check for clearance. I want to make sure I fit before I go any further.

I'm hoping to have more good news for my next post.
 
Crashnburn said:
Hi All,

I'm back. I know it's been a while since I posted. I felt I was spending too much time on this board and not enough time even thinking about actually flying.

Hope you all are sitting down, but you were right about flight simulation. It got me a long way, including helping me get over my ground fear and especially crosswind landings. All three of my CFIs thought that it was OK to use it,

However, it got to the point that 20 minutes on the simulator felt like an hour, and an hour in a real plane feels like about 5 minutes. But what really happened was Micro$oft kept doing Windows 10 bug fixes, and just like what happened with FSX, Lockheed Martin didn't keep up. Eventually, the plane wouldn't generate enough power to get out of ground effect. I couldn't get TrackIR to recognize XP11 nor XP12, and M$F$ 2024 felt like buying a pig in a poke, so I didn't install it.

And, surprisingly, at least to me, my flying improved. What I call an intervention at Aero-Shere with my 3 CFI's and the FBO manager about not pushing to solo and they would all be happy to fly with me got me to trying harder, and that helped.

Most of the constructive criticism, and what took me the longest time, was to fly a consistent pattern, especially maintain airspeed and 500 fpm descent turning to base and final, and maintain 65 knots until I pull the power and start the round out. I almost never have a problem going to fast on final, it's keeping my speed up. I've found I can take quick peeks at the ASI, and keep the plane on the center line until the runway is made.

Except for my first few landings at Aero-Sphere, they've all been pretty good, except for the time I landed on the nose wheel and got shaken up. After 2 bounces in an underpowered plane, I decided it was best to go around and try again. I applied full power, and with 30 degrees of flaps, it gently settled to the runway, and I pulled the power. That was enough excitement for the day. Aaron said that was the right decision. After that, I've been a lot better about flaring.

I had a flight with Sara Friday, last week. She only had minor criticisms and said overall I crushed it. I flew with Aaron Monday, and he said I should schedule a flight with Kate, the new FBO manager, and after that, we'd talk. They haven't used the word "solo", but I'm sure that's what they are leading up to. I'm scheduled to fly with Kate tomorrow afternoon. It's in the underpowered plane, so I hope the density altitude isn't too high for safe flight.

Today, Aaron said he would be my dummy pilot, let me take care of where to go, and all the details. That's pretty much how it went from Longmont to Greeley for three landings, and back to Longmont. However, he helped with traffic avoidance.

I saved my best landing for Longmont. I was on the glide slope when I turned final, and a slight nudge of trim got me to 65 knots. I pulled power when I had the runway made, rounded out and eventually flared. The plane didn't really want to land for a long time, so I just let it glide in ground effect until it was done flying. Both Aaron and I were happy with that landing.

I have a plane picked out, a Cessna C177B Cardinal. I'm concerned about the spar carry through, but I have a neighbor down the way with a C177 RG. Unfortunately, his seats are out, so I couldn't double check for clearance. I want to make sure I fit before I go any further.

I'm hoping to have more good news for my next post.
Click to expand...
Aren’t you at 250 hours now? Skip the ppl, go commercial!
 
As for being on the glide slope - you're flying VFR, not IFR. Ask your instructor about the difference and where you land on the runway if you follow the glideslope. Your checkride will include a short field landing, and that may not happen if you follow the glideslope.
 
It sounds like he is just flying for fun with a CFI, nothing wrong with that in my mind. Have fun.
I don't think there will ever be a solo or check ride. I seriously hope he proves me wrong.
 
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Good thing hear from you, Crash. We’re rooting for you.
 
Gary Ward said:
It sounds like he is just flying for fun with a CFI, nothing wrong with that in my mind. Have fun.
I don't think there will ever be a solo or check ride. I seriously hope he proves me wrong.
Click to expand...
If tomorrow's weather cooperates, the pre solo check ride is tomorrow.
 
murphey said:
As for being on the glide slope - you're flying VFR, not IFR. Ask your instructor about the difference and where you land on the runway if you follow the glideslope. Your checkride will include a short field landing, and that may not happen if you follow the glideslope.
Click to expand...
I agree. I've already done short field landings within tolerance. I use the runway threshold as my aiming point, and if I want, I can move it to before the threshold, then use engine power to keep me off the runway until I get to the numbers, then go to idle (done that, too.).
 
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