Finally restarted my flying lessons.

I had another lesson Saturday. We flew to Nut Tree where I landed and back to the home drome where I also landed. I had a substitute CFI, Sergey, who was my instructor 2 summers ago. He teased me about my landings by showing me how I was landing two years ago, but then said my landings are fine, in the 90th percentile of solo students.

As far as communication goes, my radio needs to be a little louder than I had it. I did catch an ATC call Sergey missed so I’m getting there.
 
Crashnburn said:
I had another lesson Saturday. We flew to Nut Tree where I landed and back to the home drome where I also landed. I had a substitute CFI, Sergey, who was my instructor 2 summers ago. He teased me about my landings by showing me how I was landing two years ago, but then said my landings are fine, in the 90th percentile of solo students.

As far as communication goes, my radio needs to be a little louder than I had it. I did catch an ATC call Sergey missed so I’m getting there.
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When's the checkride?
 
PaulS said:
You are way overthinking this.
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Most likely. However, a couple flights ago there was a guy on the radio in the air that was nearly clueless on the radio, He was obviously foreign born, and when the exasperated controller asked if he had a CFI on board, he said he had a GPS.

I want to be a lot better than that when I'm flying solo.
 
NA

A lot has happened since my last post. I got laid off (again!) two Fridays ago. That was a week after the board let the CEO go. They laid off 1/3rd of the company, and 1/2 of the engineers. My hiring manager is fine with being a reference for me. He also said that I'd get severance, but I doubt it'll be much as I was only there 2-1/2 months.

Sometimes it seems that if it wasn't for bad luck, I wouldn't have any at all.

Aviation

I'm not just continuing my lessons, I' accelerating their pace. Two weekends ago, I flew to Novato and back on Saturday and Sunday. The first flight we stopped to pick up a ride-a-long in Novato. I might have been able to tell it was a little easier to rotate on takeoff but other than that, I couldn't tell much difference. I flew with Sergey on Saturday and Frank on Sunday. After conferring with each other, they decided I was ready for the Bay Tour, using the Oakland Transition. (On the second flight, I picked out traffic better than Frank. It's not who sees traffic, it's that traffic is seen.)

I flew the Bay Tour Wednesday with another instructor, Noah. I did OK, but not great. If I didn't get the handoff call the first time, I got it the second time. Noah was too quick on the mike for traffic for me to respond.
The highlight of the flight was when we were headed west at 2K feet to fly around the south end of the Golden Gate Bridge and a Blue Angel came zooming under us at about 500 feet. I'd already seen him and got my camera out. Unfortunately, he must have been behind the wing strut when the shutter opened because I got a really good shot of a sailboat, but no F18. (Wednesday's TFR had ended by the time we made it to North Bay.

There was Fleet Week TFR prohibiting the Bay Tour on Sunday, so Michel and I flew to Monterey (KMRY), dodging another airshow TFR along the way. My first landing attempt was on 28L, which is much wider than I'm used to. Michel warned me it my affect my perception, and I'm sure it did, was a go-around. The next attempt was on 28R which is closer to the width I'm used to. We had to cross 28L to take off and got stuck at the hold-short line to let a flight of Air Force Thunderbirds do their landing rollouts with their noses pointed to the skies. Michel promised to send me the video he took of them passing in front of us.ThunderbirdRollOut.jpg

When we got back, Michel only had a couple of quirks to discuss. I've come along way from when the post-flight briefing seemed to take longer than the actual flight.

A couple of things might have helped. I knew I would be fling N968RC so Friday evening, I spent about 45 minutes flying the pattern at San Martin (E16) calling out the phases, as well as having the simulator say about the same thing, to burn the tail number into my head. (I was hoping I would have time to do it again Saturday night but wasn't sure when I'd get home as I was driving up to Livermore for their Airport Day (I got to meet and talk to their Mayor for a while and he's a lot bigger aviation backer than the San Jose City council is.) After that, I took care of as much of Ginger's Honey Do list as I could and didn't get home until late.)

The other thing is something I read in a new book I just got (Performance Pilot). Essentially the authors recommend turning the (TV and entertainment radio) volume down to the point you can barely hear the conversation, so you get used to concentrating on it. Ironically, when I was at church Sunday morning, I spent so much time concentrating on concentrating, I mentally missed about 1/3rd of the service.) I had the plane's radio at a comfortable volume the last several flights. That helped a lot.

I told Frank (my regular CFI) that Michel said I did good on my comms and Frank says it's time for me to start concentrating on Stage One Check Knowledge. I have a Stage One Check knowledge worksheet, so I'll have that filled out before I fly with Noah Thursday.

(I told you I'd accelerated my training!)
 
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I know it's been a long time since my last post, but I have been flying and getting ground instruction. My steep turns had deteriorated but with coaching from a substitute instructor, I found the key. I finally got a burble from the prop wash when I finished up the steep turn to the right.

Everything else is acceptable. My main CFI says my rectangular courses are instinctive. I hope that continues.
I'm finally scheduled for a stage one check. It's on Nov 25, the Saturday after Thanksgiving. I have several flights scheduled before then, so I'll be working on fine tuning everything.

I landed after my most recent flight, as usual. The CFI couldn't find anything to criticize about it.

Passing the stage one check will put me in the pattern. I've landed from abbreviated down winds a bunch of times, so I don't think it will be long before I'm flying well enough to be ready for solo. It's just catching up on all the knowledge. At least I've been through it all before so it'll be more of a refresher rather than seeing it for the first time.
 
when I was I first started training the radio was tough to learn for me. I got a hand held radio and sat in my car after training and listened to it right next to the airport. It was a class D airport so you had to use it just to taxi.
It helped me a lot and I even made my weather sheet using the radio as noticed they gave the weather in the same order every time. Stuff like that.
Have you soloed yet and how many hours do you have if you don’t mind me asking? I see this thread is over 2 years old.
 
Gary Ward said:
when I was I first started training the radio was tough to learn for me. I got a hand held radio and sat in my car after training and listened to it right next to the airport. It was a class D airport so you had to use it just to taxi.
It helped me a lot and I even made my weather sheet using the radio as noticed they gave the weather in the same order every time. Stuff like that.
Have you soloed yet and how many hours do you have if you don’t mind me asking? I see this thread is over 2 years old.
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I'm well over a hundred hours and still pre-solo. Life has happened multiple times since I started flying in 2001 (just before 911).
 
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Crashnburn said:
I'm well over a hundred hours and still pre-solo. Life has happened multiple times since I started flying in 2001 (just before 911).
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I took a long time to solo as well.
Has anyone suggested to just concentrate on doing 3 full landing by yourself on a nice day to get your solo done?
My instructor who was a saint for riding around with me in the pattern for months. Every once in a while we would just take a ride somewhere and just do a couple that day to break it up. It seems solo is so important for your confidence.
After my solo the flood gates opened and the rest went normal.
Good luck and go get your solo done.
I was around 75 to solo and 110 to get my PPL. Took me 16 months flying 1-2 times a week. I am old and wasn’t focused on flight training at first and that cost me extra time and money.
A few years ago I added up my landings for my total PPL training and it was 309. Probably 250 was before my solo. A lot of money!
 
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The tail number thing, I rent, and generally fly a different tail number each time I fly. I don't sweat that, in fact, I generally don't think about it until I'm ready to make a radio call. Most planes have the tail number on the panel somewhere, the planes I fly also have it in the avionics. I just find the number and key the mic. Usually after I've done that I'll remember it for the flight. The problem with "burning" the tail number into your head is that it might mess you up on a subsequent flight in a different airplane.
 
I flew 3 different 172s during my training. It didn't matter to me one bit which one I flew. Many times I was scheduled in one and I would get there and it was broke or ran out of hours. It didn't matter to me as the school always made sure I had one to train in. I went from steam gauges to a G1000 back and forth. I didn't have to sit at home on a sim to figure it out. I did sit at home and chair fly finally which helped also.
You are over thinking this deal a lot.
Just go solo and forgot about the rest.
Next time you post be telling us that your a student pilot with your solo behind you.
Like I said my instructor focused on me soloing and rightfully so. All these details you sharing with us does not matter.
Flying around the bay area? WTH The school is looking at you as a cash cow IMO.
Here are the 3 172s, when I was there they had a Aztec also to train in along with a SR20 and a hi dollar SR22.
6-3-2016%20plane%20pictures%20126.jpg
 
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Gary Ward said:
... All these details you sharing with us does not matter.
Flying around the bay area? WTH The school is looking at you as a cash cow IMO.
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Hello. I have been following this thread since the beginning and have become a big fan. I am truly inspired and wish you all the success in the world.

But I have thought for quite some time what Gary has expressed. I have known and still know instructors who take their students on flights that do not advance their training and progress towards the desired rating. Common sell points are, "It will be good to get this experience." and the best one, "Let's just have some fun today!" I believe that, sometimes, they're done with the best of intentions. But I've not seen evidence they really help.

Everyone has difficulty with at least one thing. Most people have difficulty with multiple things. You're not alone. I think the best thing to do is to come up with ways to help you focus on getting comfortable and effectively improving each one.
 
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So sorry about the job situation. It's going around a lot these days unfortunately.

I really admire your perserverance. You're probably beyond ready / above skill level that others have when they solo.

Do you have all of your other requirements (except of course for solo X Countries) done? Night work, 3 hours of hood time, etc.?
 
Thanks all. I was scheduled for my stage one check this past Saturday, but I picked up a nasty bug on the way back from looking at hangar homes in Texas. I canceled all three flights for that week. I'm rescheduled for Dec. 15th.

My simulator helps knock the rust off so I'm closer to doing it right when I come back from a long layoff, but as you all have been saying, it's not the same. (But I can think of it as an advanced form of chair flying).

BTW, I have about 10 Skyhawks to choose from. They are pretty evenly split. Some of the M's are MPH planes, and all the rest are knots planes. I don't think the tach on the IP is in the same place in any two planes.
 
Crashnburn said:
My simulator helps knock the rust off so I'm closer to doing it right when I come back from a long layoff, but as you all have been saying, it's not the same. (But I can think of it as an advanced form of chair flying).
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Wouldn't chair flying be more advanced because it requires your imagination to produce the simulation? Isn't your imagination using a database of your own experience in the actual airplane? Doesn't a simulator use a database of someone else's construction who may never even have flown an airplane? Just asking...
 
I don’t think so. If I forget to use the rudder or use it too much chair flying, there’s nothing to tell me I’m not coordinated. ATT least the sim will let me know. Lots of other examples where chair flying falls short.

I had a lesson Thursday. There were lots of clouds and we stayed clear. It was a good day to get real world experience with cloud clearances. I got to 10K feet for the first time in a light plane. The last set of steep turns it was like the plane was on rails. Frank set up the ILS on the GPS and I flew the needles. I had them centered and when I looked at the VASI I had two whites and two reds. Imagine that.

I couldn’t tell any difference, but he said for the first time I wasn’t too high nor too low when I rounded out. Also, I didn’t over rotate.

ATIS said we had a crosswind and winds gusting from 12 to 20 knots. He was going to take the landing but the wind was straight down the runway. I was on and pointing down the centerline when I touched down. He didn’t say anything but as soon as we touched down I let the nose come down. I need to keep it up as long as possible for aerodynamic braking.

I wasn’t well enough to fly over the weekend but I had some ground school and started studying airspace. I was tired at the end of the day so I only got 15 minutes in but I cleared up my confusion with Class D airspace heights, especially around airports.

I’ve spent a lot of time practicing slow flight on my simulator. It has a built in bank to the left so I have to keep checking my AI. I think that’s good practice for keeping my scan going.

I’ll post a picture or so of the clouds we were clear of around 10K feet, later.
 
Crashnburn said:
I got to 10K feet for the first time in a light plane.
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Really? From a departure point near sea level? You are a student pilot and have nothing better to work on than climb 10,000 feet? :dunno:
Crashnburn said:
Frank set up the ILS on the GPS and I flew the needles.
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Again, a student pilot you are? Ol' Frank must have some really good reason for doing this, so I won't second guess it. I hope it worked.
Crashnburn said:
I couldn’t tell any difference, but he said for the first time I wasn’t too high nor too low when I rounded out.
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If you couldn't tell the difference from what you're used to doing, then I guess nothing was gained by flying a glide slope.
Crashnburn said:
Also, I didn’t over rotate. ... He didn’t say anything but as soon as we touched down I let the nose come down.
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In other words, you landed too fast because you "drove it on"?
Crashnburn said:
I’ve spent a lot of time practicing slow flight on my simulator. It has a built in bank to the left so I have to keep checking my AI.
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In an airplane you have windows. If you keep looking at the AI it is what they call a "negative transfer". If you chair fly, you'll be imagining looking out the window not at the AI. Same goes for rudder coordination. If you associate the "feel" of your simulator's rudder with the inclinometer indication, It'll be a negative transfer too. The airplane will feel a lot different.

Crashnburn, I know others with a lot of experience agree with me that you are placing too much faith in what a simulator can do for you. It is wonderful for helping learn IFR procedures by distracting pilots with a "flying device" that requires constant attention while they try to navigate, a usually simple thing to do in an actual certified airplane. Simulators are so unstable they reveal the slightest imperfection in an instrument pilot's ability to think and fly at the same time. This is far from your situation which should be learning the feelings in the seat of your pants, if I may be so crude. For your sake, unplug that thing and smell the gasoline. Open the side window and slip it until your hat blows off. Am I getting through?
 
Are working on a PPL or instrument rating?
Or are you just flying with a CFI for fun(nothing wrong with that)and not trying to earn anything?
 
Gary Ward said:
Are working on a PPL or instrument rating?
Or are you just flying with a CFI for fun(nothing wrong with that)and not trying to earn anything?
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As I understand it he is working towards a stage one check before his solo. He is working on his PPL. Not sure what all the other stuff is about ...
 
Let’s just say I’m getting to experience all kinds of weather rather than just flying on great days. When I get my PPL clouds won’t go from theoretical to real overnight and seeing them up close helps with my aviation knowledge.

I don’t know why a lot of you are so dead set against flight simulators. Mine has helped me make breakthroughs and practice stuff a lot less expensive than $250 an hour. I guess I’m one of the few people who use a simulator and keeps their head outside the cockpit in real life.

I had no problem going from lining up on 31R to 31L after ATC changed our runway. I couldn’t have done that with my head in the cockpit.

I guess you’ve never heard of Flight Safety International where all the training is done on simulators. All of the astronauts trained for their flights on simulators. Same with the X-15 pilots. I could go on. You might have heard airlines train with simulators. The current crop of desktop simulators is well past the Sublogic simulators of the previous millennium.
 
Crashnburn said:
I don’t know why a lot of you are so dead set against flight simulators. ... I guess you’ve never heard of Flight Safety International where all the training is done on simulators.
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Speaking for myself, maybe it's because I have more time in simulators at FSI than you have total time. That doesn't even count hours at Simuflite, Quickturn, American and United Airlines. I also own a Redbird TD2 for my current amusement. If simulators were as effective as you say, you should have soloed in less time than average don't you think?
 
dtuuri said:
Speaking for myself, maybe it's because I have more time in simulators at FSI than you have total time. That doesn't even count hours at Simuflite, Quickturn, American and United Airlines. I also own a Redbird TD2 for my current amusement. If simulators were as effective as you say, you should have soloed in less time than average don't you think?
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It’s simply that the moment you begin questioning things he becomes a condescending knob.
 
Crashnburn said:
Let’s just say I’m getting to experience all kinds of weather rather than just flying on great days. When I get my PPL clouds won’t go from theoretical to real overnight and seeing them up close helps with my aviation knowledge.

I don’t know why a lot of you are so dead set against flight simulators. Mine has helped me make breakthroughs and practice stuff a lot less expensive than $250 an hour. I guess I’m one of the few people who use a simulator and keeps their head outside the cockpit in real life.

I had no problem going from lining up on 31R to 31L after ATC changed our runway. I couldn’t have done that with my head in the cockpit.

I guess you’ve never heard of Flight Safety International where all the training is done on simulators. All of the astronauts trained for their flights on simulators. Same with the X-15 pilots. I could go on. You might have heard airlines train with simulators. The current crop of desktop simulators is well past the Sublogic simulators of the previous millennium.
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Lets be clear - the Level D flight simulators at Flight Safety are A LOT different than a flight simulator you have in your home. Comparing the two is really apples to oranges entirely.
 
M
RyanB said:
Lets be clear - the Level D flight simulators at Flight Safety are A LOT different than a flight simulator you have in your home. Comparing the two is really apples to oranges entirely.
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More like watermelons to grapes.
 
EDIT: Deleted after re-reading the OPs flying history.
 
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Rgbeard said:
It’s simply that the moment you begin questioning things he becomes a condescending knob.
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That's too strong for me. @Crashnburn just seems absolutely convinced his simulator is the key to fix all his flying problems. He clings to the notion as though it's some kind of parachute. If I were I able to, I'd put him in the rear seat of a Champ where he can't see the instruments and start from the beginning on a turf field. If that didn't work, maybe it's time to just fly with a CFI for the fun of it (which might be the phase he's in already as far as the flight school is concerned).
 
dtuuri said:
That's too strong for me. @Crashnburn just seems absolutely convinced his simulator is the key to fix all his flying problems. He clings to the notion as though it's some kind of parachute. If I were I able to, I'd put him in the rear seat of a Champ where he can't see the instruments and start from the beginning on a turf field. If that didn't work, maybe it's time to just fly with a CFI for the fun of it (which might be the phase he's in already as far as the flight school is concerned).
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Anyone who says, to someone of your qualifications, “I guess you’ve never heard of FlightSafety” is being condescending.
 
Reminds me of an acquaintance, ink still wet on his commercial ticket and *maybe* into double-digit hours dropping jumpers, saying an airshow pilot was a (feline) for not flying lower. The airshow pilot was a Marine Corps aviator fresh back from a combat deployment, flying a Harrier down to 75 feet.
 
Crashnburn said:
I’ve spent a lot of time practicing slow flight on my simulator. It has a built in bank to the left so I have to keep checking my AI. I think that’s good practice for keeping my scan going.
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You need to able to keep your eyes outside in slow flight. True slow flight means that if you bank more than maybe 10 degrees or increase AOA, the wing will stall. You want to be eyes out so you learn the visual cues - nose position relative to the horizon - and seat-of-the-pants feel to stay coordinated. The mind-muscle connection will come quicker than from looking at the instruments and interpreting their meaning. You’ve got a lifetime of adjusting your body’s position relative to the horizon and by feel - why not use that innate ability, which translates quite naturally to coordinating a moving vessel? Riding a bike uses the same skillset. Hundreds of thousands of pilots learned coordinated slow flight - and thus a controlled, on-speed approach and landing - in planes that didn’t have any sort of attitude indicator beyond the Mk.1 Mod 0 Eyeball.
 
Personally, I am not a big fan of simulators for private pilot students. But our school does offer a program for high school students called "Aviation 101" which gives them ground school and sim time with a CFI to prepare for the knowledge exam. It may help them understand what to expect when they start flying the airplane... I don't know; I am not involved in that program.

Personally, I did benefit from simulator time during my instrument training and also emergency procedure training for the C-130. You can simulate things that are much riskier in the airplane.

Where I work, a coworker brought the first Citation jet home for a local business some years ago. It was a really windy day, lots of crosswind, and I mentioned that when he arrived. He said it was only his second landing in the actual airplane - the rest had all been in the sim.

But yeah, the sims used by the manufacturers are nothing like any home simulator, and they include an instructor.
 
Well, I passed the ground part of my Stage 1 Check yesterday. I was too congested to fly, so we rescheduled for Monday. I already had a plane reserved to fly with Frank, so I bumped him in favor of Matt, the Check CFI.

It's been a week since my last lesson, but I nailed the steep turn to the left, and seemed to keep the plane within tolerances for slow flight, and all of the ground reference maneuvers as well.
 
Crashnburn said:
Well, I passed the ground part of my Stage 1 Check yesterday. I was too congested to fly, so we rescheduled for Monday. I already had a plane reserved to fly with Frank, so I bumped him in favor of Matt, the Check CFI.

It's been a week since my last lesson, but I nailed the steep turn to the left, and seemed to keep the plane within tolerances for slow flight, and all of the ground reference maneuvers as well.
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You should start filming and posting on YT!
 
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