JasonCT
Pattern Altitude
Congrats Brookadoodle!
First airport on my own
- Thread starter HPNFlyGirl
- Start date
flyingcheesehead
Touchdown! Greaser!
Henning said:
Mine did... But my training schedule was a little different than average. It went like this: Solo on Saturday morning, first cross country with CFI Saturday afternoon, second x/c with CFI on Sunday morning, first solo x/c Sunday afternoon. Fast forward two weeks, second solo x/c on Saturday morning, long solo x/c Saturday afternoon, and all 3 hours of night training that night. 7.2 of my 42.6 hours were done that day. Two weeks later was more solo work and mock checkrides, two weeks after that was the real thing.
HPNFlyGirl
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flyingcheesehead said:
Wow talk about the quick, quick version.
flyingcheesehead
Touchdown! Greaser!
Brook... That's awesome! 
Going places solo is the best part of the Private training. It makes you feel like a "real" pilot, doesn't it?
Going places solo is the best part of the Private training. It makes you feel like a "real" pilot, doesn't it?
flyingcheesehead
Touchdown! Greaser!
HPNFlyGirl said:Wow talk about the quick, quick version.
Yeah, it was quick. Nothing like being stuck on the ground nearly broke and doing self-study ground school for two years to get you motivated when you actually fly! That plus reading all the questions and answers on the old AOPA board was what did it. I'd done so much chair flying that by the time I got in the plane there really weren't any surprises.
On the second dual x/c (the morning of the first solo one), I challenged my CFI to get me lost. I stuck my head in my lap while he did some steep turns, some straight and level, more steep turns, and then told me to find myself. I was amazed at how he managed to change the situation in just a couple minutes! I looked up and I really didn't know exactly where I was. I used the radios first, and immediately noticed that the ADF was off. The OBS on Nav2 had been twisted, and the frequency on Nav1 changed. I fixed all of that and used VOR triangulation to find where I was on the chart. I said "OK, I'm right here" but when I looked out the window it still didn't make sense. "OK, highway 151 is there, but it should be pointing that way!" CFI was grinning, and I noticed he'd twisted the DG to be about 120 degrees off from the compass. Problem solved, and back home I went.
He really liked to challenge me and I liked to challenge him back. It all started one day when we were doing some ground stuff. I was nailing everything (like I said, two years of studying will do that to ya) and he wanted me to get something wrong. He pointed to a panel poster and said "What's that?" When I said "Kollsman window!" He said, "Dammit! You're not supposed to know that!"
So, I'm pretty sure what he did to me on my first solo X/C was on purpose. I was using the ASA flight planning forms and the format got me screwed up. I ended up calculating my heading off of my groundspeed rather than my desired course.
He reviewed my planning and let me go. I got up in the air and went "Oops... Heading 104 to Rockford? I don't think so..." So I pointed down my course and figured out a rough wind correction angle and got where I was going. Lesson learned.Then I made up for the quickie private training by taking freakin' forever to get my IR.
flyingcheesehead said:So, I'm pretty sure what he did to me on my first solo X/C was on purpose. I was using the ASA flight planning forms and the format got me screwed up. I ended up calculating my heading off of my groundspeed rather than my desired course.
Then I made up for the quickie private training by taking freakin' forever to get my IR.
That lesson is.... Have an idea of which way to leave the airport and leave the rest of the navigation planning till airborn
.BTW, did my IR in 10 days and logged an approach in actual on the checkride.
as well, I thought I busted when he told me to take off my Foggles, then I saw we were right on top of a solid deck.
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jesse
Touchdown! Greaser!
Once as a student I left an airport and flew 310 instead of 130. I mixed the numbers up in my head. It was at night and I was unfamiliar with the area.
It was an expensive mistake for me, but I'm glad now that my instructor let me make that mistake. He let me keep flying and flying. Eventually I realized something was not right. I asked him where we were..He said "I'm just a passenger" or something like that. I had to figure out where I was at and how I was going to get home. A valuable lesson.
It was an expensive mistake for me, but I'm glad now that my instructor let me make that mistake. He let me keep flying and flying. Eventually I realized something was not right. I asked him where we were..He said "I'm just a passenger" or something like that. I had to figure out where I was at and how I was going to get home. A valuable lesson.