How to ease nerves flying solo? (Commercial student)

I would strongly recommend a longer trip with an overnight. Do it solo. Lots more going on there and more practical.

Try for at least 350nm out. Make the outbound upwind and schedule in 1 stop along the way. If your return flight has nice tailwinds do a nonstop back and I think you'll have knocked out your Comm cross country. But more importantly you will learn:

The winds on that first stop out might be wilder than any cherry picked 100nm cc. And that airport, FBO, fueling will be all different.

Arriving 350nm out will be awesome. Maybe it's a nice evening. Once again, another new to you FBO, rampers and fueling.

But now you add another thing. Parking the plane overnight. Do you have it hangared, costs, etc. Or do you tie it down...where do you tie it down. And you have some luggage.

Then you figure out how to get to a hotel...dont pick something you can walk to...for this trip..pick something that requires a shuttle or crew car.

Now comes the fun part. For about 2hrs you'll be thinking it's the coolest thing ever. Then after dinner you'll start looking at wx. It will start to be on your mind more and more. You might find it spoiling the fun of the trip a bit or maybe a bit harder to sleep. You may need to bump in or out your next day departure time. You wont be flying... but flying will be on your mind, perhaps in a way it never has.

Then the next morning you'll figure a quick breakfast, the shuttle will be 42min late :)

Maybe on the way you'll have to dodge a storm or it will get really bumpy. But you'll get home and feel awesome about it! And I'll bet you, you'll come back and have learned way more than you'd think.
 
Timbeck2 said:
Nobody has really touched on this yet but you don't have to fly solo. Fly with a non pilot. That way YOU are the safety net and the confidence you need to convey to your passenger will come naturally and calm you down as well. It works for me.
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This is an AWESOME tip. I've never admitted this to anyone, but I feel MUCH more confident when I'm flying with my wife, who is a non-pilot. I can't even get her to touch the yoke. There's something about being responsible for someone else's safety that focuses the mind on what matters and what doesn't. I thought I was the only who felt that way.
 
Half Fast said:
If none of this helps to calm your fears, just try to take aviation with a grain of salt. And a lick of lime. And a shot of tequila.
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Ha. That's high class. I'm so broke after paying for gas I'll settle for a cold PBR.
 
L.Brown said:
yes, I connect it to the stratus. But knowing WHERE I am is not the issue. I’m never lost. I can identify landmarks. I know where I’m going. I just have a hard time finding the dang airport from miles and miles away like my CFIs do. There are a lot of little open areas that look like airports so it confuses me and I often have to make the 10mile inbound call and don’t even have the airport in sight yet lol
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Common problem, believe me. Finding the airport comes with experience. Experience comes from just doin' it. :)

You've been focused on progress towards your ratings, which is certainly laudable.

But there's another side to flying...having fun just messin' around. Mix it up in your training schedule. As others have suggested take a pilot, non-pilot, significant other, future spouse, first date, fellow student (not all at the same time :p ) and go exploring, find some lunch or fly to an airport that has an aviation museum, or close to a fabulous beach. Any excuse to get in the airplane without a structured training goal in mind.
 
GRG55 said:
Common problem, believe me. Finding the airport comes with experience. Experience comes from just doin' it. :)

You've been focused on progress towards your ratings, which is certainly laudable.

But there's another side to flying...having fun just messin' around. Mix it up in your training schedule. As others have suggested take a pilot, non-pilot, significant other, future spouse, first date, fellow student (not all at the same time :p ) and go exploring, find some lunch or fly to an airport that has an aviation museum, or close to a fabulous beach. Any excuse to get in the airplane without a structured training goal in mind.
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thank you, ma’am/sir! I’m definitely gonna start doing that when it stops thunder storming all day every day lol
 
Trouble spotting the airport? Welcome to the club, they don't exactly show up like big blue and magenta circles on the ground do they? Some are easy while others seem to be down right camouflaged and then there are those places that look like airports but aren't. But as others have said, you just need more time on your own, you're looking at your CFI like a crutch and it's crimping your confidence. You just need to prove yourself to yourself.
 
I can empathize as I’m working on my commercial for last 6 months but also struggle(ed) with a same stuff you describe. Everyone has already said it but I’ll reinforce - need to push yourself slowly and in steps to go do more solo and with non pilot passengers. For me I could fly with a CFI in most bumpy conditions in most challenging airspace etc...but the thought of doing it alone freaked me out. So I started slow by doing local solos for a while...then picked some further out airports...then started to PIC with a fellow pilot In the right seat...then non pilots. The whole time I’m making sure I solo at least twice a week to a few new airports.

I’m now starting to feel the confidence I perceive others have that I never thought I’d get. It actually reminds me of when I first got my drivers license. I could drive a car but going 100 miles away was a little uncomfortable because I wasn’t sure I’d be able to navigate the highways and all that. Flying a plane is a bit more but same concept. You just have to push through the first 50-100 hours by yourself and make small mistakes And ultimately gain experience and confidence.

I strongly believe that some people (like me) need more time getting comfortable even if they are technically proficient. Nothing wrong with that as long as you recognize it and then work towards that comfort level.
 
One recommendation for spotting airports - when possible, try to approach them parallel-ish to the runway, not perpendicular. Even after flying places many times, there are airports I have a hard time spotting 5 miles out. I have even gone so far as to fly to a point 10 miles out from final so I can spot the runway more easily. Still enter on a 45, but It’s easier to see runways head on instead of from the side.

Oh, and gps on ForeFlight will usually fly you strat to the airport. Just realize sometimes gps will lie to you. I can recall flying into Fredrick, I was nearly over the airport when gps said 5 miles out. Trust but verify.
 
MuseChaser said:
I've never admitted this to anyone, but I feel MUCH more confident when I'm flying with my wife, who is a non-pilot. I can't even get her to touch the yoke. There's something about being responsible for someone else's safety that focuses the mind on what matters and what doesn't. I thought I was the only who felt that way.
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I thought it made me feel better cause I knew I wouldn't die alone ... :D
 
PaulS said:
We used to have to have a sectional open and determine runway direction relative our flight path pretty much in our heads. Now we have Foreflight and many other equally good programs that give us a moving map in the cockpit, oriented to our direction of travel. You can set it up so there are big runway lines on the map, makes it easy to figure where and how to enter. Good stuff, suggest you get something if you don't have it, and use it. Also, you should be briefing airport approaches, preferably on the ground, but things change, so a quick look at pattern altitude, runways, lengths, lighting, notams, frequencies, you need all that stuff before you get there. When I know what runway right after getting weather, that's when I think about how I will enter the pattern.

The problems you describe happen to me when I fall behind. So I stay ahead. I generally don't mess radio calls up, but when I do, I stop, regroup, then call again. Remember the basics, who you are calling, who you are, where you are and what you want, every time. Add things like atis codes or other things as needed. Take a second before you call. Leave out extraneous words, it's easier without them. For instance, I fly out of Bedford, MA, When I call to land, I say "Hanscom tower, Cirrus 123T, 10 North West, Tango, land. That's it, the less words, the better I find.

Finding the airport can be a real issue. Don't panic, again, you should be using some type of gps so you know where you are, or at a minimum, a sectional. I look for land marks in the general vicinity of the airport. The other thing is don't get too low too soon. I fly in New England, Nashua, NH KASH, is impossible to see from the west when you are low. You literally don't see it until you are with in a mile or two. Sometimes you just have to be patient. Generally what I do is look for the big blemish in the countryside. That's generally the airport. Some airports you can see from 20 miles out on a good day, some not.

Practice makes perfect. For the ATC thing, when you realize they screw up kind of regularly, they mess up calls, stutter, give you a wrong frequency, you realize no one really cares what you sound like, just keep asking until you get what you need. Air line guys, I hear them mess up too, don't worry about it.
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I fly out of KASH from the West look for Lake Potanipo, the Brookline Pvt airpark just west of Potanipo has a red roof, and just west of the Brookline airpark is a dirt strip with a DC3. You can also look for the water towers but I agree hard to spot, I look for the strobe on top of the hotel myself.

Every fly to 7B2? CFI took me there for my first dual XC, I was nailing the XC course was dead on, times were dead on, found the bend in the river but couldn't find the airport. Later my CFI told me that it was his first XC and he couldn't find the airport either so always takes his students there.
 
NHWannabe said:
I fly out of KASH from the West look for Lake Potanipo, the Brookline Pvt airpark just west of Potanipo has a red roof, and just west of the Brookline airpark is a dirt strip with a DC3. You can also look for the water towers but I agree hard to spot, I look for the strobe on top of the hotel myself.

Every fly to 7B2? CFI took me there for my first dual XC, I was nailing the XC course was dead on, times were dead on, found the bend in the river but couldn't find the airport. Later my CFI told me that it was his first XC and he couldn't find the airport either so always takes his students there.
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Never flown into North Hampton, but over it many times. I have no problem getting to KASH with the magenta line, but that hill to that parallels the runway seems to block the runway at pattern altitude until you are ready to turn downwind. Always puckers me up a little, lol.
 
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