Intro/First Flight for students- CFIs ?

Jeanie

Jeanie

Pattern Altitude
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Jeanie
What do you do on an intro/first flight w/ new student pilots? and Why?
 
dmccormack said:
You're welcome!

I'm sure it's not exhaustive -- feel free to add/question.
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Okey dokey, here goes. I have given a lot of "pony rides" so I have some experience w/ new to small plane Pax flights. Ones that are just for fun - like birthdays, sight seeing... I live in a mountainous area and its rarely silky smooth so I always explain the bumps and burbles with the river analogy. Works best if they have canoed or kayaked before. And, we cover the other types of concerns - gizmos, banking etc. I always offer to let them fly when we're at altitude and they always beam when we return: "we saw this and this and this and I even flew the plane too !" pictures get taken and once my journalist friend that I took up for a tour of the Big Bend wrote an article in the local paper. Good PR> I really like giving pony rides - Once I gave a ride to a very small, very bright 12 yr old boy who is seriously into airplanes and aviation- books, model planes all that. We had him up on several cushions to see out and he asked umpteen questions about runway incursions, stall speeds vs. banking - this when he was flying, relative wind, symbols on the chart, etc etc. It was a pleasure flying with him and he wants to be one of my first students when/if I finish the CFI. He's now 17 yrs old and still just as pokey with questions.

My question is really more about what to do w/ a new student pilot for the first flight. I just read an article by Ralph Butcher about Confidence Maneuvers that was posted in the Flight Training Magazine. Good article got me to thinking about it. Obviously it won't be complicated by too much explanation but then it's a training ride so I'm thinking: straight and level following a road, elevator trim useage, trim speed for climbs and descents which sets up smooth transitions in the pattern - stuff like that.
Any thoughts?
I have a Cessna 152 so we won't be doing anything fast :D
 
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Make sure to give them tasks they are capable of completing. Typically, the "four fundamentals" can be handled by most 1st flight students. If so, some slow flight and possibly a stall demonstration might be ok. Don't forget to get them started looking for landmarks on the ground. This does three things: (1) it gets them used to looking outside, (2) it starts them on the road to pilotage, and (3) it's fun.
 
I tend to firehose new serious students with information, but I tell them upfront that I only expect the to remember about 1% of it, and to enjoy the flight. For me I work harder on 1st lesson intro flights than I do any other lesson. I show them how to preflight. I show them how to start the engine and taxi. I offer to let them Taxi some if the like. Usually only those with some previous flight experience will I offer to let them do the take off. Typically I let them take the controls once we leave the pattern and I have them do straight and level flight and turns, usually following roads. I offer to let them fly over their house or other landmarks they might interested in depending on the location. If they are doing well I will have them work on holding an altitude. Rarely do I get into having them do climb or decents on the 1st lesson. We return to the airport, I land, but will offer to let them work on taxiing again. Then debrief and explain to them what to expect for the 2nd lesson.

I am however pretty open to changing the above routine depending on the student and the situation.

Brian
CFIIG/ASEL
 
Jeanie said:
My question is really more about what to do w/ a new student pilot for the first flight. I just read an article by Ralph Butcher about Confidence Maneuvers that was posted in the Flight Training Magazine. Good article got me to thinking about it. Obviously it won't be complicated by too much explanation but then it's a training ride so I'm thinking: straight and level following a road, elevator trim useage, trim speed for climbs and descents which sets up smooth transitions in the pattern - stuff like that.
Any thoughts?
I have a Cessna 152 so we won't be doing anything fast :D
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If he likes Aviation, fly to a nearby Aviation Museum, or for lunch -- just show the utilty -- one hour later you're somewhere cool!
 
My first flights are similar to Brian's.

We do a detailed preflight together.

We get in the plane and go over the controls, the instruments, and the radios.

Then pull it out, start and taxi. All the radio calls that are not time critical, we practice over the intercom and if they don't have mike fright they go. I don't know if I'm just lucky but I get a good percentage who find pushing the PTT more intimidating than power on stalls.

For the flight portion, it's the 4 fundamentals. Which is mostly about judging pitch and bank relative to the horizon. Put the plane in a climb, help them judge when it's back to level. Have them turn to landmarks with gentle banks, then steeper maybe up to 30°. Climb and descend to different altitudes.

Full debrief on landing. Everything has a checklist and it is followed.

I usually plan 3 hrs for these with about 1 hr on the hobbs.

Joe
 
Like Brian and Joe I stick with the four fundamentals, with an emphasis on looking out the window. I even sometimes cover the instruments as part of the explanation on how they will need to develop visual cues just like when they drive a car - pretty cool to watch someone who has never flow before hold attitude to private pilot PTS standards with no altimeter to look at.

One of my standard demonstrations is of aircraft stability. I'll show them how we can put the airplane into a 30° bank, trim off the elevator pressure, let go of the controls and watch the airplane hold bank and altitude all by itself until it slowly begins to degrade.
 
Not having participated last time around...

I try to make it simple and demonstrative without worrying about making it educational. The whole idea of this flight for me is to keep it light, fun, and simple, and to show what they'll be able to do when they complete PP training. Typically, I'll take them to another airport maybe 25 miles away, stop for a soft drink, and return.

I'll give a very bare bones flight planning/weather demo, demo the preflight, demo the start, and taxi the plane clear of the ramp. Then I'll let them try taxiing a bit out to the runup area. I'll demo the preflight checks, and depending on how the taxi went, let them at least follow-through on the takeoff. I'll demonstrate the climb attitude, and let them take the controls as soon as they seem to have the idea. We'll do some Four Fundamentals en route, and then I'll take it through pattern entry and landing (talking about everything I'm doing). We'll stop for that soft drink and a short discussion about what happened, then back in the plane (after a demo "through-flight" inspection). Departure the other way will involve more "hands/feet-on" during taxi and takeoff, and talking them as far through the pattern entry as possible. After that, it's "follow me through" for the landing, and (hopefully) taxi in on their own.

IOW, I'm not going to try to teach them to cook in one easy lesson, but I'll let them see how it's done, participate in some simple tasks, and taste the result. One hopes that will bring them back for another bite.
 
dmccormack said:
If he likes Aviation, fly to a nearby Aviation Museum, or for lunch -- just show the utilty -- one hour later you're somewhere cool!
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hehe there are 11 public airports within 90 miles of Alpine. That itself is part of what is so cool about SW texas.
 
Your kidding - 11? Hmmm, I'll have to check on that - I can only think of 2. Marfa and Ft Stockton... Pecos is about 100 miles and the folks there are really nice.
 
tonycondon said:
hehe there are 11 public airports within 90 miles of Alpine. That itself is part of what is so cool about SW texas.
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What - that it's so hard to find an airport?
stirring_the_pot.gif


That's the problem with the southwest - the weather might be good but you have no idea what "a lot of airports" means. Texas averages 1.45 airports per 1000 sq. mi. while Michigan averages 4.00 airports per 1000 sq. mi. and it's much higher than that for us "trolls" in the southern part of the lower peninsula.

Based on the data in AirNav a couple years ago, the highest airports/mi. is Delaware with 6.95 per 1000 sq. mi. but I don't really consider that a legitimate count - they only have 11 airports total. The state is so small it drives the "per sq. mi." count up. Of all states that cover more than 10,000 square miles, Ohio has the most airports/mi. at 4.23 per 1000 sq. mi. and Michigan is next with 4.0.

The 4 states with the most public airports are Alaska (421), Texas (389), California (261) and Michigan (234). However, when ranked on a per/mi. basis, Michigan is the highest of those at 4.0/1000 (ranking 11th overall) and California is next at a measly 1.6/1000 (ranking 33rd overall).

Alaska is so darn big that it only has 0.67/1000 which drops it to 46th overall - although I'm guessing that most of them are in some rather concentrated areas and there are probably a lot more "private" airports up there that aren't even listed. California's probably pretty concentrated along the coast as well.

I counted 12 airports in a strip 16 nm. wide and running north 90 nm. from my home airport (now KYIP). I was going to try to count the number within a 90 nm. radius but couldn't keep track of what I was counting. My best guess is 100-110.

So, Michigan may be in a depression (over 15% unemployment plus many more underemployed ain't no minor recession) but at least I have plenty of airports to fly to.:D

Here's the Excel chart I created awhile back - enjoy.
 
tonycondon said:
hehe there are 11 public airports within 90 miles of Alpine. That itself is part of what is so cool about SW texas.
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When I was flying over New Mexico last week, I was marveling at how I could be flying along and the nearest airport was, in some cases, 50 miles away. That's when you know you're really over the middle of nowhere.

As to first flight, I tend to agree with Ron. Some people new to flying you can go ahead and firehose, but generally I'd rather make it a fun flight. A lot of times I've brought people along on trips for their first small airplane ride and let them fly a bit. No need to get into all the technical details unless they want to. Stay away from any sort of maneuvers like steep turns in most cases.

I'm don't really like giving first flights as I don't think I'm very good at it anymore (I was probably better when I was a bit newer). My flying these days is very mission oriented and not very fun oriented, and the latter is more important for most people who you're introducing to flying. Hopefully Missa will chime in here - she's very good at giving first flights.
 
Ted DuPuis said:
When I was flying over New Mexico last week, I was marveling at how I could be flying along and the nearest airport was, in some cases, 50 miles away. That's when you know you're really over the middle of nowhere.

~~~~ Thanks, everybody.
Well, if the nearest airport being only 50 miles away is the middle of nowhere then let's see flying from Marfa to El Paso puts me smack dab in the middle of nowhere ...:yesnod:

I guess I'll look up those 11 airports now Tony.
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To make it easy, attached is a GoogleEarth with airports within 100nm of KMRF. Counting the private ones there are 47.

Joe
 

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Areeda said:
To make it easy, attached is a GoogleEarth with airports within 100nm of KMRF. Counting the private ones there are 47.

Joe
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~~~~ Why thank you, Joe.... some of the private ones are well, rustic and iffy terrain-wise and possibly drugs-wise too. I have flown to and from a couple of them :yesnod: - not the drug ones...
One that is down by the river at the hot springs has a red plastic cup tethered to a spot in roughly the middle that marks a boulder they couldn't get out so you have to jog around it on your take off which means you have to check the catclaw acacia and creosote on either side w/ lopping shears to make sure that your wings will clear the vegetation... .... on the other one you have to go down hill on a rocky flat spot and hope that you clear the Spanish daggers at the end before turning to avoid the looming mountains... It's fun :eek:
A kid out here who just finished his commercial and flys a PA 12 around to their ranches tells a story of his dad landing at their ranch in a 172 after a rain and getting so stuck that they went and got the horses to pull it to the barn.... rural, yeah, that's it.
 
My pleasure Jeanie. I'm working to make that function available on the web, so if there's something I could add to the information to make it more useful let me know.

Marfa sounds like a fun place.

Joe
 
Another consideration for First or Discovery flights...

Some people get all they ever want from a "Small airplane" going up one time, flying over the house, and seeing the world from up there.

Not every Discovery Flight will result in a student.
 
GoogleEarth is a great tool. I mess with it a lot. Click here and you'll get a list of all 50 states showing totals of public and private airports: http://www.flightcentral.net/airports.aspx

If you click the "Earth" link for any state, you'll see all the airports for that state in Google Earth with their current weather.
 
Jeanie said:
~~~~ Why thank you, Joe.... some of the private ones are well, rustic and iffy terrain-wise and possibly drugs-wise too. I have flown to and from a couple of them :yesnod: - not the drug ones...
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How do you spot the drug ones? Identifiers like KPOT and KLSD? ;)
 
Ted DuPuis said:
How do you spot the drug ones? Identifiers like KPOT and KLSD? ;)
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Naw, Ted, just fly in and out of there, keeping low, and you'll know soon enough.

Notice how, even though you are way under the radar coverage for ABQ Center, the reply light on your xpdr is blinking really regularly.

That big ol' balloon has very good radar.
 
Ted DuPuis said:
How do you spot the drug ones? Identifiers like KPOT and KLSD? ;)
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Good one ! Maybe KBaNDiTOS :rolleyes: I don't know really... just saying that I wouldn't land at any of the "private" strips out here unless I knew the rancher and had an invite, the strip is related to a known place like the BBState Ranch or unless it was an emergency. I try to fly within gliding distance of roads when possible and I always carry water and a first aid kit w/ one of those space blankets - bright shiny silver square on the ground. and several bandanas for various uses. and Tweasers :yikes:
 
Everskyward said:
That's how I awakened the suspicion of US Customs in my story in Ted's thread.
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I wasn't paying much attention to what my transponder was doing while I was flying around out west, but it seemed to be working pretty well. Even when I wasn't in radio contact, I was in radar contact.
 
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