License to learn

saracelica

saracelica

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saracelica
So I have my PPL as of Saturday the 28th. :)

It's a license to learn. So what things did people learn in their first new 50 hours? I've had alot of things happen during my training so I was not sure what else there is to know.
 
First long cross country ( Arkansas to SE Florida and back) - Weather diversion, find an airport to wait it out for a few hours, encounter unexpected loud noise following take off - chart corner sucked through door to fuselage gap and beating against side of plane,weather diversion, find an airport to wait it out overnight, visit to FSS to find route through chain of TS, flight through class B (Orlando), intermitten radio - light signal take off, extended use fo flight following with real life demo of its value, learned not to plan fuel stop at country airport at noon - deserted - everyone gone to town for lunch - twiddle your thumbs for an hour.

Second long cross country (Arkansas to Denver & back) - doesn't matter what time you stop at some country airports - twiddle your thumbs for an hour, experience landing and take off at high DA, experience effects of fatigue and dehydration on ability to think clearly, experience real cross winds - go find a different airport with more favorably aligned runway. Learn a whole lot more about cross wind landings after getting home.
 
Only been flying (legally) for a bit over 50 years... I'm still working on the kinks in that license to learn... Someday I hope to get good at it...

Sunday I took a friend flying in the Apache... He is in his mid 80's and doesn't have a license and likely never will but had some dual in a T'Craft some years back... He was flying and I was enjoying the smile on his face as he made pattern altitude turns around a small island in the bay, working hard to keep his altitude and bank angle constant... His pleasure reminded me how much of my life I have spent thinking about flying and how much satisfaction flying has given me (at a price, as my wife reminds me)...
 
Not to hijack the thread but, CONGRATULATIONS! I've followed much of your progress on here and I know it was a big challenge.
 
I took a 34 year break from flying between starting my 50 hours following PPL (1976) and completing it (2010) :)

Since the restart, the first things I learned were:

1. I need to learn to fly an airplane. And I have.
2. I need to get an instrument rating. Almost there.
 
Congrats! What a great accomplishment it is seeing it through.

Shortly after getting my license, I learned that engines really do quit while flying, so it's probably best to routinely practice engine out procedures.
 
I learned how to travel long distances, because the day after I got my PPL, I left in a C-150 along with another new PP on a trip from Ann Arbor MI to Bozeman MT and back. You better believe we learned a bunch on that trip.

Oh, yeah...congratulations!
 
My first long trip was about 70hrs TT I took a warrior I had just checked out in about 750 miles round trip to Ohio with my dad. Dad had over 1000 hours in cessna's but has not flown in 15 years. Learned a lot there. Mostly about weather. Had to land and wait some out, then arrived at the destination at night. Between the two of us the trip went smoothly.

Fly x/c a lot. You'll quickly learn how to read the A/FD and look at a diagram and know what to expect. You'll learn to recognize airports from a distance. You'll learn how to make a good pattern and approach at an airport of any size, shape and with any number of runways. Fly into towered airports and learn how to talk on the radio and manage the information they give you. And don't stop practicing stalls, slow flight, steep turns and xwind landings. When you start flying x/c in weather and wind up having to divert, improvise and get loaded up by navigational tasks, having the basic airplane flying skills down cold is a necessity.
 
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Guess I am looking more about what stuck in my mind as something I needed work on.
  • Finding airports from the air at low altitude, especially unfamiliar airports.
  • Learning to use the GPS, usually a Garmin 430, in the airplane.
  • Learning to stop using the GPS and develop true situational awareness. Getting back to pilotage.
Even with a GPS, I found it difficult to locate the airport I was supposed to be landing at. Still a problem now that I usually do not turn on the GPS but I am getting better.
 
Glad to see some others did crazy long X/C trips right out of the gate! I have a business trip to SC (800NM or so from here) that should be just after I get my license. Realistically... I'll probably fly commercial. Round trip ticket paid by my employer is around $400. I figured my total trip cost, even in the club 172, at around $1800-1900. And my wife is reluctant to launch on a long X/C with the ink on the cert still damp. I figure it's time to apply some good ADM. But still, if it were a couple of weeks later... sigh...
 
We are certification buddies I guess. Mine was also 4/28/12. So far, planned a short XC with girlfriend and her mother. Took my mother and my sister to a nearby field for $100 hamburger (restaurant ended up being closed). Basically just showing people around me that planes are not scary.

I figured I would spend about 40-50 hours flying around and then it's time to think about instrument rating. Already ordered a book so I can flip through pages and at least get the idea of what's going on.

Also, I am going to practice with more ATC conversations. I never requested flight following in my study time and even during the checkride. So I need to start using that. Maybe a trip to local Class B (I am comfortable in Class C). There's also Hudson SFRA that I want to try.

Tons of things. I only have 1.1 hours after checkride, but I think it will grow fast. There's Delaware Water Gap area that should look great. Block Island/Martha's Vineyard. Or local "beach right next to airport".

I guess I will try to enjoy the cert before I start getting more into "work" of IR
 
Congrats Saracelica!! Way to go.

I learned how to travel long distances, because the day after I got my PPL, I left in a C-150 along with another new PP on a trip from Ann Arbor MI to Bozeman MT and back. You better believe we learned a bunch on that trip.
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I guess back then nobody told you that a C-150 could not possibly fly a cross country like that, huh Ron? Quite a trip!
 
somorris said:
I guess back then nobody told you that a C-150 could not possibly fly a cross country like that, huh Ron? Quite a trip!
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Not just us -- two other Michigan Flyers took the club's other 150, and the Winged Spartans made the same trip (well, from East Lansing, not A2) in their planes. Took us three days each way, but it was a lot of fun. Next year, we went all the way to San Jose CA (although that time I was in the 180 Cherokee, and others brought the 150's). NIFA kids do that.
 
Not just us -- two other Michigan Flyers took the club's other 150, and the Winged Spartans made the same trip (well, from East Lansing, not A2) in their planes. Took us three days each way, but it was a lot of fun. Next year, we went all the way to San Jose CA (although that time I was in the 180 Cherokee, and others brought the 150's). NIFA kids do that.
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There you go, Saracelica. Just do that!
 
Meanee said:
Also, I am going to practice with more ATC conversations. I never requested flight following in my study time and even during the checkride. So I need to start using that. Maybe a trip to local Class B (I am comfortable in Class C). There's also Hudson SFRA that I want to try.
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You know, of course, that you can request flight following anywhere there is air traffic control, right? You don't need Class Bravo. Whoever an IFR flight would talk to, that is who you ask for FF.
 
You never stop learning thats for sure. You aren't in your most dangerous phase yet. When you get to between 200-400 hours is when you will be the most dangerous because you will start getting more confident and cocky. You will probably find that you will learn a ton if you start straying outside of your comfort zone on your flights. Fly to different airports, fly longer distances etc. You will also have to get used to having yapping passengers on board, and deal with the associated distraction factors.
 
Inverted said:
You never stop learning thats for sure. You aren't in your most dangerous phase yet. When you get to between 200-400 hours is when you will be the most dangerous because you will start getting more confident and cocky. You will probably find that you will learn a ton if you start straying outside of your comfort zone on your flights. Fly to different airports, fly longer distances etc. You will also have to get used to having yapping passengers on board, and deal with the associated distraction factors.
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Pilot isolate switch, if you have one. :D
 
I learned that it is not OK for me to go months and months without flying a certain plane. I'm checked out in four planes, but mostly fly the 2-seaters, and was surprised at my quality of landings in the 4-seater. Hired a CFI and it got worse (Probably because it was a different plane, we went to a difficult airport, and I had 4 people in the plane). Hiring another CFI this weekend and will not stop hiring CFI's until the landings get better, for good. It has been suggested to me that even if I only fly one pattern every week or two, I do not wait and save up for an XC. That could be dangerous.

On the flip side, however, just like people have mentioned in this thread, I learned more on my long XC than I could have imagined. And even on my last XC, just two weekends ago, I learned a lot. They truly are the best way to stretch your wings.

I am not comfortable practicing the PTS items alone since I haven't done them in months so I will probably hire a CFI for that and then do it on my own going forward (stalls, slow flight, fancy landings).

Kimberly

PS - The new CFI from last weekend wrote me a reply email and said he was not particularly concerned with my flying skills, with the exception of the first landing, which he knows that I know needs improvement. There may have been pressure on me to impress everyone due to the circumstances and there definitely was a misunderstanding between myself and the CFI. He thought I was landing, and would "fix" with power, I wanted to go around, and that is hard with 40 degrees of flaps.
 
You will be learning on very flight you do for the rest of you life. More so you will learn to be a better pilot, you will learn your limitations. Some things you might not be comfortable with now, will become second nature.
As it was said to me many years back, the point you stop learning, stop flying!
 
Congrats, Sara! Well deserved, and well earned.

I got my license (and plane) to travel. And travel I have. Pick a place you want to go, and go there. Heck, first weekend after I got the checkout in my (then new) plane, I took it from Cincy to Battle Creek. Just because. And up to 17,500 on the return 'cause I wanted to make sure the O2 system worked.
 
First - congratulations on passing your PP check ride. That's a major accomplishment.

Second - what will you learn in the next 50 hours? That depends on what you want to do. You could fly a bunch of PIC XC trips to make progress on the hours you need for your IR. You could start on your IR. I got my high performance and complex endorsements in my first 50 hours after the check ride. Find a CFI with a tailwheel plane and get that endorsement. Or, just fly around and have fun. All sorts of possibilities.

Again, congratulations.
 
somorris said:
There you go, Saracelica. Just do that!
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...with care. I should point out that Dave and I spent over two weeks planning that journey, including spreading all the sectionals out on tables pushed together in the cafeteria at the dorm, poring through the AOPA Airport Directory, checking runways (especially at higher elevations) against POH performance charts, preparing flight logs for every leg with visual checkpoints every 10 miles, etc., etc. To give you an idea of our anality about it, we had the wheel pants removed to give us seven pounds more payload. Nothing exceeds like excess, they say.
 
First of all, congrats on the ticket!

Second - You probably don't need to search too hard for things to learn - Trust me, they'll find you. ;)

Third - If you want to accelerate that process, the best possible thing you can do is go on a long - IE, too long to go out and back in a day - cross-country flight. Getting away and seeing new terrain, working with different controllers, finding new airports, etc. will ensure plenty of fun learning opportunities.

The best thing you can do to keep safe in that process, though, is realize that while flying is always an adventure, it's NOT always the adventure you had planned on! Stay flexible, make good decisions, and if you need to be somewhere on a schedule, always leave early enough that at any point in the process starting with preflight at the origin and ending when you're wheels down safe at home that you have sufficient time to be able to divert and land, make alternate transportation arrangements, and still arrive on time. That will remove the biggest temptation to make bad decisions, and you'll end up with extra time at your destination and still get home early if all goes well.

Have fun and fly safe! :thumbsup:
 
alfadog said:
You know, of course, that you can request flight following anywhere there is air traffic control, right? You don't need Class Bravo. Whoever an IFR flight would talk to, that is who you ask for FF.
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I know that. It was more of "things to do" such as fly to Bravo as one thing to d and another thing to do is practice with flight following.
 
Ron Levy said:
...with care. I should point out .... To give you an idea of our anality about it, we had the wheel pants removed to give us seven pounds more payload. Nothing exceeds like excess, they say.
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Doesn't that slow the 150 down by about 15 more knots:D

I think you could've lost the 7 pounds by having both pilots "review" paperwork in the john for about 15 minutes.:lol:
 
Inverted said:
When you get to between 200-400 hours is when you will be the most dangerous
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Crap, I just read something that stated the time after certification to 250 Hours was the worst. It was either robert buck or richard collins.
 
I don't think that the license to learn thing means that you make a list of what you need to learn and then make your lesson plan. I think it means that you are learning all the time you're flying. I learn things not only every flight, but sometimes maybe every minute of every flight.

You will figure things out as you're going along and hopefully other pilots/instructors will point out many fine points for you.

Enjoy!
 
Thanks for replying. Several good points. I started this thread and my phrasing on this board seems to be that it can be read several ways. What I was looking for is what some people gave me "Be prepared to divert - I had had to divert due to wx" Yeah somewhere in my head I knew wx will come up but wanted to bring it to the forefront. I don't have time to make everyones' mistake so I wanted to learn from people. The "don't forget how to land" is also a good tip. Simple things that can easily be forgotten.

I'm hoping to go on a flight in 2 weeks to Sporty's fly-in. Unfortunately we have to take a club plane I'm not checked out in. But I'll be a part of the xc planning process for sure! If only I could find some volunteers from work to go with me! Wish the news would quit having all those plane crashes be on the news! Thanks to the news I'm not willing to go bungee jumping. <sigh>
 
saracelica said:
Thanks for replying. Several good points. I started this thread and my phrasing on this board seems to be that it can be read several ways. What I was looking for is what some people gave me "Be prepared to divert - I had had to divert due to wx" Yeah somewhere in my head I knew wx will come up but wanted to bring it to the forefront. I don't have time to make everyones' mistake so I wanted to learn from people. The "don't forget how to land" is also a good tip. Simple things that can easily be forgotten.

I'm hoping to go on a flight in 2 weeks to Sporty's fly-in. Unfortunately we have to take a club plane I'm not checked out in. But I'll be a part of the xc planning process for sure! If only I could find some volunteers from work to go with me! Wish the news would quit having all those plane crashes be on the news! Thanks to the news I'm not willing to go bungee jumping. <sigh>
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Yeah, all the news stories are affecting the people I talk to as well. They are way less likely now to go flying with me because of all the plane crashes in the news.
 
danhagan said:
Doesn't that slow the 150 down by about 15 more knots:D

I think you could've lost the 7 pounds by having both pilots "review" paperwork in the john for about 15 minutes.:lol:
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Let's just say that Dave and I put together had 135 hours of flying experience and 38 years of life experience, and the ink was still wet on my ticket and only six weeks dry on his. 'Nuff said?

Although to tell the truth, I still don't bust MGW -- not even by a pound. Slippery slopes, and all that.
 
Ron Levy said:
I learned how to travel long distances, because the day after I got my PPL, I left in a C-150 along with another new PP on a trip from Ann Arbor MI to Bozeman MT and back. You better believe we learned a bunch on that trip.

Oh, yeah...congratulations!
Click to expand...

Ron Levy said:
Not just us -- two other Michigan Flyers took the club's other 150, and the Winged Spartans made the same trip (well, from East Lansing, not A2) in their planes. Took us three days each way, but it was a lot of fun. Next year, we went all the way to San Jose CA (although that time I was in the 180 Cherokee, and others brought the 150's). NIFA kids do that.
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Very cool! OT, but about three weeks ago I went down to the Flyers and flew their 162. Great bunch of people it seems. Did you go to UMich? Did they have an NIFA group? They don't now...maybe I should see about starting one up. I know a few people there who fly.....
 
I should mention I'm technically past the "danger zone" I have 260 hours of dual. <sigh> Let the flaming begin. But hey I'm a slow learner when it comes to landings.
 
saracelica said:
I should mention I'm technically past the "danger zone" I have 260 hours of dual. <sigh> Let the flaming begin. But hey I'm a slow learner when it comes to landings.
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I already "miss" dual. Since the checkride last August:

1. Hired a CFI for ground at a coffee shop before my first flight. Was nervous about the unique rules of the Bay Tour. Money well spent.

2. Checkout in an airplane I used in training, but not signed off for solo in. 1 hour or so dual in-plane, some ground dual.

3. Crosswinds "for fun" with a CFI on a day I was supposed to get a checkout in a new plane at a new flight school. Bummed I'd sat around all day waiting for the weather to improve. Practiced landings in a 180hp conversion 172.

4. The completion of #3's checkout, on another weekend.

5. Partial checkout in the new flight school's 150 since it was only $80 per hour. She had a student and wasn't happy with my landings, had to say this was only "partial".

6. Finish of #5. Lots of landings and she was happy.

7. Went to do an "intro" tail dragger lesson in a Citabria. Did not continue but it was fun / eye opening.

8. Not happy with a recent cross country for lots of reasons, emailed / talked to / hired a CFI to "fix" my issues. Didn't see much improvement, worse maybe, but learned a lot and got to do an overhead break.

9. This Sunday I've hired a new CFI (my school has 4) since I don't like the woman who gave me the checkout in my plane and it makes more sense to get the training in my plane and not some other plane. We plan to go to the difficult airports I didn't get to in #8 due to my crappy landings. These airports are REALLY small and difficult (upslope, hard to find, obstacles, narrow, short, etc).

So you may think you have a lot of dual but I think I will have you beat one day soon.
 
jpower said:
Did you go to UMich?
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Yes -- '72Eng, and I was a charter member of the Michigan Flyers in October 1969.

Did they have an NIFA group?
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At that time, the club was a student organization of the university, and so, like the rugby and lacrosse clubs, we represented the university in intercollegiate compeitions outside official sports. The club later dissociated itself from the university for various reasons (mostly financial, I think), and thus was no longer authorized to compete as the university's representative.

They don't now...maybe I should see about starting one up. I know a few people there who fly.....
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Go for it! And GO BLUE!
 
saracelica said:
So I have my PPL as of Saturday the 28th.
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saracelica said:
It's a license to learn. So what things did people learn in their first new 50 hours? I've had alot of things happen during my training so I was not sure what else there is to know.
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Passenger getting out and closing door with seatbelt hanging out. So when I departed I heard a noise that resembled the whole plane coming apart.

Starting the engine and being all buckled up and realizing that the plane won't move because there is a nose wheel chock still installed.

Getting in plane and belting up tight and then realizing that the ignition key is still in my pocket.

Flying as the sun went down and needed my regular glasses which were in a luggage bag in...of course...the luggage compartment.

Landing with the flaps inop and not feeling real confident of no flap landings.

Inadvertently flying into NYC's class Bravo without a clearance. Got an 800 number on that one and filed a NASA report.

Clipping class D without being in radio communication...another 800# and NASA report.

Not realizing my autopilot was on, let alone set on heading mode and couldn't figure out why the plane's controls were so stiff and would not fly the heading I was trying to set.

Trimming the plane almost full nose down against the autopilot and when I realized it I shut the auto pilot off the plane went into a SUDDEN nose down attitude as my new passenger screamed.

Starting the engine with the cowl plugs installed. BTW, cowl plugs can be hurled 50 yards and about 50 feet high or so by the prop! Also...FWIW...everyone on the ramp will notice this!

Taxiing at night not on the yellow taxi line and hitting a loose chock with the nose wheel. THAT, makes the plane stop very suddenly and a noise I never want to hear again.

YMMV,

Gene
 
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I've done the wheel chock thing.

:blush:
 
Holy crap, Kobra! :) I'm feeling better now :cheerswine:
 
Buckle up in airplane, realize headset, charts, and everything else is still in the flight bag over in the truck. ;)

Two things learned early on real long XCs here:

- You get tired. Don't push so hard to get there. Stop at an intermediate airport and enjoy the view for a few minutes. Drink water. Lots of water.

- Everything is downhill from Denver. Don't depart Denver, climb to 9500 or higher and not plan your descent at the far end. ROFL. Some of those first descents were some serious yellow-arc, ear-popping action-packed screamer dives. Hahaha.

One of my first long XCs was to Olathe, KS. The plane broke on the way there.

That pattern has continued now for 21 years. Hahahahaha. Kidding. Not every flight. But a few.

A few XCs later was Denver to Houston. I learned that routing around Texas sized thunderstorms might take you 200 miles into West Texas. ;)
 
That first flight to another airport with no CFI checking your flight plan, and no CFI sitting next to you can be one of the best and be nerve racking.
Just remember to do what you were taught and there IS help out there IF you need it and don't be afraid to get on the radio and ask for it.
As others have said, almost every flight, you will probably learn something new and that is one of the things that makes flying so great. We are always learning something new and keeps it interesting.
 
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