My quest for my license

[eMKay]

Since I had my first flight today I figured I would start a thread documenting all my flights, what we did, how long, what I learned. Today was my first time in a small plane, first time in anything smaller than a CRJ200 The plane was a Cherokee 140 (PA-28-140) My instructor is calm and laid back, very young, but I have no problem with that, he seems to love flying, and being an instructor. He also flies skydivers.

We covered the typical stuff on a first flight, preflight checks, specific things to look for, you know, stuff that isn't mentioned in my Jeppeson textbook that I already read cover to cover, like the color of brake fluid (in this plane it's red, it'd hydraulic fluid, auto brake fluid is slightly amber), and pointing out things like how the fuel check ports are right above the tires, so when they leak, they leak on the tire making them very noticeable, stuff like that. He threw a lot of info and seemed relieved that I already had some basic knowledge.

He let me control the plane from the very beginning,from taxiing all the way to about 100' from landing. Once in the air we went over climbs, descents, shallow turns, and practiced how power and trim affect the plane. This is where I really learned something that I didn't know from the simulator, he showed me how to fly the plane with airspeed, and not rate of climb. While playing around with X-plane having only some book knowledge I was so focused on the VSI indicator I assumed this is how one flies a plane, but from the moment I took off he showed me different, basically climb at 90kts, not at a certain FPM. Another big thing I learned is how much the throttle affects climbs and descents, he showed me that once trimmed for a certain airspeed, a plane wants to fly at that airspeed. So we started at 120, throttle up it climbs, throttle down, it descends, easy! We tried it again at 90kts. Slow down, trim for level flight, add and subtract throttle. So I did taxiing at two airports, bunch of climbs and descents (stomach a little queasy) and takeoffs at two airports.

On the landings, they are also very different from the simulator, he uses no flaps and comes in faster, again the plane trimmed so it flies smoothly to the ground on it's own, then cuts the throttle right before touchdown, flares only a little and we settle smoothly to the ground.also very different, when I try that in X-plane the plane just goes right back in the air, then crashes, lol.

I'm rambling on but there was a lot to learn! Future posts will be shorter. I will close each one with the times and fuel, very exiting to have something in my logbook! Now that I'm an actual student pilot with a whopping 1.4 hours

Aircraft: 1972 Piper PA-28A-140 (160hp)
Route: BQR-GVQ-BQR
Total time with instructor: 2:50
Billed instructor time 2hrs
Hobbs time 1.4hrs
Tach time 1hr (I love tach time, happy the club charges this way)
Fuel used 8.4g 3g right, 5.4 left (estimated, the plane has tabs at the 18 gallon mark, we fill them back up to that)

 

[AdamZ]

...This is where I really learned something that I didn't know from the simulator, he showed me how to fly the plane with airspeed, and not rate of climb. While playing around with X-plane having only some book knowledge I was so focused on the VSI indicator I assumed this is how one flies a plane, but from the moment I took off he showed me different, basically climb at 90kts, not at a certain FPM. Another big thing I learned is how much the throttle affects climbs and descents,

Sounds like an awesome day congrats! This is not only where you learned something its really just the begining of learning. You will hear lots of folks say that a Private Certificate or any Certificate for that matter is a license to learn. Keep learning The throttle absolutly affects climb. I can still recall my primary instructor " Pitch for speed Power for altitude"

 

[Everskyward]

Since I had my first flight today I figured I would start a thread documenting all my flights, what we did, how long, what I learned. Today was my first time in a small plane, first time in anything smaller than a CRJ200

Good for you! That's the way I did it too. The first time I had been in anything smaller than an airliner was my first lesson in a C-150. I've sometimes wondered how many other people just plunge right in. Welcome to POA and keep us informed about your lessons!

 

[Trapper John]

Nice write up! Sounds like you had fun, and that's how it should be.

Someone will be along soon to admonish you about logging Hobbs time, but don't let that throw you.

 

[dmccormack]

Sounds good!! And welcome to the weird, wonderful world of "small airplanes!"

You may want to drop the Desktop Sim for a while -- you will acquire some bad habits that wil cost time (read "dollars") to remove.

 

[zaitcev]

We covered the typical stuff on a first flight, preflight checks, specific things to look for, you know, stuff that isn't mentioned in my Jeppeson textbook that I already read cover to cover (..)

Well done. I also suggest FAA handbooks 8083-3A and 8083-25A. I found them very well written. If only all my taxes were used this productively.

While playing around with X-plane having only some book knowledge I was so focused on the VSI indicator I assumed this is how one flies a plane, but from the moment I took off he showed me different, basically climb at 90kts, not at a certain FPM.

At first I found Cherokee's VSI disappointing and essentially excluded it from the scan, mainly because it has too much inertia. I could tell quicker if I were descending by noticing the movement of alitimeter. However, don't write it off yet. Once I became better at holding altitudes and generally being steady, I came back to VSI during maneuvers such as S-turns. Glancing at VSI now tells me if I'm fixing to bust my altitude allowance before I can tell it from the altimeter. This is because I do not do as many corrections as before, so VSI does not lie as much. A good pilot doing S-turns 700 ft off the ground should be able to see his altitude visually, but I'm not good.

Good luck,
-- Pete

 

[eMKay]

Nice write up! Sounds like you had fun, and that's how it should be.

Someone will be along soon to admonish you about logging Hobbs time, but don't let that throw you.

Hobbs time would be much closer to actual than tach time would it not? I'm learning while taxiing, and runup too. The engine was running almost the entire time the master was on, it was friggin cold this morning!

 

[dmccormack]

Hobbs time would be much closer to actual than tach time would it not? I'm learning while taxiing, and runup too. The engine was running almost the entire time the master was on, it was friggin cold this morning!

Tach time is nearly always a fraction of clock hour, and will be less if you fly at lower RPMs. The Hobbs meter runs from Master Switch ON until Master Switch OFF.

When renting, I preferred Tach Time.

 

[denverpilot]

Welcome to the wild and wonderful world of light-aircraft piloting. Sounds like you had a very nice first lesson. Lots to learn, eh? You can do it!

First thought: As someone else said, the simulator will have probably already built up some bad habits... you want to learn how to fly the aircraft from the view out the window... learn the pitch of the nose, the sound of the prop and the air, feel the movement in all three axes in your "hind end" on the seat... the instruments are there in Visual Flight Rules flying to back up what you will already know after a while. You want to be looking out the window as much as possible and flying by reference to what you see "out there".

Looking inside at the instruments and all that PC Simulator time becomes very valuable again when you get to the Instrument Rating, in the future. Seems backwards, but it's true. The PC can also be a really useful tool to run simulators of the avionics in your trainer if it's equipped with any of the newer GPS receivers, etc... but don't worry about that just yet. The CFI will tell you where to find that stuff, if you're going to need it for that aircraft.

Taken to the extreme, "LOOK OUTSIDE" was brought home finally to my head when my CFI brought a bed sheet or something similar along on a flight and tossed it over the entire instrument panel to prove this point and break that bad habit I had built -- from years of PC flight simulator flying -- of always looking inside at the panel.

He showed me in about two laps around the pattern that way, that I could fly the airplane around the pattern and land safely with all those other visual and auditory cues. Not even the airspeed indicator.

A package of post-it-notes would have been easier to cover up all the instruments with, but he was being dramatic that day... and he had the blanket or whatever it was in his car, but we were both out of post-it notes.

It changed my flying forever. Similarly would have jumping in an old Cub with no panel instruments to speak of, and flying something that "simple" too -- it would have had the same effect.

Anyway... back to the important stuff: WELCOME!!!!

Have fun with it! Sounds like you're off to a great start on a big learning experience that's well worth it at the end. The sense of accomplishment when you leave the examiner's office with a freshly minted pilot's license is hard to explain because it's unique.

Wishing you safe and fun flying, always...

 

[dmccormack]

It changed my flying forever. Similarly would have jumping in an old Cub with no panel instruments to speak of, and flying something that "simple" too -- it would have had the same effect.

"Cubs" are not the only "old, simple" airplanes!

 

[TMetzinger]

Tach time is nearly always a fraction of clock hour, and will be less if you fly at lower RPMs. The Hobbs meter runs from Master Switch ON until Master Switch OFF.

When renting, I preferred Tach Time.

Not quite - some airplanes the hobbs runs from startup to shutdown, other's it's tied to the master. Still others have it tied to the WOW switch.

 

[dmccormack]

Not quite - some airplanes the hobbs runs from startup to shutdown, other's it's tied to the master. Still others have it tied to the WOW switch.

Really? I haven't encountered one yet...

But I haven't rented in a while...

 

[Radio Flyer]

Someone will be along soon to admonish you about logging Hobbs time, but don't let that throw you.

I would prefer to be billed by tach time, but unfortunately, I'm not. It's Hobbs time. I also log Hobbs time. That's what my instructor told me to do. Is that not correct?

 

[Everskyward]

Really? I haven't encountered one yet...

The one I currently fly has the hobbs tied to the squat switch. I have also flown one with the hobbs tied to an air switch.

 

[dmccormack]

The one I currently fly has the hobbs tied to the squat switch. I have also flown one with the hobbs tied to an air switch.

Interesting. I've flown 10 different rentals and as far as I knew, they were linked to Master. Then again, I never asked to be sure, and haven't flown a rental in over 5 years...

 

[Jack Spectre]

I would prefer to be billed by tach time, but unfortunately, I'm not. It's Hobbs time. I also log Hobbs time. That's what my instructor told me to do. Is that not correct?

Yes, log the Hobbes time. You might at some point join a flying club where you are billed Tach time, but you can still log Hobbes time.

 

[denverpilot]

"Cubs" are not the only "old, simple" airplanes!

Nope, just the one in most new folk's heads that they can easily relate to.

Plenty of great options out there for old, simple, and awesome... airplanes!

 

[denverpilot]

The one I currently fly has the hobbs tied to the squat switch. I have also flown one with the hobbs tied to an air switch.

Ours in the 182 requires both the Master Bus have power (not on the Avionics buss or the Avionics master switch be on... not on that circuit) and oil pressure. It has an oil pressure line to the engine.

 

[Trapper John]

I would prefer to be billed by tach time, but unfortunately, I'm not. It's Hobbs time. I also log Hobbs time. That's what my instructor told me to do. Is that not correct?

According to 14CFR 1.1:

Flight time means:
(1) Pilot time that commences when an aircraft moves under its own power for the purpose of flight and ends when the aircraft comes to rest after landing; or
(2) For a glider without self-launch capability, pilot time that commences when the glider is towed for the purpose of flight and ends when the glider comes to rest after landing.

I've never heard of anyone getting busted for logging Hobbs time, so it's probably not important.

 

[Trapper John]

Interesting. I've flown 10 different rentals and as far as I knew, they were linked to Master. Then again, I never asked to be sure, and haven't flown a rental in over 5 years...

All the rentals I've flown have the Hobbs tied to the master. Definitely works in the FBO's favor and it's even better for them when the FBO's CFI bills by the Hobbs, too. But I'll guarandamtee you all of the FBO's maintenance and overhaul goes by the tach...and so do the leaseback payments...

 

[markb5900]

The hobbs where I rent is tied to the Oil Pressure somehow. You can sit with the master on and plugged in to power and not run any hobbs time at all. When I was a student we did that a few times.

 

[murphey]

Welcome to the world of POA!

I'll be there for a very long (made even longer because it's my relatives) July 4th trip (probably about 6 days). I haven't been to BQR - flew with Pryor a couple years ago to take the relatives on a trip over the Falls. This trip, I'm planning on BQR flying.

We could make this the First Annual Buffalo POA get together! Anyone else in the area care to help indoctrinate our new member?

 

[murphey]

Remember - Mari flies a Twin Cessna that is very different than/from the rentals the rest of us use.

 

[markb5900]

Remember - Mari flies a Twin Cessna that is very different than/from the rentals the rest of us use.

"twin cessna"

 

[Everskyward]

Remember - Mari flies a Twin Cessna that is very different than/from the rentals the rest of us use.

Well, the first Twin Cessna I mentioned (the one with the squat switch) might be a little different, but the second Twin Cessna (the one with the air switch) was just a 320. It wasn't a rental, however.

 

[TMetzinger]

Really? I haven't encountered one yet...

But I haven't rented in a while...

All the airplanes I've ever rented had the hobbs wired to oil pressure. The hobbs ran while the engine turned, but you could get your clearance, set up the panel and radios, etc... for "free".

And I know one Lance that has the "rental" hobbs connected to the weight off wheels switch - it goes on when the airplane departs the earth and comes off when the airplane touches down again.

 

[eMKay]

Welcome to the world of POA!

I'll be there for a very long (made even longer because it's my relatives) July 4th trip (probably about 6 days). I haven't been to BQR - flew with Pryor a couple years ago to take the relatives on a trip over the Falls. This trip, I'm planning on BQR flying.

We could make this the First Annual Buffalo POA get together! Anyone else in the area care to help indoctrinate our new member?

Hey that would be awesome, the club I joined has over 40 members, we can probably arrange something. Are you flying in?

 

[eMKay]

The Hobbs in the Cherokee I flew is tied to the master switch.

 

[Henning]

Interesting. I've flown 10 different rentals and as far as I knew, they were linked to Master. Then again, I never asked to be sure, and haven't flown a rental in over 5 years...

I've had them hooked to the master, an oil pressure switch and squat switch.

 

[murphey]

Hey that would be awesome, the club I joined has over 40 members, we can probably arrange something. Are you flying in?

Yup. It's 2 days and $1200 in the cherokee. $600 on Southwest. Taking the faster & cheaper route.

 

[JesseD]

The hobbs where I rent is tied to the Oil Pressure somehow. You can sit with the master on and plugged in to power and not run any hobbs time at all. When I was a student we did that a few times.

My trainer has it set up for engine running time too. All the birds I've been in (a whopping 7 LOL) have been setup this way. The instructors state that Maint is tied to tach, however. Not the best or worst I guess.

 

[Ghery]

Ours in the 182 requires both the Master Bus have power (not on the Avionics buss or the Avionics master switch be on... not on that circuit) and oil pressure. It has an oil pressure line to the engine.

Same for all the planes in our club. The C-172H we have for sale originally just had it on the master, but a few of us raised a ruckus when we found that and they fixed it. I hate paying for Hobbs time while pre-flighting.

 

[eMKay]

Today was flight number 2, should have been 3 or 4 but you know, Buffalo weather. I did the preflight while he was helping work on another plane, I taxied, did the runup and takeoff checks without any help, I took us off and we did some road following and rectangles at about 2000ft, he was TRYING to show me how to follow a road at different angles to the wind, but the wind was 0kts at the surface, and we calculated 3kts at 2000ft, so that didn't work, we'll try again later. After that we did some clearing turns, S turns, and turns around a point. Turns around a point I was having a little trouble with because I was trying to get too close to "the point" once I backed off I was fine. We also had a close call with a flock of Canadian geese not 10 seconds after he mentioned "over this area there are a lot of birds, keep a lookout" Good thing they are large and easy to spot.

Today I was able to relax a little more, and was much more comfortable and in control. Next flight I'm going to land the plane 2 or 3 times (I asked if I could land next time, I will also ask if I can run the radio), and hopefully we'll get some wind at altitude so I can practice crabbing, and turning around a point with wind.

Today was "maintenance night" at the club so after the flight Aaron (my instructor) took off with another student who is about to go for his checkride. And I hung around and helped attach wheel fairings to an Archer, and got to meet a bunch of club members, the president and treasurer. Good times.

Aircraft: 1972 Piper PA-28A-140 (160hp)
Route: BQR-northern practice area-BQR
Total time with instructor: 1:45
Billed instructor time 1:30hrs
Hobbs time 1.3hrs
Tach time 1hr again
Fuel used 9.2g

 

[eMKay]

Been a while now, last week the weather was terrible but this week it's much better, so we went for flight number three today, and will do flight number 4 tomorrow. Today we did slow flight which is more difficult than I thought it would be, and we did steep turns which was much easier and more fun than I thought it would be. We also did two approaches but the air was really unstable so they were very difficult for me, need more practice in that before doing an actual landing. Today winds at the surface were out of the WNW at 10kts gusting to 17 but at 3000 they were north at 15kts, so it was bumpy bumpy bumpy from 2000 all the way to the surface.

Sop steep turns, got that nailed, slow flight and approaches, need much more practice, tomorrow we are going to be flying patterns and approaches the entire time, so I'm really looking forward to that. The harder something is to do, the more I want to do it!

I also have some video of steep turns and slow flight, you can get an idea of how bumpy it was, they will be posted in a bit

Total time: 4.3hrs
Aircraft: 1972 Piper PA-28A-140 (160hp)
Route: BQR-northern practice area-GVQ-BQR
Total time with instructor: 2:15
Billed instructor time: 2:00
Hobbs time 1.6hrs
Tach time 1.2hrs
Fuel used 10.2g

 

[skylanerg]

Hiya eMKay! Welcome to PoA. You're making great progress and at a rapid pace. Sounds like you found a good instructor and club. Does your club do fly-outs? It would be great experience for you to jump in the back and take notes - just don't ask questions that start with "weren't you supposed to..." You don't get many fly-out invites that way. Save the questions for your instructor. And buy people lunches.

Keep the posts coming. Great job.

 

[gismo]

If you've got steep turns "nailed" at 4 hrs total, you're doing way better than I ever did. BTW, getting comfortable with slow flight is very important for a number of reasons including that it will help a lot with learning to land.

Two tricks for that are, to use more rudder than you think in necessary and make larger roll inputs than you would normally do but don't hold that much aileron very long. Typical problem is not enough control input held too long. You mind wants you to wait until the wings are level again before removing the input but that's way too late.

Been a while now, last week the weather was terrible but this week it's much better, so we went for flight number three today, and will do flight number 4 tomorrow. Today we did slow flight which is more difficult than I thought it would be, and we did steep turns which was much easier and more fun than I thought it would be. We also did two approaches but the air was really unstable so they were very difficult for me, need more practice in that before doing an actual landing. Today winds at the surface were out of the WNW at 10kts gusting to 17 but at 3000 they were north at 15kts, so it was bumpy bumpy bumpy from 2000 all the way to the surface.

Sop steep turns, got that nailed, slow flight and approaches, need much more practice, tomorrow we are going to be flying patterns and approaches the entire time, so I'm really looking forward to that. The harder something is to do, the more I want to do it!

I also have some video of steep turns and slow flight, you can get an idea of how bumpy it was, they will be posted in a bit

Total time: 4.3hrs
Aircraft: 1972 Piper PA-28A-140 (160hp)
Route: BQR-northern practice area-GVQ-BQR
Total time with instructor: 2:15
Billed instructor time: 2:00
Hobbs time 1.6hrs
Tach time 1.2hrs
Fuel used 10.2g

 

[eMKay]

If you've got steep turns "nailed" at 4 hrs total, you're doing way better than I ever did. BTW, getting comfortable with slow flight is very important for a number of reasons including that it will help a lot with learning to land.

Two tricks for that are, to use more rudder than you think in necessary and make larger roll inputs than you would normally do but don't hold that much aileron very long. Typical problem is not enough control input held too long. You mind wants you to wait until the wings are level again before removing the input but that's way too late.

Thanks for the slow flight tip, it's sort of what my instructor was teaching me but a little different way.

 

[eMKay]

Here's some video, I was out of synch with my remote, most of the time I was pausing when I thought I was recording, tomorrow I'll get it right, this is the first time I tried this camera setup (Canon Rebel T2i, plugged into intercom for audio, 18mm, focus locked on the dash, F11, ISO on auto, changing that tomorrow, bumping the ISO down to try and get more outside detail) Sorry about all the chatter on the radio, we had flight following active with the eastern half of Buffalo Approach, it's a pretty busy class C.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLZ4M0KGn54

 

[EstorilM]

Wow cool stuff, sounds like we're on almost exactly the same track! I just started about two weeks ago, but got 3 flights in last week (fri/sat/sun). My CFI is also a friend, but that makes it harder than you'd think haha - IFR/commercial/twin so his standards are ATPish.. when I'm ~50-100' high leveling out from a climbing turn into the pattern, I get chewed out for it haha. Same with 45deg turns, etc. (sounds like you're doing much better at that than I was-the first time wasn't pretty, but I was getting fixated on the AI and VSI and would sink pretty bad.. once he told me to just look outside and "paint the picture" in my head, it was better).

Has he surprised you with anything yet? Already had the engine "yanked" on me twice - once was an emergency landing which was actually REALLY fun.. except I was so mentally committed to landing on this random grass field that we ended up ~300' AGL (I think he was equally committed to see if I would make it over the road/power lines before entering the field haha). Then we both realized there were probably numerous people calling 911 at that point

Second was engine out in pattern, "you just lost your engine. you're not getting it back"

When are you going up again? It's cool that you don't seem too concerned about performing certain maneuvers (landings got me pretty nervous, but now I consider that the fun part.. getting a perfect pattern with square turns and proper speeds/descents is the hard part!)

I might also be spoiled because the airport is the best of both worlds - uncontrolled but has a nice 5500x100 runway with VASI.

 

[eMKay]

I'm going back up tomorrow, he hasn't tried anything like that yet, probably not until way later, but this guy is your friend so he probably takes pride in scaring you I'm not too concerned with perfecting anything yet, just concerned about learning the maneuvers, then perfecting them as I go on. We take off out of a smaller airport (75x3200) with PAPI but have a nice large uncontrolled one close by (KGVQ) that is also 5500x100 but no glide slope. There are a bunch of airports really close here in WNY.