New Member...

1000RR

1000RR

Pre-takeoff checklist
Joined
Aug 18, 2019
Messages
318
Location
Florida
Display Name
1000RR
Just thought I'd post as a new member to the forum. Just joined a local flying club and will begin my PPL soon. Always been a life long dream, as true with many... just now at a point in my life to pursue it and see where it takes me.
 
Mike Smith said:
Welcome to the asylum. Feel free to ask a lot of questions, you may not get the right answer, but you will get plenty of wrong ones to choose from.
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Yes, and thanks Mike... true with plenty of the forums/BBs. I'm sure I'll have plenty of questions, just perusing a lot the threads and such right now. I don't have too many questions yet - I don't know what I don't know... or maybe I know I don't know plenty.
 
I saw the thread title and thought, 'Wow! It's amazing what they can do w/ surgery these days!"

Welcome. Lots of good folks and a wonderful knowledge base here. Enjoy your training, and fly frequently.
 
Welcome from another relative newbie... to the forum but not to having a PPL.

No knowing your age, and regardless of it.

Unless you are in perfect health, and have a perfect record with "Johnny Law"
Get your physical first.

Unless you are flying light sport.
 
Health is good and Johnny doesn't have my name on any lists anywhere ;-)
 
CharlieD3 said:
Welcome from another relative newbie... to the forum but not to having a PPL.

No knowing your age, and regardless of it.

Unless you are in perfect health, and have a perfect record with "Johnny Law"
Get your physical first.

Unless you are flying light sport.
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Not knowing what I don't know I guess I should ask... Appears that a class 3 medical certificate is required for a PPL which doesn't seem all that restrictive as far as examination goes (relative to a Class 2). You mention "perfect" health... can you describe that further? My health is fine, but I'm curious as to what you meant by "perfect" for a PPL?

As for Johnny Law, I was actually a LEO at one point, among other things that required (and still do) require a very clean record. I haven't run across anything in what I've read for a PPL that requires a "perfect record" with "Johnny Law" or any record for that matter. Can you expound on that, do they do some background checks etc.? It would make sense to me... just don't know what I don't know at this point.
 
Well, I looked into answering my own question on the health side... and my first go at looking at the CFRs... looked at 14 CFR Part 67 and nothing in the Class 3 Medical area looks outlandish by any means. I wouldn't classify passing all of those listed as "perfect" health but I guess it would constitute "healthy" in their sense.

Still can't find anything on the "perfect" record with Johnny Law although the medical CFRs do talk to dependencies and in the previous 2yrs not having tested positive for drugs, > 0.04 alcohol test, or refusing DOT related tests (DWIs I presume). All good there...

I may have to tell my wife I'm "perfect" in plenty of ways o_O
 
Based on your responses, you should be fine.

Do you snore when you sleep?

Do not answer that. Lots of folks do... Some even use CPAP or oral devices to fix that... But, if your BMI is a bit out of whack...

It's a thing.

It used to be a lot simpler.
 
CharlieD3 said:
Based on your responses, you should be fine.

Do you snore when you sleep?

Do not answer that. Lots of folks do... Some even use CPAP or oral devices to fix that... But, if your BMI is a bit out of whack...

It's a thing.

It used to be a lot simpler.
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I don't snore much more than my wife :D. J/K (sorta). I may snore a little more than her. My BMI shouldn't be too outta whack... 190lbs, 6-0"

Seems everything has gotten more complex the more the years go by :confused:
 
Part of the difficulty, and where many folks get tripped up, is the history. Even people who are perfectly healthy today may have had a problem 20 years ago. The medical form asks “Have you ever in your life...?” If you were diagnosed as ADD when you were 8 years old, if you took an anti-depressant for a while when a family member died, if you were stopped for DUI at age 16 even though not convicted, if....

Look at the medical application and be sure you can answer “no” for every item.
 
Welcome!

I think folks are trying to highlight an inconsistency in the regs.

The PPL requires a 3rd class medical. The Sport Pilot License requires only a valid drivers license for health and THAT YOU HAVE NEVER BEEN DENIED AN FAA MEDICAL.

So if you go for and are denied a 3rdclass medical, you can no longer fly under the Sport Pilot rules (whereas if you had never tried for the 3rd class, with the same medical history, and so had never been denied an FAA medical, you would still qualify for Sport Pilot which is limited to 2-seats, 1,320 lbs day visual flight rules flying).

Most people (at least many people) flying under Sport privileges today are Private Pilots who were worried they wouldn’t pass their next physical so they just didn’t go for that test with the doctor, and restrict their flying to the Sport category.
 
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Little things non-pilots don’t think about can result in denial of a 3rd class.

The references to law above refer to at least DUI. They don’t want you flying if you have a dui on your record (I don’t know the details).

Any myriad of medicines disqualify you, no matter how long ago used. SSRI for depression or ADD drugs in HS or . . . Whatever quirky situation that a layman wouldn’t think was an issue could derail the process.

Sleep apnea requires a special issuance I believe.

I think the AOPA has a comprehensive list of items somewhere on their website or, if you are an AOPA member you can call and speak with their medical team.

The thought being, if you took ADD meds in high school, there is a chance you could get a special issuance 3rd class but it will take a long time and some thousands of dollars (look through the medical sub forum here) to maybe get issued. OR if flying for fun, why take that chance? If there is an issue identified with getting the 3rd class some would rather skip it and go the Sport Pilot route as most people only fly solo or with one passenger anyway. Sport path is only available if you haven’t been denied an FAA medical.
 
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Terry, that's great information... and thanks for the insight/explanations. Makes total sense on that approach. I don't have any concerns from those perspectives, current health and historical is good so hopefully all that falls into place appropriately. I will schedule my med eval this next week and go on and get that taken care of. Thanks again for the insight!
 
Yeah, Terry have a more in depth reasoning about getting a 3rd class.

Suggestion, to avoid being blind sided...

Find an AME that will do a consult first WITHOUT doing the online MED EXPRESS. And, who will go ahead and issue if no hiccups for a nominal extra fee if needed.

That will almost guarantee a high degree of success.

The FAA COULD send you a letter requesting more information... Highly unlikely if everything is as you say...

Speaking as a guy who has had a 3rd class deferred to FAA when I thought I had all my ducks marching single file... The squirrels messed up the cadence...

 
That's a good idea Charlie, hadn't thought of that approach. I imagine I might not know whether or not they'll proceed that way till I meet w/them as they typically aren't the ones that answer the phone. I like that idea though... I'll express that for sure - thanks!!
 
D. Ellsworth said:
That's a good idea Charlie, hadn't thought of that approach. I imagine I might not know whether or not they'll proceed that way till I meet w/them as they typically aren't the ones that answer the phone. I like that idea though... I'll express that for sure - thanks!!
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Yeah, I didn't get that advice before I went... Hence the deferral, probably. And, because the AME nearest me (a good guy based on a pirep) was too busy for a month, I went to one of many in a nearby metro area ..

He seemed to be the kind augmenting his practice by doing medicals for pilots, truck drivers, cabbies and bus drivers... In and out, cha-ching$$$.

Deferral required less effort, same money. Didn't even look at the ducks I had lined up.
 
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Get the best headset you can afford. David “Clamps are good but uncomfortable. Bose and Lightspeed make really good Active Noise Reduction (ANR). Remember, hearing is a non-renewable resource!
 
Crashnburn said:
Get the best headset you can afford. David “Clamps are good but uncomfortable. Bose and Lightspeed make really good Active Noise Reduction (ANR). Remember, hearing is a non-renewable resource!
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I ordered the DC One-X. I tried them on, along with the Lightspeed Zulu 3's, and the Bose. I really wanted to like the Zulu 3's but they clamped on my head much more than the other two. The DC's and Bose were VERY close in that regard. The Bose ANR was slightly quieter than the DC's, but not a huge difference. The Zulu 3's seemed slightly louder than the DC's, again not by a large margin. This was with background noise of a single engine going on (not real life cockpit).
 
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I love my DC’s. Try some on and make up your own mind.

Crashnburn said:
Get the best headset you can afford. David “Clamps are good but uncomfortable. Bose and Lightspeed make really good Active Noise Reduction (ANR). Remember, hearing is a non-renewable resource!
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Half Fast said:
Outstanding! Now get your healthy self into the air!
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I haven't posted for a while on here, and wanted to get back into the this side of things - love reading about folks' experiences. I'm happy to update, that training is continuing and we're getting closer each week. I've been trying to get out 2x's per week, sometimes 3, sometimes 1 if weather isn't cooperating. On most bad weather days, we're doing Ground School as he's also an instructor for one of the local college/schools. My CFI says I'm getting close to my solo and he's working towards a final review in my near future.

Biggest thing is getting the plane back on the ground. Landing seems a bit more challenging than I anticipated. Lots of "feel" and then there's the natural fear of the ground haha. I'm getting better and my CFI admittedly has reminded me that for the past 4-6 weeks we've really not had great days for practicing landings (winds). But he tells me if I can grease the landings in the conditions we're in, a calm day will be no problem. So getting there, but still very much a work in progress.

Cheers.
 
You gotta be able to land it in all kinds of conditions, so some gentle to moderate crosswinds are good experience.

Great to hear you've been keeping at it; it's getting the perspective and practice.
Hope you are having fun and enjoying the journey. It's one only a tiny fraction of the population ever get to experience.
 
D. Ellsworth said:
I haven't posted for a while on here, and wanted to get back into the this side of things - love reading about folks' experiences. I'm happy to update, that training is continuing and we're getting closer each week. I've been trying to get out 2x's per week, sometimes 3, sometimes 1 if weather isn't cooperating. On most bad weather days, we're doing Ground School as he's also an instructor for one of the local college/schools. My CFI says I'm getting close to my solo and he's working towards a final review in my near future.

Biggest thing is getting the plane back on the ground. Landing seems a bit more challenging than I anticipated. Lots of "feel" and then there's the natural fear of the ground haha. I'm getting better and my CFI admittedly has reminded me that for the past 4-6 weeks we've really not had great days for practicing landings (winds). But he tells me if I can grease the landings in the conditions we're in, a calm day will be no problem. So getting there, but still very much a work in progress.

Cheers.
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Glad, you're "at it".

I'm good to go medical wise.... And am now parsing the 2 flying clubs near me to start flying again!
 
GRG55 said:
You gotta be able to land it in all kinds of conditions, so some gentle to moderate crosswinds are good experience.

Great to hear you've been keeping at it; it's getting the perspective and practice.
Hope you are having fun and enjoying the journey. It's one only a tiny fraction of the population ever get to experience.
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Absolutely on the landing stuff - and that's been my CFI's thoughts as well - work the landings in all conditions being I have a highly trained set of hands/feet/eyes onboard with me. Just wished we had at least one calm day (we've had zero). Everything we've had has been on the moderate side. Yesterday was a pretty good crosswind and was getting the hang of a pretty good side slip. Tomorrow looks to be calmer, so fingers crossed.
 
CharlieD3 said:
Glad, you're "at it".

I'm good to go medical wise.... And am now parsing the 2 flying clubs near me to start flying again!
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Good to hear! That was the route I went as well. Joined a flying club with some plenty of access to a few planes. Low cost and the club has a few instructors, their own mechanic, and even an FAA Examiner. Great club so far, puts on monthly social events as well.
 
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