So, student pilots.. Who are we and where do we stand?

I got my PPL last year. Went on my first solo with about 15 hours total and took my checkride with 42 hours.

I'm now up to about 90 hours and working on my IR. Should have my IR by the end of the year.
 
Just a little update - I just flew my first solo. Was a bit exciting for a few reasons. There was a slight crosswind from the left on a left pattern, but it was also a sunny day and quite a few thermals/updrafts/etc around the airport. Also, temperatures are dropping which means aircraft performance is improved and then without the instructor in the right seat it is even more improved. The C172M I've been learning in really likes to glide, so it took two go-arounds to really get the hang of things (too high the first two times).

I was probably a bit nervous as well as it felt like the plane was really jumping for a few of those thermals (not really anything dangerous as my speed was near the top of the white on a go-around started from fairly high up).

On the third downwind I transitioned earlier and just told myself to relax and widened my pattern a little, and that set me up for a pretty good approach. I hit an updraft towards the end but coming out of it I still managed to get down in time, and while I could have probably held the plane up just a bit longer it was probably my smoothest landing to date (seemed like less control force was needed on the roundout - maybe due to lower weight?).

I feel like I'm well on my way now - still could use work on the landings but I feel very confident with navigation and instruments (that is probably due to having spent many years flying PC sims). I'll probably talk to the CFI about scheduling the knowledge test one of these days...
 
rich0 said:
Just a little update - I just flew my first solo. Was a bit exciting for a few reasons. There was a slight crosswind from the left on a left pattern, but it was also a sunny day and quite a few thermals/updrafts/etc around the airport. Also, temperatures are dropping which means aircraft performance is improved and then without the instructor in the right seat it is even more improved. The C172M I've been learning in really likes to glide, so it took two go-arounds to really get the hang of things (too high the first two times).

I was probably a bit nervous as well as it felt like the plane was really jumping for a few of those thermals (not really anything dangerous as my speed was near the top of the white on a go-around started from fairly high up).

On the third downwind I transitioned earlier and just told myself to relax and widened my pattern a little, and that set me up for a pretty good approach. I hit an updraft towards the end but coming out of it I still managed to get down in time, and while I could have probably held the plane up just a bit longer it was probably my smoothest landing to date (seemed like less control force was needed on the roundout - maybe due to lower weight?).

I feel like I'm well on my way now - still could use work on the landings but I feel very confident with navigation and instruments (that is probably due to having spent many years flying PC sims). I'll probably talk to the CFI about scheduling the knowledge test one of these days...
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Congrats!

I feel your pain, the 172M I'm training in does the same thing to me.
 
after two weeks off, did several soft field and short field t/o and landings today with a decent amount of gusty winds. holy crap, my brain is fried. there were two times when my speed got a little slow but other than than I feel like I did OK, but also felt like I could NOT pass a checkride. my cfi says differently, but he's getting paid, so who knows. solo xc coming up this week (I had an extra week off thanks to a nasty cold). can't wait!!!!
 
I completed my long XC for my commercial today, Nashua (KASH) to Dulles (KIAD).

SFRA is no biggie if you are IFR. Landmark at Dulles was very helpful, $43 for a day of parking + landing fee.
 
eman1200 said:
after two weeks off, did several soft field and short field t/o and landings today with a decent amount of gusty winds. holy crap, my brain is fried. there were two times when my speed got a little slow but other than than I feel like I did OK, but also felt like I could NOT pass a checkride. my cfi says differently, but he's getting paid, so who knows. solo xc coming up this week (I had an extra week off thanks to a nasty cold). can't wait!!!!
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You have my sympathies - for a while due to schedule I was flying mostly in the late afternoons to evenings and for a good month it seemed like it was always gusty crosswinds. For whatever reason the field I'm flying out of seems to really challenging as well (lots of small hills, thermals, etc). It was probably really good from a learning standpoint but not so much from a confidence-building standpoint - no two landings were quite the same and with all the gusts I was always coming in pretty fast. The one day the instructor struggled to land the plane actually. :)

My instructor compensated a bit by having me land at the local regional airport - more favorable runway layouts and flatter terrain so while the winds still added challenge I could at least get the plane onto the ground.

I think I'm the better for it all, even if it did take 27hrs to solo...
 
Long story short, and mainly due to the DPE's size(I'm 190ish and he's 200#), switched from the 152 to a 172 two lessons ago. After the first lesson in it I walked away livid because I felt I was going to be re-learning with only about 10 hours left... Different V speeds, extra notch of flaps, MUCH different sight picture.... I was just getting comfortable with the 152 and especially the soft and short field procedures.

The second lesson made me feel a bit better, did 10 landings in that hour and I think it will be ok. I have 8-10 hours to go and I think that will be enough time to get acclimated.

Marathoning it towards the end. 5 lessons this week(TWO tomorrow, one day and one night) and 4 next week. I'm not in a hurry to finish but my retention will be better the more frequently I fly.
 
Solo'd Saturday for the 4th time. Just pattern work. 12 T.O.'s and Landings. 1 go a round.
Haven't gone to to another airport yet (on my own). Hopefully this week.
 
duc750sport said:
Solo'd Saturday for the 4th time. Just pattern work. 12 T.O.'s and Landings. 1 go a round.
Haven't gone to to another airport yet (on my own). Hopefully this week.
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fun stuff, aint it? :) but yeah, u gotta start heading out to other fields. hope to do my solo xc on Wednesday, that was postponed cause I was feeling pretty cruddy last week.
 
eman1200 said:
fun stuff, aint it? :) but yeah, u gotta start heading out to other fields. hope to do my solo xc on Wednesday, that was postponed cause I was feeling pretty cruddy last week.
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Yeah.. I'm having a blast. Looking forward to the cross countries. Just hope I can make my way back!:rolleyes:
 
Finally got my XC done Saturday morning. With the weather I have been waiting a LONG time to do it. Went for it twice but was turned around both times. So now I will do a few hours with my CFI and on to the check ride!
 
duc750sport said:
Yeah.. I'm having a blast. Looking forward to the cross countries. Just hope I can make my way back!:rolleyes:
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I know, I'm pretty nervous myself, although my CFI set me up on a relatively easy one to start. But I've been google earthing every inch of this trip for like a week now hahah, I think I'll recognize individual trees! I know I always have the nexus with GP to fall back on, but I really want to do it without it.
 
eman1200 said:
I know, I'm pretty nervous myself, although my CFI set me up on a relatively easy one to start. But I've been google earthing every inch of this trip for like a week now hahah, I think I'll recognize individual trees! I know I always have the nexus with GP to fall back on, but I really want to do it without it.
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Yeah.. I hear ya. I have done the trip I'll do for my cross country a bunch of times with my CFI as well as a friend pilot. I'll be fine. Just want to make sure I'm right on with all my way points and numbers for the navigation chart..
 
Well, starting my Instrument Training this week. Going to take my time, but looking forward to learning.



eman1200 said:
I know, I'm pretty nervous myself, although my CFI set me up on a relatively easy one to start. But I've been google earthing every inch of this trip for like a week now hahah, I think I'll recognize individual trees! I know I always have the nexus with GP to fall back on, but I really want to do it without it.
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duc750sport said:
Yeah.. I hear ya. I have done the trip I'll do for my cross country a bunch of times with my CFI as well as a friend pilot. I'll be fine. Just want to make sure I'm right on with all my way points and numbers for the navigation chart..
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You guys will do great. Its funny, I had similar concerns when doing my first XC's solo. Turned out to go perfectly fine.

My check ride however was the worst XC of them all. It went to hell real fast. I had planned on departing and heading one way but the examiner caught me off guard. He told me to go up another way to do some maneuvers, then said. nah, lets just start the XC here and I was about 4 miles off course on the opposite side of a mountain valley. It was a mess. He wouldn't let use any NAV aids other than the basic instruments (which I expected). I had to do a quick HDG guess and Calc, fly direct to a way point that was supposed to be a mile off on the right, then get myself back on track. :hairraise: ohwell, I guess I pulled it together enough to pass. :)


Point of advice. If you have to fly away from your home town area to do the check ride, go there often and fly different XC routes out of there and familiarize yourself with the area. I had never been to that airport or anywhere near it. It did not make things easier on me. :nonod:
 
7 full-stop night landings done tonight. I now have met all the requirements for the checkride. Sitting right at 50.2 hours. Getting acclimated with the 172... 40 degrees of flaps is very useful! About 4 or 5 hours of flight time left, as well as ground mock exams with my instructor, then practical test/checkride.
 
Had to take a week and a half off due to scheduling conflicts with my CFI and one weather issue. I am just under 25 hours and my CFI started talking about soloing. I have been able to concentrate on landings for the past 10 hours, really no landings before that because of wind. I've been doing really well on the landings the past few lessons. Today felt especially good. About 4 lessons ago I cranked my seat to the highest position and that definitely made everything click on the sight picture and lining up on the runway with the rudder. Did short field and soft field t/o and landings mostly this morning. Scraped the tiedown hook on the first attempt of a soft field t/o. My first short field landing I just barely overshot the 1000' mark mostly because of too much speed crossing the threshhold and floating. The next time I stopped it in 700' and the next was about 600'. Going to plan on getting my medical in the next week or so.
 
Did another short cross country today. KSMQ to KMGJ (NJ - NY) beautiful morning. Was able to find my way there using my way points and used the local VOR's on my way back.
 
Went from KFRG to KDXR yesterday to do touch and go's. Have lessons scheduled for tomorrow evening and Thursday morning.

27.8 total hours....13.9 this year
 
Hi there. Long time listener, first time caller.

I'm a student with about 29 hours in powered aircraft, and 25 in gliders.

I was endorsed for solo cross-country back in late May, but due to work commitments, I wasn't able to get back out to the airfield (KGAI). I went up yesterday with a new instructor (my previous one moved to Florida for the year-round flying), flew out of the SFRA, under the BWI Class B shelf, and into Carroll County airport for a couple of touch-and-gos. I reverted to my glider instincts on the first one which put me low on final and without flaps or power. I fixed that on subsequent landings.

New guy says I should get my solo endorsement back next weekend after I demonstrate a few more consistent landings.

It feels good to be back in the air, and I'm anxious to finish this rating!
 
I'm really jealous of you folks who are down the road or finished with your training. I'm sitting at about 20 hours in an R22 and sweating over the 2014 study guide at the same time. Just got my digital e6B yesterday after spending countless hours working weight & balance - and everything else long hand. I've been pretty successful at getting four or five hours of flying in per week. I find the whole process incredibly hard, but now that I can hover, I can see some light at the end of the tunnel. Interestingly, communication with the tower is what I dislike the most (my airport is class Delta). I'm so busy with controls that I don't want to be bothered with comms protocol, though I know that's an important piece of the equation.

Hell, I'm still trying to figure out why I'm doing this - but I can't stop.
 
Tradford said:
I'm really jealous of you folks who are down the road or finished with your training. I'm sitting at about 20 hours in an R22 and sweating over the 2014 study guide at the same time. Just got my digital e6B yesterday after spending countless hours working weight & balance - and everything else long hand. I've been pretty successful at getting four or five hours of flying in per week. I find the whole process incredibly hard, but now that I can hover, I can see some light at the end of the tunnel. Interestingly, communication with the tower is what I dislike the most (my airport is class Delta). I'm so busy with controls that I don't want to be bothered with comms protocol, though I know that's an important piece of the equation.

Hell, I'm still trying to figure out why I'm doing this - but I can't stop.
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Addiction is a horribly expensive thing regardless what you're addicted to. 4-5 hours a week will serve you well, have fun.;)
 
Tradford said:
Interestingly, communication with the tower is what I dislike the most (my airport is class Delta).
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I'm actually a little jealous of those in Class D or higher. At 25 hours, I've only talked to a Class C ATC once and that was just as a quick practice. We weren't even in the Class C airspace I believe. Being at an uncontrolled airport I'm fine with calling out the pattern and coming along with communicating with other planes in the area, but I'm nervous about ATC.

Just got my medical done yesterday. It hit hard when the dr looked at me and said, "Well as far as I'm concerned you're cleared to solo." I'm guessing in the next couple lessons, but I'm not anxious to do it quite yet. Wind is crazy down here right now.
 
Had a really fun lesson last night.. Maybe it was because there was no definite plan for what we were going to do. Every other lesson has been go out and fly under the hood, or ground reference maneuvers, or something else where you just go and work on one thing for an hour or two. Last night was a practice lesson for the practical test, so we took off towards an airport and just did a little bit of everything for an hour. Ended the night with probably the best short field landing I've ever done, in the dark no less!

Looking at sometime in the second week of November to take the oral and practical test, my instructor is going to call the DPE and set something up today. He thought I was ready to take it before the end of the month (that's good I guess!), but its easier for me to take off in November. All the deer slayers take off to go sit in the woods and business slows down :wink2:
 
48dodge said:
I'm actually a little jealous of those in Class D or higher. At 25 hours, I've only talked to a Class C ATC once and that was just as a quick practice. We weren't even in the Class C airspace I believe. Being at an uncontrolled airport I'm fine with calling out the pattern and coming along with communicating with other planes in the area, but I'm nervous about ATC.

Just got my medical done yesterday. It hit hard when the dr looked at me and said, "Well as far as I'm concerned you're cleared to solo." I'm guessing in the next couple lessons, but I'm not anxious to do it quite yet. Wind is crazy down here right now.
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Don't be nervous, it's fun! It gets easier each time. I would make it a point to practice. Listen to liveatc.net, then go to a towered field and upon first call to the tower specify 'student pilot'. They will usually 'slow it down' or at least be patient with you. That's what builds your confidence, then like I said it gets easier. Not that I'm proficient, but I actually asked for Class D for my solo xc's so I can practice.
 
Now at 60 hrs.... Ready for Stage II check (flight with another CFI) then hopefully Solo XC- Woo Hoo!!!! I found regular solo & pattern work was easier without the chatterbox in the right seat... Looking forward to finding out if XC is the same?:D
 
Just starting out, this is flight #5. My second time for "S turns across the breakwater" and "turns around a point"

First set of touch and go's - and I had a wee crosswind :)
 

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Good news but bad news that is really good news. I'm just over 25 hours today and my CFI said I was ready to solo. Gave me my test to work on. Bad news is my airport is shut down all next week by the aviation authority to do some work on the runway. So we'll be moving to CHS for the week which is class C. I went ahead and scheduled 3 lessons so I should get some good experience out of there. Just have to watch out for the C17s and 787s.

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk 4
 
Yep, addiction is a bad thing - especially flying helicopters. I dropped my AC Cobra replica off at the factory (Gadsden, AL) yesterday to be sold - additional cash to feed the hunger. Went from there up to Huntsville to check out a guy's Mosquito XE that he's trying to sell. Beautiful machine, but a few things about it made me nervous - like me having to replace the pistons every 50 hours. Yikes. That's like owning a Cobra all over again - only I can't just pull over and call a tow truck if she decides to quit on me. Since I can't afford to purchase a commercial helicopter, I'll be limited to expensive hourly rentals whenever I want to fly. Woe is me!
 
A good friend of mine just sold his Superformance Cobra so he could pick up an Aston Martin DB9. That'll wipe away any tears from the sale of a Cobra

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk 4
 
long solo xc was postponed this morning due to low ceilings. we did a little more hood work and unusual attitudes, plus a few laps in the pattern with pretty decent approaches/landings.
 
eman1200 said:
long solo xc was postponed this morning due to low ceilings. we did a little more hood work and unusual attitudes, plus a few laps in the pattern with pretty decent approaches/landings.
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You had low ceilings and did hood work? I'm surprised your CFI didn't take you into actual so you could experience the real thing.
 
Henning said:
You had low ceilings and did hood work? I'm surprised your CFI didn't take you into actual so you could experience the real thing.
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I'm not sure about eman1200's situation, but I begged my CFII to take me into actual on low ceiling days and got the shaking head every time. I still don't understand why :dunno:, but now that i'm instrument training that attitude with him better change. I better get some actual before going at it on my own down the road.
 
JasonM said:
I'm not sure about eman1200's situation, but I begged my CFII to take me into actual on low ceiling days and got the shaking head every time. I still don't understand why :dunno:, but now that i'm instrument training that attitude with him better change. I better get some actual before going at it on my own down the road.
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Is he a Riddle Diddle? Embry Riddle doesn't allow their students or instructors to go into actual. My instructors all took me into actual during my PP.
 
Waiting on the checkride next Fri. Ready last week, but the school wanted a completed phase check 2 WEEKS before they would even schedule the examiner, even knowing that I wanted to get the ride over with ASAP and was wiling to risk a busted phase check and lose the exam fee:mad2:.

This school is like Jekyll-and-Hyde: flight instruction is great, office and biz stuff sucks donkey b^%$s.
 
JasonM said:
I'm not sure about eman1200's situation, but I begged my CFII to take me into actual on low ceiling days and got the shaking head every time. I still don't understand why :dunno:, but now that i'm instrument training that attitude with him better change. I better get some actual before going at it on my own down the road.
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Is the plane suitable for IFR at your airport? That's more of an issue if the ceilings are actually IFR. My airport only has GPS approaches and we do not have a suitable GPS in the plane to use them, so obviously we can't take off in IFR conditions if we want to land there. Aside from that the aircraft needs certain tests to be performed regularly to be used in IFR, and the instructor needs to also be current (might be an issue depending on how full-time he instructs).

The other issue with flying IFR is that you could get ground delays before taking off (wasting your time), and you're going to end up flying a route vs being able to practice arbitrary maneuvers.

I still would love to do it, but I can see why instructors don't want to make a habit out of it unless for actual IFR instruction. Even for IFR instruction it probably makes sense to start on the basics under the hood or in a sim where the instructor can give you a variety of "clearances" and such to practice on vs just spending time sitting on the ground for 40min and then flying a simple route and a straightforward approach with real ATC. Both probably have their place.

But, I'm not even a PP, let alone a CFII, so I'll defer t the experts on that...
 
Henning said:
You had low ceilings and did hood work? I'm surprised your CFI didn't take you into actual so you could experience the real thing.
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we had low ceilings over both solo xc routes I had planned, so we stayed around our field (which did NOT have low ceilings) for the hood work instead of me going on my solo xc.
 
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