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

Just passed my ifr checkride. It was crazy. Glad it is over. Been having fun now out of the foggles and actually enjoying the clouds. It does really make you a better pilot to get that done. Keep it up all!
 
Storm said:
Just passed my ifr checkride. It was crazy. Glad it is over. Been having fun now out of the foggles and actually enjoying the clouds. It does really make you a better pilot to get that done. Keep it up all!
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Congrats!
 
Damn! My instructor canceled on me today. He is sick.

This was going to be my first lesson in the DA 40. After a four-year hiatus from flying.

Well I can still go to the airport and watch airplanes...




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RalphInCA said:
Damn! My instructor canceled on me today. He is sick.

This was going to be my first lesson in the DA 40. After a four-year hiatus from flying.
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My first intro lesson was cancelled due to weather. It's a good sign... :)

(and also a great lesson in patience and the fact of looking at flying as a "We'll plan for a flight and head down to the airport with the knowledge that it will most likely be a dry-run and if, and only if, everything falls into place, we'll actually go flying." :)

Well I can still go to the airport and watch airplanes...
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Definitely!
 
After a few months of Instrument Training I decided to get serious about taking my Instrument Written. I purchased the ASA Study Course several months ago and have spent a little time with it. I have reached a point in my training where it is starting to come together and it makes sense to get the Written done.
 
Although I thought I was ready a month ago. Today was solo day. Three touch and go's with the CFI, them he hopped out, and got my three in. What a cool feeling. I felt weirdly calm and very not nervous. Hot morning in arizona(yeah big surprise there). It was still cool enough that the thermals were not very strong yet. Cant wait to start the x-country portion now. Very nice thing to do the day after Fathers day.


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Did my first hour under the hood today. My HP takeoffs are pretty much at test standards now. Landings still need a little work.
 
First flight of my reentry into aviation today.

Went well. My basic airmanship isn't too bad, although I will need to work on landings some.

Need to get used to the differential braking steering system on the airplane.

Here is a pic after we got back on the ground.
 

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Woot, sounds great. I know that "need to work on landings more" feeling ;)
 
RalphInCA said:
First flight of my reentry into aviation today.

Went well. My basic airmanship isn't too bad, although I will need to work on landings some.

Need to get used to the differential braking steering system on the airplane.

Here is a pic after we got back on the ground.
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Unless you are in close quarters, use rudder and blasts of throttle to steer rather than brakes.
 
I'm pretty sure I'm soloing on Tuesday. Any last words of advise?
 
Don't take it personal when you tell the tower it's your solo -and they thank you for giving them notice to "hide behind heavy stuff" :yes:
 
Psjair said:
I'm pretty sure I'm soloing on Tuesday. Any last words of advise?
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You'll do fine. You'll probably go around the pattern a few times with your CFI first, and get in the routine of your procedures. You'll drop him/her off and you'll be in the air by yourself before you even realize it. The rest you've already done 70..., 80..., a hundred times over.

A couple hours later, you'll be putting gas in your car or stopping off to get a pizza and it will sink in and you'll think, "I just flew a freakin' airplane by myself!"
 
Thanks for all of the advise guys! I appreciate the humor. I feel like I'll need it.
 
My school has a tradition that you must wear the cut shirt to at least one public place before going home. Because, you know, you did alot to earn that shirt.
 
drotto said:
My school has a tradition that you must wear the cut shirt to at least one public place before going home. Because, you know, you did alot to earn that shirt.
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My CFI doesn't cut shirts. :sad:
 
Timmer said:
My CFI doesn't cut shirts. :sad:
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My school had like the crappiest scissors ever, it took him like 10 minutes to do it. They also have a tradition that they keep the tail and hang it in the office, but you can request it back once you get your PPL.
 
Timmer said:
My CFI doesn't cut shirts. :sad:
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You're not alone. I heard of all this talk of getting my shirt snipped and wore a crappy shirt that day. Never happened for me either. Kinda made the whole thing feel less important, but oh well. It's the blue card that matters right!! :D
 
Long afternoon Wednesday. TOA to SBD to F70 and back. Practice run with my CFI for my XC solo work (already did the practice run to CRQ) Used Flight Following for some of it, plain old VFR nav between SBD and F70 to avoid the Charlie for March and Ontario. Saw one of Boeing's test bed 787's land at SBD (funny - I work for a Cat X airport and still love watching the big boys play). F70 was my first experience with Unicom. Lots of haze and smog heading back to TOA :yikes: - but overall 4-1/2 hours of pure fun :goofy:
 
Old Fart said:
Long afternoon Wednesday. TOA to SBD to F70 and back. Practice run with my CFI for my XC solo work (already did the practice run to CRQ) Used Flight Following for some of it, plain old VFR nav between SBD and F70 to avoid the Charlie for March and Ontario. Saw one of Boeing's test bed 787's land at SBD (funny - I work for a Cat X airport and still love watching the big boys play). F70 was my first experience with Unicom. Lots of haze and smog heading back to TOA :yikes: - but overall 4-1/2 hours of pure fun :goofy:
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Glad you're back in the air. I've never landed at French Valley but I've flown over it a lot. One of these days I'll do a T&G there as I fly by :)

jordane93 said:
Passed the Commercial ASEL checkride today!
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Congratulations!
 
After a long (3 year) wait, one discovery flight back then, I have my first primary lesson July 2. I am very excited to finally get started.
 
If you solo at a different airport other than your home, don't fly away and leave you CFI by the side of the runway... And don't break the airplane. You are his ride home. :)
 
For my post-certificate learning, I went up with my CFI in a 172S. Not a lot different from the N, but it's amazing how uncomfortable I felt with some extra gauges, no carb heat, the controls felt a bit different and very smooth, in fact.

Unfortunately, the plane I rented is a '99 and has the original radios, so despite being the most modern plane I've flown so far, it had the oldest nav system -- no graphical GPS! EGADS! Otherwise it was a decent plane, and I'm looking forward to my flight with my tried-and-true 172N for a cross-country tomorrow.
 

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2nd flight in the DA40 today. Rustiness is starting to come off (I haven't flown in almost 30 years, except for 15 hours in a Remos 4 years ago).

Getting more comfortable with the constant speed prop, but still need to get used to the
lack of nose wheel steering.

Did some steep (45*) turns, slow fight, a stall. Two landings.

Need to spend some time chair flying what we did in the air.

I a so glad to back in aviation. I've missed it.
 
Didn't solo today but will supposedly do it next Tuesday (I'm only flying once a week). Flew a 152 for the first time and found the landings to be a bit easier than my normal 172. That could just be I'm my head though.

I did take my PAR test yesterday and did extremely well so at least that is one hurdle cleared.
 
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Checkride is tentatively scheduled for Saturday, July 12th. Supposed to receive all the fine details from my instructor in the next day or two.

My cross country plan will be from KSET to KPWK, and I'm crossing my fingers.
 
Fredbob711 said:
Checkride is tentatively scheduled for Saturday, July 12th. Supposed to receive all the fine details from my instructor in the next day or two.

My cross country plan will be from KSET to KPWK, and I'm crossing my fingers.
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Good luck ... and have fun :)

(Admittedly, I only found mine fun in hindsight.)
 
Passed the PPL written today with an 85. Wanted to do better but I guess that's pretty decent.

Everything else is done except the final phase check (sort of a mock check ride), which I'll do as soon as I get the check ride scheduled. Should have my license in a week or so assuming I can get a DPE that soon. Rather not wait too long and lose proficiency.

BTW, for those looking for study methods, the Gleim online practice tests were pretty much spot on. I still went through and thought everything through vs. answering from memory though, just to be sure as some questions were similar but worded differently.

Point is, if you can consistently get 80 or above on the Gleim practice tests, you'll pass the real written easily. I probably took about 20+ practice tests over a week period and it was essential to me learning and retaining certain areas, especially a lot of the obscure FAR questions and weather stuff.
 
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Just took my three practice tests provided by the King's online ground school program. Got 90, 91, and 96, think it is time to get singed up for the written. I can now have the written sing-off that the course provides.
 
First post on here, it's nice to find a forum with a laid back helpful attitude. I just started training a little over a month ago out of CRQ. Nice to see some other people from San Diego on here. Hit the 15 hour mark a couple days ago, and have been flying about 3-4 days a week so that should be going up pretty quick.

Passed the written already and have been working on landings lately. I'm still not terribly confident in them, but at least I'm consistently making the same mistakes so I know what to concentrate on (flaring too early).

Just took my first flight to other airports on Monday, RNM and MYF, and made a ton of rookie mistakes, but mostly due to not being able to gauge time and distance very well yet. I'm used to Ramona being kinda far away....not so much in a plane!
 
StinkBug said:
First post on here, it's nice to find a forum with a laid back helpful attitude. I just started training a little over a month ago out of CRQ. Nice to see some other people from San Diego on here. Hit the 15 hour mark a couple days ago, and have been flying about 3-4 days a week so that should be going up pretty quick.

Passed the written already and have been working on landings lately. I'm still not terribly confident in them, but at least I'm consistently making the same mistakes so I know what to concentrate on (flaring too early).

Just took my first flight to other airports on Monday, RNM and MYF, and made a ton of rookie mistakes, but mostly due to not being able to gauge time and distance very well yet. I'm used to Ramona being kinda far away....not so much in a plane!
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Hello!

This can be a frustrating time with the marine layer, too. I'm hoping June Gloom gets out of here after this week is over, although we did have a nice June overall.

It is still amazing to me how close Gillespie is to Lindbergh and CRQ and so forth when you're in the air. For such a decently sized county, you can pretty much see it all from the air. Heck, Julian is just "right over there" and the same with Dana Point.

Good luck and have fun with your flying lessons -- it's such a wonderful place to fly! MYF is great practice, too: it can get pretty hectic at times. Luckily the controllers are generally very friendly and helpful :)
 
Yeah the marine layer has definitely made things interesting. Been a little tough to get up a couple times, and on our return to CRQ on monday we had to fly a bit inland to descend and get under the clouds legally before landing. Thankfully the base has been just high enough to not keep us out of the sky too much though.
 
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