start my first lesson with CFI saturday...advice?

[muleywannabe]

I would reiterate what others have said....have FUN!
but also to expect 'bumps'. the plane sometimes drops a bit or climbs a thermal. expect it and have fun with it. I think for my discovery flight I wasn't prepared for it so it shocked me a little, but now I don't even notice them, and sometimes they are fun! I am NOT trying to scare u in any way, it really isn't bad at all, I just didn't expect it so figured I'd let you know ahead of time. ENJOY!

EDIT: you know, for some reason I thought you were asking about your first discovery flight, but now I see it's your first lesson. so I'll just say again, have fun and pace yourself, it will be a long fun aggravating rewarding road.

Luckily, I have been able to quite a few hours in a smaller aircraft over my lifetime, between bush planes in alaska and local aircraft here. I have two good friends that are pilots and have over 12,000 hours combined. One has a cirrus SR22 and one has a Cessna 421, both very high performance aircraft but I have been able to learn a great deal from them for asking questions and one is a CFI but does not have time to teach due to job constraints. I would say I have approximately 100 hours in a small airplane, some rough, some smooth and some really rough. It never bothers me, I enjoy some of it as its a rush but the real rough stuff makes you think twice, thats for sure.

 

[Scott@KTYR]

If your CFI has not mentioned it be sure to bring some Prop Wash.

 

[MAKG1]

EDIT: you know, for some reason I thought you were asking about your first discovery flight, but now I see it's your first lesson. so I'll just say again, have fun and pace yourself, it will be a long fun aggravating rewarding road.

A good discovery flight is a lesson as well. No reason not to go over the four fundamentals, at least. My (first) discovery flight had me making all the radio calls at a busy towered airport. That's unusual, but I can't emphasize enough how useful it was, tongue-tied blather and all.

For the student, that makes an excellent opportunity to grade the instructor. Some are better than others.

You have a good point about the thermals. My instructor told me to expect them to be scary and maybe sickening. I found them rather fun and eventually had to be told that a "woo-hoo!" during a check ride was probably not a good idea. Thermals are stronger in the afternoons, on warm days, and where the ground cover changes (e.g., a large lakeshore). Mechanical turbulence is also a possibility if there is significant wind at altitude as mountains, hills, and even tall buildings leave wakes. As I said, I found them fun and I don't think I'm alone in that.

 

[drotto]

Eat before you go. Nothing big, but enough to settle your stomach. I found the first one or two flights I had not eaten enough and was slightly queezy after the flight. Especially my second flight when we did steep turns.

Bring a water.

I personally brought just myself the first few flights. After that, my CFI started telling me a few things he wanted me to have, or I should think about getting. Then I went out and got them.

My first lesson was a bit more than a discovery flight lasting about 1.3 hours. You will work on straight and level first, then more on climbs and descents time permitting.