Took my first flight

abqtj

abqtj

Pre-takeoff checklist
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Jul 29, 2016
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371
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Albuquerque, NM
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abqtj
Hi everyone, newbie here.

Some background:
My Dad apparently took flying lessons in the late sixties, a year or so before I was born. He quit when he ran out of $$, but it was always a huge passion of his (unbeknownst to me).

Fastfoward to last year, and he had been talking about maybe taking lessons again, now that he's been retired for a bit (71 yrs old). So I got him a discovery flight for Christmas and he loved every minute of it. He hunted around and found a school in the area to start taking lessons from. In the meantime, he did the online ground school at home, too.

First school something didn't really click real well, so he stopped there and found a flying club with instructors. Absolutely loves it.

Oh, he's getting a Sport Pilot certificate, not PPL. He decided he really just wants to be able to get up in the air and do some sight-seeing, no plans to ever "travel" or anything. So Sport Pilot seems like the way to go for him at this stage.

Anyway, I was visiting him about a week ago and wanted to go with him for his lesson last Saturday. He arranged it with the instructor to take me up for about 30 minutes after his lesson. I was pretty nervous leading up to it, but once in the plane (Remos GX) I enjoyed it. The bumps take a little to get used to, and the sensation of just sitting in the air with very little around you is weird, but it was a lot of fun.

Forgot to mention, flew with the doors off, too! Wasn't sure how I'd fare with that, but not once was height a concern. They leave the doors off for the summer due to the heat (Houston area). Get a lot of "air conditioning" coming off of the propeller!

Well, Dad will be out visiting me in a couple of weeks (Albuquerque) and I think we'll set up a discovery flight with one of the local flight schools here for me. Then, if all goes well and I want to continue, I'll start work on my PPL.
 
Welcome abqtj!

You are correct in that flying in a small plane is different from anything else that we do. I am glad you were able to help your Dad realize his dream. Nothing at all wrong with a Sport Pilot's certificate. It is easy to get wound up in the travelling, but the real joy is just getting into the air. I hope you decide to join our ranks as well as your Dad.
 
abqtj said:
Hi everyone, newbie here.

Some background:
My Dad apparently took flying lessons in the late sixties, a year or so before I was born. He quit when he ran out of $$, but it was always a huge passion of his (unbeknownst to me).

Fastfoward to last year, and he had been talking about maybe taking lessons again, now that he's been retired for a bit (71 yrs old). So I got him a discovery flight for Christmas and he loved every minute of it. He hunted around and found a school in the area to start taking lessons from. In the meantime, he did the online ground school at home, too.

First school something didn't really click real well, so he stopped there and found a flying club with instructors. Absolutely loves it.

Oh, he's getting a Sport Pilot certificate, not PPL. He decided he really just wants to be able to get up in the air and do some sight-seeing, no plans to ever "travel" or anything. So Sport Pilot seems like the way to go for him at this stage.

Anyway, I was visiting him about a week ago and wanted to go with him for his lesson last Saturday. He arranged it with the instructor to take me up for about 30 minutes after his lesson. I was pretty nervous leading up to it, but once in the plane (Remos GX) I enjoyed it. The bumps take a little to get used to, and the sensation of just sitting in the air with very little around you is weird, but it was a lot of fun.

Forgot to mention, flew with the doors off, too! Wasn't sure how I'd fare with that, but not once was height a concern. They leave the doors off for the summer due to the heat (Houston area). Get a lot of "air conditioning" coming off of the propeller!

Well, Dad will be out visiting me in a couple of weeks (Albuquerque) and I think we'll set up a discovery flight with one of the local flight schools here for me. Then, if all goes well and I want to continue, I'll start work on my PPL.
Click to expand...

I, too, came back to flying later in life. started in 1982, had to drop it as life kept getting in the way, went back to it in 2012 at age 62 and earned my sport cert. shortly thereafter. congrats to your dad. in which LSA is he training? I fly mostly in the Cessna Skycatcher but also have some hours in the Remos G3.
 
He's training in the Remos GX. I think the Skycatcher was the plane he started in at the other school.
 
the GX is a nice little plane...no baggage area for flight bags, coats, etc but a nice plane nonetheless. the big advantage over the Skycatcher is the weight of the aircraft. I'm 210-lbs. to take a second 200-lb'er up with me in the Skycatcher means I can only take roughly 12-gals of gas, half-tanks. the Remos is so much lighter that, depending on the specific aircraft, two 250-lb persons can go up with full tanks. I prefer the Skycatcher for the rear storage but as they don't make 'em anymore sooner or later the place I rent from will likely dump it.
 
That's partly why he likes the Remos and sought it out. He goes 205. I'm roughly 245 right now (sadly).

Luckily I'll have more to choose from when flying with a PPL over my dad when I finish.
 
Being in Albuquerque, my choices are Bode Aviation or Del Sol Aviation for flight training. I've searched on here and most of the posts about either are rather old.

Anyone have current feelings about either for getting your PPL?

Thanks all for the replies thus far and any advice you can share.
 
You'll get used to the bumps haha! Glad you enjoyed it. If you ever pursue it, would you see yourself pursuing something other than just the PPL? Such as instrument rating or commercial certificate?
 
Maurice Ellis said:
You'll get used to the bumps haha! Glad you enjoyed it. If you ever pursue it, would you see yourself pursuing something other than just the PPL? Such as instrument rating or commercial certificate?
Click to expand...

Excellent question!

I would think I would like to progress to instrument rating, but unsure of the "need" for commercial so I just don't know about that one.

Who knows though, I could fall in to a bucket of money, love flying, and start wanting every add-on and certificate out there :D
 
As others have said, flying is indeed addictive. A flight school would do well to give out free discovery flights - they'd have endless students once they got hooked! Best of luck with your training!
 
Finally got an intro flight scheduled with the flight school here. It's not until Oct 4th though, so I've gotta hold my horses a little longer.

I wanted to try to go to Bode but they've never contacted me back after multiple attempts to get something scheduled. So I went with Del Sol Aviation. It's a little further from my house, but I guess flying out of our main airport I'll get more practice and training with radio work and traffic.
 
hey, did you just bang on your keyboard to come up with your screen name or is there something behind that? :)
 
eman1200 said:
hey, did you just bang on your keyboard to come up with your screen name or is there something behind that? :)
Click to expand...
ABQ = Albuquerque. TJ = common name/initials.

Where the sun is always shining and the air smells like warm root beer
And the towels are oh so fluffy
Where the Shriners and the lepers play their ukuleles all day long
And anyone on the street will glady shave your back for a nickel
 
Good ole Bode Aviation, spent a little time back in May doing some 310 flying out of Double Eagle II, enjoyed it a lot. I don't have any experience with Del Sol, but if you ever decide to go back to Double Eagle and use Bode, I think you'll have a nice experience. Have a blast and enjoy the beautiful country out that way. :D
 
I was hoping to go there but they apparently only have two instructors and they are pretty booked up. Girl at the desk said there's a waiting list
 
Ryanb said:
Good ole Bode Aviation, spent a little time back in May doing some 310 flying out of Double Eagle II, enjoyed it a lot. I don't have any experience with Del Sol, but if you ever decide to go back to Double Eagle and use Bode, I think you'll have a nice experience. Have a blast and enjoy the beautiful country out that way. :D
Click to expand...

I was flying into abq and driving around New Mexico 7-8 times a year the past couple of years. I tried getting them to rent the 182rg to me. Despite having over 150 hours in 182rg's and having renter's insurance with 140k hull damage coverage, they still wanted me to spend 10 hours with one of their instructors to fly it.
I thought that was strange.
 
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