From Zero to Forty Five - my PPL Diary
Hi mazzy, reading your posts with interest, I am not a pilot but would love to be one, but do fly with a mate at liverpools LFS, just wondering your progress seems excellent and I see you are a user of MS flt sim products, do you think they have helped you with what you have done up to now and if so with what aspects, I somehow think I know what your answer will be, keep up the good work mazzy.
Regards Nick.
Regards Nick.
Spicy Meatball
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Sunfish - keep up the practice. Good to see you are dong well!
Nick, MS flight sim is good to a certain extent, it helps you learn the basic controls and is great for practicing instrument work. Try not to develop your own style or habits though when using it, as the real thing is quite a bit different. I read the ground school notes which are scratch on the surface of most of the PPL topics, dont forget though they are written by an American with a dodgy sense of humour!
You should let me know when you are next at LFS - perhaps we could meet up.
Cheers
Lee
Nick, MS flight sim is good to a certain extent, it helps you learn the basic controls and is great for practicing instrument work. Try not to develop your own style or habits though when using it, as the real thing is quite a bit different. I read the ground school notes which are scratch on the surface of most of the PPL topics, dont forget though they are written by an American with a dodgy sense of humour!
You should let me know when you are next at LFS - perhaps we could meet up.
Cheers
Lee
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Hi Mazzy and all,
Good to be back on here at last after several weeks on the ground (work and weather!).
Spent an hour this morning going around in circles at Wycombe. Rain showers forecast and the base was around 1000', but actually quite good visibility and fairly smooth.
Thanks to everyone's advice, I'm beginning to get the landing flare right, but still getting a regular B**locking from my instructor for being too rough with the rudder throughout the touch and go.
Mazzy, I'm sure you've said somewhere earlier on the thread, but reading your posts about pre-flight and stalling made me wonder what you are learning on. Mine's the Warrior - nice stable aircraft, but why a manual flap lever?!!! (My arms are quite short and I have one hell of a reach to pull it up off the floor).
The Human Performance book is one of the more readable - enjoy it!
Long term forecast is more settled - so maybe some more hours over the next couple of weeks???
Good to be back on here at last after several weeks on the ground (work and weather!).
Spent an hour this morning going around in circles at Wycombe. Rain showers forecast and the base was around 1000', but actually quite good visibility and fairly smooth.
Thanks to everyone's advice, I'm beginning to get the landing flare right, but still getting a regular B**locking from my instructor for being too rough with the rudder throughout the touch and go.
Mazzy, I'm sure you've said somewhere earlier on the thread, but reading your posts about pre-flight and stalling made me wonder what you are learning on. Mine's the Warrior - nice stable aircraft, but why a manual flap lever?!!! (My arms are quite short and I have one hell of a reach to pull it up off the floor).
The Human Performance book is one of the more readable - enjoy it!
Long term forecast is more settled - so maybe some more hours over the next couple of weeks???
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Keep posting
Ill chat here to, very isolated in my house really im 15 so I tend to go on a bit about my flying to my parents!! Im a PPL student with roughly 21/22 hours under my belt! Flew to the Isle Of Wight (Sandown) and got a taxi to the main town for lunch! Recommend that for others very nice little place!
Seeya!
Seeya!
Spicy Meatball
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Evening Hampshire Hog! Keep up the practice on those flares! With regards to the flap lever, it generally doesnt cause me a problem (I train in the PA38 Tomahawk) apart from when you have your harness too tight!
CaptainKarl: welcome to Pprune! there is no better place to talk about flying. This is a superb place for information and contains a wealth of good advice. Do not be afraid to post questions if you have one, that's what it's for.
Please do keep posting - best regards,
Lee
CaptainKarl: welcome to Pprune! there is no better place to talk about flying. This is a superb place for information and contains a wealth of good advice. Do not be afraid to post questions if you have one, that's what it's for.
Please do keep posting - best regards,
Lee
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Well, there's a lot of fledgling pilots in this here thread but on PPRuNe in general?
According to the front page, there's about 600 people online RIGHT NOW, meaning there's literally thousands of regular visitors...and a lot of the forums are specifically geared towards current aircrew...bottom line, I think it's fair to say, is that there will be thousands of pilots who use these forums...like mazzy says, a great resource for pilot wannabees!
Welcome to PPruNe
V1R
According to the front page, there's about 600 people online RIGHT NOW, meaning there's literally thousands of regular visitors...and a lot of the forums are specifically geared towards current aircrew...bottom line, I think it's fair to say, is that there will be thousands of pilots who use these forums...like mazzy says, a great resource for pilot wannabees!
Welcome to PPruNe
V1R
Forced landing practice again yesterday. Flying the plane is not he issue, its now about selecting the right field and the high and low key points, ie airmanship. I'm taking too long to do this.
Last edited by Sunfish; 24th Aug 2004 at 22:11.
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Hi Sunfish,
I have done several EFATO exercises, but not the detailed 'forced landing' stuff yet. Having said that, I guess the speed of your decision making will come with practice - it's like learning those 'before landing' checks off by heart - first time it's laboured and adds to the mental overload - gradually gets easier.
I was on a (management) course a while ago with a gliding instructor (owned his own school) who was also a PPL. He was complaining that, as a very experienced glider, he could put a plane down in just about any field from almost any position, but on revalidating his PPL for the forced landing his instructor insisted he do the spiral descent/circuit and that totally screwed him up!
Keep up the practice.
Welcome Capt. Karl. As has been said, this is a very good place to discuss your flying. Don't worry about the occasional negative response from 'les miserables', we try to encourage them to leave asap! My wife gets fed up with me talking about flying too - so I understand your situation with your parents - they just don't get it do they? What are you learning on?
Paul
I have done several EFATO exercises, but not the detailed 'forced landing' stuff yet. Having said that, I guess the speed of your decision making will come with practice - it's like learning those 'before landing' checks off by heart - first time it's laboured and adds to the mental overload - gradually gets easier.
I was on a (management) course a while ago with a gliding instructor (owned his own school) who was also a PPL. He was complaining that, as a very experienced glider, he could put a plane down in just about any field from almost any position, but on revalidating his PPL for the forced landing his instructor insisted he do the spiral descent/circuit and that totally screwed him up!
Keep up the practice.
Welcome Capt. Karl. As has been said, this is a very good place to discuss your flying. Don't worry about the occasional negative response from 'les miserables', we try to encourage them to leave asap! My wife gets fed up with me talking about flying too - so I understand your situation with your parents - they just don't get it do they? What are you learning on?
Paul
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Hi Guys,
Glad to see theres quite a few of us going for our "wings" 
Hope its okay to contribute to this thread Mazzy?
I amassed my first 10 hours at the tail end of last year and then needed to pass Air Law and Human Factors before soloing. Sadly work and life got in the way and I had to suspend my training
Nevertheless things are looking up as I have had the time to refocus and last week passed my Human Factors exam! Busy battling through Air Law now (I really recommend the Transair CBT course on it!) and hope to take and pass it in the next week or so. Then its back in the air for me! Cannot wait! 
Fingers
Glad to see theres quite a few of us going for our "wings"
Hope its okay to contribute to this thread Mazzy?I amassed my first 10 hours at the tail end of last year and then needed to pass Air Law and Human Factors before soloing. Sadly work and life got in the way and I had to suspend my training
Nevertheless things are looking up as I have had the time to refocus and last week passed my Human Factors exam! Busy battling through Air Law now (I really recommend the Transair CBT course on it!) and hope to take and pass it in the next week or so. Then its back in the air for me! Cannot wait! Fingers
Last edited by FingersR; 25th Aug 2004 at 16:14.
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I got to the point of my skills test - ran out of money (poor student! gotta pay bills etc!) and had to choose flying or continuing to stay with the missus!
The missus won!
However about to start NATS and get 15hrs of flying training so with a bit of luck might get this finished after all!
Mazzy and the rest - good luck, keep at it.
The missus won!
However about to start NATS and get 15hrs of flying training so with a bit of luck might get this finished after all!
Mazzy and the rest - good luck, keep at it.
Funds are a kicker aren't they? Done two of my solo x-country and have now pretty much run out of cash for the next couple of months. Its a pain because I'm not going to be able to fly again until the winter when the weather is rubbish. Maybe some nice chap will offer me a job in the states and I can learn on the cheap.....
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c-bert
As a humble public servant, I sympathise with your predicament. Funds, wife, child etc - all designed to ensure moderation in my newfound hobby!
Just to keep your practice up, do you know any qualified PPLs who are happy to take passengers/students flying? Quite a few people seem to blog a little extra (unofficial) time at the controls by that method. Even if they won't let you fly, they might be happy for you to navigate etc. (Can't wait to get onto x-countries now!!!)
Flying as you do, from S'oton, maybe there are some ATPLs around who like to do a little recreational flying and would be prepared to share costs?
As a humble public servant, I sympathise with your predicament. Funds, wife, child etc - all designed to ensure moderation in my newfound hobby!
Just to keep your practice up, do you know any qualified PPLs who are happy to take passengers/students flying? Quite a few people seem to blog a little extra (unofficial) time at the controls by that method. Even if they won't let you fly, they might be happy for you to navigate etc. (Can't wait to get onto x-countries now!!!)
Flying as you do, from S'oton, maybe there are some ATPLs around who like to do a little recreational flying and would be prepared to share costs?
Spicy Meatball
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So who in here is a pilot?
Hope its okay to contribute to this thread Mazzy?
I know what you all mean by funding (doesnt everyone). If I have too many lessons too soon, then I will run out of cash then wont be able to fly for a while - so I need to take it easy. Keep posting progress and hurdles, it's a great learning resource.
Best of luck
Lee
Not a bad idea HampshireHog but unfortunately, due to the nature of So'ton it ain't a very social place. We all pretty much turn up, check out the aircraft and go. Not hanging around after either.
It's a shame Goodwood is so expensive as I think it would probably be a more friendly place to learn (and its just a close to me).
On an aside I think this thread is increadibly useful and it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside seeing all the other people going through the same sort of thing as me. Keep it up guys, hope to see some of you sometime.
It's a shame Goodwood is so expensive as I think it would probably be a more friendly place to learn (and its just a close to me).
On an aside I think this thread is increadibly useful and it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside seeing all the other people going through the same sort of thing as me. Keep it up guys, hope to see some of you sometime.
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Hi everyone!
Mazzy & others, hope you don't mind me making my very first post on this thread!
Being a 11 hour PPL student, it's great to see that other people are going through exactly the same as me and this thread is a great help in learning.
I am currently doing circuits and am managing them fine except for the flare. The approach is usually perfect but it all falls to pieces when I get near the runway, usually failing to keep the nose attitude high enough and meeting the tarmac too quickly.
I am doing my training in a C172. Does anyone have any tips?
I know exactly what the money problems are like. I was fortunate to manage to take my first 10 hours over a fairly short period of time, however, those funds are now gone and I will probably only manage 2 hours a month for the foreseeable future, which is a pain because once the 'bug' bites you just keep want to keep it going. Is anyone else only managing this amount each month? How do you find it?
Keep this excellent thread going.
Mazzy & others, hope you don't mind me making my very first post on this thread!
Being a 11 hour PPL student, it's great to see that other people are going through exactly the same as me and this thread is a great help in learning.
I am currently doing circuits and am managing them fine except for the flare. The approach is usually perfect but it all falls to pieces when I get near the runway, usually failing to keep the nose attitude high enough and meeting the tarmac too quickly.
I am doing my training in a C172. Does anyone have any tips?
I know exactly what the money problems are like. I was fortunate to manage to take my first 10 hours over a fairly short period of time, however, those funds are now gone and I will probably only manage 2 hours a month for the foreseeable future, which is a pain because once the 'bug' bites you just keep want to keep it going. Is anyone else only managing this amount each month? How do you find it?
Keep this excellent thread going.
The flare takes practice and that's about all there is to it. Just try not to foxus on one point but take in the whole picture out of the canopy and 'feel' for the runway with the aircraft in a slightly nose high attitude.
As for the cash, I've been doing 1 lesson a week for several months with no problems but I'm now going to have to cut down to probably the same as you. It's not ideal but if that's all you can afford then that is all you can afford...
As for the cash, I've been doing 1 lesson a week for several months with no problems but I'm now going to have to cut down to probably the same as you. It's not ideal but if that's all you can afford then that is all you can afford...
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Hi DeltaMike!
Im learning in a C152 and love it! I wonder if the 152 and 172 are similar from a handling point of view? Prior to stopping my practical training (needed to pass those darned exams before solo!) I was around the same number of hours and found the flare came with practice and my instructors constant words of "keep flying it" in my ears before touchdown. I found it easy to become too hung on on actually "landing" the plane rather than letting it land itself, if you get what I mean...
Have you passsed your air law and Human Factors yet?
Fingers
Im learning in a C152 and love it! I wonder if the 152 and 172 are similar from a handling point of view? Prior to stopping my practical training (needed to pass those darned exams before solo!) I was around the same number of hours and found the flare came with practice and my instructors constant words of "keep flying it" in my ears before touchdown. I found it easy to become too hung on on actually "landing" the plane rather than letting it land itself, if you get what I mean...
Have you passsed your air law and Human Factors yet?
Fingers
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c-bert
Don't really know it, but what about Old Sarum? Bit of a drive, but not too far and I've heard reports that they're more of a friendly club.
Welcome Delta Mike.
In practice, I've only managed about 2 lessons per month, with the odd extra one thrown in from time to time. It's not too bad. I have found if I have to miss a lesson for one reason or another that it can take a few minutes to get back into things, but everyone has good and bad lessons anyway so it could just be attributed to that. I know many articles on learning to fly suggest at least one lesson per week, but it really depends on how good you are at learning and remembering things. I fill in between lessons with the odd session of FS2004 - has its limits, but good for recall of key points. The British Airports and Photo-scenery add-ons help. And when you can't fly, there's always those exams to read up on!
If you look at some of the earlier posts, you'll see we had some discussion about the landing flare. It seems to be a sticking point for many people and probably the best bit of advice I've heard is just to keep looking further along the runway than you're probably comfortable with! Hopefully, someone can give you more specific help on the Cessna.
Don't really know it, but what about Old Sarum? Bit of a drive, but not too far and I've heard reports that they're more of a friendly club.
Welcome Delta Mike.
In practice, I've only managed about 2 lessons per month, with the odd extra one thrown in from time to time. It's not too bad. I have found if I have to miss a lesson for one reason or another that it can take a few minutes to get back into things, but everyone has good and bad lessons anyway so it could just be attributed to that. I know many articles on learning to fly suggest at least one lesson per week, but it really depends on how good you are at learning and remembering things. I fill in between lessons with the odd session of FS2004 - has its limits, but good for recall of key points. The British Airports and Photo-scenery add-ons help. And when you can't fly, there's always those exams to read up on!
If you look at some of the earlier posts, you'll see we had some discussion about the landing flare. It seems to be a sticking point for many people and probably the best bit of advice I've heard is just to keep looking further along the runway than you're probably comfortable with! Hopefully, someone can give you more specific help on the Cessna.