First Air Lesson

[garf12]

Well I just had my first lesson where we get up in the air. We mainly worked on the checklist stuff, and preflight. We went up for proabably about 40 minutes and worked on S turns, and turning around ground objects. (Seems Kind of advanced for my first time up???)

The only thing that I didnt like was it seemed like my CFI wasnt paying that much attention to me. She was either flirting with other pilots or ATC control over the radio the entire time I hardly could ask questions. Some guy she hadnt seen in years heard her name on the radio so he was talking to her (he ended up diverting to our airport to meet her). But anyways she appologized in the end and said sorry about all the chatter that wont happen again. She seems OK other then that. She did compliment me on my holding alltitude and heading though, so thats good! It really pissed me off that she was doing this, and I think I would drop her right now if she hadnt said something. Ill go a few more times and see how she does. What do you guys think?

She put me down for 4 hours tomorrow, 2 hours ground, 2 hours flying. Thats along time but thats cool

 

[bobbysamd]

Instructor inattention

Congratulations! You have 1499 hours to go until you can get your ATP.

Seriously, congratulations. I remember my first lesson; I was still thinking about takeoff by the time we landed. But, I caught up eventually.

Most instructors start students on the four fundamentals, stalls, MCAS and maybe takeoffs and landings. For sure, a few takeoffs and landings on the second flight. Ground reference maneuvers are usually introduced later to teach principles of wind correction before serious pattern work begins. Many students wouldn't know the difference, so you should be congratulated for your perception.

Your instructor really should devote her entire attention to your flight. Doing anything but is bad form. It certainly creates a bad impression to pay more attention to one's buds than to one's student, especially on the student's first flight.

Good luck with the rest of your training.

 

[Mmmmmm Burritos]

First lesson: Trim, trim, trim. Student trims it out, instructor messes it up. Then repeat until the student learns to fly with two fingers on the yoke and trimmed out.

Doing any sort of maneuver on the first flight besides climbs/descents/turns will be a waste of time. Especially s-turns and patternwork. I don't start teaching patternwork until maybe the 5th lesson (6-10 hours flight time).

Building blocks of learning. Works great. Heck might as well be doing partial panel ILS approaches if you're doing s-turns and turns around a point on the first lesson.

If your instructor keeps teaching you checkride maneuvers on the first few lessons, I say move on. First you learn how to fly the plane, then you learn the maneuvers you must do for the checkride.

 

[huncowboy]

Some guy she hadnt seen in years heard her name on the radio so he was talking to her (he ended up diverting to our airport to meet her).

love is in the air... everywhere I look around...

 

[dmspilot00]

Doing any sort of maneuver on the first flight besides climbs/descents/turns will be a waste of time. Especially s-turns and patternwork. I don't start teaching patternwork until maybe the 5th lesson (6-10 hours flight time).

Building blocks of learning. Works great. Heck might as well be doing partial panel ILS approaches if you're doing s-turns and turns around a point on the first lesson.

I agree completely. Ironically, and sadly, I actually know of a student who's first lesson consisted of doing instrument approaches!!

 

[flyifrvfr]

I also agree, one of the first things you do with a new student is climbs, descents, and shallow/ medium turns, and trim. At the most you will follow on the yoke with the instructor as she/he takes you through the take-off and landing. Having you do S-turns before doing steep turns is wrong. Depending on winds, in a S- turn you will bank as much as 45 degress at 1000 feet or less.

I would request another instructor, you pay good money to be taught correctly. You pay good money to have your instructors undivided attention, not for her to get laid on your dime. Your instructor is not following a logical order in your training. Each lesson you have is supposed to build upon the next, if I teach you how to do steep turns and you do them well, without losing too much altitude, I will then teach you S-turns across a road. I will teach you slow flight, stalls, and rectangular courses, doing this will teach you how to control your track over the ground like you would do in the pattern. The slow flight gets you ready for landings and teaches you how the controlls feel differently in slow flight from cruise flight. This also ties into landings.

 

[pilotman2105]

Re: Instructor inattention

Your instructor really should devote her entire attention to your flight. Doing anything but is bad form. It certainly creates a bad impression to pay more attention to one's buds than to one's student, especially on the student's first flight.

First and most of all congrats on the first flight. Once your hooked, you'll never turn back.

As far as the instructor, give her another flight and another chance. People make mistakes and something like talking on the radio a bit much is a mistake, but a forgiveable one. If she does it again or something else happens that just doesn't make you feel like you "click" with her, then it's time to find another CFI. She make take it personally, but in the long run, if you're gonna pay a substantial chunk of change for training, it should be quality training.

Blue skies and happy flying.

 

[garf12]

I think the reason that she said we were doing s turns and stuff was because the clouds were so low we were having to fly at like 900 AGL. Well I got 4 hours with her tomorrow so Ill see how it goes.

 

[bobbysamd]

That's not an excuse . . .

I think the reason that she said we were doing s turns and stuff was because the clouds were so low we were having to fly at like 900 AGL. Well I got 4 hours with her tomorrow so Ill see how it goes.

That adds fuel to the fire. She should not have flown you on a first flight with that wx. Ideally, the first flight should be way above VFR mins and with minimal wind.

 

[TRLpilot]

yes, the update about the weather just made it worse. doesn't sound like a good scenario for a first flight - poor weather, advanced flying procedures, and no attention being given to the matter at hand.

it's your choice to give her a second chance but i wouldn't go beyond that. two ways to approach it are to just fly again and see if it is any better or if it seems to be a regular problem, or you could discuss it with her beforehand and express your concerns, only this may backlash if she has an inflated ego.

remember, you're the one paying for this and it's not cheap. i expect to get every dime's worth when i'm paying for something.

good luck and congratulations! you'll never be the same again.