Warning: a bit long.
I am a new student. At this point I have 3.2 hours total in the air.
On my first lesson things went well. I was not nervous at all, I got to take off, fly around a bit, and then of course the intructor did the landing for the most part...although I helped a bit, and was able to feel the controls.
Second lesson I did well with the taxi and takeoff, and then in normal flight I got very comfortable with making turns, etc... I felt really good after the second flight.
Third Lesson I ended up with a different instructor due to scheduling conflicts. This was a really bad lesson for me. We started to explore slow flight and stalls, and things went really bad. I felt like I had 0 control of the plane, and my brain was completely frozen. I also felt like the instructor had 0 confidence in me and was flying the plane completely. I was also nervous and a bit frightened for the first time.
After the third lesson I tried to shake things off, and attribute it to the fact that I did not mesh with the instructors style, and then things would be ok on todays lesson.
Well I had todays lesson with my normal instructor and am not feeling good, in fact I am feeling worse. I told him that I had problems my last lesson, and that I really needed to revisit all the slow flight manuevers. He understood. Today was much windier than I am used to, and flying in wind in a small C-152 I was a bit thrown off, and actually felt slightly quesy(sp?) at times.
Once we started slow flight, I found myself looking at instruments way too much and not doing well at all. At one point my instructor covered the instruments with the checklist and told me to pick a point(a cloud) and stay on it. This helped, but I still never felt confident. A major problem I am having is using the wrong rudder. In the beginning you are told to "step on the ball". Ball moves right, you use right rudder to push the ball back to the middle, and so on. Well often times when the plane is yawing to the right, I find myself using right rudder, to "push" the nose left...which of course is totally wrong and really screws me up.
Slow flight overall seems to be a total hang up for me. I just feel like there is too much to keep track of. Altitude, airspeed, Angle of attack, etc...
Add on the fact that it was very bumpy around 2500' and I was downright terrified at times(he did put us at 3000' for a lot of it, but wanted me to experience slow flight in turbulance too). Terrified not so much in a "crash and burn" sense, but more in a "I must be the worst pilot in the world, I am never going to get this" sense.
I just don't seem to "feel" the plane. I feel totally flustered, and half want to say flying is not for me. I feel really down, and wonder if I will ever get the hang of this, or if I am just to CS(something that lays eggs followed by a four letter swear word) to handle flying. I find myself way overthinking things, and just not going with the flow. This is completely the opposite of my first 2 lessons. The first two I was really easygoing, but the last two I have been deathgripping the yoke so much that my hands hurt.
Is this something people go through, or do I just suck? I really want to continue to push forward, and don't want to give up. But in a way I wonder if I am kidding myself, over-estimating my own intelligence and abilities, and flushing cash down the toilet.
I am a new student. At this point I have 3.2 hours total in the air.
On my first lesson things went well. I was not nervous at all, I got to take off, fly around a bit, and then of course the intructor did the landing for the most part...although I helped a bit, and was able to feel the controls.
Second lesson I did well with the taxi and takeoff, and then in normal flight I got very comfortable with making turns, etc... I felt really good after the second flight.
Third Lesson I ended up with a different instructor due to scheduling conflicts. This was a really bad lesson for me. We started to explore slow flight and stalls, and things went really bad. I felt like I had 0 control of the plane, and my brain was completely frozen. I also felt like the instructor had 0 confidence in me and was flying the plane completely. I was also nervous and a bit frightened for the first time.
After the third lesson I tried to shake things off, and attribute it to the fact that I did not mesh with the instructors style, and then things would be ok on todays lesson.
Well I had todays lesson with my normal instructor and am not feeling good, in fact I am feeling worse. I told him that I had problems my last lesson, and that I really needed to revisit all the slow flight manuevers. He understood. Today was much windier than I am used to, and flying in wind in a small C-152 I was a bit thrown off, and actually felt slightly quesy(sp?) at times.
Once we started slow flight, I found myself looking at instruments way too much and not doing well at all. At one point my instructor covered the instruments with the checklist and told me to pick a point(a cloud) and stay on it. This helped, but I still never felt confident. A major problem I am having is using the wrong rudder. In the beginning you are told to "step on the ball". Ball moves right, you use right rudder to push the ball back to the middle, and so on. Well often times when the plane is yawing to the right, I find myself using right rudder, to "push" the nose left...which of course is totally wrong and really screws me up.
Slow flight overall seems to be a total hang up for me. I just feel like there is too much to keep track of. Altitude, airspeed, Angle of attack, etc...
Add on the fact that it was very bumpy around 2500' and I was downright terrified at times(he did put us at 3000' for a lot of it, but wanted me to experience slow flight in turbulance too). Terrified not so much in a "crash and burn" sense, but more in a "I must be the worst pilot in the world, I am never going to get this" sense.
I just don't seem to "feel" the plane. I feel totally flustered, and half want to say flying is not for me. I feel really down, and wonder if I will ever get the hang of this, or if I am just to CS(something that lays eggs followed by a four letter swear word) to handle flying. I find myself way overthinking things, and just not going with the flow. This is completely the opposite of my first 2 lessons. The first two I was really easygoing, but the last two I have been deathgripping the yoke so much that my hands hurt.
Is this something people go through, or do I just suck? I really want to continue to push forward, and don't want to give up. But in a way I wonder if I am kidding myself, over-estimating my own intelligence and abilities, and flushing cash down the toilet.
) and she really thinks I should slow down a bit. With the holidays and moving to a new house, I have been going nonstop...throw in flight lessons + work and I am totally maxed out. Not that she wants me to stop or anything, but she just thinks I should schedule my next lesson for late next week, and not try to push so hard. At this point I agree, and think my pushing is causing me to mentally break down during lessons.
