New Student Feeling Discouraged

[Doug]

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.

 

[pilotyip]

to be expected

You will have good days and bad days. You are probably expecting too much of yourself too soon. It is a building process. Five lessons from now you will be finding difficulty with much more advanced maneuvers than you are now doing. And you will find the things you are strugging with today a piece of cake. If you ever master pylon eights you will be ahead of me.

 

[TonyC]

Is this something people go through, or do I just suck?

It's something people go through. It will take more lessons to determine the other part.

It should come as no surprise that doing something new and unnatural might be difficult or make you feel uneasy. It should come as no surprise that the best way to face the challenge is to attack it head on.

Make sure you're getting a full debrief after you fly. Ask questions about what you did, right or wrong, so you can better prepare for the next flight. Talking about something soon after it happened is much more effective than, "Remember on our last flight when you kept pushing the right rudder?" two or three days later.

Give your instructor feedback - - "Hey I appreciate you wanting me to get experience doing slowflight in turbulence, but for right now my stomach isn't handling it, and I don't think I was learning as much as I might have were I not wondering where I could empty my stomach." If the instructor is competent, he'll listen. If he doesn't, find another.

 

[Doug]

Thanks for the feedback.

I definitely feel comfortable with my main instructor, and I think he is good. In fact around 45 minutes in he asked me if I wanted to do more slow flight or just head back for the day( I think he sensed I was overwhelmed). I chose to head back. I think I need to communicate a little more with the instructor...he is not a mind reader.

I guess being that this is something new, I have no idea where to place my expectations. I guess I am falling prey to reading too many articles about how long it took people to solo, etc, and I am afraid of falling behind the curve. I know that people warn of putting too much stock in worrying about numbers, but it's just human nature. I should stop worrying about comparing myself to others, and just compare me to me, but it's hard. I am usually the person that is a natural at things, but with flying it is totally different. I really feel like I have to work hard at it. And I have been. I have been really hitting the books and learning everything about flying that I can...to the point of possibly overdoing it. My wife feels I need to step back a little bit and relax...and she may be right. Problem is everything I read talks about flying 3 times a week, and immersing yourself in aviation. I have an obsessive compulsive personality though, so what I call immersion, others may call insanity.

 

[jimpilot]

If flying was easy everyone would do it. It is very normal what you are going through. We see it in high end corporate pilots learning a new plane all the time. They feel they are behind because they aren't learning faster than anyone in their class and anyone who went before them and told them how quickly they learn the new jet . In fact you are showing a strong pilot trait, competeing with every pilot who has ever learned to fly.

It takes time, work and good old fashion stick-to-itness to get a pilot licence. But as I've always said, It sure beats working for a living.

 

[COEX-FO]

Warning: a bit long.

I am a new student. At this point I have 3.2 hours total in the air.

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.

PERFECTLY NORMAL!

This happens to all pilots many times during their lifetime! I know pilots here at the airline with thousands of hours come out of a PC (checkride) with the comments, Boy did I suck!. It's just relative for them.

If flying is in your blood, then stick with it! If you are forcing it, well in that case you need to examine your personal goals. The good news is this will pass. The bad news is it will happen again sometime down the line in your career as a pilot. In both cases, it's part of the process of becoming a pilot!

Much success.

 

[Doug]

Thanks a lot to everyone for your encouragement. The embracing of those new aviation by longtime pilots just furthers my drive to become a pilot.

 

[Vik]

Its all really quite normal. Try and stick with the same instructor, schedule well in advance.

You were doing slow flight and stalls on the your THIRD flight? That sounds like your 2nd instructor is jumping the gun a little bit.

You probably aren't even making coordinated turns by your third flight and if you can't fly coordinated, how can you be doing slow flight and stalls?

From the sounds of things, your new instructor is clueless of your training to date and is just doing things without thinking. Stick with your old instructor and don't waste time doing stalls when you don't know how to stay coordinated while flying VFR.

You don't need the instruments to fly VFR. They should be covered up. I fly with people all the time that can't fly VFR and many are 400-500hr pilots with commercial certs.

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.

 

[Goose Egg]

Problem is everything I read talks about flying 3 times a week, and immersing yourself in aviation. I have an obsessive compulsive personality though, so what I call immersion, others may call insanity.

I can't believe that I'm actually going to say this, but maybe it would be good for you at this point in your training to forget about the magazines. It's just between you and the airplane, and no magazine article can teach you that "feel" that you are looking for.

You are definitely experiencing some pressure to get this stuff down, but from where? Perhaps you should sit down and analyze what your motivations are for wanting to fly; it will help you indentify the cause of your stress. Is your wife the type of person that you can talk things through with? (I wouldn't marry any other kind) If so, she'd probably be a great person to include in the conversation. When I am at a time of crisis or decision making, I will find a secluded place (ends of runways are good, but not always quiet) and just write down every part of the issue on a legal pad. To see it on paper helps me make sense of it, and then I form a plan of action. Some of my life's major turning points have been documented on paper!

Feel free to PM me if you need any advice--I have had several students that have been in the same shoes.

-Goose

 

[Doug]

In response to Vik,

I did actually do really well the first two lessons, and was doing fine with coordinated flight. I was making very smooth coordinated flights.

It was on the 3rd lesson that things really fell apart.

Goose Egg

The pressure is coming from one person, and that is ME. Unfortunately I can be very hard on myself, and my worst critic. I talked to my wife about it(who is also my best friend ) 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.

See I probably should not have started flight lessons in the middle of a move as well as holidays(we hosted them all), including 1 at the old house before we moved out, and one at the new house right after we moved in...very stressful.

I have been wanting to take lessons ever since I was young, and been really chomping at the bit for them over the past two years. Something just snapped in me friday about two weeks ago, and the next day I scheduled a lesson...I did not exactly plan stuff out, so I may have took off a bit fast. My wife was certainly supportive of me "taking the ball and running with it" even during a move and holidays, but I think she has seen that it really took a toll, and suggests I slow down.

Right now here is my plan of action:

Take a step back, make sure I have my "ground school" stuff in order. Schedule a lesson for next week...probably on the weekend. Ask to have one lesson of just flying in normal flight, and doing things I know how to do and am comfortable doing in order to get my confidence back...like practicing coordinated turns. Then I will take the next lesson and really try to dive into slow flight, and stick with that till I feel comfortable with it.

Does that sound like a decent plan, or should I keep plodding ahead with slow flight?

 

[Vector4fun]

Doug,

Relax, you're not experiencing anything that a lot of students haven't felt.

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.

Sounds like you weren't real comfortable with this instructor. Didn't know what to expect and had some new things thrown at you. It's OK, tell your regular instructor you'd like to stick with just him for now if possible.

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.

Again, normal. You were up-tight about your last performance, and then caught a windy day in a C-152. Well, a C-152 feels like a barely controllable kite in the wind sometimes. It's a very light airplane. Your instructor probably made it seem "easy" to control, but that's the result of lots of practice.

When you learn to ski, the more practiced folks make it look easy to put your knees and ankles together and slalom down the hill. It isn't easy. (unless you're about 4' 65lbs, and athletically gifted that is.. )

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.

Practice visualising your last lesson. Move the controls in your mind. If you want the nose to go left, you push left rudder, push right rudder to make the nose go right. Fly the airplane by watching the horizon, feeling the aircraft's movements, hearing the pitch of the engine and the slipstream change. At this point in your training, think of the instruments as "backups" to your senses. Of course, if you're flying in busier airspace, it's going to be more critical to be at the correct altitude an on the correct heading at times. Flying by reference to instruments is a much more refined skill that will take hours of practice. You'll get to that stage much later.

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 doubt you're anything like the worst. I've been in turbulence where the aircraft climbed 1500' in less than a minute with the power nearly at idle. I couldn't stop it without bending something. Turbulence is something you learn to deal with, not something you "master", even at 2000 or 20,000 hours. Basically, you felt as though you weren't in control of the aircraft any more, right? Well, you can't always control a very light aircraft precisely in turbulence. But you can keep the wings approximately level most of the time, keep the nose pointed in the general direction you want to go, and keep the airspeed within 10-20 kts of a target. Some days, that's *all* you can do. It's just a matter of degree as you get more practiced and more comfortable.

 

[Goose Egg]

Does that sound like a decent plan, or should I keep plodding ahead with slow flight?

Sounds like a great plan to me.

Sheesh, no wonder you are having hard times with flying with all that stuff going on in your life! Yeah, let things calm down a bit before you head back to flying. Take a week off (or four) and when life trends back to copacetic, then hit the flying hard.

And it always helps to have some ground school under your belt before you really start flying. Most of my students come to me with zero ground school, and it can make things fairly challenging... for me as well as them.

-Goose

 

[Goose Egg]

When you learn to ski, the more practiced folks make it look easy to put your knees and ankles together and slalom down the hill. It isn't easy. (unless you're about 4' 65lbs, and athletically gifted that is..

Hey, that's pretty good description of me when I started skiing... 16 years ago!

-Goose

 

[PaulThomas]

Looking at my logbook. I was introduced to stalls just before 10h and got them down somewhere between 10- 16h.
Checkride included, I got my PPL in less than 50h, and could have done it a quite a bit less (I wasn't happy until I figured out how to get a greaser everytime... My CFI and I spend (wasted) quite a bit of time in the pattern.

 

[Ravengirl]

Right now here is my plan of action:

Take a step back, make sure I have my "ground school" stuff in order. Schedule a lesson for next week...probably on the weekend. Ask to have one lesson of just flying in normal flight, and doing things I know how to do and am comfortable doing in order to get my confidence back...like practicing coordinated turns. Then I will take the next lesson and really try to dive into slow flight, and stick with that till I feel comfortable with it.

Does that sound like a decent plan, or should I keep plodding ahead with slow flight?

Got to keep on keepin' on... Sorry, I had a Steve Miller Band kind of moment right there.

You're just beginning...this is totally normal! Remember, even pilots with thousands of hours - EVEN YOUR CFI *gasp*- are going to have "off" days now and then. You're already learning from this episode, and that's great, so take it for what it's worth and move on.

Not all of your training will be a cakewalk, so be patient when you hit these little roadblocks. Take the time you need to master coordinated turns, then slow flight, because having a thorough understanding of them is key to other things you'll be learning. I guarantee that in a couple of months you're going to look back and say "WHY was that such a big deal?!"

And just so you know, I got hung up on the same thing when I was training...I lived! You will too.

Stephanie

 

[JetMonkey]

Your best learning days come from your worst ones....Don't give up!

 

[philo beddoe]

Make sure that you are getting a thorough briefing before each flight so that you know exactly wht is expected of you in the air.
If you are not spending at least 20 or 30 minutes talking through each maneuever, get another instructor, or get yours to brief you properly.

 

[mmmdonut]

DOUG PACK IT UP NOW

YOU ARE NOT MEANT TO BE A PILOT! SAVE YOUR MONEY AND TAKE UP GOLF

 

[Doug]

mmmdonut

haha, golf...I actually don't know which one of the two is more frustrating...I can certainly tell you I have thrown more objects when golfing.

Also, I got a whole "ground school" kit that is an interactive multimedia thingy on the computer with all sorts of video's. For each lesson there is a learning portion(basically the same as the chapter in the book, but I do both...view the lessons and read the book so it sinks in) and then there is a video where you basically go along in the plane for the entire lesson to get a feel of what is going to happen.

Also as far as before the lesson we do go over a few things, but I think I will request a little more discussion before go up. I think they basically follow with the training material, but I think at this point I am a little inbetween lesson 3 and 4, and need a little more specialized training.

Taking everyone advice I think I am going to be a more assertive for my next lesson, detailing exactly what I think I need by way of instruction to really get a good understanding of the things I am having problems with.

 

[mmmdonut]

Well if it's any consolation I've had a student pilot cry on me on more than one occasion.

So if you haven't cried yet... maybe you'll make it.

 

[Doug]

No crying as of yet...and I certainly won't post if I do

 

[qmaster3]

Well if it's any consolation I've had a student pilot cry on me on more than one occasion.

So if you haven't cried yet... maybe you'll make it.

mmmdonutcase,
I would cry to if you look like you avatar. Then again you will probably say the same of mine!! Hope you had a good new year.



Doug,



Here is the "low timer" feedback. Slow flight was hard for me at first. If I remember correctly I wanted to just use Alieron...USE THAT RUDDER. Finally my instructor wouldn't let me touch the yoke. Like I said that was my problem. Don't worry it will take a few hrs to get used to it. Stay with the CFI that you like to fly with. After all you are paying the big $$$. I have gotten the ole your instructor is on vacation bit. Politely decline. Any school will do this so they don’t lose the money. Chances are you will have to do it again with your CFI anyway. After all he’s the one signing you off. Is there a 172 that you can rent at a reasonable rate? In my opinion it’s a better kite. Good luck and PM me if you have any questions.

 

[qmaster3]

If you reach 30 hours and haven't soloed, like my roomate, then you might suck.

But I wouldn't really worry about it..it takes more than 3.7 hours to learn how to fly.

I have 90 and I still suck...theres people with thousands of hours here that suck too

I hate getting into the who soloed first fight, but 30hrs is a lot.

 

[bobbysamd]

Learning plateaus and student intensity

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 . . . . Is this something people go through, or do I just suck?

You may have hit a learning plateau. When learning a new task, people tend to learn rapidly at first. At some point, for the moment, and I cannot overemphasize "for the moment," many people seem to stop learning. Something stops them, but if they keep at it they overcome the plateau and start learning again. That may be happening with you. Further, learning has not stopped completely. Although it may not seem like it, something is being learned from each rep, even if it takes several times before you finally get the hang of it. I remember one lesson I had when it seemed like a complete waste of time. However, my instructor conducted a good postflight discussion and it turned out I did learn during that flight. I learned another lesson that day which served me later as a flight instructor; the value to the student of a good postflight discussion.

My other thought is perhaps you are approaching your flying lessons with too much intensity. In other words, maybe you're trying too hard. I can relate. For me, learning to fly was the culmination of a life-long dream. I was excited about every flight and looked forward to each flight all day. I was prepared as well as my instructor had guided me, I attached each task with vigor - and became extremely frustrated if I didn't learn it right the first time because it would then take many more reps before I finally caught on. Perhaps if I had been less intense about learning to fly I would have learned faster and better.

Make sure you understand each procedure thoroughly. Your instructor should brief each lesson thoroughly beforehand and thoroughly debrief the flight thereafter. Try backing-off a little on your intensity level. Good luck with your training.

 

[HowlinMadMurdoc]

Part of the problem with us pilots, at least for me and others I've spoken with, is we tend to be perfectionists. We expect everything to go well, if not perfect, everytime we fly. No pilot, regardless of hours, is immune from having a "bad" day. When I went through the initial sim for my job, sessions one and two went well. Then sessions three through five I really struggled to the point I was ready to quit. Nothing went right and it seemed like I couldn't even fly straight-and-level. At the end of session five, the sim instructor had my sim partner and I run through a total PFD/MFD failure and shoot an approach using back-up systems. That was the perfect lesson at the perfect time - it helped build up my shaky confidence and prove to myself I could get through the program. After that lesson, the rest of the sim wasn't a problem.

You just started on your flying skills and it will get better with time. Use every flight lesson as a building block to improve your next flight. Heck, I still think that way - anything new I learn and experience (or even stuff I haven't used in awhile) on a flight is used on the next flight. You will always learn something new everytime you fly.

Remember, no flight is perfect. We ALL make mistakes - learn from your mistakes so you can be better next time.

Good luck!

HMM

 

[FlyLady]

I guess I am falling prey to reading too many articles about how long it took people to solo, etc, and I am afraid of falling behind the curve. I know that people warn of putting too much stock in worrying about numbers, but it's just human nature. I should stop worrying about comparing myself to others, and just compare me to me, but it's hard.

Doug, like you said yourself, forget the numbers..how long for solo, checkride and everything else. Fly the plane. Everyone learns different things at a different rate. When I first started training, I had no problem with maneuvers, including slow flight and stalls. But when it came to landing the plane, it took FOREVER for me to learn! I would tense up as soon as I entered dowwind. But it finally came to me after some great work on my CFI's part. He knew what I needed to learn them and it worked....eventually.

So quit thinking so much and just go up and fly the plane. You'll be fine.


FlyLady

 

[350DRIVER]

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.

You have 3.2 hours total time to date, enough said. Things will fall into place so just be patient and try to soak up as much as you can through these early stages of your flight training. I think you are being a little tuff on yourself considering you have the above mentioned flight time. You gain knowledge, and skill over time through experience, it won't just happen over night my friend. Relax, enjoy, and don't beat yourself up "quite yet".

3 5 0

 

[Flyingtoohigh]

If somebody hasn't said it before:

Have fun! You're supposed to enjoy flight training, or so "they" say.

I always tell my students to let me know the second flying stops being fun. right about then the learning stops, at least with folks working on their private pilots license.

There are plenty of experienced pilots on this board and the majority are saying "fa-getta-bout-it" when it comes to some of your initial difficulties. If becoming a private pilot is what you want to do then you should have little difficulty.

Thanks for posting here; we could all use a little new-blood enthusiasm now and again. It's a welcome change from bashing <PFT/Mesa/USAir/Management/Lowecur/Me!>.

 

[Doug]

I scheduled my next lesson for this coming Sunday to give myself a chance to get things in order before my next lesson.

Yesterday I got my Yoke and Pedals set up for use with FS2004. I had the pedals for a while, but just a flight stick because I used to play a lot of combat sim. Anyhow I have found that the sim has helped me. Not in the actual "learning to fly" part because there is no feedback from the plane. But it helped me with taxiing better, and also getting my rudders straight. What I did was go into slow speed flight and then just try to keep the nose on a cloud using rudders...this really helped me to stop making mistakes with the rudders. Also the sim helps me go through procedures, such as correctly coming out of slow speed flight, or recovering from a stall...things that involve a lot of repetition. I have read that sims can cause bad habits in student pilots, so I avoid doing things I have not learning yet, and just stick to practicing things I have already been tought in the manner I was shown.

 

[philo beddoe]

Here's a little guideline - you should never really hear any new major concepts in flight that you did not first discuss on the ground.

If you are getting briefed on new maneuvers or ideas airborne, then your instructor is not preparing you properly for each lesson.