first flight experience!!

[sinsall]

Took a trial flight at the week-end and it sure was a great experience.
However, i was a little concerned that I tended to loose my concentration when my stomach knoted when we were doing 90 degree turns at 160knots and my stomach almost fell through my arxx when we were doing very steep climbs!!

Didnt make me feel ill but was concerned that my concentration wavered,is this normal ?and do you ever get used to it so you can just concentate on flying,is there anything you can do like breathing excercises to counteract this?

But I did manage to land on my first attempt!!

:ok:

[AIRWAY]

Hi,

I got airsick on my first trial lesson :sad: but after the first few lessons the problem was cured and the body adjusted to the new envoirement.

Just do a search on PPRuNe and you shall find heaps of topics relating to your questions

All the best:ok:

[Bodie]

sinsall

Your response is quite normal and your body will grow used to these stresses. Your body experiences 2g in a 60degree level turn, which unless you go in to aeros, is probably the most your going to experience. I think after a few more goes you'll find the need for breathing exercises and the like quite unnecessary.

I'm interested what aircraft you did your trial lesson it - especially at 160kts!

Bodie

[kpx1124]

nothing to worry about sinsall, I used to get airsick nearly everytime I flew... After a while the body just gets used to it and you can't remember what all the fuss was about!

Good luck :ok:

[parris50]

90 Degree turns on your trial lesson - do you really mean 90 deg bank. If so, no wonder you are concerned!

In PPL and CPL training, 45 degrees is all that's tested. And, as the others have said, you soon get used to the sensations of flight so don't worry, just enjoy it!

[sinsall]

Thanks everyone,
I was pleased it didnt make me feel sick but it was for only 30mins.
Was not effected at all with 20-45degree banks,but only with the 90degree bank and what seemed vertical climbs(could not be certain at what degree as my head was forced between my legs!!)
If this is not usual for a first flight experience the instructor should chill a bit for the sake of others,but i thought he was a really nice chap and easy to talk to.

The reason I was concerned about loosing concentration was cus the third 90degree bank included a rapid descent and i just lost my bearings and noticed the old cessna 172 peaking in the red and i could not handle the G's.

I just thought i wasnt cut out to be a pilot,but first go and hoping,as discussed i will get used to the feeling.

I asked the trusted one to my right if i could give the fourth 90degree bank a miss as i was a we bit tired,but so pleased i managed to land the plane,only once producing red over red,bit of power and back on track!!!

:ok:

[Send Clowns]

Ah, yer hooked now and aviation will never let you go ... :E Best of luck!

[Canada Goose]

Something smells decidely fishy !!

:hmm:

[pilot_will]

I've been flying 3 times with the Air Cadets on Air experience flights. I usually fly (I think) I the Grob 115.

On my first flight we did 60 degree turns, and I was not keen on the G. My pilot told me that if you do experience the G while turning, and it feels like putting you off, try tensing your stomach muscles (sp?).

I've tried that in my last 2 flights and it works :ok:

I had one big shock last time, when I had control, and my pilot says "Look what happens when you do this" so he closed the thrust lever and the nose suddenly dropped, geez I just wanted to shout "AHHH!" Then pushing it in full throttle again, giving me positive G; both G as bad as each other.

When I work for my PPL (hopefully soon) I hope I can keep my concentration on flying the aircraft than whats going on with my stomach! lol.

[FlyingForFun]

Something smells decidely fishy !!I have to agree.

But a check through sinsall's posting history shows that he's made some intelligent posts up to this point, so I've given him the benefit of doubt. I doubt the aircraft was anywhere near 90 degrees of bank (I don't think many basic trainers could maintain that kind of bank angle for very long!) but to someone who's new to flying I can see how 45 or 60 degrees may seem like that. And the 160kts seems unlikely, but I wasn't really very aware of the numbers on my first flight so I suspect that's just a simple error.

Sinsall, glad you enjoyed it for the most part.

FFF
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[sinsall]

Nothing fishy hear im glad to say.(interesting to know why you should think this a tad fishy though)

I have to say,and this is what annoyed me,I could have been upside down,doing a loop,flying backwards(interesting) for all I knew cus I lost my cool as I was just trying to fight the sensation.
We started off by doing between 20/45degree banks then steep climbs, then he said we will do some 90degree banks. Up until then I was fine.

A big problem for me in some ways was that I had spent 3months on microsoft flight simmulator and was fixated on the instruments. So when I banked over to 90degrees the nose dropped,I think I should have increased the power with the turn,it was at this point I lost my cool and the instructor was giving me running commentary on what I was doing wrong but nothing he was saying was sinking in apart from when he said we were peaking in the red. We had dropped from 2000ft to 1000ft then climbed back up to 2000ft' .

Im not making a big deal of this it was just unpleasant,interesting to note that pilot will was told to tighten his stomach,I found this happened as a reaction to the G's and that I should counteract this with deep breathing?

I never felt scared but was sooooo annoyed that i lost concentration,I have worked for Sky as a cameraman/vision mixer for a few years and in the industry for many so Im used to doing a zillion things at once on live tv.

Yes this is all new to me and I was hell-bent on leaving work and getting my ATPL either fixed wing or rotary. But my aim now(after being inspired by a thread written by pilot pete) is to do a modular whilst at work(part-time) and ENJOY flying fixed wing without the pressure of having to fing a job at the end of it.(but would be nice).

Wonder why the instructor told me not to mention the 90 degree banks to the CFI!!!lol

:cool:

[StraightnLevel]

90 degree bank turns are a bit steep for first timers!!! You cant maintain a constant bank angle, there is no vertical lift component. Sounds like a bit of a cowboy instructor you got there. Be wary!!!

Next time he pulls a stunt like that, raise the nose and put in as much rudder in the direction of the turn as you can. Sounds like you were in a sprial dive when the 172 was at 160 kts??? :ok:

[FlyingForFun]

StraightnLevel,

Be careful about advising people to "raise the nose and put in as much rudder in the direction of the turn as you can." What sinsall is describing is effectively an aerobatic manoevre, so you need to be thinking in terms of aerobatics rather than (if you'll excuse the pun on your name) straight and level flight.

At 90 degrees of bank, the elevators will work like rudders and the rudders will work like elevators. So you will need top rudder (i.e. out of the turn) to prevent the nose dropping, and definitely won't want to pull back too hard on the elevators since that can only increase the rate of the turn.

I should stress at this point that I am not an experienced aerobatic pilot, so please take my post only as a caution against using "normal" controls, not as definitive instructions - and in any case, never take instructions on aerobatics (or anything for that matter, but especially aerobatics) from anyone on the internet - even if the instructions are coming from the most experienced pilot out there, they are no substitute for proper training.

Sinsall, I would be very interested to hear what aircraft this trial lesson was in!

FFF
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[Ethansa]

when i had my first flight, i went all pale and my head went really light. i didnt even wnt to hold the yoke, so my instructor did the decent . I thought to my self that when im on the ground im gonna forget this life long ambition and start on a differnt career path.

After i got on the ground i was as white as a ghost.
was that normal?

start a course soon byt scared about it happening again on my first flight in the course.

[mad_jock]

FFF it was a rather good instruction for flicking the plane into a spin.

You need to do some time away from these PFA things and fly something that the wings won't fall off. :=

MJ

[Bodie]

Ethansa

Sounds like your describing my first trial lesson completely!

I had this nauseated feeling from the wing-overs done (at my request) by the instructor.

When I got back on the ground I had very mixed feelings. I was really disheartened because I (like many other people) had set my heart on a career that frankly I hadn’t any experience of.

Somehow, after my first trial I wasn’t sure if I wanted to pursue it anymore. Deleting a dream from your life makes it feel a little empty for a while!

I too was scared that this lack of enthusiasm would persist in to my PPL but I decided to go for it anyway and haven’t looked back - loved every minute of it. I managed to revive my dream and I' m still working towards it today!

[Aeromentor]

The posts describing aerobatic type manoevres with 1st time students are totally unprofessional and have turned many a potential pilot off flying permanently.

It is this type of instructor who are resposible for the student later killing himself/herself doing stupid things in aeroplanes.

Remember choosing the best flying training is like getting a good haircut, choose the barber not the shop.

(Even the best organisations sometimes have bad instructors).

[StraightnLevel]

I think aero's are an important part of eveyones training!!!! If you havent seen it before, how are you going to gain control if it happens unexpectedly. Maybe not in the first lesson!!!! Many people are freeked out when things dont go to plan, this is why we train for such events.

Dont be frightend about flying, more people are killed driving to the airport than flying.

If you truely want to be a pilot then go for it, I guarantee you wont look back!!!!!!

[Canada Goose]

Ethansa,

I'd say give it a few more tries. Being able to fly was something I'd always wanted to do ever since childhood. I was in the Air Cadets, but tragically never actually got airbourne. I actually went gliding with them once, but it was too windy all day and so never got up and once I was offered to go up in Chipmunks on a Sunday ...... just so happened this was the Sunday before a full 2 weeks of school exams that were to determine whether you did 'O' levels or CSE's ...... for those who can remember ! Soon after that my squadron HQ was burnt down by vandals and a load of good NCO's became too old and left paving the way for a load of w*nkers to take over as NCO's. I became disheartened and left !! Too bad really, but at least I could grow my hair really long (every cloud has a silver lining), which for a teenage heavy metal dude was all important !! ;-)

Anyway, I digress ........ the desire still smouldered away, and I had toyed with going to have a trial lesson in my mid 20's but for one reason or another I didn't. Anyway, I ended up moving to Canada and had quite a well paid job. I was also aware that flying was something like 2 to 3 times cheaper than in the UK so I thought, hey now is the time !! So I went along to the local flying school. On the day of my trial lesson/flight I was quite overwhelmed with it all really and was quite scared ! Thank fully my instructor eased me in gently (no 90 degree bank turns !!) infact no steep turns or anything like that. I was only given control when we were well established on climb out and did some gentle turns. Like you Ethansa I didn't even want to hold the yoke really !! On landing I had mixed feelings (I didn't take any part in landing - I wasn't offered and that suited me fine) about the whole thing, but convinced myself I did enjoy it and would return.

Anway, over the coming months I went back and each time became a bit more comformtable with it all, however at the same time, I was being introduced to slow flight, stalls and spins so on one hand I was comfortable with t/o etc but then being introduced to some scary stuff !! What a nightmare (well stalls and spins anyway). I recall one night waking up in a cold sweat a the thought of having to do a spin. The funny thing is that as time passes the more you are exposed the more you begin to settle down and actually enjoy it. I recall about the time I was going solo a young instructor I had encouraging me and claiming that after I got my PPL I'd be going for a night rating and IR. I laughed, you've got be kidding I said !! Anyway, years later he was right, I did, and it was years later that I thought, you know what, I fancy doing this as a living !!

I've waffled on a bit, but the point I'm trying to make is, I think it's quite normal to feel the way you do. Don't worry too much and try it a few more times. If you really really feel it's not for you then so be it, but it would be shame to pass it by if it's been a life long ambition !!

Good luck !!
CG (who regularly enjoys spinning !!)
:)