What to do with 70 hours???

[Shinty]

Right this is the story: currently doing my atpls by distance learning and have another 70 hours left to build. The thing is I don’t want to waste my time and money on jollies. Would anyone have any recommendations on what best to do with my time, to get the most out of it?

cheers,
shinty

[Rob's Dad]

A night rating, instrument flying + instruction (ILS, NDB, etc), maybe a multi-rating and definitely your CPL Qualifying Cross-Country route - far cheaper at local flying club rates than with a big school.

[bobster1]

As you say, dont waste it all, I have only recently finished hour building and just started the CPL, I was advised to practice much of what you have all ready done in PPL, and after starting the CPL it helps.
For the nav ex, practice planning and flying routes with legs around the 40nm ish, practice flying holding a heading an time, fill out logs accurately, dont feature crawl using landmarks, the routes have to be flown as if you had a paying pax in the back, ie the quickest way..once over your 1st detination, divert yourself somewhere again around 40nm, get a line on the map and head off, then start calculating dist, ETA.
Practice stalls, steep turns, flying slowly, etc, all stuff your familiar with really, just try and sharpen everything up. Use the time going through controlled airspace, matz crossing, and sharpen your RT.
Most flying schools have some sort of training book for hour building, giving you set exercises to accomplish on your own.
Have the odd jolly though, nice to just have a break from it all, also think about getting the 300nm cross country done, thats around 4 or 5 hours gone.

[helimutt]

easy answer. Go places. Put as many different airfields in that logbook, for your experience more than anything. Network. And I mean go visit flying schools. Say hello. Tell people you're just hour building and seeing how many places you can visit, really getting out and about instead of circuit bashing. If you're planning on instructing, meet the companies where you might just be chasing a job one day. If they can put a face to a name, more chance of a look in later, obviously flying in to places in a professional manner might just help too, LOL.

Enjoy it. It's supposed to be enjoyable, but make sure you practice being accurate as possible. Nail the heights/speeds/configurations you want. Give yourself set targets to fly at, ie climb to x' then descend to y' get those timed turns perfect at rate one with climbs thrown in. 360 degrees rate one and climb 1000'. Then descend doing same. The more you're capable of doing before the CPL course, the easier it'll be. Do an IMC rating perhaps during the hour building. Night rating would be useful too with the darker nights coming up.



Have a nice time whatever you do.

[Shinty]

Cheers boys, definitely going to travel to various airfields and enjoy myself. What’s the story with the 300nm cross-country? Can one actually complete this even though I’m not currently on a CPL course? Night rating is another box I’ve to tick. Was talking to an employer from Aer Arann and he said not to practice any instruments as I’m likely to pick up bad habits. Any thoughts on this?

[Jim-J]

"Not to practice on instruments?"

Depends if you doing a VFR com or IF com? VRF com test requires a tad instrument flying (test done at night) but mostly out of cockpit work. Stressing a good lookout at all times. Examiner might grill you if you stare at instruments whilst doing steep turns etc..... And obviously the IF com requires instrument work as well as a bit of VFR flying too.

[bobster1]

What he may of meant is to practice position fixing from a VOR or 2, intercepting a VOR radial and tracking it, nothing IFR just VFR utilising nav aids. Definately worth becoming familiar with using these instruments, VOR,NDB, it will save you time in the air and therfore save you money..

[Shinty]

ya he was saying ‘not to do any IFR until i go at IR full time’ as different schools have different methods of teaching hence the liability of the need to be rethought . i agree learning the basics with VFR is an ideal way to practice and to get ready for CPL stage

[Pieman007]

Do you have 70 to go until the 150 ?
If so, why go to 150? Get to 70 PIC and start ME/IR training. You should then have 150 ish and can start the CPL.

[miket_68]

Jumping back a few post.
Re. 300nm Cross country.
Is this flown the same as the PPL XCQ, i.e. with airfields signing you as attending their airfield ?
Or is it just an entry in your log book, x - y 4 hours ?
Just starting my Hour building (rotary) but is it the same distance ?
Just tried checking but my ISP is running slow today to the 8MB lasors may take a while to download.
M
Going where no man has gone before (except for every other hour builder)
:)

[littco]

Nah you just have to go and do it and its an entry in your log book. I just made sure I kept the receipt from the landing fees/fuel if they questioned me, but they didn't so I guess it's not important.

[expedite08]

Its all fair and well saying do an IMC or some course or other for hour building but that is totally useless to you. You need 100 hours P1. I think a lot of people forget that. Ive had people ask me before, and me explain it to them, after which I watch thier faces drop!
These courses are not going to let you log it as that. To be honest Ive found the hour buliding to be the biggest pain and expense of all! More so than my ATPL's!! Id rather sit a few more exams than get ripped off by some flying club to burn holes in the sky, because in effect that is what you are doing! As mentoned above do set yourself little targets headings, heights, speeds etc and make sure the flying is as smooth as possible. But most of all just make sure your in current practice. Was noticed immediatly on my CPL that I was current and up to speed.
:ok: