Why the UK is starting to get me down!

[IanPZ]

I thought I would use my favourite forum to have a good old rant. The UK weather is just starting to get to me!

I started learning at the beginning of the year, and was advised that I really needed a lesson every week in order to get a good level of progress.....

So, like a good student, I booked a lesson every week, regular as clockwork, every Sunday. I think that I had a couple of weeks (perhaps as many as 3) since the beginning of the year where I couldn't fly, cos I was on holiday (I think that's allowed) and one week where I had pulled a muscle in my back, and the instructor and I agreed that if I can't lean down to check the tyres as part of the pre-flight, then perhaps I shouldn't be doing the lesson.

But that still left 20 good weeks to have flown, and in some cases I even booked a midweek evening lesson when I knew I couldn't make the Sunday.

So here I am, mid-June, having done 10.5 hours, and my last lesson, last Sunday, having done 5 take-offs and landings! Now, I wouldn't say I have the hang of it, or even that I know what I am doing. In fact, I still think the instructor is being kind when he says I am not bad, and I truly think he is flying the plane down, and helping the whole way (he says he isn't!)

BUT, why oh why oh why when I am just getting the hang of it does the weather go pants again. Out of 20 booked lessons, I have had 10. It's not the instructor being overly cautious. Some of them we can't see the mast that is a whole 2km away (so no VFR flying), and some, like today, there are 28knot crosswinds. I know it doesn't help that the runways are 12,15,30 and 33, and prevailing wind in the UK is SW, but surely its just some greater force out to get me, in case I find out what is going on above the clouds!!!

So, please, people, give me a pep talk, tell me its not always like this, or at least show sympathy. Anyone who feels they need to tell me thats life, just don't post (or at least not today.....perhaps by tomorrow I'll be less grumpy)

Anyone fancy putting some silver lining on what seems a lot of very windswept grey clouds?

Go on, help a friend :-)

[Conventional Gear]

Sorry I can't lie, it is always like that.

Try tailwheel when one can't fly with over 10kts crosswind.

Last week the 'plane decided to belch oil and went U/S

The week before it didn't return from its annual on time

Today, I caught a nasty cold on Sunday and spent half of the day at the doctors with a suspected chest infection, when I SHOULD HAVE BEEN FLYING - I shouldn't worry too much though, it was too windy for tailwheel.

I wonder what will happen next week. No doubt I'll still be sat on PPRuNe making long posts when all I really want to be doing is FLYING. I actually envy your 10.5 hrs this year. :{

Rant over :}

[IanPZ]

I should somehow feel annoyed with you for telling me how it is and not sparing my feelings.....but instead I just laughed and thought "Ha, poor sod, he is worse off than me"

Does that make me a heartless b*****d?

Now I know why the forum is so busy. Anyway, next week, certainly next Sunday will be perfect weather, as my instructor is away at a competition and I can't fly. Next Wednesday however, when I have a lesson in the evening, now that will be blowing a gale, hailing, and snowing, all from the southwest....you just watch :-)

[The500man]

Keep a record of all the lessons you have cancelled due to weather and then give God a punch in the face for each one when you die! Picture that day whenever your school says "not today, the weather is ****e sorry!"

[Domwilko]

YAK 52 went U/S in September last year and is only just having a new engine fitted.
My father became seriously ill in March and passed away in April, just when we were having that glorious sunny weather; needless to say I didn't get much flying in then.
This month my car service, MOT and various repairs cost me over £4000, putting a big hole in my flying budget and finally the weather has been completely pants!

Rest assured, you're not the only one missing out on flying!

[Conventional Gear]

"Ha, poor sod, he is worse off than me"

And now to make it worse I've got someone calling me a bloke!

NO the wind WILL BE CALM next Wednesday ALL DAY, it will not rain.

I'm not sure about my next session being booked on the same day as one of yours though :} ;)

[HEATHROW DIRECTOR]

My son had a dozen attempts at his QXC. Every time the wx was bad, or the flying club mucked him about, and all, and all. Eventually he set off for Bristol, landed, got his chit signed and then headed for Exeter, where the wind went outside his limits and he had to head home to Southampton. That was long ago and he never flew again. Great shame.

[Katamarino]

I went to Florida for 5 weeks, had an amazing time, and came home with a PPL...but I guess that's another debate. Worth a thought though...

[IanPZ]

Great responses! Punch God in the face....I can just see it now. Of course, my wife says that'll never happen cos I will be going to "the other place". What, Marbella?

Sorry Conventional Gear. Didn't know. Let me rephrase that then..."Ha, poor sod, she's having a worse time than me" If I haven't got it right that time, then I really am confused.

Domwilko, sorry to hear you having a hard time. Hope it gets better for you. I'll even tell you the days I book lessons, so you can avoid the bad weather (sorry conventional gear, you just gotta hope you fly in a different weather location to me!)

Anyway, I will keep saying the following to myself

"I will not give up, I will not give up". Not much chance though. Having not flown for nearly 8 weeks, I thought that last Sunday was going to be a "lets see how much you remember", rather than carrying on from where I left off. I was so sure I was going to be useless that I forgot to worry, and hey ho, I wasn't half bad (ok, I was half bad, but not completely!). As for Florida, no worries....if you can just have a word with my boss about the 5 weeks leave of absence, my wife about the 5 weeks leave of absence, and my bank manager, then I'll start packing! In all honesty, I would love to get a good solid block of flying in order to learn, but it doesn't match my life right now.

Anyhow, keep em coming, it cheers me up no end.....now, off to find my holy boxing glove :-)

[CharlieDeltaUK]

Are you able to improve the odds by booking, say, two lessons a week and trust that at least one will turn out good?

[IanPZ]

Yeah, I have been thinking along those lines. I can sometimes book a Wednesday evening, so I did this week as well as the weekend ones, but it didn't turn out right today. What's worse, is that cos of work, I can't always book an evening, and I definitely can't afford to miss a lesson and still pay for it. My instructor is good about things, and would let me cancel up to a couple of days before, but less than that, and he would charge, which is reasonable, as its his livelihood I would be screwing up. And to be fair to him, the couple of times I have had to cancel (bad back instance) he didn't charge me anyway (even though I offered!)

For now, its lessons booked every week, find some poor b****er more unlucky than I am, and then not fly on the same days :-)

IPZ

[Jan Olieslagers]

If it's only the weather bothering you, either relocate to a better place or live with what you have. And don't complain about things beyond human control.

Imagine my frustration at acquiring an almost-new microlight at a very good price, then have it sitting in a hangar for more than two months while trying to get it registered so as to fly it legally. And the weather none better than over at yours.

[IanPZ]

No, sorry Jan, I tried, but that doesn't make me feel any better :-)

Why the difficulty?

[Katamarino]

Imagine my frustration at acquiring an almost-new microlight at a very good price, then have it sitting in a hangar for more than two months while trying to get it registered so as to fly it legally.

I really don't know why we put up with these paper-pushing, incompetent bureaucrats. They are meant to serve us, not the other way around :mad:

[pitofrost]

"Keep a record of all the lessons you have cancelled due to weather and then give God a punch in the face for each one when you die! Picture that day whenever your school says "not today, the weather is ****e sorry!"

I think this post may have changed my life, slightly... I am going to apply it to so many things not just flying.

And my q cross country has been cancelled for tommorow - booked for Monday...

[IanPZ]

Ah pitofrost, you can't ask better than that. You can have it etched on your tombstone..."PPrune changed my life"

And on that night, gnite all and lets hope for some really awful weather so that there isn't any left by next Wednesday :-)

[Sir George Cayley]

Conventional Gear,

I've always thought you a very attractive person :ok:

Sir George Cayley

ps and an excellent pilot

[IO540]

A UK PPL takes usually about a year, mostly due to cancelled lessons due to bad wx or broken aircraft.

Mine took a year and about 60 hours.

But when you get your PPL, you can fly differently, because you don't have an instructor telling you that you can't fly in 5000m visibility. You have a decent GPS and you damn well can fly in 5000m vis (a nice English summer). It's a different world, once you have that piece of paper.

[SunnyDayInWiltshire]

I booked two sometimes three lessons a week, and probably used about half with the rest cancelled due to weather and the odd technical problem.

If you can manage to get a run of lessons by taking a few days holiday or over a long weekend, you find you can make a lot of progress.

Even with our weather, the PPL course can be completed within a year at weekends

If flights are cancelled, try to spend the time on ground studies/theory exams

SD

[stevelup]

In fact, I still think the instructor is being kind when he says I am not bad, and I truly think he is flying the plane down, and helping the whole way (he says he isn't!)

Maybe you should ask him to let go of the controls when he's not helping. Otherwise you'll never know.

Some instructors like to cling onto the controls, others will sit with their arms folded. I much prefer the latter as it removes the uncertainty about who is doing what!

[berno_wald]

ah, the weather.... my last lesson was monday (I'm now at 11.2 hrs, with about 10 landings), the first in 2 weeks due to work and WEATHER! and the last 2 lessons have been in strong winds, lot of it cross wind, so that I have been concentrating more on keeping on the bloody centre line than watching speed and pitch... one of these days I will have "nice" weather in which i can really practice landing... sigih... and I don't know either, if my instructor is helping me or not (though in one case I know he was, since I was coming in too high, and he initiated the go around). need to ask him that as well. next lessons on Monday and Tuesday, may the Weather Gods like me.

[IO540]

Sometimes, a break and doing something different is a good idea.

For example, a lot of people get bogged down flying circuits. I recall spending god knows how many hours doing circuits in the PA38. After you have sweated about a pint, the learning value diminishes rapidly, but the rate of £££ leakage just carries on at the same rate :)

At that point, which I have seen many pilots reach, one may as well go for a flight somewhere interesting. OK, this can be seen as making the PPL more expensive overall, but it also makes it a lot more enjoyable.

[IanPZ]

stevelup, I think he wasn't actually holding the controls. When I changed my focus for about half a millisecond from the point on the runway I was aiming for (tunnel vision, eat your heart out) and glanced at him, he had his hands on his lap, fingers hovering around the stick but not touching them. It's just I don't believe I can do it yet, so it must be him!

IO540, yup, that makes sense. My instructor does keep chopping and changing from circuits to PFL to practicing speed and height control. I was getting frustrated that we couldn't just concentrate on one, but after the last lesson, I realise that the change helps break the bad habits that I was repeating, and the combination of all three is really practicing the same skills I need anyway! Just, doh, I wish I could do it already :-)

[Hamish 123]

In my experience, the weather has definitely gotten worse . . . or is going through a (very long) bad patch. I did my PPL in 2005/6, and can only recall missing a couple of lessons though weather, despite only flying at weekends. Since I got my licence . . . . the weather has been unbelievably crap. I suspect my flown v cancelled ratio due to weather is probably running at about 40:60 over the last 4 years. And a few times I have flown, it's been pretty marginal due to visibility or cross winds.

I'd endorse the deity face-punching coping strategy if I was a believer.

[berno_wald]

the METAR for my last two lessons:



EDMA 061120Z 34006KT 270V040 9999 SCT031 22/17 Q1006



EDMA 211120Z 26010KT 9999 SCT045 25/14 Q1017

before this, I was at 9hr. Had 1:22 on the 6th, 1:19 on the 21st.

the 6th was my first day of circuits, with weather not really suitable for learning. then a forced 2 week break, so the 21st was chalked up as a bad day, really.

my instructor does max 6 circuits, before doing what has been suggest above, flying off to somewhere else. Relaxing straight flight or a little airwork of a different type.

and IanPZ, looks like we are at the same stage, more or less. Similar hours and similar frustration of not being able to do what we want :rolleyes: but my instructor, and hopefully yours, is saying not to :ugh:we are still at the beginning and have at least 35 or so hours to go in whicht to learn.

[Echo Romeo]

It's definitely got windier since I've been tail dragging (about a year) or do I just notice it more!

[Crash one]

It's definitely got windier since I've been tail dragging (about a year) or do I just notice it more!


No, it's been windier for the four years I've been doing it, either that or it's me that's windy. Rain, crosswind, wet grass, 4hrs this year including one in a 152 off tarmac for reval.
Watching "Flying Wild Alaska" makes me want to weep:ugh::ugh::ugh:

[IO540]

I must admit the wx has got much worse as soon as I got the IR in 2006 :)

I was doing VFR trips before that, all the way down to Crete, flying over the Alps (http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m74/peterh337/clouds1.jpg) at FL129... Rarely have I been able to do the same thing since. I've been going IFR OK but have had to go much higher, and there has been a load of convective wx around.

Probably just a coincidence :)

[Alan_D]

I agree the WX can be a pain in the a$$. I did my PPL in 2009 over 9 months, and over-booked allowing for weather cancellations.
I used the majority of my holiday from work that year on flying, booking 1/2 days off to make the most of my available days.
I had an agreement with my boss that I could cancel holiday at short notice (due to weather) and work, in return for canceling flying lessons at short notice if he needed me to work on a previously booked flying holiday.
Luckily I only needed to cancel a few lessons on good weather days, but canceled loads of holiday at short notice, and re-used those days later in the year.

I also got stuck in the circuit rut, and got increasingly frustrated at poor landings etc. Luckily my excellent instructor had spotted this, and one summer evening took me on a relaxed navigation and general handling flight - which was just what I needed - it broke the routine nicely.
Not long afterwards I went solo.

As IO540 says, things are easier once you have the bit of paper, and get some experience under your belt.

[thing]

Sometimes, a break and doing something different is a good idea.

For example, a lot of people get bogged down flying circuits. I recall spending god knows how many hours doing circuits in the PA38. After you have sweated about a pint, the learning value diminishes rapidly, but the rate of £££ leakage just carries on at the same rate http://images.ibsrv.net/ibsrv/res/src:www.pprune.org/get/images/smilies/smile.gif

At that point, which I have seen many pilots reach, one may as well go for a flight somewhere interesting. OK, this can be seen as making the PPL more expensive overall, but it also makes it a lot more enjoyable.

Absolutely. I took myself off on a 2hr coastal XC recently, no nav skills involved, no flying skill required, just enjoyed the flight. Did me the world of good. You also have to say that OK you have to pay your instructional rate on top of that but it's not that much extra, plus it was a flight I would have done when I had my license anyway.

I started my PPL in March and just cluster bombed the flying list every week for slots. Given that I expected to lose half of those to weather, u/s aircraft, u/s instructor/student etc it took me around three months to get the required hours. Of course now that my skills test is next on the list a combination of circumstances means that I have to wait around five weeks........:ugh:

[Jan Olieslagers]

Sorry to spoil the fun, but allow me to report:

Me too got fed up with circuit upon circuit upon circuit and no visible improvement, and asked the instructor if I couldn't plan a navigation flight so as to keep things interesting. Surely I could! Off we went for my first ever cross-country, poorly prepared for lack of experience and no help whatever from said instructor. We took off and it began very well, but started to go down (not literally, luckily) soon afterwards - I never spotted the destination aerodrome even when we were overhead. So we headed back home immediately. And all the while, increasingly as we got nearer home, the instructor took more and more pains to make it clear I wasn't up to overland flying, pointing at how I never kept constant altitude nor constant speed and never managed to catch reference points. He was quite right - but only made me find another place to continue my "career".

[Monocock]

Try tailwheel when one can't fly with over 10kts crosswind.



?????????????????????????????????

[IanPZ]

Ah well, as we get closer to Sunday, the day I normally fly and my instructor is off this week, I see that the weather is due to be a lovely sunny day, 25C, and 11mph winds from the south, perfect for runway 15!

Of course, long range forecast for Wednesday, my next actual lesson, is not at all bad, but plenty of time for that to change!

In all seriousness though, thanks for the pep talks, and the reassurance that it really foes just take a long time to get through the lessons and you have all had this experience. Hopefully it wont carry on too long like this, and fingers crossed, I get my license by the end of the year.

Then, watch out people!!!

[Whirlygig]

and my instructor is off this weekI wouldn't normally recommend chopping and changing instructors but, in this instance, does the school have another instructor who can fly with you on Sunday? I think you need to make the most of it.

Cheers

Whirls

[IanPZ]

Very small school, 2 instructors, both generally full booked over there weekend. I knew this when i started, bit had tried out 3 schools and just felt really comfy/confident with this instructor. He even warned me that for 3 or 4 weekends through the year he would be off, hence booking the midweek lessons.

I suppose I could always hang around the airstrip until someone felt sorry for me and took me up, bit that's not really a productive way for me to spend the weekend, and does rather abandon my partner! Ah well, just have to carry on whinging here

[IO540]

You could also go for a flight with an existing (experienced) pilot who shows you how one flies for real :)

You might find that rather motivating.

Just don't tell the school you have done that, because schools (in general) do not like their students being polluted by "pilots with bad habits" :)

[ct8282]

To the OP - I feel your pain, but from a slightly different perspective.

I recently did my PPL in Florida. Whilst many people still seem to carry a 'perception' or 'view' about the Florida PPL's I must say that this thread is testiment to the what is easily the strongest selling point for the Florida PPL.

I did my PPL in 18 days from start to finish including my Night Rating!

Yes I admit that I have had to have lessons since coming back to learn the UK way of things, but I only needed 3 lessons and am now enjoying the freedom of solo flying in the UK. Hang on, did I say 'freedom'.....?

Now, onto why I feel your pain. Since being back, I have had 5 flights, 3 with instructors and 2 solo. I have also had 5 flights cancelled due to the weather!! A 50% hit rate, and if I didn't have the luxury of being able to duck out of work for a couple of hours for 2 weekday flights this would have been only 3 flights and 5 cancelled flights so this would have been a 62.5% cancellation rate. In the last 2 weeks the weather has been so bad that at times I was feeling so depressed and hacked off with it that I wondered if flying was for me. Rather than feeling good about being a pilot I was just feeling miserable all of the time, and for the first time in my life I have started to consider the prospect of moving abroad!

The problem you will inevitably have is that you will waste quite a few hours going over stuff you have already done in order to refresh and remind yourself due to the long time period between lessons. In my mind this is non productive and just a waste of money. I would say that doing a PPL in 18 days may be just a little too fast as you really don't have the time to fully take in what you learned from the previous flight before you move onto the next lesson, but having the ability to fly consistently with never more than a day or so in between is a very productive way of doing things. Not to mention the fact that I probably saved about £2k all in and I think the advantages of USA flying speak for themselves.

If I were you, I would jump the pond for 4 weeks and get your PPL done. You will absolutely love the freedom that US aviation offers, you will avoid the frustration of constant delays and cancelled lessons, and you will fly home with a PPL and will feel on top of the world.

Good luck to you and hang in there. It really is worth it, and whatever route you decide, fly safe, fly smart, and I hope you can join the PPL club soon.

[Pitts2112]

Being now in the US, I can always tell when the weekend weather is rubbish in the UK because PPrune is nearly as busy as on a weekday. Good weather, it's like a ghost town in here.

[nick ritter]

IanPZ

I took my PPL in 2009 and it took about 6 months flying every weekend, two flights booked in for every Saturday

The weather frankly is a disaster. And then you get other things that throw a spanner in the works, plane out for maintenance, some air show on the day of your solo navigation, wind that is deemed too strong for you to solo and the list just never seems to end – I turned up at WW on a bright blue morning, sat down for a coffee and was horrified to see that my car had almost been snowed in over the space of about 45minutes

All I can advice is that you control the factors that you have control over. I have no idea what airport you use, but if it only has one runway, this might be an issue with cross winds, if it is a small club, as you note above, there could be issues with instructors being booked out, on holiday or whatever

The club I fly from has 3 runways, so thankfully the cross wind element is mostly taken out and it is blessed with a number of planes and a number of instructors, most of whom are pretty stable (low staff turnover etc). But it is each for his/her own

As others note above, if you can blag your way out from work at 4pm or so once a week, you can often get some useful flying in late in the afternoon, especially in the summer (and this might free up some time over the weekend allowing you more time with the partner / wife / kids or whatever takes your fancy)

I wish you good luck with your ppl and I feel your pain, it isn’t only the weather in this country that can get you down, the taxes kill me even more

Good luck, Nick

[IanPZ]

All,

Thanks so much for the replies. This is what a community is all about! I've pretty much started to do what some of you have suggested, in that I am booking wednesday evenings when I can. That way I can get lessons done in the gaps where I don't fly on Sunday because of weather.

As for the school, the runways, and the availability of the instructors, I hear what you are saying. I had wondered about elsewhere, but the combination of the airstrip being all of 10 minutes from my house, and me really feeling good about the instructor means that for the minute I intend to stick with them. Lets see how the summer goes....I can always whine on the forum!

I was having an interesting conversation with a work colleague about it today though. He asked me how long it would take me to pass, and I realised that I am enjoying the process of learning so much, that I am not much sure I care. Obviously there is a cost perspective, but since I am learning in 3-axis microlights (eurostar), its not as expensive as a light aircraft. And I just love it. Every lesson there is some new challenge.

I suppose that when I get to the full time circuit bashing bit (getting close now) it might be different, but you know, if it takes me until next year to pass, so what...at least I get to fly.

The bummer is when I am psyched up for a lesson, looking forward to it, and then have it cancelled. Its a bit like a climax building, and then a huge let-down.

But then, I have pprune to read, a place to whinge, and another week.

All I ask is that you all keep your fingers crossed for me this Wednesday. Maybe that'll help! Long term forecast still looking good!

[Yorkphil]

Can I suggest you look at what time you book your lessons?

I know it might sound daft, but I always tried to book either the first lesson slot of the day or the last of the day and only had 2 cancelled due to weather.
The weather just seems more stable first thing in the morning and then again in the evening.

[IanPZ]

Yorkphil, not daft at all, all my lessons are last thing in the day for that reason. However....

You'll never believe what just happened. Not sure if its just luck, or if one of you really did go up to your deity of choice with boxing gloves, but my instructor just called to say weather report for blackpool (where his competition was) this weekend is pants, and competition is cancelled, so did I want a lesson last thing this sunday!....what a result!

You watch, the whole sunny weekend thing will change now :-)

[riverrock83]

I've been really lucky in that my instructor only takes on a few pupils at a time (part time) and so is fairly relaxed time wise, and the aircraft utilisation isn't huge so I normally look for good weather a couple of days away and book :). I've also got a second instructor for when he is away on business...
I can see an advantage in having a second instructor - although you have to keep you wits about you as the two of them use different speeds in the circuit on the same aircraft :eek:
Did first solo last week in perfect weather :D
For a few weeks where the weather was woeful they suggested doing "currency" flights - just to keep my hand in and potentially do something a little different. Really it was to stop me moving backwards in my training! Mind you - I have now done an introduction to aeros :)

Crossing my fingers tomorrow in Prestwick - aircraft booked - weather doesn't look too bad now - but we'll see tomorrow!

[IanPZ]

So, after having whinged so much, I thought I would just resurrect this thread and let you know what happened

So, first thing, my instructor called me last minute before last sunday and said "hey, I can do a lesson now if you want". Then, the weather held out today as well, and I had another one.

And, you ask, have these lessons done any good?

Well, I am happy to report that after what I think is 15 or more takeoffs and landings, I have worked out which the stick is, and which the rudder is. Not using them right, but at least I know which one I am screwing up, and when.

Of course, we then added radio calls in, and that left me like a rabbit, staring at the runway, trying to remember the name of the airfield as i called finals. My instructor did point out that at that particular point, 200ft up or so, it might be better to land the plane, and forget the name of the airport, than to tell them clearly who I was as I ploughed into the airstrip....lucky for me he was there.

But, and this is a big but,.....it is starting to go in...slowly. I have about 4 hours of takeoffs and landings under my belt (well, 3 and a bit, as we did some flying around as well the first time, and went to a different airstrip), and I can see there is some kind of sense to it.

Now, all I need is another few months of this, and perhaps I will actually know how to land (and take off?)

Thanks all again for the support. IPZ

[I Love Flying]

Great news IPZ:D

Forecast isn't too awful this weekend either, so fingers crossed for you!:ok:

[chopperholic]

Great news! Keep at it. I remember when I first started my PPL and totally hated the radio, although enjoyed the flying! For me radio telephony was the hardest part and I remember thinking I would never be able to take it in and learn the dark art. Talking to tower, talking to radar, flying, checks, changing frequency, noting the pressure settings, transponder frequencies, flying, working out where we were, holding the correct altitude, holding correct heading, checking, aaarrggh! My head used to be battered after each lesson!

Its just one of those things and it will all come together. Using the radio is about confidence and partly knowing what the controller might say to you. Once you get the hang you will start enjoying it.

[mary meagher]

You can earn the patience of the Air Traffic Controller, by prefixing your transmission with "Student Pilot" or something along these lines

And by remembering that they - the controllers -are there to help you, that is their job! (and to keep us from bumping into each other, of course).

So if you don't get your transmission exactly right, just say the station you are calling, eg. "Enstone Radio" or "Birmingham Approach" or whatever, followed by your identification - " this is Golf- Oscar Foxtrot Echo Romeo"
and if you can't think of anything else you were supposed to say, they will kindly ask for it.

Old adage: Aviate, Navigate, Communicate.

1. Aviate - keep the aircraft right side up, etc.
2. Navigate - be reasonably certain where you are ( or ask ATC to identify your position, if you are lost, confess!)
3. Communicate - if you are not too busy doing the first two items; but if you are actually landing, or otherwise seriously overworked, say "Stand by!"

[IanPZ]

Sounds right enough to me.

Interestingly, I was talking it over with my instructor afterwards, and each time he fed a new activity into the process, I think that I was so busy concentrating on that, that I forgot to worry about the previous one, and so did it ok....or at least it worked until the radio.

It's weird really, I am very used to using vhf from other activities I am involved in, but I think this was just a case of one thing too much....I am sure once it becomes habit I wont even realise I am doing it.

But can I just say.....taking off and landing.....what a blast.

Perhaps its just run of the mill for you old timers with hundreds....nay thousands of hours under your belt, but for me, I really wanted to just stop and stare and be completely wowed by the whole thing....right up to the point the instructor suggested I clear the landing strip.

Ah well, just another few hundred to go, right? :-)