Newbie PPL Diary

[Captain_P_Car_]

Starting my first real go at flying lessons on Thursday.

Thought I might keep a diary on here...

Input, comments & advice welcome. :)

[Gertrude the Wombat]

comments & advice welcome
You might try reading the PINK HEADSETS learning-to-fly diary if you haven't already ... there must be a saved version floating around the interwebs somewhere ... though whether you interpret that as a "how to" write such a diary guide or a "how not to" guide is up to you.

(She wouldn't have had to ask the original question if she was starting out today - there's a choice of pink headsets available now. I'd call that a result.)

[localflighteast]

keeping a diary/journal/blog whatever is an excellent idea, even if you never decide to publish it online.

you are going to hit major highs and major lows at some point. I found that keeping my blog helped me remember why I was doing this and how far I'd actually come even during the most frustrating moments!

Good luck and welcome to the land of the perpetually poor and totally addicted!

[AviatorRodent]

Invest in a Go Pro or NFlightCam, something which can connect to your headset and pick up the radio comms. They are costly, but it pays for itself as you'll replay the lessons and learn on the ground rather than have to have further lessons to better understand exercises.

[localflighteast]

the go pro is also a good investment for sure
the hero 2 is cheap now that the hero 3 is out and quite frankly does just as well

[flyelmoair]

I done something similar. If you can afford a GoPro go ahead that'll be a much better option. During my De-brief's with the instructor I used the voice recorder on my iPhone to play back the de-brief later on once I was out of the excitement that I had just been flying. I found that I was more likely to improve for the next lesson having listened to what hints and tips the instructor gave.

Good luck for the lessons, best and most well spent 47hrs of my life!

[localflighteast]

Feel duty bound to add that you really should check with your instructor before recording anything!
Chances are they won't have a problem but its only polite

[1d2d3d4d]

This might be worth a look!

http://www.pprune.org/private-flying/138022-zero-forty-five-my-ppl-diary.html?highlight=to+forty+ppl+diary

Chris

[patowalker]

Starting my first real go at flying lessons on Thursday.

... and you already call yourself Captain? :confused:

[tecman]

Good luck with the course, enjoy the flying, and spare the world the running commentary. Lots of them around, and rarely very enlightening. Just have fun.

[Grob Queen]

I agree with Tecman, there are a lot of PPL diaries around the net. However, if it will help you focus your thoughts, then why not?

THough that said, maybe better to post your diary on the Student Forum on Flyer...just impartial advice, but you will probably get treated more kindly there...as I have found...;)

Good luck and above all enjoy it, Flying is great fun!

GQ

[Captain_P_Car_]

Thanks for all the comments so far.

Apologies for the hiatus/delay in my next message. My 'lesson tomorrow' turned out to be cancelled for weather so it was just a meet/greet with my instructor.

With a few things to be taken care of, it was 2 months before I could organise my next lesson.. hence this next entry.

First of all, I'll just answer a couple of queries/comments made so far:

1. Sorry if you don't want to read my diary! If not, don't! :=

2. 'already a captain?'. Yes, this was in homage/parody to Captain Picard (as a Star Trek fan!) and Captain Martin Crieff, who addresses himself as Captain all the time to everyone, wherever possible. It's also a play on words as P Car is contained in my name... hmm, put too much thought into this. :rolleyes:

3. Thanks for encouragement, everyone else. :D

Ok, so I suppose lesson 1 will be very familiar to all of you, so instead of talking about what I learnt, I'll just point out things that I found unusual/interesting for you guys.

I'm learning in a Cessna 152. The cockpit seems pretty dated, but probably ideal for a beginner. I've already become fairly accustomed to reading the instruments and interpreting them as I flew myself, which I was pretty happy with.

One thing I noticed was that I got airsick! Ha! I didn't think of that one. My dreams of being a fighter pilot may be shattered :) It was a fairly windy day, and we kept between 1-3000ft as the cloud level was quite low.

Would you guys recommend anything for this, or do you think it is something I'd get used to?

Another thing I was quite pleased with was anticipating what was going to happen when I changed something (like the flaps) and was able to co-ordinate myself. I think being able to drive and ride a motorbike helps you out here as you are maybe more accustomed to having to think of a few things at once.

I'm flying out of RAF Wickenby, former home of 12 sqn. The instructor, Steve, is excellent, and was happy to change his teaching style for my way of learning (which is, don't tell me anything, please ASK me first).

All in all, an excellent experience and I'm looking forward to lesson 2 already. Finally, at age 35, my dream is becoming realised!

[loggie1983]

That's great, always like reading about someone going through what I am.

Started my PPL back in March after about 8 years of finding the right time with fitting it in with the wife and kids. Had 3 hours back then and took a break up until a few weeks ago. Now on 8.5 hours and absolutely loving it, my instructor lets me 'fly the aircraft', lets me learn from any little mistakes I may make (nothing serious of course).

Aiming to complete an hour at at least from now on, maybe 2.5-3 if I can fit it into my daily work plan. So should have most of it completed end of August/September.

Medical completed last week (JAR Class 2(learning in Cyprus, RAF Akrotiri flying club. will I have to change anything when I get back to the UK?)) at least out here I don't have to worry about the weather, gorgeous blue skies with crystal clear water below me, do get a lot of wind/x-winds, so that should be good for the UK, just need to do make sure I get flying in during the winter months here.

Anyway loving my old Cessna 172 in flying, ( not actually mine) it is defiantly a classic though!

Looking forward to seeing more. :ok:

[localflighteast]

air sickness is very common. The worst thing you can do is to not eat.
Eat a sensible meal beforehand as having an empty stomach actually makes you feel worse.

My favourite flying breakfast is Granola, greek yoghurt and fruit. A nice mix of carbs ,protein and some fruit sugars.

As you take over more and more of the flying you don't have the opportunity to think about feeling sick! Your mind is otherwise engaged, just in the same way drivers don't get carsick.

Keep the temperature on the cool side as well. use the cabin vents and seeing as they are on the instructor's side ; don't be shy in asking them to dial the heat down!

Good luck with the flying. If you do a google search on my username you can get to my blog and Youtube videos, I've found other people's diaries of their experiences incredibly valuable in this journey.

[logie101]

Don't let air sickness put you off it will pass. I remember flying with my head out the window of a c152 coming back on my first solo nav!!!(Although turned out I had picked up some bug)

But as another poster said the more that you are handling the aircraft the less likely you will feel sick.

A good tip is to keep hydrated when flying. Bring a bottle of water and take small sips throughout the flight.