PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - Problems with landing!! Advice??!
View Single Post
Old 10th February 2004 | 20:39
  #24 (permalink)  
shower of sparks
 
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 6
Likes: 0
From: UK
Lightbulb

Airbedane has hit the nail on the head.

The syllabus is structured in such a way as to help you to consolidate what you have just completed whilst expanding your skills a little bit each flight.
I have flown with far too many pilots and student pilots who can do ace steep turns but can't fly a decent circuit on a windy day, or fly S&L with external visual references only... The solo consolidation phase is a delicate and formative time designed not only to give you an opportunity to practice your flying skills but importantly a time to practice being in command of the aircraft and making decisions and judgements for yourself without the emotional safety net of an instructor by your side.

I suggest that if the weather is not suitable for solo circuit consolidation, you would be better served by doing a few dual circuits and getting some landing and crosswind landing practice in. That will help you greatly when the weather is good enough for the instructor to jump out again.

And another point... When you are faced with the challenge of not only flying the aircraft and doing something else at the same time (such as navigating) you don't want to be distracted by less than reasonable weather during the first couple of attempts. There is no point in rushing the basics - it will cost you in the long run. We live in a climate less than ideally suited to PPL training and if you happen to be training during the winter we just have to accept these limitations.

Best of luck - I'm sure it'll come good for you.

SOS
shower of sparks is offline