Started PPL training (!)
Well, after years and years of thinking about it, I finally jumped off the diving board, I started PPL training a couple weeks ago. I fly out of my local 3500 foot runway airport at 440 feet MSL elevation. It's a solid little airport with all the services one would need. I selected a 1982 vintage Cessna 152 (II) to keep the costs somewhat under control. It's an old aircraft with basic instrumentation...did I mention it's old? She has a very steady fuel leak (fuel pouts from the left tank vent) and the interior has not been maintained whatsoever. The attitude indicator is maybe 8 degrees out of wack. Big cracks on the plastic instrument panel bezels. Speaking of cracks, there are numerous drill-stops on the fuselage, control surfaces, and wings. I'd say this makes it a perfect right-of-passage training aircraft! The engine believe it or not purrs like a kitten and produces good power.
I have completed only (3) flight lessons so far but have been hitting my Cessna cloud-based ground training hard, always keeping way ahead of the actual flights.
So far, the two things that intimidate me the most are VFR navigation and landings. My instructor can just look out the window and know exactly where we are, but I just don't know where I am yet. He will often ask me if I see this road, that town, or that water tower and more often than not I don't know what or where he is referring to. He says that as I build time, I will get to know the landscape. When you guys trained, did VFR scare you at first? I am already having nightmares about getting lost and losing everybody's respect by having to admit to ATC that I need vectors...this is my worst nightmare! I was told that it happened to one of the other students recently and all respect for her was immediately destroyed when they found out. Any tips on how to get up to speed on landmark navigation quickly! I do NOT want to get lost!
As far as landings go, I am NOT happy with my 5 landings so far. In each case, I was unable to grease it. Instead, I felt a light thump and heard a chirp as the mains touched down. I just haven't gotten the hang of flaring just at the right time at just the right amount. I think I am simply not flaring enough...not pulling back hard enough on the yoke. I can't wait until I grease my first landing...I don't want to feel any thump whatsoever...I want those mains kissing the runway. So far in training we haven't even really gotten to landings yet, but obviously at the end of each flight or trip to another airport I have to land, and the instructor has been letting me do pretty much all the work and hasn't really had to jump in and correct.
I feel like I am really doing poorly at both VFR and landings, and those two things are extremely important obviously. The other aspects of flying are not really challenging at all, at least not yet. I'm sure I will soon run into other areas that I have trouble with.
Hoping to get some pointers on VFR and those landing flares. I don't ever want to feel that thump again (unless I'm shooting a short-field approach, that's different). With a 3500 foot runway I have plenty of asphalt to come in real gentle.
Thanks for any replies guys!