Originally Posted by krunkworx
Hi All,
This thread is an amazing source of information although does digress quite a bit at times. Thanks to all of you who have returned after YOU days, spec testing and FSP/OSBs to report back on what to expect.
I had a query regarding the weight put on previous flying experience. Although I don't have my PPL, I do have some flying hours from my uni degree (aerospace engineering) and have some gliding time booked in the next couple of weeks. I've got my assessment day coming up (assuming I pass spec testing!) and am a little worried that I may get drilled for not having more demonstrated flying experience for someone of my age (26).
Can anyone comment on their experience through the process with little flying experience?
Flight experience, even if it's only a little, speaks loads towards motivation to fly, and I would bet that you'll get asked about it in your OSB. There was one bloke on my course who had no experience, and his comments were that he wished he had at least some. He said he found it difficult to adapt to the air and get used to/be confident in the aircraft. Everyone is different however; there have been numerous people who have been successful with no flight time, but I think the general recommendation (at least in my experience) is that you get some hours before you go up. A recommendation from personal experience is don't stagger your lessons. Do them all in one go and apply yourself to learn everything you need to for those flights. I found that waiting between flights meant that I was rusty and had to relearn a lot of material that I'd already covered.
Having said this, students are split up into basic, intermediate and advanced categories based on the hours they have and the recency of those hours (<10 hours for the basic course). The syllabus of each of these is progressively more involved and there are fewer flights in the intermediate and advanced categories, which I would assume is supposed to cater to different levels of experience.