Quote: e.g. i was given control as we we're heading in to land but i had no idea about rate of decent or what bits i was meant to be doing so we basically bounced on the runway and went back up again and swerved about a fair bit etc. It was safe and he obviously had control the whole time and we landed ok (albeit it surely looked ridiculous) but guess this freaked me out a bit as I didnt expect it on my first lesson. hey ho, guess being thrown in the deep end can work well.
Some instructors are very good at allowing passengers/trial flight people to fly the thing from the word go. Sometimes it gives confidence, "this can't be that difficult if he's letting me do it so soon"' other times it might make you feel "Jesus, how am I going to manage all this?".
He will know what he's doing & you will progress. In fact as long as you don't freak out too much it may be better than the "I have control!" Type of instructor who just wants to show a girl what a brilliant pilot he is. I've met one or two like that. As for the fear, it will become situational awareness, that expression will come up a lot and will replace abject terror.
Good luck, join the merry band of the impoverished flyers.
For the benefit of Mary, I've met only two over confident male pilots, one was a gliding instructor who scared the living daylights out of a newbie female who had to be very carefully coaxed back into the cockpit by an instructor with a brain! And yes I have been scared a few times myself. No fly for 5 months, deserted airfield, engine prone to backfire & set fire to grass underneath, after much thought & a couple of fags, take off and do three or four white knuckled dry mouth circuits with suboptimal landings for two of them. Go home, now legally current but certainly not confident, let alone over.