In pursuit of private pilot certificate

[cavell.todd]

Hey everybody! I'm new to the forum so I thought I'd start with a little intro thread.

I'm currently in pursuit of my private pilot certificate. I started flying back in July to start pursuing my goal of becoming a professional pilot. After starting at a local FBO I decided to enroll full time at a local community college with a professional pilot training course. I also hold a BA in Music. It's been a great, but expensive, journey so far.

Shortly after enrolling at the college I enlisted in the Navy and got promised an air traffic control job with the Navy. Pretty excited! Although I don't have huge hopes, or intentions, of becoming a civilian air traffic controller I still want to pursue my IFR rating, commercial pilot certificate, multi-engine rating, etc. (and maybe even something interesting like a lighter-than-air rating). My goal before going to RTC is to have my private pilot certificate.

I've started soloing, left the airport for the first time yesterday (very exciting and nerve racking). Made some dumb mistakes...for one...I forgot to enrichen the fuel mixture and (try as I might) I couldn't figure out why the heck my engine kept dieing everytime I tried to start the engine (I felt like an idiot)...then as I became more nervous because of my dumb mistake I used the wrong tail number when calling out my intentions over the radio. I guess it could've been worse but I felt pretty dumb. Have any of you made any rookie mistakes, that you're willing to admit to :P, like that before?

Anyway, I hope I have the time to keep working towards my goal of being a professional pilot while I'm in the navy. Even though it seems a long way out I know I can eventually do it. If I learned one thing from getting a fine arts degree in music it is that hard work and perseverance always pay off in the end. I still have a lot to learn but I am having a blast learning!

[sccutler]

Todd-

Congratulations on starting your journey into flight.

Might I suggest you also offer an not post over at Pilots of America (http://www.PilotsOfAmerica.com) which is a bit more oriented to the GA pilot set, as well as being much more populated by US pilots.

Best of luck in your learning... Fly safe!

Spike

[Pilot DAR]

Have any of you made any rookie mistakes, that you're willing to admit to :P, like that before?

Yup!

Your review of this thread might prove reassuring:

http://www.pprune.org/private-flying/471115-concerning-mistakes.html

Obviously mistakes can very very not good, if it's the wrong mistake at the wrong time, so I never want to minimize the importance of aspiring to get it right and always do better. But, don't beat yourself up for using the wrong registration on the radio, or starting with the mixture lean ('done that during a checkout!), that's not going to injure anyone.

Concentrate on the really important things, like keeping the aircraft upright and flying fast enough, the engine running well with enough fuel aboard, then not bumping into other things. and the rest will fall into place. For every new type of plane you fly, there'll be a whole bunch more new mistakes to make. The more you fly, and use checklists, the more you will see a core structure and flow in cockpit procedure, and that core will become fairly engrained in your technique - that's good.

And then you'll fly a type with a reverse of procedure, and the mistake will happen. After a half hour of checkout in a marvelous two seat tandom taildragger with a turbine engine, last summer, I was declared fine to fly it, and set about the required flight testing this month (with no flying in it the interim). I got a number of good flights in, and was feeling pretty good about flying it. The other day during a start, it suddenly gently went poof, and spooled down to a stop. Oops, I'd forgotten to turn the fuel on! (this type requires the fuel be turned off, right after ever shut down - I had got that right! just missed the checklist item to turn it back on for the start!). I felt silly, but no harm done. Reset everything, wait the starter cycle time, check the voltage and start again properly. Sure enough, I was back seat to my original check pilot two days ago, to check him out on the modification, and while using the start checklist, he managed to do the same thing! I did not feel so silly any more.

They're not really rookie mistakes, just keep them from being serious, or costly ones, and we'll all be able to admit we've done the same types of things!

[Grob Queen]

Have any of you made any rookie mistakes, that you're willing to admit to :P, like that before?

Yep, Have a look at the thread I started "Confession time - who has had a prang". I've admitted my worst one about forgetting which rudder to use there....Also, on first solo I forgot to do my pre take off checks and didn't tell the Tower I was about to enter the active runway...:\

Completely cocked up a glide approach onto our grass strip the other day - all the signs of the impending stall were there...I just failed to pick them up! My Instructor had to grab control PDQ!

From one student to another, good luck with your PPL! Aslo, best of luck with your Naval career.

GQ

[RTN11]

We were all rookies once, and all made similar mistakes.

I'm sure some instructors will use the wrong call-sign from time to time, especially on a busy day when changing aircraft.

The important thing is that you learn from the mistakes. I once started the engine with the fuel cock off. there was enough fuel in the lines to support a short taxi off the parking stand before the engine came to an abrupt stop. Took a little while to figure out, and very red faced infront of the girl I was trying to impress, but I've never done it since.

[Jan Olieslagers]

ISTR it is a private pilot's license rather than a certificate?
I don't really want to be pecky (but if you really wish to call me that, do have it your own way, please do) - one has better get used to get everything right from the beginning, even what might seem like futile details. There's so many of them, on this long road.

[mrmum]

LicenCe in Europe Jan, but the OP is in Iowa US, I think certificate is a correct term over there in FAA land

[Jan Olieslagers]

Thank you! So Uncle Sam flies on a PPC, if I got that right?
I must admit the subtle transatlantic differences tend to give me a hard time (neighbors <=>neighbours, center <=>centre &c &c)

[proudprivate]

Uncle Sam refers to it as a license (http://www.faa.gov/pilots/lic_cert/) too.

It is not abbreviated as PPC. That wouldn't be clear. The FAA always aims to be as clear as possible. So they spell it out : "private pilot certificate".

Licence is the UK spelling. The UK does not have a prerogative to impose English language spelling across Europe. License can be just as European. As a matter of fact, our beloved EASA spells it as "License".

[mrmum]

On the FAA website, they seem to change terms a lot between airmen/pilots and certificates/licenses, looks fairly random to me, but perhaps some of the FAA expert regulars know better.

[mrmum]

No offence intended, the capital C was with reference to the US way of spelling it, not a dig at Jan, I hadn't actually noticed he'd spelled it with an "s" until your post.
The UK does not have a prerogative to impose English language spelling across Europe
Which is indeed a regrettable state of affairs. It makes one of HMs humble subjects long for the glory days of empire when we perhaps could have done so with the colonials. :E
We certainly wouldn't be having all this grief from EASA, one could just dispatch a gunboat down the Rhine to sort them out. ;)

[proudprivate]

Ethymologically speaking, the license is the authorisation; the certificate is the record of such authorisation. But even if used as synonyms there is nothing unclear.

I recall we sent a few gunboats up the Thames too at some stage :E
And a century later, HM Govt was using Rhine scumbags too to lash out at the colonials. That didn't work out too well either. :p

[cavell.todd]

Thanks for all the replies. I might go and sign up over at the united states forums but I think this will be more interesting to learn about flying in foreign countries from reading the posts here.

It is referred to as both a private pilot certificate and private pilot license. The short hand that a lot of people usually use is PPL not PPC. I think the term certificate is derived from the olden days when it was actually a paper certificate that you received. Now, after you pass your written and practical, you receive a temporary "certificate" until your permanent plastic private pilot license (or still certificate) comes in the mail (what a glorious day that will be when I get mine).

I understand that getting the little details right is of the utmost importance because getting a lot of little details wrong can end up accumulating to a big problem. I especially learned this after watching this series of videos

FAA private pilot practical course part 1: Preflight, Start & Run-Up - YouTube

Although the video is really cheesy I didn't really understand how through one can be during a pre-flight check. I'm also going to start reading my checklist twice just to make sure I hit everything I need to.

My flying is still relatively uncoordinated. I've gotten good about using rudder while turning and such but I still have a nagging problem with maintaining a constant altitude during turns and maneuvers.

Also, if you're interested in how the FAA exam process works...here is another video I found of an FAA oral examination. It looks kind of old but it really gave me some good insight into what I will be facing when I start testing for my certificate.

Private Pilot Oral Exam - YouTube

Anyway, thanks for all the replies. I expect to be frequenting these forums quite a bit.

[Grob Queen]

Before we go to war over a "Far off country of which we know very little" (ok, i know for the pedants, that was Serbia).....

To get back to the OP, Todd, if you want to chat to other Studes, theres the Students Forum on The Flyer website which I find very helpful...just knowing there are others going through the same as you...

[cavell.todd]

Although most of what you said is true I think it is dangerous to assume that a license will be revoked if I stop paying a central agency. They can change their mind (if the federal aviation regulations give them ground to...i.e. failing to meet medical requirements, criminal activity, non-compliance with regulations, etc.) but we don't have to pay the FAA a fee to keep our private pilot license/certificate. Our licenses do not expire we just have to renew our medical certificates and complete a biennial flight review. All we do is pay for the testing (and the schooling) and pay whoever for our biennial flight review. However, I'm sure if I stopped paying my taxes they could muster up some way to, not only garnish my wages, but revoke my flying privileges as well.

[Gomrath]

but we don't have to pay the FAA a fee to keep our private pilot license/certificate.

Not quite true if the new regs come into effect.!
The FAA are finally going to implement the photo id cert which will require a new photo every so many years and the FAA have stated an intention to implement fees going forward.
Various $ figures have been mention with $50 for the issue and $25 for a replacement etc. (currently the FAA charge a nominal $2 for a replacement cert).

[Gomrath]

but I doubt they will be able to implement periodic payments from pilots to retain their pilot certificate

They are suggesting that the photo will have to be renewed every so many years and the suggestion being bandied around is that the 'processing' of this will incur some fee or other.... No photo - no valid cert...! So effectively it will be a fee for certificate retention.
Change your address and want to get a replacement cert that reflects that - ker-ching $25. Lose your cert and want a replacement - etc etc etc.

Like I said - "if the regs get implemented"... There is some backlash from AOPA etc but I think it will happen in some form or other.