First flights as a PPL ✈

[Pilot CR]

To all,

I have recently passed my skills test so am a matter of weeks from being officially qualified when my license comes through the post.

I just wondered what you guys did when you first got your license? Who was your first passenger etc?

Happy flying

Pilot CR

[HEATHROW DIRECTOR]

Congratulations. Remember - do everything to professional standards and you won't go far wrong.

[Curlytips]

Having been in a major RTA half way through my licence, a year later they wanted to take the metal plates off my femurs and I was due in hospital for same. The paper ticket came through and I immediately took my wife up for the first time. Two days later had the op, then another two days later, one femur snapped and the other one broke on the way down. Several months later, after I got out of the wheelchair, I had to "re-solo" and got back in the air.

Whatever you decide to do, go flying - you never know what might happen!

[Gertrude the Wombat]

My first passenger was my father.


He spent the entire flight worrying about being sick (he wasn't, in fact). He wouldn't have done if I'd included the existence and location of the sick bag in my passenger briefing.


This was a 152, so at some point in the flight the passenger door popped open, as they do. This one I got right - I reached across him and closed it, saying "the door is only to keep the draft off, it's the seat belt that stops you falling out".

[Shaggy Sheep Driver]

Not my first pax, but an early one, was my mum. "Don't keep doing that!" she demanded, every time I banked into a turn!

[alexbrett]

My advice would be to do some solo flights to get used to flying without an instructor and build some confidence before taking passengers. Most clubs will sign you out to go solo while waiting for your license to come through so this is a good opportunity to do it.

On the first few flights where you take a passenger up I'd make them something you've done before, eg a local flight or a landaway to somewhere you're familiar with - don't make life too difficult for yourself by going somewhere new at the same time.

[rnzoli]

Congrats! Despite all the recommendations against taking passengers in the beginning, I actually had to take my elder daughter for half an hour on my first licensed flight. Took great care of the emergency procedures, weather (winds calm, early morning), the scenic route, soft landing etc. The post-flight honest comments from her were as follows:
- she felt safe and she thought I was a pretty good pilot :}
- the airplane was way too slow (she compared it with airliners) :(
- the flight was boring :suspect:
- had trouble to understand what was so complicated about learning to fly. :ugh:
What could I say? I agreed with her! :) :D

[thing]

Congrats first of all!

Looking at the logbook my first pax was one of my club mates who flew the outgoing leg of a trip and I flew the inbound. Not a bad idea to have a couple or so landaways with an experienced buddy first before taking your nearest and dearest for the £100 pub lunch.

Don't bore holes in the sky. Go somewhere, it's much more interesting for your pax.

[Pace]

I was always told a license was no more than a license to start to learn to fly.

Following on from that statement should you take your nearest and dearest up with what you are an inexperienced new pilot?

Its a difficult one? Maybe take your worst enemy up first :E:

Pace

[flyinkiwi]

I took my wife up, as she insisted on being my first non pilot passenger. She loved the flight and was and is still a great passenger.

[mary meagher]

When first qualified to take "Friends and Family" up in a glider at Wycombe, I dragged a hundred willing victims along, but that was all strictly local, where I was very used to the site and conditions. And you can have a very decent crash in a glider, they don't often burn.

In power, once I had the license, rather than involving friends or family, I decided a long trip to Europe would build up useful experience, so flew from near Banbury to Alicante, in February, and return. This was in a Supercub, and it took nine days each way due to horrible weather. Returned vastly improved as a pilot. So a long solo trip may be a good idea before taking on the responsibility of passenger care and amusement.

[foxmoth]

Following on from that statement should you take your nearest and dearest up with what you are an inexperienced new pilot?

I think most examiners use the same criteria for passing people - would I allow this pilot to fly MY nearest and dearest? - if they have declared you ok on that basis then you should be ok to take your own!

Another good option is to find another pilot who has recently passed and do some trips together, it allows you to go twice as far by sharing the flying. If you do this though, do sit down beforehand and lay the ground rules, when YOU are flying YOU are in charge and visa versa though you should be able to challenge each other, if you have not already covered how to do this in HP then it is worth reading up on.

[Gargleblaster]

My first fligt after having obtained my license, as well as my first flight with a passenger, was with noone else than my mother in law. She was neither stirred or shaken and is still my mother in law...

[ChickenHouse]

I just wondered what you guys did when you first got your license?
Entered the aircraft to fly back home after exam checkride on a temporary special permit license issued by the examiner right after passing, printed one came a week later and that was a looong week to wait.
Who was your first passenger etc?
A sick dog, emergency flight, but that is a long story.

[Piltdown Man]

I got my licence so I could use it. So with a 21 hours total in my logbook I took a friend to the Isle of Wight, somewhere I'd never been before. The point of the training is so you can do these sort of things. However, I have to admit I had a few hundred hours gliding. But when I became a power instructor a few years later, our CFI insisted that our training focussed on the fact that our pupils would actually use the privileges of their licence. A sensible chap. It also meant we could enjoy the instruction because we were not a training sausage machine. Instead we trained our pupils to do what they wanted and matched that against the official syllabus. It worked.

PM

[Baikonour]

Agree that you should use the privileges you have. It's why we fly :ok:

However, I also agree with the earlier post about small steps. Specifically, try to only introduce one new aspect to each flight.
E.g. renting an aircraft you have not flown (or flown little) to go to a new place in weather which may be slightly below what you are used to ... with someone with you for the first time... may end up being a bit much.:ooh:

I had flown about 6 hours with passengers whilst still taking lessons (and an instructor next to me as well, for sure) because I wanted to do fun stuff earlier rather than later. E.g. why just do a nav exercise when you can go to Compton Abbas for lunch with someone?;)

Even so, after I passed my GST, I felt that I wanted to consolidate what I knew before I took someone else up. I also wanted to take passengers in a slightly more modern and higher performance aircraft and I wanted to get a tailwheel rating ... so although I passed my GST after 47 hours, my first passenger as PIC wasn't until 74. I didn't set out to have such a gap (although I initially felt I wanted about 10 hours of "me-time") but circumstances just happened that way.
During that period I also brought my 'airfields visited' total up from 9 to 18, dropped in on some short strips, flew 4 different aircraft types and logged some long flights up to 3.5 hours; in general I felt far more at ease and confident - not so much whether I would be able to conduct a safe flight - I was always confident with that - but also that I could make the flight as pleasant as possible for the passenger(s) and deal properly with any eventualities.

A thing to remember is that it's not just about you, it's also about your passenger.

YMMV ;^)

B.

[Ebbie 2003]

This could be an interesting thread.

My first solo post-PPL flight was 18 months after the flight test - went to the US New Jersey and bought an Archer (I'd learned in a 172), did a familiarisation and flight review, then three touch and goes (first solo) and then 480 mile single leg cross country to North Carolina through the Washington zone en route and an overflight of Kitty Hawk on my way down to Barbados - seemed fairly straight forward - only afterwards was I told there was anything odd about it - was told afterwards that I should have been doing short trips to nearby airports - my view was it was nothing too difficult the only unfamiliar did was landing at an airport I didn't know.

The naysayers were rather unhappy when I said why go thirty miles, I can drive that sort of distance just as quickly if not quicker - and if I want to fly I'd rather be in the circuit trying to break my record for three touch and goes and a landing, much better than flying short distances in a straight line.

Oddly, probably the most fun flight I've ever done.

[RyanLee024]

Took a friend of mine above Niagara Falls two flights after the club signed me off. He absolutely loved it. But then again he also had flight hours with him as well so it's good to have an extra pilot to help out.

Just find a place interesting to go to. I feel like flying was always about fun personally.

[AerocatS2A]

My advice would be to do some solo flights to get used to flying without an instructor and build some confidence before taking passengers. Most clubs will sign you out to go solo while waiting for your license to come through so this is a good opportunity to do it.


I don't get it, do you not do a heap of solo flights in the process of getting your licence? When I got my PPL (NZ) I had 58 hours total time, 27 PiC, 5 hours instrument time, and 31 hours dual. Although I was very inexperienced, I didn't really need to get used to flying without an instructor.

That said, my first 3 flights after receiving my PPL were in fact solo flights. According to my log book I went out and did some wingovers and precision landings and a couple of local scenic flights. My 4th post PPL flight was a 3 hour cross country with my girlfriend at the time. It included two stops, one in Queenstown and one in Wanaka.

[150 Driver]

You only expand your boundaries by pushing against them.

The weekend after my licence arrived I went and bought my plane. Cheap, cheerful and the same as I'd learned to fly in.

The first solo post licence issue was bringing it home, from Exeter to East Anglia (circa 200 NM).

First leg was Exeter to Shoreham, getting controlled airspace clearance across Bournemouth to find Shoreham was phenomenally busy - hadn't realised it coincided with a fly in. Because of that the photographers were out and I have a treasured photo of me crossing the perimeter fence - not many can say they have that on their maiden flight.

Second leg was even more interesting when weather closed in having crossed the Thames (with hindsight I should have foreseen this but...), quick 180 and into Rochester for an unplanned overnight stay.

Next day got even more interesting than that when I lost the alternator. Managed to get a Mayday call out (wouldn't do that now but at the time it was needed) before the radio died and then into Cambridge.

Three things helped me on those flights. Luck was on my side, but so was familiarity with the plane and more importantly a damn good instructor who taught me to fly, not just to pass the test.

After that excitement I did a load of consolidation flights locally, and at the first opportunity got my IMC (IRR).

I still prefer solo flying to having passengers. First passenger was a month after all this - around a dozen solo flights - and I stuck to a local one, taking the view at that stage that navigating whilst having a passenger might be a step too far.

[alex90]

I waited 3 weeks to get my license, UK CAA seem to take ages to produce a simple piece of double sided paper.... You'd think they gave you a little more than that after spending so much on its issue....

Anyway - after 3 weeks of not flying I wanted to make sure I still felt as confident as I had before. So I went up and did 5 circuits. The next day I tried to take my little sister and mother to the Isle of Wight but with a cloudbase getting lower, we ended up turning back early. Third flight was with my girlfriend and we flew about 4 and a bit hours over most prominent places in the southeast of England, landed at Bembridge for lunch and flew back only to be stunned at how much I had spent! ;-)

Had my license come earlier I probably wouldn't have gone solo first, my instructor was very good at distracting me when we did the navigation part of the PPL as to simulate what it'd be like with passengers chatting, asking questions, asking about houses / castles...

Good fun!

[Viola]

Went for a few bimbles around by myself and with another pilot or two.

First 'proper' flight took my sister to fly over her town - quite a distance away.

She felt cold throughout the flight, but didn't like to ask me to put the heating on in case she distracted me.

As we returned to the circuit I apparently said 'You've got to stop talking now, I need to concentrate.'

Poor woman hadn't said a word throughout whilst she quietly froze :sad:

She did come flying again, once I'd got a bit more confidence!