Final Words of Advice

[Stan0147]

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Pre PPL list completed.

Any final wisdom would be greatly appreciated before I start was has been a life long dream of learning to fly.

You all seem to fairly level headed as I've lurked for a long time. So please offer up any and all tips tricks and bits to keep me going when the going gets bad, it will help with the giddiness that does not seem to be going away.

Stan

[ChickenHouse]

Just do it.

[Heston]

keep me going when the going gets bad

The going won't get bad. Its all good -just sometimes better than others.

[Pace]

Stan

I came into flying over 30 years ago from Car racing. I was sponsored racing and lost the sponsor taking up flying as without a sponsor it was impossible to be competitive which when I was sponsored I was.

I intended to fly to solo and then to give up! But then having achieved the solo I then had a new goal of the PPL and so on and so on I did not have a large amount of free cash back then and did the remainder of the PPL over the next 18 months.

I very much looked at flying in chunks with one goal leading to another.
There will be highs and lows but the buzz from a good set of lessons or when you feel you have cracked one aspect kept you going for days after if not weeks.
So expect Highs and Lows expect times when you question why you are doing this? Expect bad patches when for instance you are doing great landings and then cannot seem to get a smooth touchdown.

A lot is about confidence and that can be gained or lost very quickly

It is important to click with the instructor you have as a good instructor will bring out the best in you while one you don't click with will slow your progress.

Above all its costing a lot of your hard earned money and the club is your servant so don't forget that and enjoy the experience

Pace

[Jonzarno]

Don't be too disappointed when you lose lessons you have booked due to bad weather. It's the most frustrating thing I found when doing my PPL.

Also, if you can possibly do so, don't pay up front for the whole course: pay as you go. If you have to pay a substantial amount up front: make sure you pay it on a credit (NOT debit) card. That way, if the flying school goes bust you can get your money back.

Other than that: go for it and best of luck! :ok:

Edit: also Pace is absolute right about making sure you get the right instructor: that's probably the number one factor.

[PA28181]

that's probably the number one factor.

Nah, number two, to number one, "Don't Pay Up Front"

Number three, get it before all the good airfields are turned into council estates :ugh:

[Genghis the Engineer]

humility.

Accept that your instructor knows shedloads about flying, and do it all his (or her) way. Try and avoid coming up with your own ways of doing things.

G

[chevvron]

I know a person who appears regularly on TV who:-
a) Bought an aircraft.
b) Paid for an instructor to teach him.
c) Soloed.
d) Sold the aircraft.
As far as I'm aware, he hasn't flown again (but I may be wrong) however one of his TV appearances did show him flying.

[LlamaFarmer]

Be receptive to criticism and feedback. It's valuable.


Being able to take negative feedback and act on it is very important, not just in flying but life in general. Not many people are good at receiving feedback.

[Stan0147]

Hi all,

Thanks for the pointers so far, all good.

Confidence is rising.

Stan

[rnzoli]

it will help with the giddiness that does not seem to be going away.

It's OK to be excited, because...
- you open 1 more dimension to the 2 you already had
- you will go through an experience of a lifetime
- you will gain privileges few others have.

So my advice is...
- expect the unexpected - absorb and digest rather than prepare in advace
- maintain your common sense - if you don't understand you clarify, if you disagree you explain, if it doesn't work you analyze, if you are stuck you search for the way out
- enjoy the learning opportunity - your goal is to learn so don't put unrealistic milestones up, don't expect everything will go smooth, always be generous, humble and good terms with your instructors, fellow students and everyone in the air or on the airfield.

:ok:

[Gertrude the Wombat]

Number three, get it before all the good airfields are turned into council estates
Won't happen. For decades governments have been trying to persuade councils to privatise council estates; they're certainly not allowed to build any new ones (beyond the occasional handful of houses if they really twist the rules quite hard).

[Shaggy Sheep Driver]

Consider how many millions of years humans have been around, but quite unable to fly. Consider that it wasn't until early last century that man flew a powered, controllable aeroplane for the first time. Of all the humans that have ever lived you are lucky enough to be one of the very few to be around when it's possible for humans to fly!

It's a great privilege! I really can't understand why anyone would not do it!

[Above The Clouds]

You must have already decided by listing your actions so far, so why are you wasting time, get on with it :ok:

[2hotwot]

I would say, know why you want to fly.
At some point people suddenly realise that they don't know why they are flying and are not getting anything out - and give up.

[RatherBeFlying]

You could easily see half the lesson used up in start, taxi, waiting for clearance, transit to / from practice area, taxi back and shutdown.

Then you have all week to forget.

Book longer slots and try to fly twice a day. Early on that may be too much as initial lessons can be overwhelming, but try to fly as many days a week as you can. Weather will inevitably give you off days.

[mary meagher]

Stan, get in the habit of keeping track of the weather....I watch the forecast on BBC (the others are rubbish!) both every morning and every evening news time. This way you have an idea of the trends, which you can nail down by checking the online forecasts, either BBC for your precise locality, or the more elaborate forecasts available to pilots when planning a cross country later on in your flying career...

And I do hope you have midweeks available....when everybody else is working, if you can turn up midweek you will make RAPID progress! I went solo in gliders at Booker, Wycombe Air Park, in 2 months of midweek flying, not bad for an old woman. And then after gaining the gliding silver "C" the following summer did the book learning for the PPL, and nailed that one in a couple of weeks in winter, at Wycombe Air Centre. When you are qualified to go cross country in a glider, the only thing left to learn in power is how to start the engine, taxi, and talk on the radio....

[Crash one]

When you are qualified to go cross country in a glider, the only thing left to learn in power is how to start the engine, taxi, and talk on the radio....

Mary, you are priceless!!:D

[Shaggy Sheep Driver]

1 Hour Once a Week Most Inefficient Way to Learn

I agree. That leads to the three steps forward, two steps back progress that vastly extends time to qualification, and trebles the cost.

I went solo on the C150 at about 10 hours because I dedicated a week of summer evenings straight from work to be at the airfield. I did six of those ten hours that week (the wx was co-operative) sometimes taking advantage of 'no show' students to fill their vacant slot if that was appropriate for me, soloing in the last session. That simply would not have been possible at 1 hour a week.

You say you have the money available so paying for a series of lessons close together won't be a problem, and it will be much cheaper in the long run.

Pre-solo is probably a time (I certainly found it so) where lessons close together work well. Later in the course it probably isn't as important. But never leave it too long between lessons, and book more than you need as you'll loose quite a few due unsuitable wx.

[fireflybob]

I give early students or those considering learning to fly two promises only - it's going to take longer than you think and it will cost you more than you think!

Something about under promising and over delivering....

[500ft]

Make sure you have fun, it will be hard at times, but often one day it seems you will never get it, then it suddenly clicks

It seems some get all obssesed with how quickly and cheaply you can get your PPL. If your goal is airlines, or having a certificate to put on your wall then never flying again, then ok.

If you're planning to be a bimbler who flys a couple times a month, training once a week may work for you just fine. (I agree a few close together before 1st solo helps). You may take a few extra hours, but it will give you more of a chance to understand what you want to do post PPL and to understand the comittment flying will be, if you continue to do it.

I mean you should actually enjoy the flying whether it is post or pre PPL and you will be spending the money either way.

[DirtyProp]

Get ready to burn loads of money faster than you ever thought possible...

[Gertrude the Wombat]

I give early students or those considering learning to fly two promises only - it's going to take longer than you think and it will cost you more than you think!
I'm sure I remember from when I was a little boy that "everything takes longer and costs more" was quoted as a mythical additional Law of Thermodynamics. But I don't see it described as such these days?

[thing]

Hit it as hard as you can when learning. If you have the money up front then this is not an issue, and I don't mean paying up front! Don't do this; you may have noticed that this has been mentioned...But have the money put aside so that you can fly whenever the weather is flyable and you will find that the learning process becomes so much easier. Learning to fly isn't difficult (can't be, I did it), it's just regular practice that you need, same as any other motor skill.

[Pace]

Thing has a good point to consider. Weather often has a limiting factor and can be very frustrating as well as the desire by some to complete as quickly as possible
Mine took 18 months but at the time that was a financial and family consideration consideration.

To others getting a PPL is a hobby in itself and they like to spread it out.

Others have work or family commitments which means they choose to spread it out but then some want to crack it as fast as possible some on an extended holiday.

Because of our weather those who look at extended holidays may well combine that by going abroad to places like Spain or the USA where bad weather is not such an issue.

Having big breaks is not too good a thing but as long as the breaks are not from flying and you use that flying in worse wind and weather conditions with an instructor rather than chopping through the PPL process that will add to your flying ability.

Those who fly on perfect weather conditions over three weeks get their PPLs but are still not equips to fly in the UK climate
So its your choice how quickly you do the PPL

Pace

[thing]

Pace makes a good point; I meant hit it hard in this country where you will be doing your flying. I was in the lucky position of being able to fly virtually whenever I wanted when learning and although I passed in just over the 45 hours it still took me four months. That's how I personally learn the best, by total immersion. I appreciate that this wouldn't suit everyone.

[The Old Fat One]

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Pre PPL list completed.

Nope

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Enthusiasm-----------------------------Check
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Sense of Humour..........................Check

Now it is

[Stan0147]

A genuine thanks to everyone, some things I really hadn't thought about. Not sure where I'm going to get a sense of humour from do they sell these at Flightstore and can I get a hi viz one?

I'll keep you all posted.

[Stan0147]

I thought I'd drag this up from the dim and distant past as to be fair there doesn't seem much else going on.

I've only gone and done it. Skills test past last weekend.

Other than the exams which turned out to be a real, but neccesary chore, everything went quite well. The weather played ball, I only had a few canx sessions and very few huccups. Landings ( a surprise eh?) seemed to elude me for a little while but once I'd figured out my issue it all dropped.

Thanks for you words of last year, I did come back to them a time when the books got too much.

See you at an airfield soon.

Stan

[scifi]

Well done Stan, you now need to check the Met for two airfields...!
.

[Danny42C]

"Don't forget what I've told you !", said Bob Greer to me, 76 years ago, when turning me loose on my first solo.

Never forgot that - or him.

[cavuman1]

Dear Stan 0147,

You are about to embark on a journey of such significance and magnitude that it shall become one of the more memorable accomplishments of your entire life. You will meet amazing humans and do and see things of which you have never dreamed. You will join the brother/sisterhood of those of us who feel what John Gillespie Magee, Jr. expressed with such great and honest eloquence:

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of earth,
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds, --and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of --Wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there
I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air...
Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue
I've topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace
Where never lark or even eagle flew --
And, while with silent lifting mind I've trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.

Welcome to the SKY, Brother! Don't run out of altitude and ideas at the same time!

- Ed