Everybody should be able to pilot an aircraft

[Big Pistons Forever]

Mine first solo was October 10 1976. I still have a pretty vivid memory of that first circuit and landing all alone.

[PPLvirgin]

Well done mate, the first of many gr8 flying experiences you will have,m it definately starts with the first Solo - an amazing experience.

then you have solo nav 1 & 2 and the you have your big x/c qualifier - that is amazing.

then your skill test, easily one of the best feelings across anything or spectrum i have felt, the pride is awesome!

After that it continues, the first time you land away, or go to a fly in, fly a new plane, do a conversion on to tailwheel, learn Aero's, get your IMC etc... it just doesn't stop.

Taking your family up etc...

it just continues, have fun and fly safe my friend!

regards

Tris

[Helicopterdriverguy]

Congrats Pilot CR!

[Pilot CR]

Thank you all for your comments, its great to see i have joined a group of people who care and congratulate one another on their success.

Thank you all


Pilot CR

[Heffalump363]

Solo beers?

[9 lives]

PilotCR, you are welcomed to the group. You will find an amazing amount of good will and mentoring here. The opportunity to draw from a worldwide base of knowledge and experience, really supplements well, what one can learn sitting around the club house on a rainy day!

[Shaggy Sheep Driver]

PilotCR, you are welcomed to the group. You will find an amazing amount of good will and mentoring here. The opportunity to draw from a worldwide base of knowledge and experience, really supplements well, what one can learn sitting around the club house on a rainy day!

Yup, Proon. It's all sweetness and light here - honest!

[Steve6443]

Aaah first solo.
Did anyone else have the feeling of once in the circuit glancing at the other empy seat and thinking 'gawd now i have got to get this thing down again'

Exactly my thoughts... however my first solo was actually a series of solo Touch and Goes and upon touching down, my instructor came over the air and gave me the instruction to throttle up and go for another circuit which I obligingly did, forgetting the first rule of Touch and Goes - flaps first, throttle second.

You can imagine what happened.... The plane accelerated and rose around 10 foot off of the runway just at the same that that I selected flaps up only for the plane to start sinking.... Fortunately I didn't wrestle with the yoke but lowered the nose slightly and remember struggling along about a third of the runway with the stall horn screaming, hoping the plane would gain speed to start properly flying.....

Since then any touch and go was always: flaps first, throttle second. It's one of those mistakes you'll usually only make once..... like taking off with the door not securely latched ;-)

[Helicopterdriverguy]

I was taught to complete touch and goes with flaps set to 20, without altering the flaps during the roll and retracting at a safe altitude (200-300'). The 150 generally performs perfectly fine with 20. It would be a different story hot and high in America however..

[9 lives]

Yup, PPRuNe. It's all sweetness and light here - honest!

Yeah, there is "the other side" too, but, like the eccentric aunt, we just smile and nod!

I was taught to forget flaps during the touch and go. 20 degrees on base, carb cold on final. 300' on upwind, flaps up.

Though if you practice to do it wrong, that it what you'll learn to do. One day you will shoot off the end of the runway, and as you wonder what just happened, it'll come to you, you flew the way you trained, and forgot the flaps.....

We'll talk "Configuration Assurance" shortly.....

[dubbleyew eight]

everyone should be able to pilot an aeroplane

can everyone play a piano?

sure, everyone should be able to pilot an aeroplane, but I have met people so ditsy and stupid in their thinking that aeroplanes should never be within their remit.

the air has no respect.

wave your hands around, the air is pretty thin.
work within its characteristics or you die.
as yoda famously said, "there is do or don't do, there is no try."

[Helicopterdriverguy]

I think the use of poor grammar has caused confusion. I would like to emphasise that I meant "forget the flaps" as in to complete touch and goes with flaps set to 30, without altering the flaps during the roll and retracting at a safe altitude. I apologise for any confusion.

[dobbin1]

So you don't practice landing with full flap? Sounds foolish to not practice with the proper landing configuration, and to learn how to change to take off configuration during the take-off roll.

[Helicopterdriverguy]

In a crosswind, flaps 20, on a calm Day flaps 30. No, I believe that by not altering the flaps during the roll, is one less thing to think about and therefore safer.

[9 lives]

Thinking, even during the roll of a touch and go, is important. Of course preplanning is good, and changing configuration on the go is not so good, but if you've decided to do it, it's worth practicing properly. In particular, once you have hold of the flap knob, feel for it's shape, and mentally confirm it is the flap knob before you move it. It's not so vital on a 152, but does get important when flying an RG. Complicated, I know, but one must master it!

[Steve6443]

What's just as important is learning the differences between variations of the same model you're flying - I learnt to fly on a C172R; in that aircraft, flicking the flap switch upwards meant the flaps retracted fully. Fast forward to my first flight with a C172M, I decide to practise a few touch and goes to get the feel for the aircraft before taking guests with me. Either way, I landed, flicked the flap switch upwards and then opened the throttle.

Those who've flown an M will already know what happened.... The plane took to the skies quicker than I expected but refused to gain speed, it was creeping along at around 70 - 75 knots with full throttle, even though I'd lowered the nose to increase speed, even though the altimeter was showing no noticeable rate of climb, the airspeed indicator stayed nailed where it was - why won't this spam can accelerate, I was thinking to myself?

A quick glance over my shoulder showed the flaps half way between 30 and 40 degrees, no-one had told me that C172M have flaps that only move as long as you're holding the flap switch and I'd got so used to doing things "the way I always do them", I didn't bother checking the flap position indicator.......

[9 lives]

C172M have flaps that only move as long as you're holding the flap switch

That characteristic was the result of a required change of the flap selector switch, to do away with the feature of the switch remaining in the "retract" position. Two reasons: Too many pilots would go from 40 to 0 in one go, and the aircraft would settle dangerously on a go around. More to the point, the flap switch remaining in the "retract" position after the flaps were fully retracted caused an unsafe condition if the flap motor "up" limit switch failed. The motor could continue to run, and at best blow a breaker/fuse, and worst, burn out the motor.

The pilot directly controlling the flap position is preferred - configuration assurance - as you have learned.

[Wirbelsturm]

I remember my first solo in a Chipmunk!

On the downwind, selecting the first 'notch' of flap and turning onto base I selected the second 'notch' which didn't quite 'drop in' (those who know the chippie know how the flap lever worked!!!)

The result was that the flap lever sprang forward as I turned finals and dumped all of my flap leading to a very rapid recovery requirement on finals, overshoot, quick explanation over the radio and another attempt!

All my instructor said was 'well, you'll always check the flaps are engaged and seated from now on won't you'. How very true!!!

Congratulations PilotCR, the main learning starts from here.