Learning to fly is totally, utterly, and completely knackering. You're just normal!

As Gemma said, instructors don't know how much you can take in, as people vary dramatically. Because of the cost, and because a lot of people who learn to fly like challenges, we instructors tend to push students quite hard. Often though, we don't even know we're doing it. I often don't realise students are tired until they start to move the controls the wrong way when previously they were doing it right, or don't hear what I'm saying to them even when I yell. At that point, I tell them they need a rest. What usually happens is they swear they're OK and not a bit tired!

You may find that doesn't work for you. Some people can cope with intensive courses, some can't. Personally, I hate them. I tried to do my PPL that way and it was completely counter-productive - I got so tired I couldn't learn. I abandoned my CPL in the middle because by then I knew enough to know it wasn't working for me; I had a break and then carried on. So try by all means, but you may find that isn't the optimum way for you to learn. If you have a good instructor he should notice and tell you, but don't rely on it - you'll need to decide for yourself.

I've done 4 of the 7 exams so far. Air law, met, aero general principles of flight, comms. so the full time flying will be with 3 exams to go. HPL and flight planning look really short so shouldn't be to taxing. Only big one left then is nav. You think that's enough done to cope with intensive training?

Thanks you to. How many exams have you done so far?

If it's any consolation, after 1000 hrs I still feel sleepy after a long or difficult flight. After a session of acro I often fall asleep in an armchair, something I never do otherwise. A long cross country flight has the same effect. I think flying just takes a very high degree of concentration, unlike anything else most people do.

n5296s

Absolutely no way anyone can know that. Everyone is different. For me, intensive training doesn't work, ever. I tried to do a PADI diving course in three days in Sharm el Sheikh some years ago, and although everyone else coped, I started getting upset and exhausted and had to take a day off. That's me. I don't know about you. Try it, but if it doesn't work, don't beat yourself up, just take it more slowly.

n5296s

Which headset are you using?

Do you fly at altitude, e.g. 10k feet plus?

I've flown 5hrs+ manually (autopilot roll servo failed) at 10k feet, no oxygen, and was tired at the end of that.

norton2005, it could just be that you're one of those rare students who actually does what they're told - and lOOks out of the window to assess the correct attitude.

The optical quality of most Spamcans' fly bespattered, oil streaked windscreens is hardly Carl Zeiss! Add to that the bright background (doesn't even need to be sunny - the glare from white clouds is bad enough) and you can soon get sufficient eye strain to give you a thumping headache.

A good set of shades, chosen for reasons other than posing potential, will help considerably. But certainly heed the dehydration, carbon monoxide and headset advice as well!

...and always clean a fly bespattered windscreen during your pre-flight checks ;)

I have been watching the golf today .. .. ..

all I can say is it is like that famous quote,

"the more I practice the luckier I get"

much like flying, the more you do, the more current you are, and the more experience you have, the easier and more relaxing it becomes.

I do try to look out to correct my attitude but to be honest I seem to refer to the attitude indicator which seems to be the easier option. Are you marked down for this if the examiner catches you doing it in the flight test?

You should be looking out of the cockpit the majority of the time and not at the instruments. Recognising the correct 'picture' out of the window is extremely important and takes practice. The examiner WILL notice and it could (probably would) count against you, especially if other aspects of your flying are cause for concern.

You might find that carefull consideration of your food intake will make a difference.
I have to avoid sandwiches cos they make me sleepy!
This doesn't only have to apply to flying either.

Feeling Tired
 

Doing anything properly IMHO is tiring as it proves that you are concentrating 100%
I worry about people who step out of a car after a 500 mile car journey feeling fresh as a daisy,I always feel knackered.I seem to spend the whole journey weighing up others,trying to predict what they might do etc ( born out of trying to survive on a motorbike) and find it quite draining.
I suspect the super relaxed types could possibly going on 'mental autopilot'.:=

Safe flying
MM

I think it's just continuous concentration. Though for the record I use a Lightspeed 30G in my plane, which I find very comfortable. (Hopeless in the Pitts though with the high noise level, there I use a DC 10-13X). I generally stay below 10K or if I go higher then it's a lot higher, with O2.

n5296s

Very good point Gemma. In fact, it could well be the main or only reason.

Get used to looking outside, and I think you'll quickly become far less tired.

Doing anything properly IMHO is tiring as it proves that you are concentrating 100%

I would disagree. Such a high cockpit workload means that errors are more likely, not less likely. This principle has been firmly established many years ago in commercial aviation.

One should fly relaxed, taking things easy, enjoying the view and occassionally making adjustments to the heading or whatever.

Just to let everyone know that the fatigue problem didn't last to long, few hours in and I wanted more, done a couple of lessons a day on a few occasions so just a bit of getting used to and then it's all fine. Now 20 hours in and I did my first solo yesterday, loved it!!!

Hello,

First time poster here, also doing my PPL (6 hours into it atm...). Can only agree with what others have been saying; I too had that flightsim-induced reflex of peeking at instruments rather than outside to figure out what the plane was doing (well.. :O), and it was sure fatiguing that way. One really good thing my instructor did was to hold a folded map over the instrument panel every time he noticed me taking a peek inside... That helped quite a bit! I would notice that map coming up when I was not even aware I was peeking; probably used the instruments more than I even realized.

Got cured from that desease in two lessons of the map treatment though! :ok:

Best,
- Björn