Suggestions for "First P1 flight" post PPL Pass..
 

So.. I passed my PPL last week and the Paperwork has gone off the CAA for License issue.

It was undoubtedly enjoyable yet challenging but I learned a lot at the same time. Whilst training I didn't give much thought to where I would actually fly to once I had the PPL issued other than to "ENJOY" flying... I may decide that I am content with PPL VFR or that I will go on to CPL.

The aim would be:

1) Build Hours AND "Enjoy" myself as PPL post License issue.
2) Fly in controlled airspace (if I can transit across of LTMA - that would be
a bonus) or other controlled airspace.
3) Fly to interesting destinations - Navigation etc.
4) Above 2000 feet whilst in VMC - Flight levels etc.

I'm sure you get the picture.

So if there are any suggestions on the very first flight after license issue I would like to hear them?

Scenic destinations, challenging approaches etc - not sure if this should be the first priortity after license issue though?

I will of course have a chat with my Instructor at the Flight Centre - SFC for some more ideas.

Look forward to the responses.

First flight-
Go aloft by yourself, on a fair weather day, fly in an area you are very familiar with and enjoy the freedom you have worked to achieve.

First of all: congratulations with your PPL!

That said: take it for what it is worth. It is a license to learn, and nothing more. It is a formal declaration that you have learned enough to be allowed into public airspace without necessarily making yourself an unacceptable danger. Your real learning can indeed only begin now.

Do begin your real learning, and enjoy it! Your first step should be to consolidate existing learning. Do again all the exercises you did with your instructor(s) and do them again and again, in various weather, with various amounts and directions of daylight. And do not forget to enjoy all that!

From there on, you can begin to expand your horizons. That will come naturally enough, but probably slower than you now imagine.

Congrats on your PPL!

My suggestion would be: do whatever you feel more comfortable with.
That could be: fly alone, take your partner/family for an scenic flight...anything that can be special.

If I remember correctly, my first flight after getting my PPL was a small cross country flight with another recent PPL.
Since that I have done loads of cross country, scenic flights for friends/family etc.

Now that you have your licence, you can keep learning and getting yourself challenged (within reasonable limits!)

The key thing: enjoy and keep flying

Hello BingofFuel,

Thank You.

I was thinking of planning a flight down to Shoreham from VOR to VOR and combine this with a day out by the Coast. I trained out of Stapleford Flight Centre so am accustomed to Navigation around Kent and if we go North then Cambridge/Clacton etc.

It is an amazing feeling experiencing the freedom..

Not sure how long I can hang around in Shoreham with the School plane and may need to arrange a separate contract hire.

What do you suggest about a Night Rating? Leave that till later...?

Jan - Excellent advice. I have learned so much from the initial training and sometimes the repeated colourful words from the instructor a couple of times have detracted from the enjoyment factor - necessarily obviously to get you to the standard for test!

So you can never do enough learning and consolidation in my opinion - You never know when you may need to use what you learned in Exercise 16!

I plan to consolidate all my notes and practical skills again and again, x-wind landings, flight minima etc - but obvuiously knowing my own limitations and my own threats also.

Any thoughts on where to go or the "must visit" list?

Thank You Manuaros.

I will certainly keep learning and enjoying.

Take it slow and steady and build up the knowlege and the key words are certainly: Fulfilment, Enjoyment and Safety.

Fair Weather days in the UK sadly at this time of the year are far and few between compared to Spain or other climates.

First post License flight the main thing is that you enjoy it, I would aim for something fairly simple such as along the coast for easy nav and maybe take a non pilot with you like a partner or friend as this is something you have not been able to do so far. Further training I would suggest trying an aeros trip - but make sure it is with someone that wants to show how nice they can be rather than how good they are - get into aeros and you will do more actual handling in a single 20min flight than you will in three 1hour cross country trips!

Now you have your licence its time to ditch the whizz wheel and stopwatch and invest in a decent aviation GPS and a subscription to Skydemon.

One those two are mastered, the UK and Europe is your oyster.

Foxmoth,

Do you mean aerobatics?

Mariner9,

I have wondered how many pilots use GPS versus Visual Navigation etc - or whether GPS is mainly used as a "backup" to Primary Navigation?

I have read differing arguments both for and against about GPS and wondered what the "real world" practical application scenario is..

Any particular recommendations regarding GPS Unit? or IPAD with Skydemon?

I have taken out a trial to sky demon on my Apple but need to get accustomed to this.

Interested in your thoughts?

Many Thanks.

Leave the GPS at home and take a trip to Snowdonia or the Lake District. If the latter, fly as low as is legal along the sands by Blackpool & Morecombe. On the way, pass through as much controlled airspace you can. Plan your success as marks out of ten for the view and the flight planning, both in time and fuel burn. The latter will give you confidence for doing something really impressive in the future.

Well done on completing the course.

Congratulations!


Presumably you had a mental picture, before you embarked on the PPL training, of how it would be, how you would look, how you would feel, after you'd got the licence?


Think of that picture. Got it? Now go and do that.


(I'm being facetious, I know. But the serious point I'm making is that we all have different reasons for wanting to fly. And only you can know what works for you. But don't worry - try different things and see what you enjoy. The CAA have seen fit to trust you with an aeroplane so you must have a certain level of decision making skills - just try to fly as safely as you can while following your dream).

Blimey Piltdown, expecting a new PPL to undertake a min 400 mile round trip (Stapleford-Lake District) dodging Stansted, Luton, East Midlands (or possibly zone transit) Manchester, then a long leg across pretty featureless countryside from mid Lancs to the Lakes, without GPS, is asking a bit much don't you think?

Scoobster - GPS is a wonderful tool when fully understood and used correctly, and hugely reduces cockpit workload. From a personal viewpoint, I would have no qualms whatsoever undertaking Piltdown's suggested route given 20 minutes planning on Sky Demon and a decent aviation GPS by say Garmin or Bendix King to fly with, but that confidence has been gained from several hundred hours using GPS as primary nav. I would suggest you start with much shorter trips; there are loads of airfields within 30 mins of Stapleford that you probably haven't visited yet. A triangular trip with landings at 2 new airfields would be a great start :ok:

Congratulations!

It's easy after you get your PPL to take on too much at a time, so I used to have a rule: Do something new every flight, but ONE new thing only. So EITHER fly to a new airfield, OR take a passenger, or go through unfamiliar controlled airspace, or fly an unfamiliar route. Don't do them all at once, or if you get something else happen like poor weather, you can easily hit overload and struggle to cope. As to where to go, there are loads of nice airfields/ places within easy reach of Stapleford - and yes Shoreham is one of them. :ok:

Yes, take some time to consolidate what you have learnt already by taking pax/ travelling to new airfields and generally enjoying your flying, but you will probably get to a stage in a few (10-20hours) where you say "what now", and as said, aeros will give you a focus and teach you WAY more about actually handling an aircraft near its limits than you have seen up to now.:ok:

Thank You ALL for the great advice.

Much appreciated.

Look forward to that license coming through the door!

Well done passing your PPL.

However it is a licence to consolidate and learn, very similar to passing your driving test.
So I am a little worried that already you are thinking about your first cross country to Shoreham, navigating from VOR to VOR, or as suggested ditching all you have learnt and flying A to B using GPS before the ink on your map from your qualifying cross country has dried.
Take some friends on local flights, try extended VFR cross country flights with a couple of land aways, get checked out on a different aircraft, as winter is coming get a night rating, try aerobatics, but for now leave the GPS alone and consolidate the basics.

So what do they teach during the basic PPL navigation exercises that now eliminates the use of charts and basic navigation skills ? or is all PPL basic training these days focused around the use of VOR and GPS for simple navigation ?

He is asking about FIRST trip after PPL, to me this should not involve loads of planning, it should be an easy trip where he can relax a bit after the training, so forget all this "you must plan it on basics with the whizz wheel and map", IMHO it should be a decent trip that is easy to fly, along the coast works really well in this way. Following this I would agree, use the basics a bit until you are really comfortable with them, but take time to enjoy some easy flying!

Congratulations from me too. :D

My son and I recently passed our PPLs within 1 day of each other. We now fly whenever we can (afford to). Get out there and explore is my advice; we like to visit various aerodromes for those famous '£150 cups of coffee'. We try to visit a new place each time alternating the inbound and outbound legs. Panshangar was lovely and Wellesbourne does a great bacon butty but visiting new location keeps your nav skills sharp, your airmanship and RT honed and its great to fill the log book with new places that have amazing history behind them.

As for the first flight post-skills test. I suggest a cross-country somewhere a bit further afield but not too taxing airspace-wise. Keep it simple and savour every moment of that first hour It can never be repeated.

Fly safe and enjoy.

I got checked out in another aircraft in my first hour after PPL. In the second hour I took my wife for a trip to see our home and the city where she worked from above. Fun for both :)

Fly different aircraft, it's a good and fun learning experience!