Welcome back to your thread!

Congratulations on your improved circumstances. Perhaps a new job is the key.

I still don't have my PPL - might be going for some kind of record time - but now I have my GFPT I'm able to take passengers around the training area.

Had a lovely flight this morning in a Warrior with enough cloud around to make it interesting - saw our shadow on the clouds with a 360° rainbow around it. Beautiful.

Now saving up for navs. Done one so far but probably best to complete them close together rather than one every month or two!

Lister - that Cub sounds nice. I love the Citabria for solo flights but it's not so pleasant for the passenger in the back.

Good to see the thread running again!

i.dingbat - so far I've had 8 hours over one year, anywhere near your record? :}

Hi Mazzy, good to hear from you again.

Congrats on the new job, house etc but most of all for getting airbourne again.

My renewal comes up this July. I should have the hours in, just, thanks to our wonderful weather, so seriousy considering an IMC rating. Scraping the bottom of the piggy bank and poking in the corners for the neccessary.

Blue skies, light winds and sufficient funds to all.
Chris

Hi Mazzy, well done with the job and all that, good to see you back here. :ok:

(you still owe me a pint by the way) ;)

Hehe - I politely ask you to review your post, all that time ago, where you offer me a pint :ok::ok:

It's great to see you guys still here, and sending very positive replies as always - you're a good bunch :cool:

Well, today's been a bit of a mind blower - that's the one thing about aviation, when you need to know something, or start to look into your options, it's a minefield of information and options (trawling through LASORS is difficult enough, but everything is in there, so please do refer to it if you need an official answer) - some good possible outcomes to follow though - I will keep you posted ;) I actually have a meeting with a group of people this week who fly a rather interesting aircraft - I will say more later in the week...

As is the nature of this thread, I shall be keeping you up to date with my experiences of 'getting my license' back; who knows, in 40 years time, one of my posts (in this very thread!) may begin "How to get your medical at the age of 65"....

Cheers
Lee :ok:

I knew that would make you smile!

Carry on posting on this thread though. There are so many new users coming to this forum, some of them will be looking for something like this for advice on what to expect etc.....

Mazzy, how come you're still 25?:D

It's been less than 12 months since I was 24 :E Not long to go though ;):ok:

I've been reading LASORS - the only requirement for me to get my license back, is to have (and pass) a flight test with a certified examiner. That's it.

As long as I complete the test satisfactorily, and have the examiner sign me off (as well as send the correct form to the CAA (with no fee by the way!)) then I'm good.

There's two ways you can look at this:

a) Wow I only have to do an hour to get my ticket back!
b) I can take this as a valuable opportunity to get some training done to make sure I know what I'm doing, then breeze the test.

Obviously, option 'b' is the choice here (you were all thinking that weren't you?) :E

As long as the license hasn't expired by 5 years, you're ok (although you'd be surprised at the startling similarity in requirements to the above, if you have gone past 5 years). When I was training, I never really thought about renewal at all (I never thought I'd be in this situation) but it has cropped up for me now. It's often difficult to find a straight answer as to the requirements, however, as anybody will tell you, LASORS is a must - have a look at section F1 here:

http://www.caa.co.uk/docs/33/LASORS2...ookmarked).pdf

It's very simple to read - the hard part is actually finding the bit you want, but the first 2 pages has it all....

Now I have to put all this in practice :8

Cheers
Lee :ok:

Hi Mazzy,
How is it going,did you do the flight test?
I have still not done my two year renewal flight with instructor,either weather ,dentist or work in the way.
I don't have much time left now,runs out 11th May but I have all next week free so hope for a good day.
Good luck.
Lister
PS
Just keeping this thread alive

PPS how come my laptop says time 13.37 yet posting says crack of dawn?

Great thread
 

Quick intro
Hi I am 42 and currently doing my training for my PPL 18 hours so far and thanks to all your advice on this thread I have just nailed my first consistent good landings. Had some great ones then a bump then ok well you know what im getting at

Been reading this from page 1 for just over a month and the best bit of advise came off the page and made me think "thats where i have been going wrong". Wish my instructor had said it 6 hours ago when I first started doing circuits.

Can't remember who mentioned this but it goes something like this. A pilot should not LAND an aeroplane, you just configure the approach and hold off and it will land itself.

My problem was not with the configuration on final, I was getting that pretty consistently in all configurations, dont ask me why but as soon as I was above the numbers then it was throttle back 50ft 100ft 200ft It didnt matter, I was trying to LAND the aeroplane. Most of the time it went ok but I now realise that it was more luck than judgement. Hope I may have just sussed feel of landing.

I had the last lesson of the day on Tuesday gone and my instructor said if I can do that 3 times in a row then I will be going solo next lesson. Unfortunately due to weather, money, work, it looks like it could be next month.

Thanks for the great read, and the invaluable hints and tips, and it does make a difference to us fledglings to be able to find people thaat have been or are going through the same learning curve.

Once again thanks for the great thread. Kindest regards

Hi nissan/all,
I'm in the same age group, about to turn 40 in July :eek:
Just started last summer (wife bought me a trial lesson!), solo'd 25/10/07 after about 18½ hours. Sadly I have been suffering the frustrations of the British weather with only 4 out of 11 lessons flown this year so far :sad:. I've had *no* second solo yet, after nearly 6 months! Just had a frustrating lesson today in gusty x-wind.
Have to admit I also read mazzy's thread right through :eek: - gave me a great understanding of what was ahead. I'm very thankful to mazzy and all of the other contributors to this thread!
Regards,
Gavin.
www.madgav.org
PS Don't forget to post about your first solo.......

Hi Madgav/all
I'm not in the same age group at all!! turning 65 in October :ooh:
I was inspired by the sheer thrill and reading Mazzy's posts - thanks Mazzy.
My first flight also in a Piper Tomahawk as a birthday gift last year. I took some time after that to put some cash by but now I've had my first lesson (last tuesday) which was fine, next one on tuesday. Going for the NPPL so today I've got my head buried in Air Law :confused:

Mike

Mike,
I'm turning 65 in May,got my PPL two days after my 63rd birthday.
Good luck,enjoy it ,it's not a race to solo in x hrs,I think it took me around 19 hrs then it all went quite quickly after that.
Lister:ok:

Lister,
Many thanks for your sound advice. I've no expectations on time - just to do my best and enjoy it. My first lesson was fun, mainly checks, taxying and getting used to the controls in flight plus trimming out. The hour went far too fast but now I'm truly hooked and can't wait for the next lesson. In hindsight I'm really glad I read up about the PA38 beforehand otherwise I wouldn't of known what (for example) an 'alt static' was:eek:
Ground school is good for waking up those grey cells & getting into a learning routine again.. I'll just take my time and enjoy the ride.
Mike:cool:

Mike744, I'm on my 13th lesson and find it just as much fun as there first!
I've found it worth while picking up a book specifically about the PA38, AFE do a good one, albeit rather old now so you may have to get it second hand.

Hi WALSue,

Thanks. I got one off Ebay about a month ago, it's an ASA publication by Jeremy Pratt with N-EDNA on the front cover. :hmm: It's turned into my bedtime reading now:ooh:
Expect it's not too long until you solo? Are you looking forward to it? It seems a long way off to me now but already my expectations are mixed excitement and apprehension, hopefully the apprehension should mostly evaporate later with further training.. its early days yet.
Mike

Thats the one I have. Find it very useful to have information about the particular aircraft you're flying.
Hopefully not too long until I go solo, just need a few more circuits but the weather hasn't been too great here, very windy.
The apprehension does go with experience although we see how it is when I'm lined up at the end of the runway on my own for the first time!
Good luck with your flying. I'm sure your first solo will suddenly sneak up on you

Hi Mazzy/Madgav/Walsue and everybody else in this forum, looks like the weather is going to be ok tomorrow (Tuesday) and it would normaly be my flying day. Got a call from the guy who covers my day off from work, "Hi Gaz just to let you know I am in spain, will do the weekend for you instead". Needless to say I am gutted. Phoned for a lesson at the weekend and the school is fully booked.

Im not suprised that very few of us have flown this year due to weather, can't seem to hit a decent day yet. However I notice that a few of the people on here got there PPL in their sixty's so I still have another 20 years or so to pass the licence.

Wonder how many times I will have to take that damn air law test!!

Nissangaz - thats a pain! I know the feeling, lovely sunny day then the school ring to say the instructor is ill.
We should run a book see how many different excuses we get for not flying!
Don't loose heart, I've managed around 8 hours in the last 2 months and have half my R/T course out the way. In the previous year I'd only got 4 hours done.

Good luck with the air law exam, I have that...erm excitment..to look forward to!

I had an hour in the Cub this morning,first time I've flown since 9th February and I was slightly worried how rusty I might be.

When I arrived I checked the airplane did my run up etc.and I felt quite at home.
There was slight crosswind but the take off was quite good,I flew for an hour and it was brilliant to be up in the air again,I even managed a decent landing apart from one small bounce. Which I shall blame on the molehills!

It made me realise why I learned to fly,blue sky,warm sun,not too windy.

I was nearly hit by a hawk of some sort just after take off around 400 feet,I think it was as suprised as I was.
Lister:)

Thanks Lister,
ever heard of "kick a man while he's down" well I'm down here at work on my day off. Weather looks great today for a jaunt, and to top it all off the School has just been on the phone to say that they are definitely fully booked for the week-end. Loads of voucher flyers on Sunday. Hope none of them gets a nasty cold and has to cancel. Still there is always next Tuesday to look forward too. Not even going to check out the 7 day forcast cos that would really brass me off.

"May your landings be as soft as your first kiss":D

Gary

Lister Noble,
Remember to check for RA(T)s.;)
If that hawk was a big red one with a white stripe, it probably came from Scampton! Did you see another eight of them close by?

Hi WALSue and Nizzengaz/ others,

I felt for you Nizzengaz. My very first lesson last Tuesday went okay, today was my second lesson. I begun to think I may have preferred your cancellation when things started going pearshaped - an accident on the road meant a long delay arriving late at the air club. As luck would have it the lesson was held off by the arrival of some royalty or other. It was about an hour later the instructor told me to go to the PA38 on the apron to do checks and he'll join me later.. guess it was one of those days as I spent what seemed an age just hunting the panel for the vacuum gauge!! the tasks I'd completed on my first lesson okay seemed to go right out the window today:*
Quite a bit of turbulence after take off (heard comments over the radio about that) but it proved to be a very interesting lesson to brighten my day - the effects of propwash & flight controls at different airspeeds, demo of carb iceing & carb heat plus the CFI switched off the engine for a while just to show me that the plane really did glide, it was very odd staring at a stationary prop:=
I hope things come together better for my next lesson as I couldn't even taxy in a straight line today (but I'll blame that on the wind...)
I suppose because I'd spent most of my life sailing on ships it's going to take a wee while being used to being in the air.



Mike

Hey guys, im new to the forums here. This thread made for some excellent reading, especially Mazzy's type up of his skills test...which im absolutely :mad: myself about! Taking my JAR PPL at Blackpool, and about 33 hours into the course. just been given the all clear to start my solo navigations. done nearly 4 hours solo circuits and 35 minutes so far of solo nav. all seems to be going wel. only done 3 of the 7 exams at the moment..college work seems to be taking over my life :( happy flying to u all though :)

Hi Mark
I will be at Blackpool end of next month, not flying though just drinking. May see you in Yates's telling everyone you are a pilot (lol) I know I will be.;)

I did my two year renewal flight today in a Stearman PT17.
We did general handling ,stalls and steep turns,then we did a loop,and then I did one on my own.
We also did a stall turn but I had not heard the commentary well and we were running short of time so we headed home.
I flew the aircraft all the time apart from take-off,the first loop and the landing when I followed through on the controls.
A cracker of a day and one to remember for the rest of my life.
I'm still grinning ear to ear.
Lister
:D:D

Mike744, you always get days like that!
I remember my (unlucky) 13th hour, nothing went right. Couldn't even get the thing started.

WALSue, thanks... I'll try to avoid the 13th of anything :suspect: My next is on the 30th so thats okay. Wx cavok, hope it stays awhile.

Big Black Cumulus
 

Had another lesson last Tuesday and it was going great until I started sharing the circuit with a big black cumulus. The more circuits we done the shorter they were getting. Fourth one was a glide approach turning as soon as I had started my downwind checks. Felt well under pressure as it was work work work all the way. Very tricky trying to get the aircraft in a trimmed glide while there is lightning, thunder and heavy rain. Must admit though a great learning experience, and although it has been a while since the last lesson the landings were still good. One was definately the best one yet.

IMC training
 

Hi Guys

I decided to bite the bullet a couple of weeks ago and start training for an IMCR. I needed to move up to a PA28, an hour of general handling followed by an hour of circuits, then booked my first session on instruments. It's like starting over, you know, levelling out, power attitude trim but now your heads inside the cockpit and the horizons only a couple of inches wide. It took a little while to get an efficient scan going AH, altimeter AH, DI, AH Altimeter etc. We did climbs and level out, straight and level, rate one turns onto a heading both ways. We did a rate one turn through 360 and timed it on the stop watch. We did recoveries from too steep a turn (angle of bank beond rate one) unusual attitudes and also from an approaching stall (sudden increase in altitude rapid loss of airspeed). I was really surprised on how much my flying accuracy improved in just an hour. By the time we started the return to the airfield I felt I could control the heading and altitude, then my instructor "Vectored" me into a base leg join while I was still under the hood, making all the changes of heading, altitude and of course power all on instruments.

I thouroughly enjoyed myself, my flying improved no end and I can't wait for the next installment. I'd recommend all PPL's to have a go, use your next bi-annual with an instructor as an IMC taster thats what I did! I'll let you all know how I get on in the next lesson

Cheers all Chris.

some interesting reading, although not had chance to read the whole thread!

I am due to have lesson number 3 (4th hour but 1st lesson was a trail flight) at Sherburn in a PA28. I had lesson 1 in a AT3 but last week had my secong lesson in a PA28.

Ive read half of book 1 (flying training) not sure if this has helped or not up to know.

Ive had goes at taxiing, didnt have chance to take off last lesson due to side winds.

Just seems so much to learn, but i guess its like anything new, it seems impossible until you learn how!

:)
Liam

yes ut does
 

Yes it does.

I remember thinking I was never going to get the hang of the take off roll, then climbing out and trimming then chaning radio frequency and then climbing to the cruise.

You do get the hang of it in the end. Recently completed my first return trip to L2Q.

At times it seems overwhelming. But with enough hours (and of course ££££££££) you'll get there.

Well my flying school seems to have folded.
So far I've seen off three instructors and two flying schools.
I've not even managed to do first solo yet!
I think someone, somewhere is trying to tell me something :ugh:

Sorry to hear that Sue, did you loose any money?

Thats really bad luck Sue. Its obvious from reading your posts just how much flying means to you. I'm sure you'll move heaven and earth to do that solo one way or another. I really hope you're not too much out-of-pocket by all this and are able to carry on .... and whoever it is trying to tell you something - tell them they are definately wrong :=

Mike

Hopefully I won't be out of pocket, should be getting some more info from them soon.

Despite loosing money when my first school went bust and despite reading several times on here not to pay up front, I thought I couldn't be unlucky twice on the run and pre-paid for 10 lessons.

As tempting as it may seem to save a few bob by pre-paying, don't do it!

Hi all,

Been a while since I posted here, hope everyone is well & getting at least some flying in over the course of this mediocre summer :eek:

Sorry to hear of the problems you're having WALSue :sad:

Just had a particularly 'interesting' lesson:

Link

Not bad for a first landaway :}

Well, it seems my school were doing some erm, interesting accounting.
A month or so after closing they've re-opened under a new name. Popping down there soon so hopefully carry on from where I left off. Hope I'm not too rusty after the break!

eek, Madgav!
Sounds like you were having fun there!!

Liverpool flying schools
 

Hi All

Can anyone reccomend a flying school in Liverpool,I will be in the area this week and would like to fly .

Thanks

Gontek

GonTek

I've flown with LFS, Ravenair and had one flight with CATS in one of their Robins. They are all at Liverpool John Lennon and share the same apron. I chose LFS for many reasons discussed in here but I'm sure you'd get on fine wherever! :cool:

Don't forget the Southport airshow this weekend, there will be restrictions in place...

Cheers
Maz :ok: