PPL at last!!!
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Join Date: Aug 2001
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PPL at last!!!
Well today it finally happened & the skills test was passed!!Only took 3 years..
Ever thought a day was never going to come?
About 2 out of every 3 lessons were cancelled due to weather.The Skills test itself took 15 cancelled attempts before today for the same reason...
The deaths of my Mum,Uncle & 2 best friends earlier this year almost stopped me flying completely,but thanks to the patience of my lovely instructor,finally it all came OK today..
3 years!!Bloody Hell!!I'm currently facing my own diagnosis of cancer at present (thankfully of the curable variety) & yesterday it was all very dark,but today? YEEHAH!!It's happened!!
Thanks Liz & Colin,Love you both xxxx
Ever thought a day was never going to come?
About 2 out of every 3 lessons were cancelled due to weather.The Skills test itself took 15 cancelled attempts before today for the same reason...
The deaths of my Mum,Uncle & 2 best friends earlier this year almost stopped me flying completely,but thanks to the patience of my lovely instructor,finally it all came OK today..
3 years!!Bloody Hell!!I'm currently facing my own diagnosis of cancer at present (thankfully of the curable variety) & yesterday it was all very dark,but today? YEEHAH!!It's happened!!
Thanks Liz & Colin,Love you both xxxx
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: N.E. Derbyshire, UK
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Many congrats - and well done for perservering in the light of such crises. You deserve the achievement, and I wish you all the best with your PPL.
I'm at the 'other end of the road' so to speak, just had first lesson on Saturday and passed Air Law yesterday....
Al.
I'm at the 'other end of the road' so to speak, just had first lesson on Saturday and passed Air Law yesterday....
Al.
The Original Whirly
Join Date: Feb 1999
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Wee Ali,
Many many many MANY congratulations!!!!! I am just so SO happy for you
I know you had a hard time all the way through, though I didn't know about the recent problems. But very well done to you for sticking to it where many people would have given up; you're a STAR! Who cares how long it took; this is not a race. Some of the 3 week/45 hr PPLs may be able to fly, but do they know about handling difficulties, hanging in there when the going gets rough, dealing with despair and anger and suchlike? You need all that to be a good pilot. Nothing of what you've done in the last three years will be wasted; I speak from experience as I think you know.
Enjoy your flying. But remember, what you have is a licence to learn.
Many many many MANY congratulations!!!!! I am just so SO happy for you
I know you had a hard time all the way through, though I didn't know about the recent problems. But very well done to you for sticking to it where many people would have given up; you're a STAR! Who cares how long it took; this is not a race. Some of the 3 week/45 hr PPLs may be able to fly, but do they know about handling difficulties, hanging in there when the going gets rough, dealing with despair and anger and suchlike? You need all that to be a good pilot. Nothing of what you've done in the last three years will be wasted; I speak from experience as I think you know.
Enjoy your flying. But remember, what you have is a licence to learn.
Join Date: Oct 2001
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Congratulations!
I hope you have many enjoyable hours looking down on the rest of the world.
What are you going to do next? I took my wife over our house as my first 'solo'. And she's still talking to me!
One of the greatest things about flying is that an airline pilot with X-million hours or a fast-jet pilot or an aerobatic ace will always stop & pass the time of day with us PPLs.
I hope you have many enjoyable hours looking down on the rest of the world.
What are you going to do next? I took my wife over our house as my first 'solo'. And she's still talking to me!
One of the greatest things about flying is that an airline pilot with X-million hours or a fast-jet pilot or an aerobatic ace will always stop & pass the time of day with us PPLs.
Join Date: Aug 2001
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Warmest congratulations, Wee Ali. It's a motivating message for those of us still plugging away - I hope to get there myself in the next month or so, weather, logistics and human factors allowing!
Join Date: Jan 2001
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Well done Wee Ali, you have every right to be mega chuffed!! Couldn't agree more with Whirlybird, it really isn't a race (personal experience kicking in here! 
).
BB
PS If its any consolation, I had my Skills Test cancelled 7 times due to weather, oh yes and the DME packed up just as I did my practice diversion!
). BB
PS If its any consolation, I had my Skills Test cancelled 7 times due to weather, oh yes and the DME packed up just as I did my practice diversion!
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Thanks for all your great replies everyone-I'm chuffed to bits.What next? Well perhaps try flying something new!Much as I love the wee Tomahawk,maybe it's time to 'expand' a bit!Right now I'm going to ply my examiner with whisky in thanksgiving for the fact that he didn't mind when all my nav. bits & pieces disappeared under the seat & he had to fly the plane for 5 minutes while I retrieved them.Oh the shame!!
All the very best of luck to my studenty friends.It really IS worth all the work & I'd do it all again if I had to!So go for it Big Al!!
Whirly,what can I say? A lot of this is thanks to you.Thank you so much!
Stuart,thanks for letting me fly your wonderful wee plane-I love it dearly & would have flown it for the test,except I'm a wee bit feart of the groovy new avionics,but I'll get there!!
You guys are the best.
All the very best of luck to my studenty friends.It really IS worth all the work & I'd do it all again if I had to!So go for it Big Al!!
Whirly,what can I say? A lot of this is thanks to you.Thank you so much!
Stuart,thanks for letting me fly your wonderful wee plane-I love it dearly & would have flown it for the test,except I'm a wee bit feart of the groovy new avionics,but I'll get there!!
You guys are the best.
The Original Whirly
Join Date: Feb 1999
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Ali,
Thanks, but I didn't do anything.
Still, I'm glad that once you realised you weren't the only person not to find flying training to be all sweetness and light, you were able to do it.
What to do now? Celebrate, then keep flying. New aircraft, new places, just slowly keep adding things. It never stops.
For the record, it seems to be standard practice to feel as though you've messed up your Skills Test. I passed my CPL(H) Skills Test a few days before yours (I did post a teeny weeny post, but it vanished without trace). It was horrendous.
I even made mistakes in the start-up, which I'd done hundreds and hundreds of times, I was so nervous. In the nav I blundered all over the sky, though I did manage to find the isolated farm I was supposed to find, somehow. I sort of managed the diversion, but by the time we got back I was still shaking so much I achieved what must have been the worst landing in the history of rotary aviation. The second flight went better, and I figured I'd maybe only failed one section and could re-sit that. The examiner didn't mince his words, said that at the start I was obviously nervous to the point of being terrified, but I'd managed to cope with it and eventually prove I could navigate, so I'd passed but "I didn't want you to think you'd done well". I KNEW I hadn't done well!!! He then went on to be reasonably positive about the rest of my flying. Someone else I knew confessed to me that he made a serious mistake during the first five minutes of his CPL(H) Skills Test, and turned to the examiner and asked if he'd failed already! I'd nearly done that, except I didn't think I could get the words out at the time.
So you see, perfection isn't required, at any stage. Just as well! So I hope you're still celebrating and forgetting the embarrassment; I am.
Thanks, but I didn't do anything.
Still, I'm glad that once you realised you weren't the only person not to find flying training to be all sweetness and light, you were able to do it.What to do now? Celebrate, then keep flying. New aircraft, new places, just slowly keep adding things. It never stops.
For the record, it seems to be standard practice to feel as though you've messed up your Skills Test. I passed my CPL(H) Skills Test a few days before yours (I did post a teeny weeny post, but it vanished without trace). It was horrendous.
I even made mistakes in the start-up, which I'd done hundreds and hundreds of times, I was so nervous. In the nav I blundered all over the sky, though I did manage to find the isolated farm I was supposed to find, somehow. I sort of managed the diversion, but by the time we got back I was still shaking so much I achieved what must have been the worst landing in the history of rotary aviation. The second flight went better, and I figured I'd maybe only failed one section and could re-sit that. The examiner didn't mince his words, said that at the start I was obviously nervous to the point of being terrified, but I'd managed to cope with it and eventually prove I could navigate, so I'd passed but "I didn't want you to think you'd done well". I KNEW I hadn't done well!!! He then went on to be reasonably positive about the rest of my flying. Someone else I knew confessed to me that he made a serious mistake during the first five minutes of his CPL(H) Skills Test, and turned to the examiner and asked if he'd failed already! I'd nearly done that, except I didn't think I could get the words out at the time.So you see, perfection isn't required, at any stage. Just as well! So I hope you're still celebrating and forgetting the embarrassment; I am.
Join Date: Jul 2001
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True dedication and a great achievement in the face of cancellations, cancer and chilling news.
On the point someone made about PPL packages, I have met a few 'I did it 10 days' dickheads, or liars, but the majority prefer 3 weeks (to 3 months, or 3 years) simply to get it done and avoid the 'you need more hours' racket.
On the point someone made about PPL packages, I have met a few 'I did it 10 days' dickheads, or liars, but the majority prefer 3 weeks (to 3 months, or 3 years) simply to get it done and avoid the 'you need more hours' racket.
