On Dec. 6, 2009 I passed my checkride and became a newly minted private pilot. I will summarize my thoughts and impressions of the process by which I was converted from a guy always gazing up at airplanes, to the guy actually up in the airplane gazing down at the ground.
Re-reading my initial posts brought back so many memories. To recap, I began taking my ground school lessons at Liberty University as a way to finish up my degree with some elective credits....kind of a reward to spending six years getting my BS in Religion. Anyone remotely familiar with aviation could probably predict what would happen. Since I was a little kid, I have always been facinated with airplanes and 44 years have done nothing to change the kid inside. After completeing my ground school classes in May of 2008, I had been bitten by the aviation bug hard! I decided to start my flight training and my first official flight lesson took place on Dec. 2, 2008. My first seven training flights are detailed in the previous posts. Why did I stop recording my flights?
After reading countless student pilot blogs I noticed something interesting. While the lessons change in their format, and the flights and maneuvers become more complicated, the stressors and frustrations simply stay the same. The things that frustrated me on my first seven flights (hard landings, wind and other bad weather issues, etc.) are very much the same throughout the training and beyond. Talk to any pilot with 100 or 10,000 hours and you will hear them bemoan the same things. Botched approaches, poor weather, hard landings etc. Rather than have a record of endless rambling about weather, botched landings and assorted other frustrations, I decided that until my BIG day (checkride) I would stop blogging about individual flights.
There were notable occurances along the way. On one X-country I got lost and wandered into a cloud (perhaps I should document that event for the benefit of others), on my long X-country I took off without the door properly closed and it remained adjar for about 45 minutes until my next landing. And then there was the day near the end of my training when a stiff crosswind almost blew me off the runway when I botched the crosswind landing procedure. For the first time in my training, my instructor had to grab the controls and rescue the airplane. This happened only four or five flights prior to my checkride and I had a serious crisis of confidence that I would ever be able to complete this stage of training. I almost wrote the phrase "that I would ever be able to master flying". As I started to type the words I laughed to myself. If there is one thing I have learned, it is the impossiblity of a man being able to "master flying".
If there was ever a guy that had mastered flying, it would be Steve Fawcett. He flew solo around the world in many kinds of airships, set numerous world records in aviation and had tens of thousands of hours. He could truly have called himself a "Master Aviator". What was his fate? (for findings from the accident investigation see link at bottom)
Steve Fawcett attempted to cross 12,000 ft mountain ridge in a low-powered single engine airplane and was simply unable to outclimb the ridge. Downdrafts decending the ridge smashed him against the face of a mountain in broad daylight. One cannot "master flying" because the elements in aviation change day-by-day, minute-by-minute according to so many variables. What is safe one day, at one temperature and at one airport is disastrous as variables change. The solution. Fight complacency and seek to eliminate or mitigate as many risks as possible, as early as possible.
One category of information that I can now complete is the total costs incurred. I have completed my listing of expenses based on all flight hours, all equipment and training materials purchased etc. I hope this will be helpful for those considering the possibilities of learning to fly.
A man recently asked me about the cost of learning to fly. To be honest, you cannot justify learning to fly for a hobby unless you have a money tree growing in the back yard. However, everyone spends their money on something. For the guy who smokes one pack of cigarettes a day and drinks a case of beer each week, flying will seem relatively cheap. Let's do a quick comparision
Beer, Smokes, vs Learning to Fly
Let's assume the 2 year plan (not ideal) that I went through to get my license.
Smokes and beer (1 pack of smokes/day @ $5/pack and 1 case of beer/week @ $20/case)
Cost cigarettes = 365 days x 2 x $5 = $1825.00
Cost beer = 104 weeks x $20 = $2080
Total $3905.00
Learning to Fly (40hrs x $89/hr for Cessna 152, 25 hrs instructor x $30/hr)
Total Cost = airplane rental 3560, instructor $750= $4310 total
To be fair, most pilots will take an average of 55-60 hrs to complete their training and there are additional costs such as materials and some minimal equipment to buy. But, the fact that it is even close suggests that if most guys would give up a bad habit or two, they could learn an exciting skill that only 1/3 of 1% of the population is capable of doing. And have the time of their life doing it.
All of this to say, yes, flying is expensive, but so is everything in life. If you can figure out a way to pay for flight training, I guarantee it will stimulate your mind and thrill your heart like nothing else.
Next time I will share my X-country adventure getting lost and stumbling into a cloud. I will also share my checkride experience.
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Three Weeks Later....Time to Catch Up
I notice my last post was on Dec. 30 (flight#4) and much has happened since then. This week I completed flight #7 so I have some catching up to do. I'll try to briefly summarize the past three weeks.
Flight #5 (Jan.12)
After almost two weeks out of the airplane I noticed how quickly one loses the meager skills already learned. Today's flight introduced ground reference maneuvers such as S-turns and turns around a point. These are done at about 1,000ft AGL (above ground level) and since altitude is safety, these require careful concentration. We also went to Brookneal and completed 4 take-offs and landings. One one of the landings, Carl suddenly told me to go to full power and take off again without stopping. At the time he told me this, I was struggling to keep the airplane centered on the runway. The distraction of trying to raise flaps, steer the plane and monitor airspeed introduced me to the feeling of being "behind the airplane." This term is used to describe a pilot who is not in complete control. This dangerous condition can escalate and ultimately lead to an accident if not recognized and corrected. I explained later that in the future, I would make sure to disregard an action that I was uncomfortable with, unless it was an emergency. I guess it is good experience to know how this feels in order to recognize it again. Overall, it was a good 1.5hrs of flying with good lessons learned. The S-turns and turns around a point are tough and will require much more practice.
Flight #6 (Jan.13, 2009)
After a two-week layoff I was fortunate to have back-to-back days to fly. Today was a beautiful day with smooth air and a great chance to review things that have been introduced over the first 5 lessons. The introduction of new skills and the time required to master them takes time and in flying, time=money. To make the most of each leasson, Carl introduces each new concept and then gives me a chance to practice a couple of times before moving on to the next maneuver. This means that before you are ready to take your check ride, you will have lots of practice sessions. For now, trying to maintain altitude, manage power, bank, and heading, all while being manipulated by the wind is almost impossible. I see lots of practice in my future. We completed 4 landings and take-offs at Brookneal and they weren't too terrible.
Flight#7 (Jan.19)The weather today was iffy with lots of low clouds obscuring the mountains all around Lynchburg. Surprisingly, we seemed to be in a bowl of decent weather. We decided to fly a few miles south to LYH to practice radio transmissions and landings at a towered airport. The pattern was busy as well as the ground. There were 3 Blackhawk helicopters taking off, a Dash-8, and a business jet, all mixing in with the three planes practicing in the pattern. It was good to see how everything worked smoothly to keep us out of each other's way. After 6 landings and take-offs I was feeling pretty good. The landings weren't necessarily good or smooth, but we were no longer dropping hard out of the sky. Carl's encouragement had my confidence soaring. He asked if I wanted to do one more before heading home and I stupidly said yes. Airplanes have this knack of knowing just when to destroy any scrap of confidence you have managed to muster. The seventh landing was actually several landing in one. It seemed like we bounced several times and in the midst of this messy arrival, Carl said to increase power and "fly it back onto the ground." We finally managed to keep it settled and I could almost hear the Piper mocking my previously confident comments. Our arrival back at W24 went well and I was thankful to end lesson#7 on a reasonably decent note. Lots to learn.
Flight #5 (Jan.12)
After almost two weeks out of the airplane I noticed how quickly one loses the meager skills already learned. Today's flight introduced ground reference maneuvers such as S-turns and turns around a point. These are done at about 1,000ft AGL (above ground level) and since altitude is safety, these require careful concentration. We also went to Brookneal and completed 4 take-offs and landings. One one of the landings, Carl suddenly told me to go to full power and take off again without stopping. At the time he told me this, I was struggling to keep the airplane centered on the runway. The distraction of trying to raise flaps, steer the plane and monitor airspeed introduced me to the feeling of being "behind the airplane." This term is used to describe a pilot who is not in complete control. This dangerous condition can escalate and ultimately lead to an accident if not recognized and corrected. I explained later that in the future, I would make sure to disregard an action that I was uncomfortable with, unless it was an emergency. I guess it is good experience to know how this feels in order to recognize it again. Overall, it was a good 1.5hrs of flying with good lessons learned. The S-turns and turns around a point are tough and will require much more practice.
Flight #6 (Jan.13, 2009)
After a two-week layoff I was fortunate to have back-to-back days to fly. Today was a beautiful day with smooth air and a great chance to review things that have been introduced over the first 5 lessons. The introduction of new skills and the time required to master them takes time and in flying, time=money. To make the most of each leasson, Carl introduces each new concept and then gives me a chance to practice a couple of times before moving on to the next maneuver. This means that before you are ready to take your check ride, you will have lots of practice sessions. For now, trying to maintain altitude, manage power, bank, and heading, all while being manipulated by the wind is almost impossible. I see lots of practice in my future. We completed 4 landings and take-offs at Brookneal and they weren't too terrible.
Flight#7 (Jan.19)The weather today was iffy with lots of low clouds obscuring the mountains all around Lynchburg. Surprisingly, we seemed to be in a bowl of decent weather. We decided to fly a few miles south to LYH to practice radio transmissions and landings at a towered airport. The pattern was busy as well as the ground. There were 3 Blackhawk helicopters taking off, a Dash-8, and a business jet, all mixing in with the three planes practicing in the pattern. It was good to see how everything worked smoothly to keep us out of each other's way. After 6 landings and take-offs I was feeling pretty good. The landings weren't necessarily good or smooth, but we were no longer dropping hard out of the sky. Carl's encouragement had my confidence soaring. He asked if I wanted to do one more before heading home and I stupidly said yes. Airplanes have this knack of knowing just when to destroy any scrap of confidence you have managed to muster. The seventh landing was actually several landing in one. It seemed like we bounced several times and in the midst of this messy arrival, Carl said to increase power and "fly it back onto the ground." We finally managed to keep it settled and I could almost hear the Piper mocking my previously confident comments. Our arrival back at W24 went well and I was thankful to end lesson#7 on a reasonably decent note. Lots to learn.
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