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Thread: Sporty's Complete Flight Training Course

  1. #11

    Join Date
    Jul 2011
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    QFT, I'd like to hear more about your sport pilot learning. What was your flying background if any, who and where was your CFI. what method of study, what plane you used, any problem parts?
    And what are you aviation plans now?
    Congrats on a good start.

  2. #12

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    Well for me my aviation background was essentially zero. I had played combat flight sims for years and years and a few of my virtual squadmates who are actual pilots said I'd probably do well behind a real stick.

    I was rightfully skeptical. Sitting behind a desk with a plastic HOTAS on top and pedals underneath (and a refly option if things went bad) is fun but it's not flying a real airplane. Turns out quite a bit translated (theory of flight, instruments, coordinating turns, adverse yaw, etc.), and a lot didn't (no sim accurately gives one the tactile feelings of gusts and thermals).

    Jim McCleod at Pell City is my instructor, and a darned good one. He's primarily a PPL instructor with the full package of additional endorsements as a CFI (instrument, multiengine, etc., etc.) that above all loves to fly and pass that passion on in a practical, nuts-and-bolts fashion. He is my second instructor - I had to let the first one go after two lessons due to a personality/style mismatch; I need an teacher that puts things into a larger context and isn't subtle.

    I trained in a Flight Design CTLS. It is good and bad as a trainer. Good in that it is light in the controls, has good visibility, great climb and fast (right at the limits of LSA). Bad in that the gear is composite and doesn't like lateral forces - it's been replaced twice due to delamination from goofy landings and rightfully has a reputation as being difficult to land, particularly in crosswinds. Add in that I trained twice a week in the middle of the day when the hot Alabama summers make for interesting weather conditions.

    Sport Pilot training pretty much matches Private instruction right up to where one starts working the hood (no instrument, no night). Basic flight (stalls, slow flight, etc.), ground reference maneuvers, landings ("regular," short and soft field, crosswind), and short cross countries - though I flew PPL distances because the CTLS is so fast that the chip shot minimums didn't make sense. Since St. Clair County is uncontrolled airspace, we didn't have to worry about tower ops. So it's much easier to train - we could get ten landings in an hour no problem.

    Solo'd about 10 hours in (dang season change put winds 90 degrees to runway and I needed a couple extra hours to get their measure), passed the written, and just worked to get the appropriate skills for my check ride. I probably could have shot for the ride a couple hours early, but I needed work on short field landings and put in the extra solo time to get to where I was satisfied. 26 hours total.

    One of the issues beyond finding an LSA to train in is finding a Sport Pilot evaluator. Here in Alabama there are only two or three - and only one that has a flexible enough schedule and is willing to fly up to give the check ride.

    Right now I'm getting tailwheel instruction in a Champ, as I'm building a Nieuport 11 replica which is conventional geared and has a lot of the flying characteristics of the Champ. Btw, I friggin' love the Champ - wish Jim had one when I started; I'd of done primary training in it!

    We also did some spin training in the Champ (awesome!), which I think should be put back into the basic syllabus.

    Next up after tailwheel is controlled airspace endorsement.

  3. #13
    If you have an Android or Iphone you can buy Sporty's Study Buddy for 9.95. It's a great resource for when you find yourself somewhere with time to kill. Pull it out and start going over tons of written test questions, along with each of thier answers and explanations.

    http://sportys.com/PilotShop/category/1035

  4. #14
    Is one of these courses such as Sporty's all you need to take your written? I was thinking you still need some time in a classroom and/or an instructor to check off that your ready to take the test.

    Randy

  5. #15

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    Quote Originally Posted by gliderflyer View Post
    Is one of these courses such as Sporty's all you need to take your written? I was thinking you still need some time in a classroom and/or an instructor to check off that your ready to take the test.

    Randy
    Absolutely it is all that is needed.

    One still needs to have the instructor sign off that one is ready to take it. Since I had brought him stuff I had questions on previously, he knew I had been studying and just signed me off for it without a quiz.

    Everyone and every instructor is different, though.
    The opinions and statements of this poster are largely based on facts and portray a possible version of the actual events.

  6. #16

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    Jul 2011
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    If you do the King courses they will send you the sign off to take the written, you don't need a separate instructor for the written. I don't know about Sporty's or others.

  7. #17
    Eric Page's Avatar
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    Jul 2011
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    Quote Originally Posted by Bill Greenwood View Post
    Most of real money saving will come, not in a few $$$ on the books or cd roms, but by being prepared in advance for each flight lesson. Pre study, rehearse it in your mind, de brief at the end; take some extra time to sit at the airport and watch others land, etc. and MOST of all fly often, at least twice a week and you can learn in perhaps 40 or 45 hours. Some people do lessons once a month and wonder why it takes them 60 hours for a private.
    good luck.
    That, sir, is excellent advice. I was going to school full time, working part time, and trying to learn flying. At one point I was driving 125 mi RT to save a few bucks on a 152 at a military flying club. The result was infrequent flights with gaps of a month or more between lessons. It took me way too long to finish my training and probably cost a small fortune. I don't recommend it.
    Eric Page
    Building: Kitfox 5 Safari | Rotax 912iS | Dynon HDX
    Member: EAA Lifetime, AOPA, ALPA
    ATP: AMEL | Comm: ASEL, Glider | ATCS: CTO
    Map of Landings

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