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Thread: 90% Done, 50% to go...

  1. #21

    Join Date
    May 2013
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    New York City
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    98
    I did my night cross-country on Monday from FRG to HFD. It was a beautiful night with the air as smooth as glass. It went pretty well and I was able to navigate both there and back. I completed my required 10 night TOs and landings by doing a couple of touch-and-goes at HFD and then at FRG.

    I kept a close eye on the VORs and got past the difficulty of reading the chart while in flight. I did a better job of trimming the aircraft so my altitude control improved over the previous cross-country. I did pretty well on all of the landings except the last one. Most of my landing issues begin with being too high but in this case I over-compensated and had to add power which caused me to come in a bit flat. Not pretty but as my instructor said "you got it in there".

    Next time it's landing practice in prep for the checkout at Nassau Flyers for my required solo work.

    I've stopped tracking the cost. part of that is to keep from getting freaked out. But a larger part is that I'm viewing my training less as an obstacle to my goal but as an enjoyable process in itself. In other words, it's only a matter of degree cost-wise between being a student pilot and a certificated pilot. I'm flying and that was the ultimate goal.

    I finally got my FRG airport badge! It's a small thing, but it means a lot to me. I'm in the club!

  2. #22

    Join Date
    Jul 2013
    Location
    Gonzales, LA
    Posts
    175
    Congratulations!
    Feels so good, when you get to clear the different hurdles, as you go along, huh?
    Keep up the good work!

  3. #23

    Join Date
    May 2013
    Location
    New York City
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    Sigh... Another setback. The instructor I was working with left Nassau Flyers. So, this means I have to do yet another "let's get you up in the airplane to see how you do" flight so that I can continue. It's frustrating, not to mention expensive (and time-consuming).

    I have this scheduled for Friday morning. Hopefully I'll get along with the new instructor and I can work out a plan to get me to the top of the mountain.

  4. #24

    Join Date
    Jul 2013
    Location
    Gonzales, LA
    Posts
    175
    What I learned from instructor hopping, go find the oldest fart you can on the field, or nearby field.
    Talk to some of the pilots that fly there, and find out the longest established instructor/company, and go talk to them.
    Remember, you're paying for a service, here, and YOU need to get what you pay for.
    I went through half a dozen instructors, and logged waaaaay more hours than necessesary for PPL, before a couple of our pilot friends suggested a little old flight school.
    Not only was the old man, an instructor, he was the FAA examiner.
    Once I got hooked up with him, I was done, and ready for my checkride, in about 3 weeks.
    I wished we knew of him when we first started.
    I had an old fart that taught Me how to fly a taildragger, and signed my tailwheel endorsement.
    I learned a lot more practical stuff from those few hours, than all the accumulated, FBO, and college training time, before I got with the first old fart/FAA examiner.
    Old farts... Find em, and learn from them.
    I guarantee you will have fun with them too.
    They have more experience, and stories to back up what they're teaching, so you can better understand why you have to do certain things.
    Last edited by I_FLY_LOW; 08-21-2013 at 10:32 AM.

  5. #25

    Join Date
    May 2013
    Location
    New York City
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    98
    Well, since I'm something of an old fart myself, this really rings true. And, truth be told, my favorite instructor was Ernie down at Tradewinds. He and I are about the same age so we had a lot of common ground.

    At this point, it's just tough it out, pay what it costs and get it done.

    By the way, I'm reading a great book: Making Perfect Takeoffs and Landings by Ron Fowler. I got it on Monday and, on Tuesday, missed my subway stop on the way to work because it was so engrossing. I'm almost done with it and can't wait to apply what I've learned.

  6. #26

    Join Date
    Jul 2011
    Posts
    2,575
    Just keep going, whatever someone else does.

    Are you flying this weekend?

    And if the new instructor works for the same flight school, you should not have to repeat training already done with the previous one. If they are trying to make you do that, I would certainly have a serious talk with the owner/manager of that school. From a fair business standpoint they have some obligations other than just taking your money. If they don't want to honor the training from their previous employee, then they should refund the fee from those sessions.
    Last edited by Bill Greenwood; 08-24-2013 at 09:43 AM.

  7. #27

    Join Date
    May 2013
    Location
    New York City
    Posts
    98
    I did go flying this past Friday morning. As it turns out, the real issue is getting the signoff to solo. The school has a rather involved process which requires about an hour of "simulated solo" with my instructor and then a full checkout with the CFI.

    I did get some strong encouragement in that my new instructor says I'm practically there skills-wise.

    And I also learned a valuable lesson. We were doing pattern work at FRG and as the session progressed, the traffic got heavy. This resulted in one tower-directed 360 for spacing and a separate break off instruction as well as a change from right to left and back to right traffic over three successive circuits. Upon climb out, asked my instructor if we were still doing right pattern. He said, yes, since there had been no call to make left pattern, right pattern was required. I then made my crosswind and downwind turns and made the call to report right downwind and the tower berated me that we were supposed to make left pattern. My instructor (who seemed to have some history with the specific controller) said that she was just covering for her own mistake and that if we had really busted an instruction that we would have gotten the dreaded phone number go call instruction. So what did I learn? That I should not have asked my instructor, I should have just called the tower to clarify the pattern instruction. I'm not sure who was wrong here, but that doesn't matter. Call and be sure. That gives the incorrect party (pilot or controller) the opportunity to correct a situation before it happens.

    As to why we were doing pattern work, it was at my request. I wanted to try applying what I had read about in the book. As it turns out, I think I may have finally gotten what has been eluding me, proper use of progressive back pressure on round out as I greased at least one of the later landings.
    Last edited by Bunkie; 08-24-2013 at 02:02 PM.

  8. #28

    Join Date
    May 2013
    Location
    New York City
    Posts
    98
    I've been doing a bit of thinking over the last week. That's always dangerous. A couple of days ago, my wife emailed me an article about Pocono Mountain Airport in Tobyhanna, Pennsylvania. While looking at the airport website, I clicked on a link for the Pocono Mountain Flying club. To make a long story short, my wife and I took a ride out there to meet Paul the club founder who is a CFI and CFII. The airport is a bit far from where we have our weekend house (about an hour and ten minutes), but it's a nice facility with two runways. Both my wife and I had a good feeling about the club which owns two Cessna 150s. I've done the calculations and given the required time, it's pretty close to break-even even given the one-time initiation fee. The per-hour wet rate for club members is less than half what I'm paying at Republic (even for a C152) and the instructor rate is about 30% less. At this point, I only need a few hours of instructor time to meet the requirements, so the real consideration is aircraft cost.

    I'm seriously considering making the switch for a number of reasons. First, I really liked Paul. We got along well and we're close enough in age and interests to have a lot of common ground. Second, I can take a few days off from work to accelerate completing my training because weekday availability of the aircraft is quite good. Third, it gives me a way to fly inexpensively once I have my PPL. Fourth, with the reduced cost, I can immediately embark on getting my instrument rating, something I really want to do primarily because of the increased safety factor.

    The issue is the distance to the airport. But I think that's a non-issue because getting to Republic from Manhattan is always something of a challenge. Traffic can turn that into a two-hour trip.

  9. #29

    Join Date
    Jul 2011
    Posts
    2,575
    Bunkie, you raise a few points I will try to offer my thoughts on them.

    The best thing you said a few days back was that you were enjoying the process of getting your pilot's license. That is important and the way it is supposed to be; that the training itself is supposed to be interesting and fun, not just the end result. It is not like a lady going through labor, which is unpleasant but in the end you have a baby. But some CFIs act like that is what the training should be like, and they can make it like going through purgatory before you are admitted as a chosen one. These are not the kind of people you want to give either your money or your time,

    Next, how much did you fly this 3 day weekend? How about the week before? I and others enjoy your progress reports and observations on here; but just writing on a website won't get you to be a licensed pilot.
    The most important thing is to JUST KEEP GOING, DON'T QUIT, and DON'T LET ANYONE MAKE YOU QUIT.
    If you need a little inspiration look up Diana Nyad.

    As for switching flight schools again, you have to be the judge of that.

    As for getting a instrument rating, well that is fine for the future, but first you have to have the Private, and then a certain number of hours, Getting that rating is not easy, both the written test and the flight test is much harder and more expensive to finish.

    As for safety, well yes and no. I have been instrument rated since the 80's, and I stay current with a flight check every year, but I probably have less than 15 hours actual time in IMC conditions. In my opinion, real IMC flying can be very dangerous, and mostly I doubt if any new, low time pilot has much reason to be in real hard IMC conditions. I am sure many others will tell you how easy it is. You can read a lot of bumpf about making every trip on an IFR flight, so as to get used to "Being In The System". What this really means is talking on the radio, to center and towers. Nothing really wrong with that, if you like to do it in good weather. BUT, don't kid yourself that this is real instrument flying, which means when the you can't see the ground at all or the sky and don't even know which way is up, and your life is at stake, can you really control the plane and navigate it? How about when picking up ice or in turbulence or when weather is changing for the worse?
    Last edited by Bill Greenwood; 09-03-2013 at 04:04 AM.

  10. #30

    Join Date
    May 2013
    Location
    New York City
    Posts
    98
    Hi Bill!

    I'm still at it and am not going to quit now. I'm suffering a bit of sticker shock as this month we have an opposite-coast wedding to attend, and we have to pay for the vacation we have planned for November. I've done the math and going the flying club route will save me a fair amount of money. But the thing I really like about it is the opportunity to be drawn further into the community of pilots. This Saturday, the club is having a landing contest and barbecue and that just sounds like a heck of a good time. I'm pretty much the only flying guy I know and it gets a bit lonely some times. Community matters.

    So, onward and upward as they say. I scheduled my written test for Saturday the 14th. I'm doing well on the practice tests so I'm not worried at all.

    Regarding the IFR rating, there's the safety issue, but the other attraction is that this whole process has energized me. Learning these skills has been a real joy and I just want to keep going, challenging myself to see how far I can go. Precision flying, understanding more about how the whole ATC system works, learning more about airplane systems, all of this is like candy to me.

    There probably won't be any flying for the next two weeks while I attend to the written and other matters, but as soon as I can, I'm going to make a big push to complete my training. I long for the day when I can announce that I've gotten my license.

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