90% Done, 50% to go...

[Bill Greenwood]

Bunkie, I am glad that you have discovered that you now have a flair for the flare.
And knowing this, you should have more confidence and be able to relax and just fly. After all, flying a basic airplane in good weather is not really very hard.
A little bit of alertness is good, helps you focus more, but too much is a definite handicap and makes you tense and narrows your attention and can impair good judgement or just make your view too narrow. One way to overcome some of this is to practice the main procedures you do for each phase of flight.
You mention steep turn as a problem. First understand that as the turn steepens, there is less lift and the nose tends to drop. And it is not liner, but progresssive as you go past 35 degrees. , Asyou roll into the turn to begin to add back pressure and/or trim as you go past 30 degrees. if you get over to pretty steep, say 55 degrees and the nose is dropping and starting to get away from you, then just take out some of the bank angle for a moment, back to maybe 35 degrees and catch up with back pressure and then roll back into the 60 degrees or whatever. Trim wil help if you are staying in a large bank for long, like in a 360 degree turn. And remember to remove the back pressure and/or trim as you roll back to level.

In actual practice, not just training there is really not very many times when you want a very steep turn, that is over about 35 degrees. You don't want to do much more that 30 degrees in normal landing pattern. So it is something to learn during training , but not the way one normally flies a light trainer.

Now in a few years when you are flying a Pitts or P-51, that is another matter.

[Bunkie]

Just wanted to let everyone know that, at this point, the only thing getting in my way is weather (three consecutive weekend lessons cancelled!) and time.

When my current work contract ends (six to eight weeks, depending), I'm going to take some time and go back down to Florida for an intensive effort to get it done.

Never give up, never surrender!

[Bill Greenwood]

Bunkie, it may not seem like it now, but the N Y weather is not always bad and will break eventually. Give us an update on your progress now, how many hours do you have, how many solo? Have you done your cross country flights?

Good luck, and the only thing you really must do to be a fully licensed pilot is just keep going.
Bill

[Bunkie]

Bill,

I've completed all of my dual work (including the cross-country and night requirements) with the exception of some hood work. I have a grand total of .3 hours PIC!

I'm currently at 62.3 hours total.

[Floatsflyer]

Bill,

I've completed all of my dual work (including the cross-country and night requirements) with the exception of some hood work. I have a grand total of .3 hours PIC!

I'm currently at 62.3 hours total.

Bunkie, something's amiss unless there's a significant typo above. How is it possible on a standard PPL course curriculum to have only 0.3 solo out of an accumulative total of 62.3 hours on course so far. The 0.3 I'm assuming is your first solo in the circuit. Why didn't you at least do the required(still?) 5 hours of solo circuits shortly thereafter? Not being negative here or casting dispersions in any manner, I'm just shaking my head a bit and wanting to understand the "why's" of your training to date.

[Infidel]

Your hours and only .3 PIC/solo strikes me as odd. It took me awhile to figure it out but my first instructor was using me to build his hours and to give an example of how terrible the guy was, when he saw the venturi's on the side of my Cessna, he said "are those horns"? Seriously.

Im not saying your going through the same thing but be conscientious. Paying students keep flight schools open. Take the reigns and dictate what you want to accomplish and a good instructor & flight school should heed that and meet your goals. Your the Boss!

[Bill Greenwood]

That is an unusually low amount of solo time vs total time, but at this point it is not going to matter. He has done a lot of the required flying and the goal of being a private pilot is in sight. Just make a plan of what you need now and keep going. Hey, some pilots get their rating in 40 hours or so just like some people get their degree in 4 years. For others, like myself, college was like a fine wine to be savored and it took longer. I still got that degree and had a lot of fun in the meantime.
I would have an understanding with the instructor, hopefully one that you are already using, that you are interesting in finishing the program and not just riding around with him as a source of funds.
As for as confidence goes, if you have soloed once you can do it again, just like millions of other student pilots do.

[Bunkie]

Yes, .3 hours of solo isn't very much. But if you read all my posts, it will start to make sense. I have no doubt that, had time not run out on me last spring, that I would have rapidly progressed from my (and only!) solo to completion and my PPL.

For someone at my stage of life, it's exceptionally difficult to get the necessary contiguous time and focus. That sounds like an excuse, but it is the major factor here. I flew this Saturday. I spent most of the first part of the lesson forgetting and then remembering things. By the time the lesson was about two-thirds over, I was consistently performing at a high level.

[Infidel]

I understand entirely Bunkie and apologize for not grasping your earlier posts. A friend of mine has been working on his Private for about four years now. He said he's pushing roughly 60 hours and stated at times, he could fly only one day per week. And each lesson/week thereafter, he found himself going over and repeating what he had learned the week before. I commend him for sticking with it, and commend you as well.

Hopefully this weather will break soon and I look forward to reading more of your journey.

[Bunkie]

Infidel, no apology is necessary! My journey has been a convoluted one, largely the result of my own choices.

My flying club just brought a second Cessna 150 on line, so things should get a bit easier as we have several CFIs, so I expect the schedule to loosen up a bit.