New Pilots Certificate

[Mathew Ker]

Three weeks ago Ron Watson endorsed my log book having examined me and found me to be proficient in all aspects of the syllabus for the issue of my RAA Pilot's Certificate. This is great news and I recognise it as an important achievement.

 

The funny thing is, when I first flew solo, I couldn't wait to share this news, but for some reason it's taken longer to reveal my latest achievement. Maybe I'm just getting slack, but I also think its because as I have flown more, and learnt more, I've also gained more respect for flying. I'm lucky because I think I've been given a natural aptitude for controlling the aircraft in flight. It just works for me whereas for others, it's a real challenge they have to work at to master. There are plenty of other things that I have to struggle with, just not flying. I also recognise that I've been issued a certificate to fly - which as someone pointed out, means I ready to begin learning the responsibility of good flying - not to be confused with "I'm already an experienced and great pilot".

 

So I think this all means I may have some natural aptitude - but this also can make me more vulnerable to becoming over confident and/or cocky in attitude :black_eye:. Maybe this is why I've held off sharing this good news?

 

This is just part of the story. The next part is cross-country and passenger endorsements. Then finding an aircraft to be able to rent for a reasonable cost, then buying or building, then ....

 

Cheers and thanks for everyone's encouragement. Mathew

 

 

[storchy neil]

mathew when i went solo it was a buz but the day that i could fly any where ie cross country and did not have to ask permission to fly my plane was the best day neil

 

 

[farri]

Licence To Learn.

 

Congratulations,Mathew, It`s Great isn`t it?

 

When I started flying a very experienced agricultural pilot said to me,

 

"Frank,until you`ve done at least 500 hours you`re an accident looking for somewhere to happen,by 500 hrs every thing that could go wrong should have happened and if you`ve been able to handle it ,you should be ok.

 

For evermore make every flight a learning experience.

 

Regards,

 

Frank.

 

 

[pylon500]

because as I have flown more, and learnt more

Congrats' Mathew, and yes, You have just discovered one of the important aspects of learning to fly.

As instructors, we teach you how to fly safely, now you can start to teach yourself how to fly well ;)

 

Don't be afraid to keep asking for a few check rides, and let the instructor know you want to learn all the subtle bits about the plane your flying.

 

There can be some little 'knacks' that just add to confusion if pushed onto a student too early.

 

What Frank's AG pilot mate was implying is that you can still learn things 500 hours down the track!

 

Plan ahead, THINK ahead and keep a good lookout....

 

Arthur.

 

 

[eastmeg2]

I'm just wondering how many landings per hour RAA plastic fantastics and low end GA do on average. I'm tending to find that I'm averaging 2 landings per hour in a trike.

 

Rgds,

 

Glen

 

 

[Mathew Ker]

Glen,

 

Based on my own experience, towards the end of my training, I would usually do two circuits with my instructor, either drop him off or we'd both continue to fly to the local training area for about 30 minutes of various turns, stalls etc, then come back for three to five circuits (which often included simulated engine failures at various points in the circuit).

 

I'm sure the number of circuits flown would vary depending on the amount of traffic a person is training in. The smaller volume of traffic was a factor in me learning at Innisfail rather than Cairns which is where I live.

 

Cheers, Mathew

 

 

[Yenn]

Well I have over 500 hours and there a lot of things that haven't happened to me yet. Hopefully they will not happen, but I keep trying to keep on top of them. As for landings per hour, 2 would be fairly near the mark for me, at least those are the ones I own up to.

 

 

[Mathew Ker]

Landings per hour

 

Do bounces count ?

 

Cheers, Mathew

 

 

[ahlocks]

I'm just wondering how many landings per hour RAA plastic fantastics and low end GA do on average. I'm tending to find that I'm averaging 2 landings per hour in a trike.

Rgds,

 

Glen

I'm not exactly sure what you're after Glen so...

 

I have done nine circuits in an hour including taxi time during training, but usually I do either three or four circuits in a half hour session depending on traffic.

 

Statistically:

 

69 hours / 79 landings = 0.8734 landings per hour.

 

 

[ben87r]

hey mat congrats,

 

Did you do all your training with watsonfly? ive just moved up to port douglas and have been looking at them to finish my training and want to know what they are like?

 

 

[motzartmerv]

G'day Matt. There's nothing wrong with a bit of confidence, providing it doesn't effect your discsion making. A dangerous attitude can develop, where a pilot thinks that his above average flying ability will enable him to cope with a situation that the lesser pilot with similar experience probably couldn't handle. Having said that, I seriously doubt you fall into this category of pilot, this type usually don't realize they are in that group. :)

 

Now to the 500 hour thing. I have to strongly disagree with this. I don't think there is any magical hour mark that will ensure you have seen all that aviation will dish up to you.

 

Casa released a statistical study into fatal and non fatal aircraft accidents recently. They found NO statistical evidence that experience made pilots less likely to be involved in fatal accidents. Basically, your just as likely to have a problem at 20,000 hours as you are at 200.

 

I recently spke to the instructor involved in the prang at camden in a twin. This guy has over 20000 hours experience, thousands of hours instructing in twins. The y were doing assymetrics in the cct. Rob pulled the throttle back to simulate an engine failure and the student cut the mixture to the good engine, pulled back on the controls and froze. Within seconds the acft entered a spin from an alt of just over 600 ft agl. Rob had to wrestle control and recover the spin, which left him with only moments to guide the aircraft into a backyard.

 

His comment to me was this "in 40 years of flying, i have never seen a student do that"

 

Cheers

 

 

[Relfy]

Good work Matt, keep building on your experience so far and as Motz has stated, a safety based attitude from the get-go will stick with you for the long term.

 

I only have about 120hrs TT so far but still force myself every 20hrs or so to get out as I did yesterday and do stalls in all forms, practice engine failures, cross wind landings etc and other drills as it's surprising how some aspects are forgotten as the muscle/memory effects aren't totally ingrained. I have a BFR coming up and when talking with my CFI the other day, I requested to be 'put through the ringer' so to speak. Another flight instructor there did however indicate, tapping the ends of his fingers together that it wouldn't happen any other way, with a smile on his face.

 

The ongoing learning is one thing, but maintaing good practices along the way is just as important. Reviewing your performance after a flight or practice emergency drill will also help to build skills and improve next time round. Again, great work on getting your cert and you will have a ball doing the next phases of training and spreading your wings and being able to share it with others.