Just arrived from my first lesson.

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Hi all

 

My name is Con, I am 33yo male with a wife and 6 month old girl. I have been fascinated in planes/flying since I was a little kid. For about the last 3 years I have been flying models and I thought that would satisfy my passion but I still found myself looking to the sky when a plane would fly over head, and found myself hanging out at airports watching planes come and go.

 

Well a couple of weeks ago I rang a flying school and made a booking for a TIF, which I took today in a 172 G ... and I was blown away, and I will be continuing until at least a PPL level. The instructor pretty much let me fly the whole time, although he did control throttle, rudder on the take of roll, and trim. I was surprised at how easy it was keeping the plane straight and level (even though it was trimmed for me), even letting me fly the approach circuit, and the final approach all the way to the threshold in a light crosswind, which is where he gave me a hand to get the flair right which I was really surprised about (maybe all those hours playing Flight Simulator payed off). Is this normal for a TIF or did I impress the instructor that much? Initial thoughts about flying is how easy it is when you can feel everything (as opposed to flying models or FS). I have a couple of friends whom I know through models who have their PPL's, and they tell me the hard part comes later when learning to navigate, fly circuits, operate radio, e.t.c.

 

Today I found myself holding a very tight grip on the yoke, I think I will have to remember to relax a little. Also it was a bit bumpy and I found myself trying to correct for every little bump which was very tiring, how does this type of plane handle being left to its own devices with only occasional corrections?

 

The reason it has taken me so long to get to this point is because I have always worried about flying in small aircraft, I did alot of research about how safe it actually is and that helped to comfort my nerves, but if anyone wants to repeat it all here that would be nice because I am a little apprehensive about it. My wife is also worried about it.

 

So thats me in a nutshell, please any comments, hints, suggestions or whatever will be very welcome as I'm new to this whole thing. :)

 

 

[Thx1137]

Hi Con and welcome!

 

I remember my TIF, awesome stuff. I had no preconceived notions about small aircraft though I got a little nervous during the first landing. I can't remember when I gave the instructor control, somewhere on final I think.

 

Stick twiddling in turbulence and overcorrecting in crosswinds where other biggies for me. I found it hard to know when to leave it alone and when to correct. I guess it is just experience and practice.

 

Flight simming helps in some ways but it is pretty bad in one key area, we generally have our eyes inside too much looking at instruments. The number of times I would be told to me to get my eyes outside cant be counted!

 

One of my instructors often mentioned my death grip on the stick during manoeuvres where I was under pressure. That seemed nearly all the time for me, I wanted to do well too much :-) "just use your fingertips" he would say (which I would do for 5 seconds). :-)

 

Safety hasn't been much of a worry for me. I figure I have been taught how to cope with the most likely scenarios (and how to mitigate getting into a situation and what to do if I got into one) and got the feeling our planes were well maintained. Some nerves are to be expected and is actually a good thing, as long as you control them and they not control you. :-)

 

Steven.

 

 

[Tomo]

G'day Con, great to hear from you. :thumb_up: Welcome along also....

 

It is awesome to hear you getting into it, it really is fun and rewarding - and challenging. Regarding your TIF, that sounds about normal, depending on the students capability does depend on how much they let you do, so no doubt you showed you were confident enough to keep at it, having a back ground in model aircraft you will also have a huge advantage on quite a lot of things - you understand what the controls generally do.

 

I'm no instructor by the way, but that is the way I understand it.

 

The fear factor is there, but once you start to understand flying, and the aircrafts capabilities, you also learn to risk manage. In other words there is an amount of risk in flying, or even driving on the road as a fact, but you learn to risk manage and eliminate those risks as much as possible. Or be prepared for them, not good to scare yourself, but it doesn't hurt to be prepared for the unexpected.

 

Correcting the aircraft in turbulence after a while just becomes second nature, it's all pretty good fun really!

 

Have fun and take care,

 

 

[Guest Decca]

Hi Con, welcome to our forums.

 

Tomo answered your concerns very well, which is good, because all I need do is welcome you.

 

Regards, Decca.

 

 

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Thank you all for the warm welcome. Its been 2 days since that first flight and my head is still in the clouds, so I rang up and made a booking for the next lesson. I have about a thousand questions at the moment but I'm sure they will be answered in time. I'm looking forward to that first landing, then first solo, then onto the PPL. Then I'll have to try and convince my wife to come up for a short flight (she thinks flying in light planes is as safe as going to war, although she is supportive). I just wish funds would allow me to do it a bit quicker.

 

Does anyone have any suggestions on what I could be reading/studying while I save up for the next lesson? Something along the lines of "Aviation Acronyms For Idiots" would be nice.

 

One question I do have is about my flight school, Airborne Aviation at Camden, anyone know of them? What sort of reputation do they have?

 

 

[Guest Sharp End]

One question I do have is about my flight school, Airborne Aviation at Camden, anyone know of them? What sort of reputation do they have?

Airborne are a great bunch especially John Dahl... he owns the red Pitts S12 with the radial engine in their hangar, he's also into cars - have a look at his beautiful Sunbeam Tiger if you get the chance. He's an 'Oldie but Goodie'. Peter, Airborne's CFI, is patient and professional. Their fleet is modern and well maintained (by Dent Aviation) and smiley Shane, Jarrod, etc are all decent blokes with the right attitude. Curtis are also a good school - Rob Marshall, their CFI, is also one of the real gentlemen of aviation. Good luck and welcome.

 

S-E

 

 

[Mazda]

I'll do this in bits, it keeps dropping out.

 

The TIF sounds pretty normal, it's an overview and you do more detailed lessons as you go.

 

 

[Mazda]

Get hold of a Basic Aeronautical Knowledge book, either the ATC one or Bob Tait, check with the school which they use, and get stuck into the theory!

 

 

[Mazda]

Flying is NOT perfectly safe, I've lost too many friends to say that it is.

 

However nothing in life is perfectly safe. What we do in aviation is to learn all the hazards and learn how to minimise risk in every way. Systems are duplicated, checks are always done, maintenance is regularly carried out, and it is up to you as a pilot to learn all you can about flying, systems and regulations, and develop good decision making skills.

 

This minimises the risk enormously. Car drivers don't learn about engines, systems, meterology, threat and error management, decicion making etc.

 

Car driving is dangerous. If you don't want to accept that risk, don't drive. If you can't accept that flying has risks, don't fly! However there are ways to reduce risk and you will learn that in your training.

 

 

[Mazda]

Camden is fantastic, stay there, don't go to Bankstown! Airborne and Curtis are good, and if you like volunteering there are some youth organisations there which aren't bad either.