Like the title says, a little over two weeks ago I started down the road to a Private Pilots License for Single-Engine Land.
I think I may have just found a hobby more expensive than the Supra! And that’s supposed to be impossible, right?
I arrived here in Oak Harbor on orders at the beginning of the month and proceeded to get registered for some collage. While I was looking around I found the on base Navy flying club. I’ve had two friends get there pilots license and have always been interested in it myself but never had the funds. Well now I have the funds, time, and support of my command so I really have no reason not to. While it still costs a fair amount it is still less than in the civilian sector and they have some well maintained trainer planes, and I get along well with the instructors there. It’s a good environment to learn in. I’m pretty excited about it.
The school is governed under FAR part 61 so the flight school goes hand in hand with the ground school. So I have already logged 5 hours of flight time. The first time I went up we learned the basics of air space navigation, medium bank turns, and simple flight. It was rough at first because some of those maneuvers your body tells you are wrong and resists letting you do it. During some of those medium bank turns all I wanted to do was roll out of it and fly straight and level. By the time we got back to the ground I felt physically tired from dealing with that. We did a debriefing afterwards and apparently I did pretty well for my first time up.
The next time I went up it was much better. I knew what to expect a preformed the maneuvers easily, there was still a little tension but for the most part it was gone. After the review was completed we moved to the next lesson, take offs and taxiing. That proved to be a little more difficult than the aerial maneuvers. The take off wasn’t bad but that rudder pedal is very touchy so every time I would apply the break(which is on the rudder pedals) the plane would move off from the yellow line I was following as I would try to stop. Kind of frustrating, so it is something I will have to work on next.
Some of the ground school studying can be pretty substantial and since I have two friends go through it I have a pretty good idea what to expect. It’s fun exciting and I plane to push on and see what comes of this.
So do we have any pilots on the forums? Do you have and advice for me, word of wisdom and experience maybe?
Here is my little trainer:
It’s a Piper PA-28 Cherokee 140, there were a few other planes but I liked this one.
I think I may have just found a hobby more expensive than the Supra! And that’s supposed to be impossible, right?
I arrived here in Oak Harbor on orders at the beginning of the month and proceeded to get registered for some collage. While I was looking around I found the on base Navy flying club. I’ve had two friends get there pilots license and have always been interested in it myself but never had the funds. Well now I have the funds, time, and support of my command so I really have no reason not to. While it still costs a fair amount it is still less than in the civilian sector and they have some well maintained trainer planes, and I get along well with the instructors there. It’s a good environment to learn in. I’m pretty excited about it.
The school is governed under FAR part 61 so the flight school goes hand in hand with the ground school. So I have already logged 5 hours of flight time. The first time I went up we learned the basics of air space navigation, medium bank turns, and simple flight. It was rough at first because some of those maneuvers your body tells you are wrong and resists letting you do it. During some of those medium bank turns all I wanted to do was roll out of it and fly straight and level. By the time we got back to the ground I felt physically tired from dealing with that. We did a debriefing afterwards and apparently I did pretty well for my first time up.
The next time I went up it was much better. I knew what to expect a preformed the maneuvers easily, there was still a little tension but for the most part it was gone. After the review was completed we moved to the next lesson, take offs and taxiing. That proved to be a little more difficult than the aerial maneuvers. The take off wasn’t bad but that rudder pedal is very touchy so every time I would apply the break(which is on the rudder pedals) the plane would move off from the yellow line I was following as I would try to stop. Kind of frustrating, so it is something I will have to work on next.
Some of the ground school studying can be pretty substantial and since I have two friends go through it I have a pretty good idea what to expect. It’s fun exciting and I plane to push on and see what comes of this.
So do we have any pilots on the forums? Do you have and advice for me, word of wisdom and experience maybe?
Here is my little trainer:
It’s a Piper PA-28 Cherokee 140, there were a few other planes but I liked this one.
