First Flying Lesson
Discussion
tkdsteve08 said:
Cheers Guys can you recommend any good flying schools around London or the shires.
If you don't mind a drive there's Clacton. A bit of a way but even less formal than Panshanger and far away from controlled airspace (Panshanger's near Luton and Stansted of course). Should you do that I recommend opting for the taildragger rather than spamcan with a nosewheel. Shouldn't take you any longer to complete your PPL, costs a little more but not as much as adding a tailwheel checkout later on.
Don't be afraid to change instructors if you don't have a rapport with the one you've got. Different personalities respond to different approaches - some people prefer a quiet, laid-back, unflappable instructor while others are more comfortable with someone who is more demonstrative & communicative. Obviously the bigger the school the more choice of instructor you'll have - so a smaller establishment might not be ideal. It's your money so be assertive in ensuring you're flying with the instructor of your choice.
The first lesson is generally "Effects of Controls" - gentle climbs, descents, turns, climbing & descending turns, balanced turns etc. A gentle & informative experience - nothing about which to be remotely apprehensive. The instructor will also be assessing if you have an inate "feel" for flying - this is where experience sailing can be a useful background. Like all things, some people have a natural talent & others will clearly never get it while most people will fall somewhere along this continum.
Some good advice here. Esp. regarding getting the medical done and getting stuck in to the books asap. Air Law in particular is extremely dry and its great to get that one out of the way. Also try not to pay too much money up front - it looks like it saves you money but there is not a lot of money in PPL training and a few studes (me included) have (almost) lost money having paid up front and had the flying school go bust. Always pay by credit card.
Biggin Hill is not a bad place to learn but you dont get any feeling of the history. You do often get long queues at the hold though, and the circuit is busy particularly at weekends.
Avoid Pprune too. Has a bit of a reputation for self importance and intolerence. The studes forum on Flyer Forums (Flyer Magazine) is much much better).
Most of all - enjoy the first lesson!
Biggin Hill is not a bad place to learn but you dont get any feeling of the history. You do often get long queues at the hold though, and the circuit is busy particularly at weekends.
Avoid Pprune too. Has a bit of a reputation for self importance and intolerence. The studes forum on Flyer Forums (Flyer Magazine) is much much better).
Most of all - enjoy the first lesson!
Eat before you go, esepcially first thing in the morning, couple of slices of toast and a big cup of tea will sort you right out. Flying and learning on an empty stomach is no good for anyone. Helps you feel less airsick too.
If you are going to be sick say early instead of trying to hold it down and then ebing sick over the aircraft, much better to be sick in a bag instead of throwing up in the aircraft as vomit doesnt mix well with aircraft.
Keep properly hydrated especially if you are doing a few flights in a day.
Dont be afraid of asking to be shown something again if you arent 100% sure on it.
Dont be afraid to get the instructor to take over if things are getting too much early on, sometimes 2 or 3 minutes of flying straight and level is enough to sort your head out and get back into the grove of things if you are getting flustered and are making mistakes.
And most importantly dont forget to have fun, that is what it is all about at the end of the day!
If you are going to be sick say early instead of trying to hold it down and then ebing sick over the aircraft, much better to be sick in a bag instead of throwing up in the aircraft as vomit doesnt mix well with aircraft.
Keep properly hydrated especially if you are doing a few flights in a day.
Dont be afraid of asking to be shown something again if you arent 100% sure on it.
Dont be afraid to get the instructor to take over if things are getting too much early on, sometimes 2 or 3 minutes of flying straight and level is enough to sort your head out and get back into the grove of things if you are getting flustered and are making mistakes.
And most importantly dont forget to have fun, that is what it is all about at the end of the day!
williamp said:
1) You can never, never use too many Top Gun or Battle of Britain quotes. They've not heard them before, and love them
And when you've used those all up, you can move onto Python: 'Cabbage crates over the briny' etc.But seriously, it must be hard to resist saying 'tally-ho' as you go into a tight turn...
Flintstone said:
tkdsteve08 said:
Cheers Guys can you recommend any good flying schools around London or the shires.
If you don't mind a drive there's Clacton. A bit of a way but even less formal than Panshanger and far away from controlled airspace (Panshanger's near Luton and Stansted of course). Should you do that I recommend opting for the taildragger rather than spamcan with a nosewheel. Shouldn't take you any longer to complete your PPL, costs a little more but not as much as adding a tailwheel checkout later on.
Most tail-wheel trainers available are tandem cockpit, which cuts down on the amount that the instructor can observe what the student is doing, where he is looking, the ability to point at a dial to attract the student's attention, and so on. Often, the available set of instructors for tail-wheel tuition a small subset of the total number of instructors at the school. In order to complete the limited amount of radio navigation and IMC appreciation the PPL requires would probably mean transferring to a spamcan anyway - at least it does around my way.
Certainly, completing a PPL in a tail-wheel type will leave you with a much better appreciation of balance and handling, but don't expect it to take the same amount of time as in a nose-wheel type.
.eharding said:
Much as I'm an advocate of the point of view that says those without tail-wheel time (and the friskier the better) have missed out, from observation at my local club I'd say that jumping in at the deep end and trying to complete an ab-initio PPL in a Cub or Citabria can lead to the student struggling to make the same progress as someone in a 152/172/PA28 or similar.
Respectfully disagree. Entry level taildraggers are not the beasts they're made out to be, horror stories all concocted by those who would have non-taildragger pilots believe they are sky gods (bit like the RWD/FWD arguments on here). I'm nothing special but completed my PPL in minimum hours on a Super Cub as did every other student I trained alongside. Later on when I was instructing very, very few of my or my colleagues students required additional training for anything to do with the third wheel being at the back. It also teaches people to use their feet properly from the off rather than having to break out of one new habit and into another later on. I've seen many nosewheel pilots with 'dead feet', no taildragger pilots. Almost without exception the people I've seen struggle have been those converting to tailwheel flying. Actually the flying's all the same wherever the third wheel is, it's only taxi-ing, take-off and landing that differs.
eharding said:
Most tail-wheel trainers available are tandem cockpit, which cuts down on the amount that the instructor can observe what the student is doing, where he is looking, the ability to point at a dial to attract the student's attention, and so on.
An experienced instructor does not need to sit next to the student to see what he/she is looking at and can tell very quickly if they are are looking up (as they should do) or are an MS Sim pilot (trying to fly on instruments). The aircraft are basic so instrumentation is minimal, not hard for a student to remember airspeed, altimeter, VSI, RPM or.......well, that's about it. Four to keep track of, even I managed 
eharding said:
In order to complete the limited amount of radio navigation and IMC appreciation the PPL requires would probably mean transferring to a spamcan anyway - at least it does around my way.
Pretty standard procedure.eharding said:
Certainly, completing a PPL in a tail-wheel type will leave you with a much better appreciation of balance and handling, but don't expect it to take the same amount of time as in a nose-wheel type.
Agree with the first part, see above for the second.738 driver said:
Cycle or Horse riding experience are great groundings for Flight students
I think that notion went out with the RFC who used to select officers on the basis of whether or not they had good 'hands'. I recall a jackaroo (cowboy) in Australia who could make a horse do anything. Perhaps one of my most frustrating students, took almost twice the minimum hours to get through.Edited by Flintstone on Wednesday 4th August 00:09
Flintstone said:
Respectfully disagree. Entry level taildraggers are not the beasts they're made out to be, horror stories all concocted by those who would have non-taildragger pilots believe they are sky gods (bit like the RWD/FWD arguments on here). I'm nothing special but completed my PPL in minimum hours on a Super Cub as did every other student I trained alongside.
Later on when I was instructing very, very few of my or my colleagues students required additional training for anything to do with the third wheel being at the back. It also teaches people to use their feet properly from the off rather than having to break out of one new habit and into another later on. I've seen many nosewheel pilots with 'dead feet', no taildragger pilots. Almost without exception the people I've seen struggle have been those converting to tailwheel flying. Actually the flying's all the same wherever the third wheel is, it's only taxi-ing, take-off and landing that differs.
I don't disagree that an ab-initio PPL in a conventional gear type (as opposed to nosewheel) produces pilots with superior handling skills, but from observation of a couple of brave souls at my local club who decided to do exactly that, they do appear to have struggled in comparison with their nose-wheel peers. Maybe the sample is too small to be significant, but I retain the opinion that the shortest route to a PPL will be on a nose-wheel type; the transition to tailwheel is one of those things that will keep you interested, and flying, in the following years.Later on when I was instructing very, very few of my or my colleagues students required additional training for anything to do with the third wheel being at the back. It also teaches people to use their feet properly from the off rather than having to break out of one new habit and into another later on. I've seen many nosewheel pilots with 'dead feet', no taildragger pilots. Almost without exception the people I've seen struggle have been those converting to tailwheel flying. Actually the flying's all the same wherever the third wheel is, it's only taxi-ing, take-off and landing that differs.
I did my tailwheel conversion with Alan Cassidy in his Pitts S2. I remember early in the process a particularly challenging (for me) circuit session when he demonstrated the use of the flick-roll on the downwind leg as a mechanism to stop your brain boiling thinking about the landing. Works perfectly. I remember the flick, no recollection at all about the landing.
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