Starting on the path to a PPL

[Bronco_jr]

I passed my GST for an NPPL(M) 3 axis last week. I went the 3 axis microlight route as it was less money initially, I had more of a chance of my own aircraft and the SEP rating is relatively easy to add.

I've always been scared of heights and scared of flying, so PPL might seem an odd thing to do but I have gone from a nervous wreck with a constant death grip on the stick to a confident flyer. I'm loving the experience so far and a bunch of us who were training together are planning fly outs making it a bit of a cross between flying for the sake of flying and a social event.

Heres a short vid from my solo nav, tell me this isn't a cool view!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HsIN1u9r2-c

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQ7911xQnYk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yrv3Xk0DgOc

[tr7v8]

Well Air Law passed today, failed on one question out of 16 which was airspace. Struggling to get my head around that at the moment.
Booked Operational Procedures for Friday, already have the Pooley's Q & A test sheets for that, so will have another go plus read the relevant book.

[tr7v8]

Passed Operational Procedures today, 14/16, got two wrong. One is a conflicting one which the training guy said that there is conflicting answers on in the various revision sheets. About biggest wake turbulence behind a Heavy aircraft flying slow with or without flaps. All the books state with flaps down but the correct CAA answer is flaps up GRRRR.
The other one was stop signs on airfields which I'll take on the chin.
Two down & seven to go!

[tr7v8]

Just realised that I hadn't updated this for an age. Covid has impacted flying lessons so managed to get one in Dec 2 in 2020 & then had 3 cancelled as the strip was flooded before we were locked down again. Next lesson was 14/4 so an element of relearning needed. The 172 I had been flying is now the same price as the newer 172 SP that I flew in December so I have now booked that. This is a fuel injected one so significant differences to a carbed one.
So flying lessons are back to stalling & recovery, This went OK but needed more work. The Wednesday just gone got cancelled as the cloud was too low, in fact solid! The joys of trying to learn to fly in the UK. So much to Mrs TR7V8s disgust I booked today at 16:00 This went much better, good stall recovery.
So a great lesson today. Was shown a couple of circuits & touch & goes, then did one myself, my FI had the throttle so I could concentrate on flying. It went pretty well, very bumpy today so lots of corrections needed but felt good.
Got back & completed my logbook & that is the first page finished with 11:15 which is another milestone.
Next lesson is Wednesday so looking forward to it.

As for exams I did a few once I was able to. The first two I had done on paper but the CAA decided to do it all on line. This was a complete shambles, you apply for a login, which was a major PITA the website I think was designed by a 10 year old. My login was quick at 4 days after I applied, others took 10 days or more. The exams are much harder generally & apparently the failure rate is much higher. The Human Performance exam was very tough. I write ^ read english as the day job & I struggled with the questions, just trying to grasp what they were after! The last exam I've done was yesterday which was communications, I found this one quite straight forward & got 100%. Which makes me the first student at Skytrek to get 100% in an E Exam! Oh well.
So I have done & passed 6 exams, 3 more to go Flight Planning & Performance, Meteorology & Navigation.

Currently need to renew my medical which now has to be applied for on line with the CAAs new portal. I applied over a week ago & still not heard a thing. Everyone is in the same boat & complaining about it.

[LimaDelta]

Keep at it. It is a frustrating and slow process but worth it in the end.

[anonymous-user]

tr7v8 said:

Currently need to renew my medical which now has to be applied for on line with the CAAs new portal. I applied over a week ago & still not heard a thing. Everyone is in the same boat & complaining about it.

The CAA medical swap over has had some difficulty indeed.

I kept getting text reminders that my medical was expiring with the wrong date. I even had to phone my AME to get it sorted. They said it’s been a common problem.

Well done in your exams! Nice to get them out of the way. Lack of flying recency is definitely pretty common at the moment.

[ben_h100]

Keep at it OP. I have my skills test next week (weather permitting).

Edit: that will be nearly three years since starting. I’ve learned how to be patient, as well as pilot an aircraft..!

Edited by ben_h100 on Wednesday 28th April 21:45

[tr7v8]

ben_h100 said:

Keep at it OP. I have my skills test next week (weather permitting).

Edit: that will be nearly three years since starting. I’ve learned how to be patient, as well as pilot an aircraft..!

Edited by ben_h100 on Wednesday 28th April 21:45

Good luck Ben, 3 years wow, I was getting impatient during the 6 month lockdown!

[tr7v8]

El stovey said:

tr7v8 said:

Currently need to renew my medical which now has to be applied for on line with the CAAs new portal. I applied over a week ago & still not heard a thing. Everyone is in the same boat & complaining about it.

The CAA medical swap over has had some difficulty indeed.

I kept getting text reminders that my medical was expiring with the wrong date. I even had to phone my AME to get it sorted. They said it’s been a common problem.

Well done in your exams! Nice to get them out of the way. Lack of flying recency is definitely pretty common at the moment.

Medical finally approved by the CAA on Tuesday. Then you go to their tedious website which asks a myriad of questions & at the end you pay £8 for a Class 2. Not sure what value that added in anyway, but makes sense to the CAA I suppose.

Lesson yesterday went fairly well. Very cold at Rochester, coat & woolly hat to pre-flight, then onto Circuits, it was gusty yesterday so busy just keeping the aeroplane straight & level. Was getting better after 6 but need to react on the throttle a lot quicker. Next one next Tuesday so we'll see how that goes.

[ben_h100]

tr7v8 said:

ben_h100 said:

Keep at it OP. I have my skills test next week (weather permitting).

Edit: that will be nearly three years since starting. I’ve learned how to be patient, as well as pilot an aircraft..!

Edited by ben_h100 on Wednesday 28th April 21:45

Good luck Ben, 3 years wow, I was getting impatient during the 6 month lockdown!

In reality it’s more like 6 years - I was awarded a 15 hr scholarship in 2015. Since then life got in the way, getting married, 2 house and 3 job moves, a year overseas with work, covid, British winter weather, change of flight school, instructor/aircraft availability, etc.

In total I’ll have about 80 hours with 10 of those PIC. Next step will be hour building over 18 months and a night rating and IR(R). Probably start the ATPL theory next summer and see what’s what after that.

Covid was a real pain and really set me back. I effectively forgot about flying for the best part of a year so had to do a few lessons to get back into the swing of it and pick up where I left off. I’m now at the stage where flying is a joy, checks are natural and it is similar to driving a car in terms of workload. I’m already planning trips so I can take the wife away for a treat so I can thank her for both the funds and the time..!

[LimaDelta]

ben_h100 said:

tr7v8 said:

ben_h100 said:

Keep at it OP. I have my skills test next week (weather permitting).

Edit: that will be nearly three years since starting. I’ve learned how to be patient, as well as pilot an aircraft..!

Edited by ben_h100 on Wednesday 28th April 21:45

Good luck Ben, 3 years wow, I was getting impatient during the 6 month lockdown!

In reality it’s more like 6 years - I was awarded a 15 hr scholarship in 2015. Since then life got in the way, getting married, 2 house and 3 job moves, a year overseas with work, covid, British winter weather, change of flight school, instructor/aircraft availability, etc.

In total I’ll have about 80 hours with 10 of those PIC. Next step will be hour building over 18 months and a night rating and IR(R). Probably start the ATPL theory next summer and see what’s what after that.

Covid was a real pain and really set me back. I effectively forgot about flying for the best part of a year so had to do a few lessons to get back into the swing of it and pick up where I left off. I’m now at the stage where flying is a joy, checks are natural and it is similar to driving a car in terms of workload. I’m already planning trips so I can take the wife away for a treat so I can thank her for both the funds and the time..!

Not wanting to get all evenserife about it but it took me 7; Posted from my own PPL thread a few years back:

LimaDelta said:

So, I started my PPL training back in June 2011. Since then I have had (in no particular order):

One new job,
One house move,
The birth of two children
2 Different training airfields.
4 Different flying schools (two sold, one bankrupt)
4 Aircraft types
4 Six-month+ gaps in training (including no flying at all in 2014 and only 2:35 in 2016)
7 Original theory exams passed, and expired
9 New theory exams passed
11 Instructors
13 Hours pre-April 2012 which no longer count
114 Take-offs and landings

Before finally passing my skills test yesterday (Sept 2018) with 47:20 (countable) hours in the book.

Not sure I know anyone who managed a simple continuous PPL without going overseas.

[ben_h100]

LimaDelta said:

Not sure I know anyone who managed a simple continuous PPL without going overseas.

Agreed - many people at my club have had to keep at it for years.

Do you still fly?

[LimaDelta]

ben_h100 said:

Agreed - many people at my club have had to keep at it for years.

Do you still fly?

Last flight was December, but yes. I am planning on making up for lost covid hours this spring/summer. Already have a few trips planned.

[Magnum 475]

LimaDelta said:

Not sure I know anyone who managed a simple continuous PPL without going overseas.

I did mine in just over 12 months - but I did it as part of a plan to go to ATPL using the modular approach. So I put a lot of pressure on myself, and probably on my instructors. As far I was concerned bad weather just increased the amount of experience I was building up. Happily the club CFI agreed had the same view - it's better to fly in bad weather with an instructor than to encounter it for the first time unplanned and by yourself.

I'd got to the point of preparing for my CPL test when the financial crash happened, and I watched thousands of pilots losing their jobs. I stopped the training there and then, and carried on with a career in IT and flying for fun. Looking at what's happened with COVID (massive demands for IT and more pilots laid off), this was probably not a bad decision. My old instructor flies for Emirates on 777, and has seen his income slashed by a sizeable amount.

For me, flying's still fun, and I'm still working.

[LimaDelta]

Magnum 475 said:

As far I was concerned bad weather just increased the amount of experience I was building up. Happily the club CFI agreed had the same view - it's better to fly in bad weather with an instructor than to encounter it for the first time unplanned and by yourself.

Agreed, quite a few of of my lessons were in 'marginal' VMC/IMC. It's good to know where the limits are.

[Flooble]

LimaDelta said:

Magnum 475 said:

As far I was concerned bad weather just increased the amount of experience I was building up. Happily the club CFI agreed had the same view - it's better to fly in bad weather with an instructor than to encounter it for the first time unplanned and by yourself.

Agreed, quite a few of of my lessons were in 'marginal' VMC/IMC. It's good to know where the limits are.

Yep, with an instrument-rated instructor and traffic service there's no risk so it doesn't hurt at all. Granted it may not let you progress fast enough to claim "I did my PPL in 45 hours" but you'll be better when you pass at ~50 hours than the guy who [b]did[/d] the 45-hour PPL but only flew in gin-clear skies with no wind.

Hmm, actually, I always found it easier to land when there was some wind. Anyone else?

[Magnum 475]

Flooble said:

Yep, with an instrument-rated instructor and traffic service there's no risk so it doesn't hurt at all. Granted it may not let you progress fast enough to claim "I did my PPL in 45 hours" but you'll be better when you pass at ~50 hours than the guy who [b]did[/d] the 45-hour PPL but only flew in gin-clear skies with no wind.

Hmm, actually, I always found it easier to land when there was some wind. Anyone else?

Definitely. Got so used to cross wind landings that my first day with zero wind seemed really “wrong” somehow.

[ben_h100]

I’m not the OP, but a quick update. I passed my skills test today!

Weather was looking rather dodgy this morning - so much so that I pulled over to phone the examiner and told him I was thinking of canning it.

We agreed to go up and see what it was like on the proviso that if it was st, we’d land. Fortunately for me, after a dodgy start the weather improved as the flight went on.

Nav, diversion and NDB track went really well and the GH the same.

Now just need to sort out the various forms that need to be sent off to the CAA.

[LimaDelta]

ben_h100 said:

I’m not the OP, but a quick update. I passed my skills test today!

Weather was looking rather dodgy this morning - so much so that I pulled over to phone the examiner and told him I was thinking of canning it.

We agreed to go up and see what it was like on the proviso that if it was st, we’d land. Fortunately for me, after a dodgy start the weather improved as the flight went on.

Nav, diversion and NDB track went really well and the GH the same.

Now just need to sort out the various forms that need to be sent off to the CAA.

Well done Ben. What are your plans - commercial or just fun?

[tr7v8]

ben_h100 said:

I’m not the OP, but a quick update. I passed my skills test today!

Weather was looking rather dodgy this morning - so much so that I pulled over to phone the examiner and told him I was thinking of canning it.

We agreed to go up and see what it was like on the proviso that if it was st, we’d land. Fortunately for me, after a dodgy start the weather improved as the flight went on.

Nav, diversion and NDB track went really well and the GH the same.

Now just need to sort out the various forms that need to be sent off to the CAA.

Fantastic, only slightly envious