Training advice

[Warmi]

Hey guys,


Just started my training , currently with 2 lessons ( 2 hours )

So far things are looking reasonably ok on the surface , meaning my instructor says we are ready to progress into slow flight and stalls.

Myself , I am not so confident - sure, after some training, I can now do basic 20-30 degree turns without loosing too much altitude , descends and climbs with various power settings but everything feels very forced.
I am constantly on the edge, expecting something unexpected, all my inputs are slow and deliberate to the point of looking somewhat ridiculous ( when reviewing recorded footage .)
I am just basically very nervous , concentrating on single task at a time to the point of sometimes completely missing for instance radio communications my instructor is doing, sometimes forgetting basic things like which way to trim ( up or down ) to get the desired effect ...
In other words , nothing stands out as being done terribly wrong but it just feels very overwhelming and stressful to do all of that at the same time and I am having hard time imagining piling additional things like traffic lookout and avoidance + radio coms on top of my current workload.

As I mentioned we are supposed to start slow flight, stalls, emergency stuff ( engine out ) and then move onto doing hours of pattern training all the way until my solo - to me seems like we are going way to fast, I am not sure if thisis normal to feel overwhelmed at this point and I should expect natural progress , or maybe should I talk to my instructor about adding perhaps one or two more lessons doing basic flying ( maneuvering ) so I can feel more confident ...

What do you guys think ? Looking for some advice from folks who went thru similar training process ( which should be just about everyone on this board )

Thanks

Walter

[FastEddieB]

Welcome!

Where do you live?

[Warmi]

Hi, sorry for not introducing myself.

I am in my mid 40s , trying to get into flying ( at this stage in my life I have reasonable disposable income and frankly , I am not getting any younger so it is , pretty much, now or never )

I am located in Chicago area.

[Wm.Ince]

Hi, sorry for not introducing myself.
I am in my mid 40s , trying to get into flying ( at this stage in my life I have reasonable disposable income and frankly , I am not getting any younger so it is , pretty much, now or never )
I am located in Chicago area.

Welcome to our forum, Warmi.

[foresterpoole]

First off welcome! As a fellow student with 25 hours a solo and Cross country in, I can reasonably say after two hours I felt the same way! There is a lot to do, and it can seem overwhelming at times. My advise is breath, take a step back and relax. No one is expecting you to fly perfect after only 2 hours, I made mistakes, I bet every student does. The worse thing I ever did was get so overwhelmed I got frustrated and did not tell the CFI. That lead to me "fighting" the aircraft not flying it. I took a few days off, collected myself and talked with the CFI, a good one will listen and tailor the lessons based on your concerns, if they don't find one that will.

Three keys for me as a student pilot to remember in the list of importance: aviator, navigator, communicator. If your not flying the plane your dead so that's step one, you have to know where your going, and lastly it's good to communicate with others. Your on the first one, learn to fly the plane. Stalls are important, I know it's cliche, but after a few they really are not that bad. In a light sport they are ridiculously slow and in the aircraft I train in very evident, but you still have to learn what they feel like because that's mundo important. Slow flight is landing prep 101, getting you used to operating on the back side of the power curve. Throttle for altitude, pitch for airspeed, if you can get that down you got your landing approaches stabilized and sets you up for a great landing.

In my opinion at my age (36) and learning curve I'm not going to finish in the minimum time and I'm fine with that. I'm learning, the more I learn the better I become, and it helps having an expert in the seat next to you, use him/her: ask questions (I talked the guys ear off at first), look at what he/she does and emulate it as best you can, don't expect to be perfect. I watched a pilot with 500+ hours bounce a Cessna 172 down the runway (pilot induced oscillation) he must have "landed" 3 times before he finally was able to get control, my lesson from that: no ones perfect do the best I can, don't sweat the rest....

[MrMorden]

Primary training always seems to feel like drinking from the fire hose. You barely master holding the airplane level, and then the instructor has you doing stalls. You aren't even comfortable with that and you are landing the airplane. Your landings still suck and then you are doing emergency procedures. Next thing you know the instructor says to go solo the airplane...

This is normal. Your instructor is probably a better judge of your skill level than you are, so just trust that he/she will not let you bite off more than you can chew.

[Warmi]

Thanks.

I am training with two instructors and both are actually very helpful and very passionate about their jobs which makes the whole thing much more enjoyable - and I do trust them 100%.

I guess it is more my internal struggle - the occasional "what the hell am I doing here at 3000 feet up" type of feeling and worry if I am gonna be able to handle it all the way thru.
And indeed, I guess I do notice progress - on my first lesson I was just blindly trying to follow "turn left, turn right" type of instruction while now we operate in terms of headings and purposeful maneuvers.


Anyway, enough with my "internal struggles" , thanks for your encouragement - will keep at it , while it is stressful it also brings huge sense of accomplishment - and It is fun , I mean, I am mentally exhausted after flying, but 2 hours later I want to go up there again.

[MackAttack]

Welcome to the forum! All of us have been in exactly the same spot ... trust me, it will get better and and your confidence will improve!

Look at it this way - you have given yourself one of the greatest Christmas presents ever! You get to look down from above, and fly an airplane. In all the history of mankind, only a precious few human beings have ever had that privilege ... try to relax a little, and enjoy this tremendous experience and journey you are starting.

And welcome to the community of pilots ... it's a great group of men and women who share the same passion for aviation!

Hang in there and keep us posted! This forum is a great place to ask questions!

Cheers and happy holidays!

[HAPPYDAN]

You're right where you should be. God help us all if you were some suicidal thrill-seeking throttle jockey. I felt a good deal of anxiety for the first 4 or 5 hours until I got used to the fact that the airplane WANTS to fly, not just drop out of the sky. And I had 5 years as a paratrooper and 2 years with an Air Cav Brigade, so low fast flying (as a passenger) was nothing new. Being "Pilot in Command" changed the game. Keep up the good work!

[Warmi]

So finally everything lined up correctly ( weather, light traffic at our D class airport etc ) and I soloed today at 23 hours in Remos GX – three, progressively better, landings and , while I started out nervous like hell, everything went pretty smoothly.

Thanks for your encouragement - flying is just toooo much fun ...

[MrMorden]

So finally everything lined up correctly ( weather, light traffic at our D class airports etc ) and I soloed today at 23 hours in Remos GX – three, progressively better, landings and , while I started out nervous like hell, everything went pretty smoothly.

Thanks for your encouragement - flying is just toooo much fun ...

Congrats, that is a huge step! In reality, if you can take off and land the airplane, you are a pilot, you just don't have the paper saying so yet.

I remember on my first solo, as I climbed out after takeoff, I actually said out loud to myself: "Well, if this airplane is going to get back on the ground, you are going to have to do it." It was exciting, scary, and awesome!

[drseti]

In reality, if you can take off and land the airplane, you are a pilot, you just don't have the paper saying so yet.

I respectfully disagree. Warmi is now an airplane driver. After he completes his post-solo training, and his written, and his checkride, THEN he will be a pilot.

Or, as Yoda said to Luke: "Impressive. But you are not a Jedi yet."

[Warmi]

I am just happy to fly the plane

Will worry about proper titles later

Thanks guys

[MrMorden]

Or, as Yoda said to Luke: "Impressive. But you are not a Jedi yet."

It was actually Darth Vader that said that to Luke, when they fought in "The Empire Strikes Back".

This proves your opinion on this comes from the Dark Side.

[drseti]

You're right, Andy. May the Force be against you!