Advice for a beginner…

Have fun! It's a great thing to do. I've been flying since I was 16, so 40 years next summer. Still really enjoy it!

My advice is to stick with it. It's not easy to get through to your Private, and you have to want it, but it's worth it in the end. My daughter did it a few years ago, and it was a really good thing for her. I'm also a CFI, so I have some understanding of what it takes.

Feel free to ask questions-- there are lots of knowledgeable people here on this forum. Starting with Mr. Parks!

 

Geez, Don! I'm just ol' Bob and I really don't feel that I'm any kind of expert source. The administrative and academic demands of the present day PPL are staggering compared to what we had to do so many years ago. I think that it is great that at age 51 you are doing this and the only thing that I can offer is to take it slow enough to comfortably absorb all the new disciplines with which you will be presented. I have owned motorcycles, sports cars, sailboats, and airplanes, and have done some mountain climbing, but the two things that were the most enjoyable and enduring were sailing and flying. Flying opened an entire world that was unique to the others due to the freedom of being "up there", new places that you can experience, and best of all, the people . There is no other community quite like the men and women in aviation and the events that join everyone together. Once you have become a participant, it will always be with you. At 95, I don't physically fly anymore but I fly any time that my mind is free of the mundane duties of every day life. I'm still good and getting better every time I steal away. So, I encourage you to embrace this new adventure and stay within your parameters.....I had to throw that in from all the technical stuff from the past. Have fun, stay comfortable, and take your time!

 

AD, I addressed your post but as an answer to Don V's comments. I apologize and hope that you can find it.

 

AD, I hope that this sin't taken as some kind of pontification from a big "done it all and knows it all". Far from it. There are so many on this forum that have accomplished far more than I have and they can offer plenty of good advice from extensive experience. I think back about my student days and realize the inestimatable value of my instructors. I had the absolute best in the ex- WW2 Navy and Air Force instructors who were tough and unrelenting. I know that too many times in my later days and indiscretions that I was saved by their ruthless and tough drilling that automatically came into play when I could have put a hole in the ground. I did some foolish things and I know that the good instruction and training did keep me alive. So, get the best instructors that you can and pay attention to them . I am not a hot rock like some of my friends were. I like to fly in a predictable, friendly machine so that I can enjoy flying. Some of my buddies liked the challenge of flying more on the ragged edge but I never went there because it was out of my realm of capability and out of my comfort zone. I always found an instructor for some dual if I wanted to upgrade to bigger or different equipment. Several times when I was too full of myself, I tried to jump into something that was out of my range of experience and i was lucky enough to get away with a short scare. So, I will always remember a firm warning from one of the instructors after one of my failed excursions, " BOY! That airplane is just waiting for chance to kill you and you just came close!" I could list a lot more of my mistakes but I have said too much already. Be thorough in preparations for flight and keep the head in the cockpit. All the best and have fun!

 

Been flying since 1978
Before I started my 2 kids to learn to fly I asked Steve Hinton what airplane his son Steven learned in.
I was expecting AT-6 or at least a cub. His answer was Cessna 150. So I bought a 150 for both kids to get their license. Same airplane I learned in. And it was a good idea. Although I hated it as a 16 year old student, I absolutely love it now.

My recommendation is a Cessna 150, or 172 or better yet a Piper Cub.
In case you don't know Steve Hinton is one of the most prolific Warbird pilots in the world and I think his son ended up winning 7 times at the Reno races.
I flew a SR-22 a couple of years ago and my opinion is that it does not fly like most any other aircraft. It is just different. Add the extra speed of a 20 or 22 and the initial learning curve is pretty high. Much better to start at the very basic level.

 

Good advice, sir. I started flying in 1945 in a 1937 Cub with a 55HP engine and I learned basic flying skills in that airplane without relying on power to do what I wanted. I'm not going to bore everyone with numbers but I have flown over 45 different airplanes in a period of 31 years and the most important was the Cub because it taught me the most important things about flying. Most important is the use of the rudder. I have flown all the Cessnas from the 120 to the 310 and the 150 is a great way to start. Certainly, I have not accomplished what you have in flying the top prop fighters but I did what I could with what I had. I cannot imagine the joy of flying an F4U or a P-51 ( had a back seat ride in "Worry Bird") but I know that it is a matter of training. My last experience was flying an Aviat Husky and I think that is one of the nicest airplanes. That day I also flew a Stinson 108 and I could still keep things centered. I shot three landings and take offs in a Lockheed Model 12 and did okay in a DC-3. Years ago, but big memories of some really good airplanes that treated an old guy pretty nice.

 

I would agree with this. My kids both learned in 150/152 as well (daughter got her private, son soloed but didn't go beyond that). I learned in a Piper Warrior, but no one around here uses those.

My daughter then went on to get her tailwheel endorsement in my Citabria. My original plan was for them to learn in the Citabria, but that turned out to be a bad idea.

 

I still think that the Cub is the best airplane to start in. One has to FLY the Cub, it won't do anything for you and any maneuver requires inputs from all axis. You don't make a turn with feet on the floor and crank the wheel a little bit. You have to feed in aileron, rudder, and sometimes elevator. In a Cub you learn tailwheel landings immediately, ground handling, and in the air, I learned loops, spins, and most important, rudder exercise stalls: deep power-on stall stick back and walk the nose down by rudder , the only control left. Screw that up and you get to use your spin training. I went from the Cub to the C120 and from that to the PT-13 and others. Already had my "tailwheel endorsement" from the start.

 

I think there is value in that, but it's very hard to find an instructor who will do primary training in a Cub. It's also hard to get insurance, although I managed to get it. I never did find an instructor, though.

Learning on a nose wheel and then doing the tailwheel transition works pretty well also.

 

I didn't think about the supporting elements of learning to fly in something that is no longer available and being instructed by those who are no longer around. My mistake.

 

Not that I have much to add here, but I think a 20 or 22 is not the best to learn in initially. Everything happens fast. Your pattern is at least 20 kts faster, the avionics are busier, etc. Even if you started and did your first 15-20 hours in a 172 or something similar, I think it would be a faster path to a certificate, but more importantly confidence and knowledge retention. It's not a race, but fly as often as possible. Watch the crash videos on YouTube, plenty of learning to be done there. I try and watch a few of the channels every week to see what "went wrong."

I know cirrus pushes the 20 or 22 as a training tool as a gateway to a new plane, but not sure I agree with it. I say this as I own a 22tn and have a '23 on order. I also have a 182t and J3, but they are much more forgiving of errors. In terms of a driving analogy, I'd rather train a driver in a spec miata or boxster for a season to learn racecraft vs just throwing them into a cup car. I know who will be the better racer after a year. Always ask questions!

 

AD, I would concentrate on becoming a good pilot and eliminate the references to accidents. Good skills and focusing on their application should eliminate or at least minimize thoughts of accidents. I realize that you are looking at an airplane and that does have some importance here and I don't know much about the new stuff but what little that I do know seems to indicate that most of them are good now. In days past I remember that there were some that had bad reputations , though, so I understand you cautions.

 

I was thinking about several people with whom I flew that epitomized the trend of how some of the pilots nowadays are not flyers but apply the classroom books and rules to their operations. Those to whom I refer in every instance were academicians, one a school teacher, and one a Boeing production planner. Their flying was mechanical and "by the book" from which they learned. Any emergent situation was not addressed by flying skills but by a frozen response because there wasn't something in their classroom rote on which they could rely. In one instance , I had to take the airplane over when the pilot couldn't see the runway due to landing into the sun and he was almost landing on a row of some of those large inverted light cones. I made a low level "S" turn to acquire the runway centerline and barely got it down without dragging a tip. I had suggested that he should do a 180 and land going away from the sun and land with a moderate down wind but he said that the wind told him to land into the setting and blinding sun. I learned later that he and his wife had several near misses when they were flying back east to visit family . The school teacher , a female, was the same way, strictly book style and she eventually damaged the airplane because she didn't respond to an evolving situation but relied on the book data that she had learned in class. Ernie Gann called this kind of operator, " Drivers". I see too much of this kind of thing nowadays in flying.

 

Bob- Same thing with automobiles, too, only with even less knowledge and skill.

 

As you say, "Affirmative". I see it every day, too. Brought to mind an incident when my son and I were flying back from the San Juans one night with my wife and friends and we were approaching Paine Field from the northwest and another airplane announced his location at our altitude and west of the field. My son ordered, "All eyes outside!" We couldn't spot anything and I scanned ahead and noticed in the distance some nav lights at our level and headed north. My son asked the other pilot to say again location and altitude. We had him in our sight on the opposite side of the field. My son, " Sir! Be advised that you are on the EAST SIDE OF THE FIELD , NOT THE WEST SIDE!". Acknowledge". Sure enough, he corrected his announcement with no other comment. He was entering lefthand traffic at the time and landed and parked somewhere before we were down. I can relate a lot more some time.

 

Thanks, Again, I'm not the duty expert. I have been messing around with the flying thing for 85 years, starting as a little airport bum where I got rides and education from a cadre of pure flyers to the professionals who make today's flying what it is now. I was lucky enough to touch some of it as I grew older and fortunate enough to realize the importance of discipline vs. casualness in the conduct of a pilot. By the grace of God I was allowed to escape too many times when I failed to apply set disciplines. And this was not during the airshow days but in every day "fun" flying where pre- flight planning and in- flight thinking went out the window. Like the old saying, " There are old pilots and bold pilots but no old bold pilots."

 

I hope that my ruminations haven't become too boring. I think back about becoming too lackadaisical at times and losing the focus on safe conduct. Familiarization breeds contempt and in flying it can have serious consequences. You could end up like this. Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

I always tell young drivers starting out, "Drive as if every other driver on the road is an idiot." I hope that's not quite as true with pilots!

 

Jim- I am even more paranoid. I assume they all want to kill me.

 

Absolutely! I have had some incidents lately that convince me of that. Several days ago I got involved in a stolen vehicle chase and realized that any innocent driver could be a casualty when there are miscreants and cops bombing by from all directions. And then there are the regulars who are almost as bad.