Learning to Fly

[daverobev]

Rollercoasters just make me feel sick...haven't been on one for years! With respect to control...ah its kinda true, but...have you never been on a train or bus? Yeah you can get off at the next STOP, but....thats where the driver wants to stop, not RIGHT NOW if you want to get off...

Ah well I guess its irrational like all these things...humans are pretty irrational beings, just look at what we do with our lives...

Funny thing is, I don't have a dream...er well apart from the writing a book one...so quite how good flying is I can't imagine. But its great that you're loving it! Where are the damn pics?

[TeePee]

Well, I flew solo! After 8 hours, so not too bad.. It's amazing how much better a 172 performs with only one person on board.. I must have been at 300 feet by the time I reached the end of the runway! I did three circuits with full stop landings, back around the taxiway and take off again. My first landing was spot on. It felt a little fast, but only because I floated so far down the runway without the extra weight on board. My second landing had a little drift to the right, and the third bounced a little, but I controlled it. I have a check ride with another instructor and then we move on to navigation. Which means flying off to other fields!

I'm not sure flying is my dream. It might have been a long time ago, but life has pretty much beaten that kind of thing out of me. All I can say though is it's a lot of fun!

[slatey]

how did it feel???

[TeePee]

how did it feel???

FANTASTIC!

[daverobev]

Ya get to do a loop de loop??

[Romanov]

If you get a pilots license though I heard you still have to retest now and again? Its not like a car license where you've passed and thats it, I would do this but its no use getting the license if you have to retest every 5 years or so? Anyone know what the regs are or what you have to do after you've passed to remain current...?

[TeePee]

If you get a license under the UK system, you have to fly 12 hours per year to remain current and pay 180UKP (Increasing to 250UKP soon) for issue of a bit of paper every 5 years.
If you get a certificate under the FAA system, as I am, it's yours for life. Your flying is reviewed every two years by an FAA CFI as a quick check to make sure you can land the thing, but no fees for the FAA.

One system is designed to keep safe pilots in the air. The other is designed for revenue generation.

[TeePee]

For anyone interested in what I'm doing atm, I did my first completely solo fight this morning. Preflighted, took off, flew around the area doing some sightseeing, flew back and did a few circuits, then returned to the ramp all on my own.. Freedom!

Now I'm immersed in the ground study. Anyone who says Volcanic ash forecast and dispersion charts are as much fun as flying is lying...

[daverobev]

Volcanic...ash?

[TeePee]

Indeed... Volcanic ash can cause a haxard to aviation in the area, and so a chart is produced to make it easy to avoid flying through it...

This is what gets me... Flying is so much fun, and yet it must have been a pilot that thought up the idea of a Volcanic ash forecast and dispersion chart...

[Stewart]

Rollercoasters just make me feel sick...haven't been on one for years! With respect to control...ah its kinda true, but...have you never been on a train or bus? Yeah you can get off at the next STOP, but....thats where the driver wants to stop, not RIGHT NOW if you want to get off...

Shall I break his little heart, and point out that trains and busses are on the ground? No, I can't. Someone else do it...

[daverobev]

Shall I break his little heart, and point out that trains and busses are on the ground? No, I can't. Someone else do it...

Hmm I know that! I thought the fear was of not being in control rather than not being physically in contact with the ground? Or a combination of the two:

Not being in control is ok if you're not flying;
Flying is ok if you are in control.

Flying without control is bad?

At the end of the day, what would you prefer: Someone who's had a few hours training to be a bus driver, or someone who has an extremely well paid job that trained for yonks to be a pilot looking after you?

Ahh but then its not about rationalising it....flying (to me) is just like being in a bus, you get on, and when you get off you're somewhere else...

[TeePee]

someone who has an extremely well paid job ...

I'l break this to you gently...

A fATPL which is the minimum required licence for an airline pilot costs GBP28K-GBP80K. Ryanair will then look at your CV for 100GBP. Then they may let you pay GBP500 for a sim check. They might then offer you a job, beginning with you paying GBP20K for a 737 type rating. Then they will pay you nothing for the first six months, and half pay for the second, making GBP9K income during the first year, while you are paying off that GBP100K training debt..

Why I will not be going commercial....

[daverobev]

So...um...is it like being a lawyer then, you get paid well eventually?

[TeePee]

Yes, eventually you can get payed very well, with a lot of luck. But you have to throw a lot of money at it without being sure of getting anthing while assuming a lawyer can get qualified, he WILL get well paid. A qualified pilot can wait years for a job.

[Matt1eD]

Can we have some piccies?