Just starting out...

[Jase Vanover]

Was on vacation this week, so decided to drop by the nearby GA airport and
go for a flight to see if I really do want to get my pilot's license. Let's
just say that I'm hooked and leave it at that. It's a good thing the
Instructor was busy scanning the sky because had he looked at me, I would
have felt silly with the big **** eating grin on my face. I ended up
leaving the airport with a manual, logbook, student record, fuel testing
cup, a reserved spot in groundschool that starts in January, and time booked
for the next three weekends to fly.

It was only in a 152, which seemed really small when we got in (getting in
and out seemed to be the hardest part). The instructor ran the throttle,
mix, and assorted switches... I got to fly the rest of the flight (apart
from flare and touchdown). We took off, flew around for a bit, got lined up
with the runway (it's a good thing the instructor was there to tell me where
to turn and when... the runway just seemed to appear in front of me without
really realising how we got back). I've spent quite a few hours on PC
simulation, which I think paid off. He'd say something like, "I'm going to
throttle down to decend, just adjust attitude to keep your speed at 60
knots," but didn't explain what gauge to look at or what to really do.
Nonetheless, I nailed it because of the familiarity I had with the
simulator. He said we could probably do the next several exercises all at
once, since we pretty much did most of it in the intro ride anyway (climbs,
straight and level flight, decents, turns, etc.) I'm pretty sure I'm the
lowest time pilot on this newsgroup (got to log 0.5 hours of dual
instruction time). Anyhow... I'm hooked (but I pretty much knew I'd be).

I had been talking about doing this for some time... reading magazines,
lurking here, checking out websites and such. Looking forward to the
journey.

Anyone else fly out of Les Cedres (just West of Montreal)?

[Carl J. Hixon]

>I would have felt silly with the big **** eating grin on my face.

Yeah, I still get that same dumb look some times, even after 9 years.

> I had been talking about doing this for some time...

Glad you took the plunge. Enjoy the journey and welcome to the club. Keep
us posted on your progress.

Carl

[Jay Beckman]

"Jase Vanover" > wrote in message
...
> Was on vacation this week, so decided to drop by the nearby GA airport and
> go for a flight to see if I really do want to get my pilot's license.
> Let's just say that I'm hooked and leave it at that.

<SNIP>

Jase,

Congrats and welcome to the world of flying!

I just "earned" my wings back in October.

Be sure to check out rec.aviation.student as well...great folks who can be
very, very helpful.

Good luck and report back often.

Jay Beckman
Chandler, AZ
PP-ASEL
Still nowhere to go but up!

[Bob Fry]

"Jase Vanover" > writes:

> Anyone else fly out of Les Cedres (just West of Montreal)?

Got back from our first visit to Montreal last month. A beautiful
area and I'm sure spectacular from the air. Enjoy your training and
experiences---and someday do a cross-country to California!

BF

[Chris Ehlbeck]

Even though I never flew a C152 until after I got my license, never refer to
it as "only a 152". It's an airplane an can fly. In fact it's a very
nimble aircraft. I flew a cross country in one today and had a wonderful
time, yes they are small. But when you rent, they can be a lot easier on
your wallet! Now granted it isn't a new C172SP but it's not meant to be!
--
Chris Ehlbeck, PP-ASEL
"It's a license to learn, have fun and buy really expensive hamburgers."

"Jase Vanover" > wrote in message
...
> Was on vacation this week, so decided to drop by the nearby GA airport and
> go for a flight to see if I really do want to get my pilot's license.
Let's
> just say that I'm hooked and leave it at that. It's a good thing the
> Instructor was busy scanning the sky because had he looked at me, I would
> have felt silly with the big **** eating grin on my face. I ended up
> leaving the airport with a manual, logbook, student record, fuel testing
> cup, a reserved spot in groundschool that starts in January, and time
booked
> for the next three weekends to fly.
>
> It was only in a 152, which seemed really small when we got in (getting in
> and out seemed to be the hardest part). The instructor ran the throttle,
> mix, and assorted switches... I got to fly the rest of the flight (apart
> from flare and touchdown). We took off, flew around for a bit, got lined
up
> with the runway (it's a good thing the instructor was there to tell me
where
> to turn and when... the runway just seemed to appear in front of me
without
> really realising how we got back). I've spent quite a few hours on PC
> simulation, which I think paid off. He'd say something like, "I'm going
to
> throttle down to decend, just adjust attitude to keep your speed at 60
> knots," but didn't explain what gauge to look at or what to really do.
> Nonetheless, I nailed it because of the familiarity I had with the
> simulator. He said we could probably do the next several exercises all at
> once, since we pretty much did most of it in the intro ride anyway
(climbs,
> straight and level flight, decents, turns, etc.) I'm pretty sure I'm the
> lowest time pilot on this newsgroup (got to log 0.5 hours of dual
> instruction time). Anyhow... I'm hooked (but I pretty much knew I'd be).
>
> I had been talking about doing this for some time... reading magazines,
> lurking here, checking out websites and such. Looking forward to the
> journey.
>
> Anyone else fly out of Les Cedres (just West of Montreal)?
>
>

[Jay Honeck]

> have felt silly with the big **** eating grin on my face. I ended up
> leaving the airport with a manual, logbook, student record, fuel testing
> cup, a reserved spot in groundschool that starts in January, and time
> booked for the next three weekends to fly.

Good job, Jase. You'll never regret learning to fly.

Some advice that'll save you some money:

- Treat flight training like a semester of college. Fly Mon/Wed/Fri --
study Tue/Thu. You'll finish up faster, and save yourself money in the
long run.

- Expect delays, but don't accept them. You *will* get bumped by weather
(especially starting flight training in the late fall), and sometimes the
aircraft won't be available. Inevitably there will be times when your CFI
will be out of town.

Get used to it, but don't get used by it. If it happens too often, don't
feel bad or hesitate to complain to the flight school. If that gets you no
where, don't hesitate to switch CFIs.

- Remember, you are the student AND the boss. Be humble in the air, follow
instruction to the letter -- but be assertive with your money. I've seen
too many students let their training drag out forever by just "going with
the flow"...

- Find a mentor. If you know any pilots, latch on to them and suck all the
knowledge from them you can. Ask them all the dumb questions that you keep
forgetting to ask your CFI -- your lessons will make more sense, and you'll
impress your instructor.

Good luck, and keep us posted!
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

[Jase Vanover]

Thanks, everyone, for the encouragement.

Good tips Jay, and I'll try to keep them in mind. Training during the week
will be difficult this winter, as it is dark by 4 or 4:30, and I can't get
away from work too often during the day. Everything else makes sense, and
when the days start getting longer next year, I'll have to try to get out in
the evenings as regular as I can.


"Jay Honeck" > wrote in message
news:Zdtqd.479747$D%.237832@attbi_s51...
>> have felt silly with the big **** eating grin on my face. I ended up
>> leaving the airport with a manual, logbook, student record, fuel testing
>> cup, a reserved spot in groundschool that starts in January, and time
>> booked for the next three weekends to fly.
>
> Good job, Jase. You'll never regret learning to fly.
>
> Some advice that'll save you some money:
>
> - Treat flight training like a semester of college. Fly Mon/Wed/Fri --
> study Tue/Thu. You'll finish up faster, and save yourself money in the
> long run.
>
> - Expect delays, but don't accept them. You *will* get bumped by weather
> (especially starting flight training in the late fall), and sometimes the
> aircraft won't be available. Inevitably there will be times when your CFI
> will be out of town.
>
> Get used to it, but don't get used by it. If it happens too often, don't
> feel bad or hesitate to complain to the flight school. If that gets you
> no where, don't hesitate to switch CFIs.
>
> - Remember, you are the student AND the boss. Be humble in the air,
> follow instruction to the letter -- but be assertive with your money.
> I've seen too many students let their training drag out forever by just
> "going with the flow"...
>
> - Find a mentor. If you know any pilots, latch on to them and suck all
> the knowledge from them you can. Ask them all the dumb questions that you
> keep forgetting to ask your CFI -- your lessons will make more sense, and
> you'll impress your instructor.
>
> Good luck, and keep us posted!
> --
> Jay Honeck
> Iowa City, IA
> Pathfinder N56993
> www.AlexisParkInn.com
> "Your Aviation Destination"
>
>

[Jay Honeck]

> Good tips Jay, and I'll try to keep them in mind. Training during the
> week will be difficult this winter, as it is dark by 4 or 4:30, and I
> can't get away from work too often during the day. Everything else makes
> sense, and when the days start getting longer next year, I'll have to try
> to get out in the evenings as regular as I can.

I was lucky enough to find a CFI willing to fly with me BEFORE work on
Mon/Wed/Fri.

This proved problematic with weather (morning fog often cancelled our
flights) -- but I found the air to be smooth, the traffic pattern empty, and
my mind much fresher. I found I was much more productive at work, too.

If you're an early bird, this is a good solution.

;-)
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

[bryan chaisone]

"Jase Vanover" > wrote in message >...
> Thanks, everyone, for the encouragement.
>
> Good tips Jay, and I'll try to keep them in mind. Training during the week
> will be difficult this winter, as it is dark by 4 or 4:30, and I can't get
> away from work too often during the day. Everything else makes sense, and
> when the days start getting longer next year, I'll have to try to get out in
> the evenings as regular as I can.
>
>
> "Jay Honeck" > wrote in message
> news:Zdtqd.479747$D%.237832@attbi_s51...
> >> have felt silly with the big **** eating grin on my face. I ended up
> >> leaving the airport with a manual, logbook, student record, fuel testing
> >> cup, a reserved spot in groundschool that starts in January, and time
> >> booked for the next three weekends to fly.
> >
> > Good job, Jase. You'll never regret learning to fly.
> >
> > Some advice that'll save you some money:
> >
> > - Treat flight training like a semester of college. Fly Mon/Wed/Fri --
> > study Tue/Thu. You'll finish up faster, and save yourself money in the
> > long run.
> >
> > - Expect delays, but don't accept them. You *will* get bumped by weather
> > (especially starting flight training in the late fall), and sometimes the
> > aircraft won't be available. Inevitably there will be times when your CFI
> > will be out of town.
> >
> > Get used to it, but don't get used by it. If it happens too often, don't
> > feel bad or hesitate to complain to the flight school. If that gets you
> > no where, don't hesitate to switch CFIs.
> >
> > - Remember, you are the student AND the boss. Be humble in the air,
> > follow instruction to the letter -- but be assertive with your money.
> > I've seen too many students let their training drag out forever by just
> > "going with the flow"...
> >
> > - Find a mentor. If you know any pilots, latch on to them and suck all
> > the knowledge from them you can. Ask them all the dumb questions that you
> > keep forgetting to ask your CFI -- your lessons will make more sense, and
> > you'll impress your instructor.
> >
> > Good luck, and keep us posted!
> > --
> > Jay Honeck
> > Iowa City, IA
> > Pathfinder N56993
> > www.AlexisParkInn.com
> > "Your Aviation Destination"
> >
> >

I got lucky during my training years. I worked 12 minutes from the
airport and I was taking two hour luches to fly almost every day.

Bryan

[Jack Allison]

Hehe, another addict :-) Congratulations on the decision. It's one of
the best ones you'll ever make. Hang out on rec.aviation.student for
some more great stuff.

--
Jack Allison
PP-ASEL, IA Student, airplane partnership student

"When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the Earth
with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there
you will always long to return"
- Leonardo Da Vinci

(Remove the obvious from address to reply via e-mail)

[Jack Allison]

Jay Honeck wrote:

> - Treat flight training like a semester of college. Fly Mon/Wed/Fri --
> study Tue/Thu. You'll finish up faster, and save yourself money in the
> long run.

LOL, that's because it *is* very much like a college course...at least
that's how it seemed to me. Huge text book, homework, instructor
quizzing you, memorizing stuff, etc. Ahh, but the "lab work" of flying
makes it all worth the effort. Funnest college course I've ever taken :-)

Good advice from Jay...fly as often as you can and you'll spend less on
getting the license. Of course, any money you save by getting your
license earlier will just get spent on more flying afterwards, flying
toys, etc...but who cares?

--
Jack Allison
PP-ASEL, IA Student, airplane partnership student

"When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the Earth
with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there
you will always long to return"
- Leonardo Da Vinci

(Remove the obvious from address to reply via e-mail)

[Jay Honeck]

>Of course, any money you save by getting your license earlier will just get
>spent on more flying afterwards, flying toys, etc...but who cares?

Precisely.

Just don't tell your wife that part...

;-)

(Or, if you're incredibly lucky, marry another pilot...)
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

[G.R. Patterson III]

bryan chaisone wrote:
>
> I got lucky during my training years. I worked 12 minutes from the
> airport and I was taking two hour luches to fly almost every day.

So did I. I worked about 15 minutes from the airport and was lead of a small
software project that was in maintenance mode. I could pretty much schedule
lessons when I wanted to and make the time up by working at night.

George Patterson
If a man gets into a fight 3,000 miles away from home, he *had* to have
been looking for it.

[gatt]

"Jase Vanover" > wrote in message news:Lteqd.86023

>Let's just say that I'm hooked and leave it at that.

Sorry, man. It doesn't work that way. Just take out your wallet, turn it
upside down and dump it on the ground. You can't walk away now.

< I ended up leaving the airport with a manual, logbook, student record,
fuel testing
> cup,

See? Who takes a discovery flight and buys their own fuel testing cup?
Lucky you walked out without buying a Cessna. (Counter-argument is that if
you were really lucky, you'd have walked out with a Cessna.)

Congrats! I've yet to spend a dollar flying that I've regretted.

-c

[Dave]

HAW!

Guilty as well...

Last "Big **** grin" time for me ,was a few wks ago, 9k over
the city, at night, full moon..

See the lights of other comunities for miles in any direction.

All by myself....in our 172.

I just DO this sometimes....

:)))))) < "big **** grin"

Dave


On Tue, 30 Nov 2004 13:36:45 -0800, "gatt"
> wrote:

>
>"Jase Vanover" > wrote in message news:Lteqd.86023
>
>>Let's just say that I'm hooked and leave it at that.
>
>Sorry, man. It doesn't work that way. Just take out your wallet, turn it
>upside down and dump it on the ground. You can't walk away now.
>
>< I ended up leaving the airport with a manual, logbook, student record,
>fuel testing
>> cup,
>
>See? Who takes a discovery flight and buys their own fuel testing cup?
>Lucky you walked out without buying a Cessna. (Counter-argument is that if
>you were really lucky, you'd have walked out with a Cessna.)
>
>Congrats! I've yet to spend a dollar flying that I've regretted.
>
>-c
>

[[email protected]]

Hey its George! Look, there's George! Hi George!

I used to call you General, because I assumed that Patterson was short
for son of Patton.

Anyways, I was An estimator for a roofing company at that time. I was
a tinman (roofer) prior to that. My time was very flexible. 2 hours a
day or 18 hours a day, my choice. Just get the job done.

Bryan

[[email protected]]

Hey its George! Look, there's George! Hi George!

I used to call you General, because I assumed that Patterson was short
for son of Patton.

Anyways, I was An estimator for a roofing company at that time. I was
a tinman (roofer) prior to that. My time was very flexible. 2 hours a
day or 18 hours a day, my choice. Just get the job done.

Bryan

[G.R. Patterson III]

wrote:
>
> I used to call you General, because I assumed that Patterson was short
> for son of Patton.

No, Patterson is ancient Gaellic for "packrat".

George Patterson
If a man gets into a fight 3,000 miles away from home, he *had* to have
been looking for it.

[bryan chaisone]

"G.R. Patterson III" > wrote in message >...
> wrote:
> >
> > I used to call you General, because I assumed that Patterson was short
> > for son of Patton.
>



> No, Patterson is ancient Gaellic for "packrat".

Damn! I learned something again. Hate it when that happens.

Bryan

>
> George Patterson
> If a man gets into a fight 3,000 miles away from home, he *had* to have
> been looking for it.

[Jase Vanover]

Long overdue update...

So I'm up to about 18 hours now (man... weather sucks over the winter).
In the interim, I decided to get Lasik surgery done on my eyes (turned out
quite well, thank you) that has had me waiting before I could get my
medical. As a result, I've done a lot more dual before solo than would
normally be required. It is awfully nice to see well without glasses
though.

Still wake up like it's Christmas morning when I'm scheduled to fly. Still
pout and am sour when the weather doesn't cooperate (like today). The days
are starting to get long, so I'm hoping that when my medical comes through
(have appointment next week, then it's just submitting the papers) I'll be
able to put in some long hours.

I find the book learning fascinating as well as the actual flying (though
would admittedly rather be in the air). I have lots of school experience,
so find the study / exam writing not too difficult... it's really pretty
easy when you're interested in the subject.

No really scary happenings during training. Here in Canada, there is spin
instruction (I understand this isn't the case in the US?) Recently they
changed it that spins have to be demonstrated, but not practiced. My CFI
asked if I would like to try a few, and I'm a sucker when it comes to trying
cool things in a plane, so of course I did. That, and spiral dives have
been the "hairiest" of the flying I've done. Can't say as though it feels
very comfortable, however. My CFI commented that glancing out the window
during recovery from a particularly nasty spiral that he could see the wing
flexing and "rippling", which scared me more than the actual activity.

Had an interesting flight awhile ago. Here in Montreal, there are two large
airports. The Pierre Elliot Trudeau (formerly Dorval) airport, and the
Mirabel airport. Mirabel was "supposed" to be the big international when
the government built it in the 70's, but has turned out to be a white
elephant. It's still open, but pretty much no traffic. We flew out there
to do some touch and goes. It is a BIG change to do touch and goes in a
C-152 on a 12,000 foot by 200 foot runway, when you're used to something
much smaller. I got quite a kick out of turning crosswind at 700ft while
still over the runway with lots left to go! Hard to judge the flare on
landings though. With the wide runway, I tended to flare too early...
thinking we were close when still at some altitude. Flying would be easy if
things were the same all the time (wind, runway, plane, etc.)

Anyhow, wanted to give an update and let you all know that I'm enjoying
reading and learning from the newsgroup as I go along. Why the hell didn't
I do this earlier?


"Jase Vanover" > wrote in message
...
> Was on vacation this week, so decided to drop by the nearby GA airport and
> go for a flight to see if I really do want to get my pilot's license.
> Let's just say that I'm hooked and leave it at that. It's a good thing
> the Instructor was busy scanning the sky because had he looked at me, I
> would have felt silly with the big **** eating grin on my face. I ended
> up leaving the airport with a manual, logbook, student record, fuel
> testing cup, a reserved spot in groundschool that starts in January, and
> time booked for the next three weekends to fly.
>
> It was only in a 152, which seemed really small when we got in (getting in
> and out seemed to be the hardest part). The instructor ran the throttle,
> mix, and assorted switches... I got to fly the rest of the flight (apart
> from flare and touchdown). We took off, flew around for a bit, got lined
> up with the runway (it's a good thing the instructor was there to tell me
> where to turn and when... the runway just seemed to appear in front of me
> without really realising how we got back). I've spent quite a few hours
> on PC simulation, which I think paid off. He'd say something like, "I'm
> going to throttle down to decend, just adjust attitude to keep your speed
> at 60 knots," but didn't explain what gauge to look at or what to really
> do. Nonetheless, I nailed it because of the familiarity I had with the
> simulator. He said we could probably do the next several exercises all at
> once, since we pretty much did most of it in the intro ride anyway
> (climbs, straight and level flight, decents, turns, etc.) I'm pretty sure
> I'm the lowest time pilot on this newsgroup (got to log 0.5 hours of dual
> instruction time). Anyhow... I'm hooked (but I pretty much knew I'd be).
>
> I had been talking about doing this for some time... reading magazines,
> lurking here, checking out websites and such. Looking forward to the
> journey.
>
> Anyone else fly out of Les Cedres (just West of Montreal)?
>

[Mark Morissette]

>So I'm up to about 18 hours now (man... weather sucks over the winter).
>In the interim, I decided to get Lasik surgery done on my eyes (turned out
>quite well, thank you) that has had me waiting before I could get my
>medical. As a result, I've done a lot more dual before solo than would
>normally be required. It is awfully nice to see well without glasses
>though.

Braver then me! I've been wearing glasses for over 25 years, and
would like to consider Lasik, but I always have a nasty recurring fear
that it'll screw up my eyes, and hence, my pilots licence. :-)

>No really scary happenings during training. Here in Canada, there is spin
>instruction (I understand this isn't the case in the US?) Recently they
>changed it that spins have to be demonstrated, but not practiced. My CFI
>asked if I would like to try a few, and I'm a sucker when it comes to trying
>cool things in a plane, so of course I did. That, and spiral dives have
>been the "hairiest" of the flying I've done.

I'm in Ontario, and did my spins a few months ago.. An interesting
experience, no? I wasn't fancy on the spins, but the spirals seemed
like a non-event to me after I actually went out and did them.

>Had an interesting flight awhile ago. Here in Montreal, there are two large
>airports. The Pierre Elliot Trudeau (formerly Dorval) airport, and the
>Mirabel airport. Mirabel was "supposed" to be the big international when
>the government built it in the 70's, but has turned out to be a white
>elephant. It's still open, but pretty much no traffic. We flew out there
>to do some touch and goes. It is a BIG change to do touch and goes in a
>C-152 on a 12,000 foot by 200 foot runway, when you're used to something

Wow! I've been to Mirabel in the course of my work, although I could
never immagine flying in there in a 152.. No fear of running out of
runway there. :-)

I'll have to keep that in mind when I get my ticket - it woud be an
experience for sure! :-) The ATC there must find themselves with
alot of spare time nowadays.

Here's a satellite pic of Mirabel, for anyone interested:

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=mirabel&ll=45.668278,-74.032402&sll=45.452199,-73.751335&spn=0.082569,0.126686&sspn=0.330276,0.506744&t=k&hl=en

(I'm pretty sure it's Mirabel... I suppose I could look in my CFS to
make sure, but since this is unofficial like..and my CFS is out in my
car, I'll make an assumption..)

>Anyhow, wanted to give an update and let you all know that I'm enjoying
>reading and learning from the newsgroup as I go along. Why the hell didn't
>I do this earlier?

Have fun, I'm doing it as well!

BTW, Join us over in rec.aviation.student - more student oriented
there. :)
Mark Morissette
Courtice, Ontario, Canada
http://oshawapilot.blogspot.com (My student pilot blog)