On Sun, 10 Feb 2008 10:43:23 -0800 (PST), WingFlaps
wrote:

On Feb 10, 10:09*pm, DGS wrote:


Any feedback or experiences anyone can share? *At this point I'm
really torn about trying again, while on the other hand still not
necessarily ready to back down from the challenge. *Does this get
better? *Or worse?

My experience matches yours exactly. I was horribly nervous and my
first solo was not enjoyable I was so nervous. Trust me the training
will gradually take over and the nerves subside as you get comfortable
with flying the 'plane. Avoid an instructor who always grabs the
controls or has his feet on the rudder all the time -it will slow you
down. I'd say, don't get an instructor younger than you are. While
most can fly well they just don't understand how your behavior and
learning processes change as you get older. You need a positive
learning environment -nothing is a problem if you have a desire to
learn and the right learning environment. The only time I'm nervous
now is in bad xwinds with shear.

Cheers

Thanks for sharing your experience...it has already helped me more
than you can know.

You bring up something interesting...the age of my instructor. It
actually WAS somewhat disappointing to have an instructor who was
younger than me. I don't know...for some reason I didn't feel like I
was on the same page. I see YouTube videos of older flight
instructors who are so reassuring, enthusiastic, and helpful. I
wanted that. Don't get me wrong, my instructor was not a mean guy or
a bad guy. But he was quiet and didn't communicate with me much.

Another thing that left a bad taste in my mouth. After the flight was
over and we'd taxied back to the hanger he was climbing out of the
plane and realized he didn't have his seatbelt fastened. He laughed
about the fact that he had forgotten to do so. As I then followed him
out of the plane I realized that I hadn't had mine fastened either. He
then apologized for forgetting to have either of us do so, but I could
tell that it didn't really bother him. I dunno, I guess it's not a
big deal, but I really kind of want someone who maybe takes it all a
little more seriously.