Help With My training

Gezellig wrote:
Last Friday, I went up for an introductory flight lesson out of the San
Carlos airport. WOW!!!!!! I have been dreaming about learning to fly
since I was in my teens. All the time I was in the air the lines of
that famous poem kept going through my head "Oh, I have slipped the
surly bonds of Earth.........". When we landed (I didn't want to ever
come down :-)) the instructor asked me if I thought I would be
interested in flying and I told him that wild horses couldn't stop me
now and proceeded to sign-up for two flight days the following week. I
had my second flight day, this afternoon, practicing a variety of turns
while maintaining (or making attempts to) altitude.

One question I had for the instructors out there - what I seemed to find
more awkward than anything was steering the nose wheel using my feet on
the rudder pedals. The people in the control tower must have thought I
looked like a wounded bird taxing out to hold position before takeoff.
Is there some 'trick' to getting the hang of this, so often I would be
tempted to reach up and turn the control yoke but resisted the
temptation (due to its futility).

Once again, thank you all for your posts on this newsgroup. I finally
just made myself go out and start. I fly again, on Friday and will keep
you posted. Meanwhile I am going to pour over some of the aviation
training books to review some of the things I learned today. Just
starting out, but I am so excited!
My instructor made me put my left hand on my knee for the first lessons
to get the hang of it. You will have to be carefull when you get into
doing landings in gusty conditions, you might find yourself going back
steering with your hands when under a bit of stress.

James.

On May 1, 11:08*am, Gezellig wrote:
Last Friday, I went up for an introductory flight lesson out of the San
Carlos airport.

*** Hey, congratulations on getting started! SQL is my home field
too.
If you're interested, peruse my avation page at http://www.tr2.com/jerry/aviation/index.html.
Go
about half way down and click on "My Flying Lesson Journals" and you
can read about
how I learned to fly right here. Well, mostly at PAO and SJC, but
same area.

- Jerry Kaidor

On May 3, 2:49 pm, James wrote:

My instructor made me put my left hand on my knee for the first lessons
to get the hang of it. You will have to be carefull when you get into
doing landings in gusty conditions, you might find yourself going back
steering with your hands when under a bit of stress.

James.

Seven Learning Factors taught to new instructors. The first
one is Primacy, which says that first iimpressions are the strongest.
The fist few taxis with the hand on the leg will establish a lifelong
habit.
We teach controls for wind right off. Student needs to get it
right the first time.

Wingflap's suggestion of putting pressure on both rudder
pedals is another bad idea. Nervous students already stand on them,
and they'll only put more pressure on them if told to do so. I see
worn-out rudder control system parts from just that, since in most
lightplanes that tension is transmitted down both cables to the rudder
horn itself. Rudder hinges, clevis bolts and their holes, pulleys and
cables, rudder bars and pedals, all wear much faster than usual if
they're under constant tension. And the pushback on the seat wears all
that stuff out, too. Takes time, but it does wear.
And a tense pilot is a jerky, clumsy pilot. I often found my
students bumping all over the place and noticed that they had the
white-knuckle grip. Making them hold the yoke between a couple of
fingers allowed the airplane to magically settle down and fly real
smooth. Amazing.

Dan

On May 6, 4:54*am, wrote:


* * * * Wingflap's suggestion of putting pressure on both rudder
pedals is another bad idea. Nervous students already stand on them,

Not all nervous students stand on the pedals. Where do you get these
ideas?
Even today I still keep slight pressure on both pedals. Do you?

Cheers

What the heck I'll through in my 2.5 cents worth. One thing my
instructor taught me that pretty much cured the
problem right aways was to basically have dancing feet. Keep those
feet in constant but very small movements.
Left, right, left, right not really pushing the rudders except when
necessary, but small amounts to the direction
you need to go. This way constant correction is easy and immediate.
Just keep those feet moving lightly.
Lou

on 5/4/2008, supposed :
On May 1, 11:08*am, Gezellig wrote:
Last Friday, I went up for an introductory flight lesson out of the San
Carlos airport.

*** Hey, congratulations on getting started! SQL is my home field
too.
If you're interested, peruse my avation page at
http://www.tr2.com/jerry/aviation/index.html. Go
about half way down and click on "My Flying Lesson Journals" and you
can read about
how I learned to fly right here. Well, mostly at PAO and SJC, but
same area.

- Jerry Kaidor

Jerry, thanks for that,welldone!

Lou formulated the question :
What the heck I'll through in my 2.5 cents worth. One thing my
instructor taught me that pretty much cured the
problem right aways was to basically have dancing feet. Keep those
feet in constant but very small movements.
Left, right, left, right not really pushing the rudders except when
necessary, but small amounts to the direction
you need to go. This way constant correction is easy and immediate.
Just keep those feet moving lightly.
Lou

lol Agree with that, which I tried and it sure helped.

Mark Hansen wrote on 5/2/2008 :
Hello,

I just began flight training and had a similar problem with steering on the
ground.

My guy says left hand on your knee and right on the throttle.
It is too easy to wind up going too fast, especially when you are new. (for
me anyway) give it a little gas to move the plane then have your hand on
the
throttle to adjust speed.

Just remember that while these are good tactics for getting used to
controlling
direction with the rudder pedals, you don't want to make this a permanent
habit. You'll generally need one hand on the yoke/stick to apply proper
control
deflections for any cross winds that may be blowing across your taxi route.

This will come a little later in your training.

Best Regards,

I tried the hand placements and they felt good for the first time or
two. After that, It felt wrong because of what you said. Good advice
from everyone.

explained on 5/5/2008 :
Seven Learning Factors taught to new instructors. The first
one is Primacy, which says that first iimpressions are the strongest.
The first few taxis with the hand on the leg will establish a lifelong
habit.
We teach controls for wind right off. Student needs to get it
right the first time.

Da, this is what I found out after a few more taxis/TO.

Wingflap's suggestion of putting pressure on both rudder
pedals is another bad idea. Nervous students already stand on them,
and they'll only put more pressure on them if told to do so. I see
worn-out rudder control system parts from just that, since in most
lightplanes that tension is transmitted down both cables to the rudder
horn itself. Rudder hinges, clevis bolts and their holes, pulleys and
cables, rudder bars and pedals, all wear much faster than usual if
they're under constant tension. And the pushback on the seat wears all
that stuff out, too. Takes time, but it does wear.

I think WingFlaps meant well but my CFI gave me the once over when I
suggested Wingflaps ideas.

And a tense pilot is a jerky, clumsy pilot. I often found my
students bumping all over the place and noticed that they had the
white-knuckle grip. Making them hold the yoke between a couple of
fingers allowed the airplane to magically settle down and fly real
smooth. Amazing.

Dan

Is WingFlaps a troll? :-[

Morgans was thinking very hard :
"Gezellig" wrote

WOW you guys are great, thanks for all the pointers, I learned sumpin from
everyone. I'm chair sitting, sledding and reading all at once!

Just remember that it steers backwards, as compared to a runner sled! g

lol got it!