Seeking advice on pilot training approach...

Hello,

I was hoping to get some advice from private pilots regarding getting
my pilot's license. I've been doing some thinking about it and have
decided that I need more information from real pilots before I venture
into training.

CURRENT BACKGROUND
So far, I am the proud 'owner' of a Cessna Skylane 182 and a variety
of other planes...at least the ones that come with Microsoft Flight
Simulator 2000. I'm guessing that I'll be getting an upgrade to MSFS
2004 by Christmas. In the meantime, I've been reading the aviation
articles, dabbling in the lessons, and just plain trying out different
things in the simulated aircraft. I also took an exhilarating
introductory lesson from an aviation club in town, which really gave
me the itch to fly.

GOALS AND PLANS
My current plans are to gradually save up money for purchasing flight
training within a regular, straight-through training schedule. My
goal is to obtain flight training between now and around 15 years from
now (I'm willing to wait that long to save up the money for up-front,
debt-free training). My learning style is definitely "do it all at
once and keep focused on the instruction" rather than "a little here
and a little there". In the meantime, I'm taking my time to explore
the various topics associated with flying (weather, navigation, engine
mechanics, flight physics, etc.).

CONCERNS
Some of the concerns and doubts I have have to do with my learning
styles and abilities, plus my personality type and my usual approach
to problem solving. I promise not to get behind the yoke until I've
hammered out as many quirks as I can, so don't worry. Based on a
learning profile I was given in college by a psychologist when trying
to get extra help passing some classes, I am in the high 90th
percentile with learning verbal and writing skills, while I'm in the
10th percentile when it comes to numeric and mathematical concepts.
This tracks true to reality. I tested out of sophomore english in my
freshman year of college, but had to take Calculus four times in my
junior and senior years before I could pass it (which I finally did,
with a B+). Electronics engineering classes were also a problem...I'm
more of a software guy now (my career) because nothing "burns up" and
if something doesn't work, you just debug and recompile it.

Other math classes have caused me similar grief, though I was able to
pass them with a B or C grade the first time. I'm okay more or less
with physics and geometry because the more I can visualize something
using real-world objects and experiences, the quicker I can understand
it. Adding, subtracting, multiplying, and especially dividing complex
numbers (really anything involving 3 digits or more in total)
virtually paralyzes me and I have to run to a calculator, or write it
all down and/or use my fingers.

Although my verbal learning skills are high, for some reason my
verbatim memorization skills are not. This definitely applies to
numbers as well (I tend to transpose sequences of numbers, like phone
numbers, in strange ways) so, I write whatever I can in notebooks or
save them in computer files for future reference.

My problem solving skills could definitely use more help, though
they're better than they used to be. In the past, I got frustrated
easily, especially with problems that just didn't seem to have a root
cause (I still swear loudly at my computer whenever it crashes for no
discernable reason...not something that will help me if an aircraft
has similar plans). I'm a little better now at taking a deep breath
and a moment to realize what's happening now and what the consequences
will be in the future, but my main problem remains that my mind wants
to go blank and just "walk away" from the situation until its had a
few hours to process the variables. Not acceptable in aviation, from
what I understand.

Finally, my personality could be a concern. I lose my temper at
backseat drivers (ATC?) and getting lost when driving (fog bank?
checkpoint VFR over unfamiliar terrain?). I also have a little
difficulty focusing on a person talking or giving directions while I'm
simultaneously maneuvering through a busy intersection (ATC chatting
at me while I'm manipulating Nav or GPS controls and scads of other
instrumentation while maintaining altitude and level flight?). Are
these traits that I could reasonably expect to "unlearn", especially
now that I'm in my 30s and my neural pathways are hardening along with
my arteries? Has anyone else found a way to vett these types of
behaviors enough to become a safe and capable pilot?

If you've gotten this far, thank you for following my ramblings. I
know it's a little much, but if you wouldn't mind taking some time to
answer my questions and give me some advice on how to approach flight
training, I would sure appreciate it.

So would my wife and kids who, at least for now, vow they will never
get in a plane with me at the yoke.

Indebtedly,
Rob Watson
Pilot in "training"

On 24 Nov 2004 13:03:52 -0800, (Rob) wrote:

If you've gotten this far, thank you for following my ramblings. I
know it's a little much, but if you wouldn't mind taking some time to
answer my questions and give me some advice on how to approach flight
training, I would sure appreciate it.


If I were you I'd work toward my Sport Pilot certificate first. This
will allow you to see how you accept instruction and give you the
basics on how to fly an airplane. As a substitute, work toward solo
only as a goal (Doing this may free you up to choose from more flight
schools). After you solo, work toward the written. Most of the time
I tell people to deal with the written last for various reasons, but
given your learning situation I think it would be good to do it
earlier (you can build solo time and get more comfortable in the
airplane and enjoy yourself a little hear too - kind of a reward).
Once the written is passed, if all is still going well, continue on to
your intermediate and final stages of flight training.

Reason why I think this is a good approach:

You will see if you actually can fly and handle emergencies first. If
you cannot, or don't like the process you can stop, but no one can
take away the fact you flew. Getting to solo should give you a good
base for judgement and won't waste all your money.

Taking the written in the middle will give you more time to study for
the written. Don't stop flying, but focus on the written, and have
fun in the airplane. This would be a good time to get good at the
flight maneuvers and stalls, etc... If you have a problem with the
written material, you can either spend more time trying to fix it, or
stop. Again - you flew- and no one can take that away from you. Also
it will keep the most expensive part of the training until the end,
which saves you money if you decide to stop.

With the written and solo out of the way you're ready to finish up.
If you've made it this far, all that's left is time and money.
Finding checkpoints may be frustrating, but I think it will be minute
compared to what you've already accomplished in the training process,
and hopefully by now you've learned a little bit about patience
(probably in the landing phase of the training ).


Above is for going for the Private. If you chose the Sport Pilot
route, do the written and flying as much together as possible. Its
requires less training and you don't want to hold up progress while
studying the ground stuff. If you go for the Private after the Sport,
you will need to take an additional written (one for Sport and one for
Private) and an additional flight test. A decision you need to
determine if its worth it or not.

Depending on where you live save up between 6 and 8 thousand dollars
for a Private pilot's certificate, and a little less than half for a
Sport.

Hope this helps, and good luck to you.

z

"Rob" wrote in message
om...
My learning style is definitely "do it all at
once and keep focused on the instruction" rather than "a little here
and a little there".

The best way to learn is to have regular lessons but not cram them in too
close to each other. Once or twice a week is fine - much more than that and
you'll get brain overload; much less and you'll effectively be doing
refamiliarisation each time you fly because you'll have got out of practice.
This isn't to say that you shouldn't sometimes have more or less tuition
than this (when you're circuit bashing there's no fault in having a number
of one-hour sessions on consecutive days, for instance - though to have more
than an hour at a stretch would probably be over-tiring) but it's not a bad
starting point.

In the meantime, I'm taking my time to explore
the various topics associated with flying (weather, navigation, engine
mechanics, flight physics, etc.).

Sensible approach. Get hold of the right text books, though - you might as
well learn from the proper material instead of merely getting background
information from unapproved sources.

I promise not to get behind the yoke until I've
hammered out as many quirks as I can, so don't worry.

I'd hope you'd be given the controls not long into lesson one - when you
learn to fly, you learn by doing, not by watching. The neat thing is that
you have a nice man/woman to your right to make sure you don't kill anyone.

Electronics engineering classes were also a problem...I'm
more of a software guy now (my career) because nothing "burns up" and
if something doesn't work, you just debug and recompile it.

As long as you can learn things steadily and methodically, you should have
no problem picking it up. As you're a "software guy", it leads me to believe
that you have a logical mind - and everything about flying is based on logic
(while there's an art to making a greaser of a landing, you can make a
satisfactory one by science alone).

Adding, subtracting, multiplying, and especially dividing complex
numbers (really anything involving 3 digits or more in total)
virtually paralyzes me and I have to run to a calculator, or write it
all down and/or use my fingers.

Hey, so use a calculator. Although you sometimes have to recompute stuff in
the air, you do 90% of the calculations on the ground, and it doesn't matter
what method you use (how many of us work out our weight and balance using
long multiplication, I wonder?). If you find yourself off course, the
in-flight computation is generally: "Ah, let's go left a few degrees and see
what happens". Where you do have to compute stuff in the air, you tend to
use rule-of-thumb calculations, not silly numbers (e.g. if you want to know
the bank angle required for a rate one turn, you use complex maths if you so
wish, or you can do what everyone else does and divide your speed by ten and
add seven).

Finally, my personality could be a concern. I lose my temper at
backseat drivers (ATC?)

ATC aren't back seat drivers; they're there helping you. You need to start
with the right attitude - namely that ATC is there to ensure that everyone
in the sky gets where they want to go in safety wherever possible.

and getting lost when driving (fog bank?
checkpoint VFR over unfamiliar terrain?).

For your basic licence, there's only one manoevure you do in fog - namely
turn through 180 degrees and head back out the way you came. As for
checkpoints over unfamiliar terrain: you should spend most of your life
looking out of the window, not at the dials, and so you're _always_ checking
where you are as you go along. This is one misconception that a PC flight
sim instills in people - even with the reasonably good scenery you get these
days, it's hard to navigate by looking out of the window, and so you do it
by instruments. In real life, navigating by looking out of the window is
actually quite easy - though from time to time you may lose track of where
you are and need to get your bearings from the map.

I also have a little
difficulty focusing on a person talking or giving directions while I'm
simultaneously maneuvering through a busy intersection (ATC chatting
at me while I'm manipulating Nav or GPS controls and scads of other
instrumentation while maintaining altitude and level flight?). Are
these traits that I could reasonably expect to "unlearn", especially
now that I'm in my 30s and my neural pathways are hardening along with
my arteries?

I'm sure most of us are like that to start with. Your subconscious soon gets
the hang of filtering the rubbish out. I often take friends out for a fly,
and they're bemused by all the chatter. After half an hour or so, though,
they start to realise what's going on, and can often pick out the
communications that are aimed at us.

If you've gotten this far, thank you for following my ramblings. I
know it's a little much, but if you wouldn't mind taking some time to
answer my questions and give me some advice on how to approach flight
training, I would sure appreciate it.

I'd say: give it a go. Try out a handful of lessons, and tell your
instructor of your concerns on day one. After three or four hours, he or she
will have a reasonable idea of whether you're going to stand any chance
whatsoever of becoming a pilot - and if not, you've not wasted a lot of
money (and you'll have had some fun while you were at it!).

D.

Thanks very much for your wise advice. It gives me more confidence to
know these things going forward.

Thanks! I had heard about the Sport certificate, but didn't make the
connection that it would be a good initial approach to learning to fly.
I'll look into it.

I'd go straight for the private pilot if I were you. Stay with, tray
to take at least one lesson per week, and you can do it in under a
year. MS Flight Sim 2004 is very good. If you can invest in rudder
peddles, do it. The CH pro peddels are about $100, and worth it. Read
often, join the AOPA and get the "flight training magazine" and read
often. When ever you can't get to a lesson, read, read, read, and fly
in flight sim. Try not to go to far ahead in flight sim, fly the 172
and only that if you can in flight sim, it makes things easier. Get
your medical certificate before flight lessons, this way if you get
denied you don't waste money. Hung around the airport, talk to pilots,
and absorbe the knowledge. Work hard, don't give up. Flight training
has natural highs and lows, and that is normal for EVERYONE. Don't be
concerned with your total hours, just with your current learning task.
Find a patient talented instructor. Be sure you have enough money
saved to complete training before you start 5,000-8,000 dollars. IF
you are concerned about ATC, listen to them via a scanner or internet
stream and just LISTEN to how the 'real' pilots do it. I too started
out on flight sim, and decided to do the real thing. Work hard, stay
focused, stay positive, and ask questions along the way. Don't be
nervous, just relax and good luck!

Do you know any ATC feeds on the internet that _don't_ use RealPlayer?
I've banned Real from my computer because _every_ time I've installed
it, it corrupts Windows. All the ATC feeds I've found so far use Real
(.ram files).

What other online methods of learning are there? Any good web sites
that explain the concepts behind navigation, aircraft mechanics, etc.?
Thanks.

http://www.liveatc.net/
This is the best site out there. First it tells you if the site is up
or down, VERY helpful. It also uses .m3u files, which I was able to
open in Windows Media. And no stupid log-in.

Enjoy.

Oh, one more thing. Do a google search for "Flight Simulator 2004
rebate". I was able to find a $20 rebate. I just got my check. At
29.99 that makes for a 10 upgrade