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Well I had my very first pilot lesson yesterday. That was incredibly exciting. I was surprised at how I didn't feel anything special when we left the ground. It was a beautiful morning for flying, and everything was very smooth. It's so easy to steer! I expected to get a bit freaked out when we tried stalling/recovering, but I guess I was so focused on making sure I was running the plane correctly that I didn't have time to worry. The rudder pedals work the opposite way that I naturally want them to, but that was easy to get used to. We landed in a pretty strong crosswind, which was interesting to experience in such a small plane. Later that day a friend of mine who is also working on his license took the plane out for a night flight and the alternator belt snapped mid flight. I'm just glad that didn't happen on my try.
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Oct 11, 2016 14:21
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| # ¿ Apr 28, 2024 12:48 |
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So I'm coming up on my 5th lesson later this week, and theres something I realize I should probably get... Does anyone have a recommendation for a good set of sunglasses for flying? The old nice ones I have are all scratched up these days, and the cheap plastic ones I have just fall off my face when I look around.
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Nov 14, 2016 17:17
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Thats great advice, I definitely would have bought polarized lenses without even thinking about it.
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Nov 15, 2016 04:37
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Had my 5th lesson today (6 hours of flying in now...). Did ground reference maneuvers which (other than avoiding all the birds) are super fun to do. Getting a really good feel now for how the wind blowing a certain way moves the plane around. Having it described to me I understood it well enough, but getting in the air and actually trying it pretty much just felt natural. Much more comfortable looking out the window now too, instead of having my eyes glued to the instruments. We were coming in to our downwind to get ready to land and my instructor didn't notice a little ultralight ahead of us maybe 400 feet. It was right below the nose of our plane, and he's a little shorter than me, so he didn't see it. Them not having a radio didn't help either. Swung out wide to give them plenty of room and then we landed right after them. Dude gave me a dirty look as we passed him on the ground. Also, I finally looked up airplane, hanger, insurance, etc prices today and I've realized that actually buying a plane of my own is affordable, doubly so if I split it with my friend who is just finishing up getting his license. Nuggan fucked around with this message at 22:43 on Nov 18, 2016 |
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Nov 18, 2016 18:46
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MrYenko posted:THIS IS HOW IT BEGINS Look, with the amount I pay to rent it, its even just a little bit cheaper to own my own! IT JUST MAKES SENSE OK!?
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Nov 19, 2016 17:42
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Just past 10 hours, 1/4th of the way there! Forward slips are pretty cool.
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Dec 22, 2016 16:27
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Well, the pa-28 140 I normally fly for my lessons is in for its 100 hour inspection, so tomorrow morning I get to fly the 180!
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Dec 28, 2016 21:40
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So the 180 was only the 2nd plane I've ever flown, after the 140. Its strange how its so much the same but also so different. drat that thing likes to climb, and it does not want to go back down. Had to do a go around on my first landing with it because it just did not glide down anywhere near as fast as I expected it to.
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Dec 30, 2016 22:53
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Practiced some landings today, my instructor said the only thing I need to work on is crosswind correction, other than that I'm doing great! I got my medical yesterday and have my student cert, so next lesson I get to go solo!
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Jan 6, 2017 17:47
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Did my first solo today! 3 touch and go landings, + 1 full stop. On my 2nd landing I made a call I never really expected: "Uh, tower, be advised, I've spotted some heavy turtle activity on runway 13 just past my touchdown point." Giant turtles just slowly making their way across the runway. I almost hit one, flipped my plane over, and died from turtles.
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Jan 12, 2017 17:32
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PT6A posted:Congrats! Flying only gets steadily more awesome from your first solo onward (except on days you fuel up the plane at -25C and then have to return from the run-up bay because your windshield frosted over -- those days are not my favorite Thanks! I don't think I'll have that problem anytime soon since I'm in beautiful, flat, sea level, warm, sunny Florida. I just have turtles, birds, gators, and Florida-Man on the runway at times.
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Jan 12, 2017 20:21
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MrYenko posted:Where ya flying at? Just a bit outside of Orlando.
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Jan 13, 2017 04:14
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Somebody hosed up here...
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Jan 25, 2017 22:18
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Anyone have tips for getting short field landings down well? Today I just could not get the plane down where I wanted it to land. I'm nervous about dumping the power out too early and ending up on the grass before the runway, but today there was also a reasonable gusting crosswind and every little burst would pop the plane back up higher.
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Feb 7, 2017 01:04
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rldmoto posted:I soloed this morning. Huzzah! Congrats! They didn't cut my shirt for my first solo. I did my first night flight this week, got a good 10 landings out of it. I REALLY like flying at night. It's so calm and quiet and all the bright stars up around you. I didn't have any trouble spotting the airports or ground features. My friend who got his license just a month or so ago HATES night flying and told me how terrible it would be. First cross country coming up next week. 22-ish hours in, just around half way done!
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Feb 11, 2017 02:11
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Did my first cross country yesterday in the 180, which I had only flown once before. I was supposed to use the 140 but they were going over it the night before and found this: Somebody hosed up. And didn't tell anyone. Nuggan fucked around with this message at 19:50 on Feb 19, 2017 |
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Feb 19, 2017 17:06
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Yeah, someone had the prop strike the ground and just put the plane back without telling anyone.
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Feb 19, 2017 22:38
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Well I found out what happened. The pilot was out flying late, and when she got back the guy who is usually around to open the hangar to park the plane wasnt there. So, she decided to drive it into the grass and tie it down there. When doing so she smacked the prop on a cement tie down block. Still not sure why she didn't mention it. I'm sure she noticed at least something happened when she hit it. Today when I was doing my cross country in the other plane my main coms went out. Just died in the middle of me talking. Dear airplanes: Please stop breaking.
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Feb 22, 2017 01:26
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Jealous Cow posted:My flight is delayed because "the fuel gauges don't work" and "a guy has to come measure the fuel by hand". Do any fuel gauges on planes work beyond "gas" or "no gas"? Because that's all I've seen so far.
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Feb 28, 2017 03:56
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Well, just did my night time cross country. It went pretty well once I stopped caring where I was writing times that I couldn't see and just wrote them in the margin of my flight planner sheet. I like flying at night, calm and peaceful.
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Mar 1, 2017 03:48
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Had my first experience flying into bad weather this morning. 0/10 would not fly in it again. I was trying to do my first solo cross country. Weather was fine where I took off, but about half way there I ran into an overcast layer around 3k feet with a broken layer underneath. I tried to see if there was a way around, but I would have had to be weaving between clouds or fly around 1500 feet, neither of which seemed like a great idea, so I turned around. That's when I realized a 35mph headwind isn't bad until you try to turn 180 in it. Made it safely back to my home airport but the weather came with me. Took me two tries to land in a gusting crosswind. Overall I think I made good decisions about my own limits and turning around, but I wish I had made them sooner. The weather was much worse than reported, but I probably shouldn't have gone up at all. Nuggan fucked around with this message at 17:45 on Mar 14, 2017 |
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Mar 14, 2017 17:35
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   Looking at the pictures I snapped while the air was smooth, it doesn't even look that bad to me now. You can see how low it was pushing me down though. I didnt get any shots of the heavy broken clouds below the overcast ceiling, I was more concerned about flying the plane while it was bumping all around. Probably doesn't seem like much of a big deal to more experienced pilots, but it shook me up a bit. I was glad to make it to the ground smoothly.
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Mar 14, 2017 22:30
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Winds and clouds having canceled my previous attempt, I finished my first solo cross country today: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nlfseUJh9w
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Mar 18, 2017 00:27
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Another video, this one from crosswind landing practice https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooOyIqyaaTI Anyone with a gopro have good suggestions on how to set it up for a cool shot? I've tried out the front and out the left wing so far, and I have a head mount I might try out later this week.
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Mar 29, 2017 05:10
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As my test for my PPL is fast approaching, I've started nitpicking all my procedures and such. Anyone have tips for crosswind landings? I find myself trying to move the ailerons back and forth a whole bunch as the wind gusts me around, sort of averaging out the motion of the plane to try to keep it steady. When my instructor does it, he just pushes the yolk way far out to the side and really kicks in the rudder hard. His way is a lot smoother than mine, but I cant seem to find the sweet spot where it evens out.
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Mar 31, 2017 20:35
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PT6A posted:account for gusts primarily with rudder control rather than aileron. I think this is what my main issue is. I try to correct with the ailerons. Next time I go up and its windy I'll try to hold it in place and keep correcting with the rudder.
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Apr 1, 2017 01:32
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Passed my PPL written test today! Almost didn't get to take it because my instructor wrote the test endorsement in my log book as "Private Pilot Airplane Single Engine Land" instead of just "Private Pilot Airplane" and the lady at the testing center flipped out about it and had me go have him rewrite it.
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Apr 25, 2017 03:37
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I'm sitting ina big airport waiting for a flight... can I flash my student license somewhere and be allowed in the pilot lounges? Edit:Don't see a way in to the FBO now that I'm past security in he terminal. Nuggan fucked around with this message at 00:20 on Apr 29, 2017 |
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Apr 29, 2017 00:00
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Two Kings posted:This is a joke post, right? I saw a few pilots having some food between flights so I sat next to them and waited for my moment where they were all taking a bit e at the same time so I could blurt out "I'm a student pilot". They all stood up and clapped and so did everyone else in the airport. One of them was flying my plane and he let me sit on his lap and steer for half the flight.
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Apr 29, 2017 16:30
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Passed my ppl check ride this morning. I'm a pilot, goons.
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May 11, 2017 17:52
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Rolo posted:Have a beer, wait 8 hours and go do your instrument rating. That's the plan! No delay, straight into it.
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May 11, 2017 20:49
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PT6A posted:Don't you need 50 hours PIC cross-country for an instrument rating (or is that just in Canada)? Work on that, then do your instrument rating. I guess you could do all the training, complete the flight test, and then build hours, but... why? I believe it is 50 hours here in the states. I have a friend who also just got his PPL, we're planning on trading off who is flying when we take some trips so we can both get hours up for the instrument rating.
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May 11, 2017 23:16
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My first ppl flight yesterday with a friend, and someone almost hit us. I flew to our destination, bumpy but uneventful, and he flew back while I was right seat. He was looking out to the left to make sure no one was parachuting at the airport we were passing when I yell out "traffic" as a high-wing something comes rocketing up in front of us maybe 400ft away. It crosses our path, flies to our right and does a quick steep 180, almost looked to me like a wingover, and come straight towards us at our 2:00. He sees us at the last moment and pulls away high and above us while my friend dives down to get out of the way. Most uncomfortable thing to happen to me so far... We had our destination airport frequency and the one we were just passing both up on the coms and no one was talking. drat dude, don't do acrobatic poo poo at 1200ft over populated areas...
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May 22, 2017 04:43
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| # ¿ Apr 28, 2024 12:48 |
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PT6A posted:Well, I still need ~23 PIC before you can update the OP's list, but I passed my commercial flight test! gently caress yeah! Congratulations!
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May 23, 2017 05:04
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