Wednesday, August 4, 2010

My First Five Lessons

This blog is meant to be journal of my efforts towards getting my Private Pilot's License.  I've already got 5 lessons under my belt; since I'm not flying today, I thought I'd reminisce about those...

My first flying lesson was on 29 June and I flew for 0.8 hours.  No, my recall is not that awesome - every flight must be logged in a CAA approved Pilot's Logbook.  This lesson is meant to be your first taste of what happens when you step on the rudder or move the control yoke and it leads directly to the second lesson about the secondary effects of the controls. 

My first two official lessons (and for that matter, my third and forth as well) were somewhat a review of things Simon had shown me on our flights here and there.  I whizzed through them as well as "straight and level" (lesson 3) and "medium turns" (lesson 4).  I mastered the basics of controlling an airplane to an acceptable level in flight. 

On my third lesson, I did my first successful take off.  I'm a bit less confident in the planes when they're on the ground (I find taxiing very difficult) so it felt great to be able to get it up myself.

The fifth lesson was "basic stalling" and something that I had heard of, but never done.  It was a bumpy day in the air as well.  Thankfully, I took it in stride and lived up to the challenge of something new on a day that wasn't pristine.  I also almost did the whole landing myself...the instructor helped me with the flare but said I was very good on everything else (lining up, controlling the airspeed, and bringing her down nice and evenly).

My next lesson is "revision" and beginning "circuits".  The revision of all my skills up to now will help me to bring them all together and fly the standard circuit at the airfield so I can practice my take-offs and landings. 

4 hours down, 46 to go...

2 comments: