Hey guys, have posted in a while but believe me I've been reading and 'eye-balling' per-say as much as well.. A SimV forum fanatic? Aside with the corny introductions, this Friday I will be entering the actual world of aviation; starting flying lessons. I've met the instructor many times and we've sat down and had our chit chats in the wonderful Midfield Cafe(in Nashua Airport) as the sounds of multiple plane engines take control of our eardrums. He's a great guy, and we've scheduled for two hours this week(I received 6 purchased hours of lessons as a Christmas gift, waiting to be taken advantage of). I'll be taking my lessons(all the way to a PPL luckily) in a beautiful 1982 Cessna 152. I will never forget the day(how could I? It was 3 days ago! ) when he handed me that manual; I was speechless. But anyways, I'm just curious what everyone thinks and if anyone has any tips as to what I should know/do beforehand and such.

Alright, you all take care

-Jake Bourdon

Hi Jake! That's great news! A good instructor is all it takes to et you through the course and it helps to have the same good instructor throughout.

Looking forward to hearing how it all goes! 

I'm stoked that all of you are happily supporting me I can assure you all that I'll keep ya updated I greatly appreciate the excitement and support that you're all giving me, thanks a lot 

-Jake

I got 2 years before I want to get my PPL!

Money was, and partly still is, the only reason why I've not gone for my PPL. I'm currently waiting to go to university before I can look at getting flying lessons (which, all going well, will be with the RAF as part of their opportunities for students and budding service-people)


It says on your profile that you're 16 years old - Which is ideal and yet dreadful. It's good that you should hopefully have a moderate work load at school/college/whatever you're doing, but it's also a pretty bad age for getting a job. I was fortunate to get my first job at age 17!

Flying is seriously expensive. Look towards getting part time employment to help pay for the training - Remember, your lessons don't stop when you become qualified... You must fly regularly enough to remain proficient and to become a constantly better pilot. Work may exist in your local area as a waiter (great fun!) or in other catering areas. Paper rounds, etc, are also a good source of income.


The more money you have, the better things will be. Plus, women dig a rich pilot 

I've been spending an enjoyable couple of days sim flying around your location in New Hampshire, and feeling quite at-
home amongst all the many English-sounding towns and airfields in my little Cessna 150 Aerobat!
An interesting area, with lots of inland water, including Float-plane landing strips.
I'm suddenly feeling quite at-home!


http://www.airnav.com/airport/kash




Paul...G-BPLF... ...!

An addendum... where I will specifically cite the mistakes I made training for my PPASEL.

-If you show up for a lesson only to find it's been scratched out of the book so another CFI could take the plane, and nobody noticed or bothered to call you, cry foul. Loudly. If it happens twice, or if your lesson is cancelled with no heads-up more than once, find a different school (and explain why: THEY WORK FOR YOU)

-If the school tells you that you have to do your official supervised solo again because they "lost the paperwork", tell them to make a copy of the flight entry and instructor's endorsement found in your logbook. If that is not good enough for them, tell them you will do the solo again on their dime, or you will go to another school (and explain why: THEY WORK FOR YOU).

-If CFI turnover is so rapid at your school that you find yourself on your 3rd instructor in less than a year, before you fly with the new CFI, ask them what the outgoing CFI has told them about your progress, to minimize and make best use of any review dual they will want to do with you. If they shrug and say "he didn't tell me anything", find a different school (and explain why: THEY WORK FOR YOU).

If you find a tool or rag inside or on top of the cowling during your preflight more than once, find another school (and explain why: THEY WORK FOR YOU).

They want your money. Some of them might also want to teach you to be a safe and competent pilot, but one thing all instructors and schools want is your money. Nothing wrong with that, as long as you are getting what you're paying for.  You should be content that your money is being used wisely, or they will not get any more money from you. Remind them of this as often as you find necessary.

How could we be anything less than supportive? :0) Aviation is a wonderful thing, I wish more people would try it.
As far as Beaky goes, I think he's nailed it on the head. Always pay as you go, and remember that the instructor is working for you. You can always request a new Instructor if the one you're with just isn't working for you, I know as an Instructor, I would not want to be the reason my student failed, haha.
Aside from that, your sim experience probably isn't going to translate into actual flying ability, although it will give you a good working knowledge of what things are.  The biggest thing to remember when flying VFR, getting your PPL, is to LOOK OUTSIDE, haha. Something we often forget about when simming.
For myself, when I ran into problems that my instructor just couldn't fix, I got inventive. For instance, I almost failed to go solo (which would have been a problem, since I was in a rather strict college program), because I kept missing things on the radio. I found the radio to be overwhelming in my inexperience. My instructor had told me that I'd have to figure it out before I went solo (and if I couldn't get soloed by a certain time, as per program rules, I would be involuntarily withdrawn). I turned to liveatc.net, and would pick a call sign at a busy tower, and just listen for that call sign. I'd try to keep up with the various conversations, and at some point, it just all clicked, haha. Another problem I had was with the checklist, not so much memorizing, but timely application, ie speed. That's when I got really creative. I would play FSX and do circuits at my airport while reciting the various checks from memory for the appropriate places in the circuit, as well, I'd practice reciting emergency memory checklists while throwing a tennis ball at the wall, and proceeding to catch it, that was to work on multi-tasking. Today, I've also amassed a small library of aviation books, haha, and I frequent aviation theory and question based facebook pages quite often.
Other people have been saying how expensive flying is and such, and that's true, but I would recommend looking into government subsidized programs, just see if any exist. Here in Canada, there are a few, 3 in Ontario alone. The flying is fully paid by the government (students are required to pay tuition, and since all three are colleges, that's not outrageous, and you get a diploma from two of the three, the third one offers a degree) and there aren't any catches, I didn't have to join the Canadian Air Force after graduating. I also didn't just get my PPL. In the 3 year, diploma program I was in, I received (in order), my student pilot permit, PPL, Night Rating, CPL, Multi-Engine Rating, Group 1 IFR. So, something like that may be worth looking into, just see if it exists in your country.
Any how, best of luck to you in your future flying endeavours, and remember to have fun.
-Doug

That's exactly what happened to me Paul, way back in my ab-initio days, haha. And I didn't really even learn in a hectic environment. There are guys and girls out there learning in some very busy airspace, I don't know how they do it, haha. But you make an excellent point about writing stuff down, haha. You should always try to write everything important down. Every clearance, every ATIS, and that way, you don't have to remember it. It'll seem hard at first as well, but you'll eventually form your own style of short hand writing, and that will make it a lot easier. As for deciphering METARs and TAFs, they usually have a Raw text form (like the one you posted Paul), and they have a plain text one (in English for the rest of us, haha). So that METAR below, to me, says that it's a beautiful morning... that is, if you wanted to fly into the side of a mountain or something. Funny enough, my local airport is experiencing similar weather.
METAR CYKF 301700Z AUTO 12004KT 090V150 1/4SM FG VV002 00/M00 A2979
RMK SLP099=

Just completed a very enjoyable tour of your area with my little Cessna 150 Aerobat, with assistance from ATC and Flight Following....>>>

FS Navigator Flight Plan:


Courtesy of FS Navigator.

Interesting Town names...Home from Home!

Paul...FS 2004... ...!

Some excellent advice here, and I hope you really enjoy it (I'm sure you will) and I've got my fingers crossed the weather where you are will be better than what I've had in the past few months (85% of lessons cancelled  )

As for busy airspace...don't be scared. I love learning at a busy regional airport in the UK where GA fits in with Business aviation and regular 737 and A319 passenger services. It's more expensive (you have to hold a bit more) and can be a bit frantic at times but I think it's a great environment to learn in (and taxying behind an airliner is just cool)

.mic