|
If you’re trying to get into MCO or ORL today... I’m so, so sorry.
|
#
?
Jul 22, 2018 21:51
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 18, 2024 11:54 |
|
|
rldmoto posted:Is that a Dragonfly? Holy poo poo, that's a Dragonfly. I haven't seen one of those since Oshkosh in the '90's. Weirdo plane, Rutan wannabe kind of thing, but 130mph-ish on 80hp at 4gph is pretty okay. Speaking of Oshkosh, I saw this waiting in line to take off after us.
|
|
#
?
Jul 22, 2018 22:39
|
|
|
Watching a student go, in the course of three or four flights, from "frightens the poo poo out of me during 1st cross-country landing" to "pulls off a perfect landing in a gusty crosswind at an unfamiliar airport" is very satisfying, I have to say. There are certain elements of instructing I could do without, but that's a pretty cool part of the job. P.S. To the student pilots in here, the way to make your instructor's day is to show up on time, with your walkaround and any necessary planning done. It's such a magical feeling when it actually happens! PT6A fucked around with this message at 02:09 on Jul 23, 2018 |
|
#
?
Jul 23, 2018 01:58
|
|
|
PT6A posted:
jesus christ this i'm going to be driven insane by people who show up 5 minutes late to a 2 hour reservation with nothing done ahead of time
|
|
#
?
Jul 23, 2018 15:48
|
|
|
a patagonian cavy posted:jesus christ this Our dispatcher just said, "gently caress him, charge him ground-brief time if he's not ready, maybe he'll learn when it costs him money." Also our dispatcher is a current PPL student so he's probably going to be an awesome pilot eventually, because he gets to hear all the things the instructors are bitching about on any given day 
|
|
#
?
Jul 23, 2018 15:55
|
|
|
PT6A posted:Our dispatcher just said, "gently caress him, charge him ground-brief time if he's not ready, maybe he'll learn when it costs him money." I'm definitely trying to use y'all's bitching to inform my learning, so keep it up plz My wife came home from work having heard about regionals being hard up for pilots and paying for people to get their ratings, and said I should do that. She was oddly undisturbed by the worse pay and worse hours than my current job. If only I was ten years younger...
|
|
#
?
Jul 23, 2018 17:59
|
|
|
dupersaurus posted:I'm definitely trying to use y'all's bitching to inform my learning, so keep it up plz Good. As the saying goes: learn from others' mistakes, because you won't live long enough to make them all yourself.
|
|
#
?
Jul 23, 2018 20:04
|
|
|
a patagonian cavy posted:jesus christ this Our school has a show time of 45 minutes prior to wheels up in which you're to do the ground brief and pre-flight. I THINK if you arrive after the scheduled start time of the block you might as well not come because it's a no-show.
|
|
#
?
Jul 23, 2018 22:45
|
|
|
CBJSprague24 posted:Our school has a show time of 45 minutes prior to wheels up in which you're to do the ground brief and pre-flight. I THINK if you arrive after the scheduled start time of the block you might as well not come because it's a no-show. I know when I did my primary training that unless it was the first flight of the day, there was about a 75% chance the aircraft wouldn't actually be back at the airport until anywhere between 10 minutes before to 5 minutes after my start time, at least on weekends.
|
|
#
?
Jul 24, 2018 00:00
|
|
|
What kind of booking lengths do y'all have? We have 2-hour bookings, but I think especially for CPL students, it would be good to have 3-hour bookings. It would allow for a lot more scenario-based training, and a better ratio of time spent flying and practicing to time spent loving around on the ground and getting out of the immediate area of the airport. The only disadvantage is I think it could be difficult for PPL-level students to stay properly focused for that long, and cancellations would blow an even bigger hole in the schedule than they already do. EDIT: Also, spending 2.5 hours in the circuit sounds like something that should be prohibited by the Geneva Conventions.
|
|
#
?
Jul 24, 2018 00:05
|
|
|
Well, I guess it's for the best I didn't get into that school after all. Further research has yielded that I'm ineligible for medical (aside from BasicMed) because the SSRI I take isn't one of the four approved for Special Issuance. Kind of frustrating, because I'm the best I've ever felt on this medication.
|
|
#
?
Jul 24, 2018 00:54
|
|
|
So far all the bookings at my place have been 2.5, actual air time just shy of 2.
|
|
#
?
Jul 24, 2018 00:56
|
|
|
taiyoko posted:Well, I guess it's for the best I didn't get into that school after all. Further research has yielded that I'm ineligible for medical (aside from BasicMed) because the SSRI I take isn't one of the four approved for Special Issuance. Kind of frustrating, because I'm the best I've ever felt on this medication. Bummer, I was on SSRIs a little over a decade ago for a couple of months and had to jump through a ton of hoops to get my medical, it’s still a miracle I got one at all. If you’re not looking at flying professionally take a look at gliders or LSAs they don’t require a medical.
|
|
#
?
Jul 24, 2018 02:28
|
|
|
taiyoko posted:Kind of frustrating, because I'm the best I've ever felt on this medication. Welcome to aviation, where you get to chose between your health and continued employment!
|
|
#
?
Jul 24, 2018 03:05
|
|
|
MrYenko posted:Welcome to aviation, where you get to chose between your health and continued employment! Even after a mentally Ill guy ran a plane full of passengers into a mountain, they still encourage hiding things. Unbelievable
|
|
#
?
Jul 24, 2018 03:29
|
|
|
PT6A posted:What kind of booking lengths do y'all have? We have 2-hour bookings, but I think especially for CPL students, it would be good to have 3-hour bookings. It would allow for a lot more scenario-based training, and a better ratio of time spent flying and practicing to time spent loving around on the ground and getting out of the immediate area of the airport. I did 3 hour bookings for the most part during PPL, maybe 2hrs for pattern only or if I was squeezing in somewhere on the schedule. Typically PPL flights were close to 2 hours hobbs with the rest of the time consumed by briefings, postflight airplane securing and random delays like winning both the NEED FUEL and NEED OIL lotteries on the same day. I did learn in the DC SFRA which means .5-.7 hobbs just to get to a practice area or do anything other than pattern work.
|
|
#
?
Jul 24, 2018 13:48
|
|
|
greasyhands posted:Even after a mentally Ill guy ran a plane full of passengers into a mountain, they still encourage hiding things. Unbelievable The argument is usually that by banning certain meds/conditions the medical certification process encourages pilots to allow potentially serious conditions to go untreated. In the Germanwings case the pilot was actively in treatment including prescription meds and had a sick note from the doctor saying he was medically unfit to fly (without giving details since that’s barred by German law) but chose to fly and kill himself and his passengers anyways. The only way being in the open about his condition with his employer and regulatory authorities would have changed things would be if he was barred from flying because of his meds/medical condition which I think is the opposite of the point you’re making. I’m all for more loosening of the FAA’s strict stance on medicals (and BasicMed is a huge step forward for those not looking to fly commercially), but invoking the Germanwings crash doesn’t really make the case for that.
|
|
#
?
Jul 24, 2018 15:02
|
|
|
fordan posted:The argument is usually that by banning certain meds/conditions the medical certification process encourages pilots to allow potentially serious conditions to go untreated. In the Germanwings case the pilot was actively in treatment including prescription meds and had a sick note from the doctor saying he was medically unfit to fly (without giving details since that’s barred by German law) but chose to fly and kill himself and his passengers anyways. The only way being in the open about his condition with his employer and regulatory authorities would have changed things would be if he was barred from flying because of his meds/medical condition which I think is the opposite of the point you’re making. He hid it from his employer in order to keep flying. He was essentially seeking out treatment in secret instead of completely ignoring the problem, which admittedly is slightly better than ignoring it, but it’s still the same result caused by the same bad policy. There have been some strides made regarding alcoholism (HIMS program), and I’m not saying people with potentially dangerous conditions should be allowed to keep flying- just that there should be support systems in place for jobs critical to public safety so people can get help without fear of losing their income. HIMS does this and I have seen it essentially save people, but it really only applies to substance abuse. It is very complicated though.
|
|
#
?
Jul 24, 2018 16:15
|
|
|
rldmoto posted:Is that a Dragonfly? Holy poo poo, that's a Dragonfly. I haven't seen one of those since Oshkosh in the '90's. Weirdo plane, Rutan wannabe kind of thing, but 130mph-ish on 80hp at 4gph is pretty okay. my dad built a dragonfly. we keep it in the hangar, it's kind of scary to fly and one killed my dad's best friend. our m201j is way less frightening
|
|
#
?
Jul 24, 2018 16:32
|
|
|
Big Bowie Bonanza posted:my dad built a dragonfly. we keep it in the hangar, it's kind of scary to fly and one killed my dad's best friend. I’m guessing that it has all the rotor inertia of a bag of feathers in a wind tunnel. Has he ever practiced autos in it?
|
|
#
?
Jul 24, 2018 16:38
|
|
|
It's obviously a difficult question to answer, and it becomes even more difficult when you start talking about flying for pay or granting higher certifications than a PPL -- but I agree that the FAA seriously needs to spend more time updating its policies on mental health. It seems like half the people I know have taken antidepressants or anxiolytics at some point thanks to the stupid hell world we all now live in, and what I imagine is a general trend towards overmedication. The fact that you've been depressed or anxious before doesn't mean you're going to fly your plane into the ground. I have a friend who is very conscientious and has flown gliders forever but had to stop their PPL training because they briefly got on medication during a particularly hellish part of grad school, and now it's apparently like a six-month $$$ process to get approved. Does that make any sense? Again, I know that ultimately it's about safety, but it seems like just another one of those hurdles that have developed to make it way harder to become a pilot these days than in the past. Like the cost of aircraft! Jesus H. Christ, what happened in the last twenty or thirty years? A brand-new 172 today costs something like $300,000, while in 1956 it was the equivalent of about $75k. Even a 152 in 1977 was still only $65,000 equivalent. I know there are more electronics and things now, but how has the same basic airframe gone from the price of a nice sports car to the price of a house? I'm glad that I am lucky enough to be able to afford the training but man I wish it was still the days when you could walk down to Macy's and buy an Ercoupe Sagebrush fucked around with this message at 16:45 on Jul 24, 2018 |
|
#
?
Jul 24, 2018 16:40
|
|
|
I think it mostly comes down to liability, if I'm not mistaken.
|
|
#
?
Jul 24, 2018 17:28
|
|
|
No, it comes down to economies of scale almost entirely. Cessna's production numbers, amongst others, are but a shadow of what they once were. In 2017 Cessna delivered 129 172s. In 1976, they delivered 2047 of them. That's an enormous difference in terms of manufacturing.
|
|
#
?
Jul 24, 2018 19:22
|
|
|
So why are they delivering so few? Just because there are no pilots, or because they're so expensive?
|
|
#
?
Jul 24, 2018 19:42
|
|
|
I get the feeling that the used aircraft market is pretty strong if you don't need the latest and greatest. Buying a 30 year old car is a tricky thing, but buying a 30+ year old 172 is a perfectly sane thing to do. Could probably buy an old one and install a bunch of modern stuff and still come out ahead...
|
|
#
?
Jul 24, 2018 19:49
|
|
|
Sagebrush posted:So why are they delivering so few? Just because there are no pilots, or because they're so expensive? Probably because maintenance requirements for aircraft mean that some massive percentage of every plane they've built is still flying. The new car market would be pretty hosed if used cars had their engines replaced every 5 years and the body didn't change. edit: I mean you're flying the very first cessna 152 off the line and its looks all shiny. What do you think a 1977 model year car from detroit that student drivers drove every day would look like?
|
|
#
?
Jul 24, 2018 19:51
|
|
|
Sagebrush posted:So why are they delivering so few? Just because there are no pilots, or because they're so expensive? It's a combination of things. When liability cases against GA manufacturers really got going in the 1980's (due to GA aircraft being a long-lived product and changes in the US legal system), insurance costs for both manufacturers and pilots went through the roof, and combined with inflation, a recession, the GA market becoming saturated, and income inequality becoming more pronounced (which meant fewer customers), it produced a really bad environment for GA manufacturers to survive. The 1994 General Aviation Revitalization Act helped reduce the liability costs (although they're still substantially higher than they were in the 1960's and 70's), but the costs associated with manufacturing and certifying an airplane (to say nothing of the slow decline in the US pilot population) are high enough where companies like Cessna and Piper can't sell enough airplanes for economies of scale to have any impact, which keeps costs up, which just perpetuates a cycle that limits how many airplanes can realistically be sold. Combining that with the fact that GA airplanes can last a very long time, a thriving aftermarket for improving said older airplanes, and kitplanes being substantially cheaper than newly built airplanes, there's basically no way GA manufacturers will ever get close to the production numbers they were seeing up to the 1970's.
|
|
#
?
Jul 24, 2018 20:35
|
|
|
Sagebrush posted:It's obviously a difficult question to answer, and it becomes even more difficult when you start talking about flying for pay or granting higher certifications than a PPL -- but I agree that the FAA seriously needs to spend more time updating its policies on mental health. It seems like half the people I know have taken antidepressants or anxiolytics at some point thanks to the stupid hell world we all now live in, and what I imagine is a general trend towards overmedication. The fact that you've been depressed or anxious before doesn't mean you're going to fly your plane into the ground. I have a friend who is very conscientious and has flown gliders forever but had to stop their PPL training because they briefly got on medication during a particularly hellish part of grad school, and now it's apparently like a six-month $$$ process to get approved. Does that make any sense? The FAA is working harder and harder, on a narrower and narrower segment of the population. At one time, it was "for people to use the sky". It's now "for airlines and the military to control the sky". The FAA's thoughts on most medical issues are stuck in the 1940's. (much like most GA airplane engines...) And are completely backwards. "Taking health supporting drugs" should be part of your license, not something ~to avoid because you want to fly~. They reward less safe behavior. Many, many, policies are about the "what's the least likely to get us in trouble" versus "what's best for the pilots". The airplane problem... is mostly well covered by other posters. Though I'll throw in "the market is smaller than ever". If we want planes, flying, and the hobby of flying to be cheaper, we need many, many, many, many more pilots. MrChips posted:No, it comes down to economies of scale almost entirely. Cessna's production numbers, amongst others, are but a shadow of what they once were. In 2017 Cessna delivered 129 172s. In 1976, they delivered 2047 of them. That's an enormous difference in terms of manufacturing. It started with lawyers. Ended with scale. Has been kept down due to gas prices. azflyboy posted:It's a combination of things. And the costs of learning to fly. I was talking with someone on a bike ride a week ago, and he was paying $2 an hour, to rent a 172, wet, outside of dallas, in the 60's. That's more like $17 today. Yet, renting a 172 now, wet, is more like $100 an hour. Where does that $80 go?
|
|
#
?
Jul 24, 2018 21:16
|
|
|
Fuel is substantially more expensive than it was in the 1960's, and the cost of parts (largely due to liability and lack of volume) has increased significantly as well. I can't find exact prices from the 1960's for Avgas, but I'm assuming it was a fair bit less expensive (adjusting for inflation) than it currently is, since leaded fuel was in widespread use at the time for cars and airplanes, so production costs would have been much lower than they are now. A similar situation applies to parts for small airplanes as well. During the 60's, the rate of GA aircraft production was high enough that parts benefited from economies of scale, and there were nowhere near the liability or certification costs as there are now.
|
|
#
?
Jul 24, 2018 22:33
|
|
|
Nerobro posted:The FAA is working harder and harder, on a narrower and narrower segment of the population. At one time, it was "for people to use the sky". It's now "for airlines and the military to control the sky". $100/hour for a 172 wet? You lucky swine! $165/hour up here...
|
|
#
?
Jul 25, 2018 01:31
|
|
|
Well, after lurking this thread for ages, I am now (kinda technically, start date is Oct 8th) a student pilot.  I'm looking at all sorts of Would a combination of this non-aviation headphone and this microphone adapter thing be worthwhile considering? Or is it just a janky arrangement and at that combined price point I might as well grab a used Lightspeed Sierra for an ANR headset? Edit: I'm starting a commercial career pilot program with ATP Flight School, so I'd be more than willing to invest in stuff that'll last me a long time, well into my CFI work and afterwards. cigaw fucked around with this message at 19:30 on Jul 25, 2018 |
|
#
?
Jul 25, 2018 18:28
|
|
|
PT6A posted:What kind of booking lengths do y'all have? We have 2-hour bookings, but I think especially for CPL students, it would be good to have 3-hour bookings. It would allow for a lot more scenario-based training, and a better ratio of time spent flying and practicing to time spent loving around on the ground and getting out of the immediate area of the airport. 2 hour bookings, 3 days a week.
|
|
#
?
Jul 25, 2018 18:45
|
|
|
cigaw posted:Well, after lurking this thread for ages, I am now (kinda technically, start date is Oct 8th) a student pilot. For a student pilot, you need a comfortable aviation headset (That does NOT mean it needs to be ANR. Physical comfort and passive noise reduction is way more important until you’re doing it for a living or making long cross-countries on the regular,) a fuel strainer, the applicable checklists for the aircraft you’re training in, a couple charts (a local sectional certainly, a TAC chart if one is available for the area you’re training in, and a diagram of your home field,) pencils, and a pad of paper. I like 5x8” notepads. All that Sportys poo poo is just expensive noise until you have your PPL. Don’t try to hack a headset together; Get a pair of David Clarkes or something reliable and cheapish. You’ll probably replace them later, so don’t go nuts. Every nickel you spend on junk is a nickel that would be better spent in the airplane. I wouldn’t even mention bringing your iPad into the airplane. Also, get off my lawn. 
|
|
#
?
Jul 25, 2018 19:13
|
|
|
cigaw posted:Well, after lurking this thread for ages, I am now (kinda technically, start date is Oct 8th) a student pilot. I waffled around a bit on headsets but in the end decided to suck it up and got a Zulu3. It's overkill for where I'm at now (and maybe ever), but I like to follow "buy once, cry once" when possible. If it flying doesn't work out in the end, the top-end headsets look to hold their value pretty well on resale. I had wanted to use the school's for as long as I could, but I didn't feel like they Get a kneeboard with a proper pencil holder. Using the clip to hold it is a huge pain in the rear end.
|
|
#
?
Jul 25, 2018 19:24
|
|
|
MrYenko posted:For a student pilot, you need a comfortable aviation headset (That does NOT mean it needs to be ANR. Physical comfort and passive noise reduction is way more important until you’re doing it for a living or making long cross-countries on the regular,) a fuel strainer, the applicable checklists for the aircraft you’re training in, a couple charts (a local sectional certainly, a TAC chart if one is available for the area you’re training in, and a diagram of your home field,) pencils, and a pad of paper. I like 5x8” notepads. That all makes sense, but I should have mentioned I'm starting a zero to hero program with ATP Flight School taking me all the way up to commercial and CFI, so investing in an ANR headset and an iPad kneeboard right from the getgo actually makes sense. Thank you both for the info so far!
|
|
#
?
Jul 25, 2018 19:26
|
|
|
I have the Sierras, I like them a lot and the price was pretty good compared to Bose etc. I would suggest getting a good ANR set right off the bat, if you take care of it it'll last you a decade or more. Comfort and your ability to understand ATC are both important even as a student. YMMV though, David Clarks were very uncomfortable for me but plenty of other pilots like them just fine.
|
|
#
?
Jul 25, 2018 19:50
|
|
|
I picked up a passive Faro Stealth for under $200 new a couple months ago and I really like it so far. My CFI told me he used the same and had no issue until he wanted Bluetooth.
|
|
#
?
Jul 25, 2018 21:59
|
|
|
cigaw posted:Well, after lurking this thread for ages, I am now (kinda technically, start date is Oct 8th) a student pilot. Welcome! A few ATP alumni present in here.
|
|
#
?
Jul 25, 2018 23:54
|
|
|
AWSEFT posted:Welcome! And I’m pretty sure some of us have avatars of an ATP Seminole!
|
|
#
?
Jul 26, 2018 00:38
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 18, 2024 11:54 |
|
|
cigaw posted:I wanna buy pilot stuff Kneeboard: I've never used a smaller iPad but I use a standard sized iPad when flying part 121 and I can't imagine having anything that big strapped to my leg in a GA airplane. My personal recommendation is to use one that has flaps which can hold a sectional/flightplan as well as a notepad to write down atis/clearances/ect. For what it's worth I went through my entire training and flight instruction using something like this: http://www.mypilotstore.com/MyPilotStore/sep/526 Kitbag: I've seen people use use everything from a backpack to a $300 aviation specific kitbag successfully. The trick is setting it up in a way where you have access to the things you actually need during flight (Hint, the Pilots handbook of aeronautical knowledge is not one of those things). Headset: Read the previous posts and other aviation websites/forums. This is a topic that has been beat to death and there's about a thousand articles written about it. ps: Welcome to the
|
|
#
?
Jul 26, 2018 03:26
|
|
