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PT6A posted:it's still way easier to get current again than it would be to finish off your license after a huge delay. This. Spending $1000+/Mo with no end in sight sucks, but it'd be even worse to walk away now and pretty much waste a decent amount of what you've already spent. 5 or 10 years from now you'll be a good student but a student all the same. Why deal with that when you could bang this out and have a license for the rest of your life that can be reactivated with a few hours dual and a BFR.
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Jun 12, 2017 14:52
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dexter6 posted:Well, I think I am taking a break from getting my PPL as of today. I think you'd be a good candidate for one of the accelerated "Finish Up" schools. Go somewhere, spend several days flying nonstop with a DPE already booked or on short notice and you'd be set.
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Jul 17, 2017 15:29
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I'm glad I fly out of the DC SFRA and therefore radios are more or less mandatory. I don't get the mindset of anyone who would fly without at least a portable that they can receive CTAF calls with. I understand some airplanes don't have electrical systems or workload may not permit transmission (have heard this from glider pilots), but receive-only capability costs $200 and requires very little effort. Back in July I came uncomfortably close (could see the pilots shirt color) to a 172 in a classic high wing vs low wing situation approaching an uncontrolled field. If that guy had bothered to make a call or two, I'd probably have modified my approach a little to avoid his general area. "see and avoid" is a cop out, we can do better.
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Sep 7, 2017 15:18
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Rickety Cricket posted:Where do you fly out of? I did my private at KVKX and instructed at KMTN. FME. I did my PPL written at MTN, looked like a large training operation up there.
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Sep 8, 2017 18:26
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I'd go for the smaller one, but I never had an issue with talking to ATC (instructor was great with teaching that). I think learning on a narrower runway will be beneficial, looks like everything at RDU is 100ft+, it may leave you a little squeamish on a more "normal" GA runway at 50ft. I learned on 3000x75, I'm sure the guys at the school up the road with 2400x40 have better approach habits than me, centerline discipline gets really important...
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Oct 31, 2017 15:41
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I wonder how many aspiring ATP's are out there with between 500 and 1500 hours. Not sure if this will be a temporary fix like raising the retirement age was, or it'll loosen up the supply of pilots enough for the regionals to go back to paying first year FO's 25k. The status quo is clearly doomed regardless, it benefits nobody but pilots.
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Nov 7, 2017 23:34
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Sagebrush posted:Is the Lightspeed Zulu3 worth the extra $200 over the Sierra? (For a PPL student, not professional flight crew). I have a Sierra and have been happy with it, never really wished I had the Zulu or Bose instead. I have a large head and can fly 3-4hrs in it with no problems, the DC i used prior to buying it was extremely uncomfortable by comparison. Mic/Audio quality is way better too which helps with ATC.
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Mar 13, 2018 16:50
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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.
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Jul 24, 2018 13:48
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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.
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Jul 25, 2018 19:50
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Beccara posted:On a similar note I'm going to be signing up to start what will be a long process of getting my RPL in NZ, Aiming for a trial flight sometime in the next 7-10 days (looking for a calm smooth day at NZWR This is cool, I am from NZ but all my GA flying has been in the US, must be scenic and a practical way to get around there given the roads and topography... Seconding the request for updates as you go along.
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Dec 26, 2018 19:19
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I remember reading some old aviation story, maybe an Earnest Gann book, involving an instructor who would strike matches in the face of students during an instrument approach at night. Something to do with remaining calm if the airplane was on fire. The times sure have changed..
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Jan 14, 2019 19:26
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PT6A posted:and having a primary instructor full-time for an entire license or rating is bad. I don't want to pick up my instructor's lovely habits, and I don't want my students to pick up my bad habits or idiosyncrasies because they've only ever flown with me. A It's a fair point, but from a student perspective flying with multiple instructors can be a pain in the rear end if they're not following a very standardized way of teaching and operating the airplane. I have flown with 4 counting the guy who did my PPL checkride and am pretty sure I've received conflicting advice from all of them. I then have to filter through it and evaluate each instructors perspective and figure out what to actually follow. It's stuff like using trim for steep turns or not, when to use carb heat, when to turn base to final, when to begin descent when in the pattern, if flaps should be raised during the rollout etc etc etc. A lot of it is airplane specific so I tend to go with whoever has the most time on type but it's still irritating.
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Jan 17, 2019 20:15
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I would have thought a weight on wheels sensor could be used to prevent the airplane from ever being pressurized on the ground, didn't a bunch of people die on an airliner that landed with a fire onboard but remained pressurized which made the doors unopenable?
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Feb 13, 2019 17:11
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yellowD posted:Hey pilot goons I don't remember the exact number but I'm pretty sure i solo'd around 28 hours. The ~10 hours leading up to that event sucked and were what felt like a frustrating waste of money and time for several months. Keep at it! There is some advice here and you're already watching youtube and I'm not a CFI or a very good pilot. BUT one thing that helped me get a feel for how the airplane was going to respond in the flare was to try an experimental and tiny bit of back pressure between 50 and 100 feet or at "Treetop height". Just enough to maybe bleed off a little speed but nothing meaningful. What it will do is pick your nose up which will increase drag and your sink rate. Add a touch of power if the sink rate increase is too high, only drop the nose again as a last resort. That action will help you calibrate your actual flare back pressure a few seconds later in addition to helping to set the airplane up for it. I fly an airplane that likes to float (Grumman Tiger) and am very focused on attitude on short final. Allowing the nose to drop and diving into ground effect devours runway, even if the vref speed is acceptable. sanchez fucked around with this message at 16:27 on Apr 11, 2019 |
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Apr 11, 2019 16:24
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We upgraded our airplane (Tiger) from an 80's IFR stack (working ADF!) to Dual G5's, a 650 and a 345 this year. It's pretty sweet. Biggest complaint about the 650 is the map declutter isn't granular in the right ways, it seems inferior to the 430 in that regard. Also not having the NAV frequencies on screen at all times is a bit lame. Garmin are also jackals and require a subscription to Garmin Pilot to do database updates over wifi from an ipad. I'm a few lessons into IFR training and this setup makes it feel like I'm cheating somehow, the HSI alone is great. sanchez fucked around with this message at 18:43 on Jun 13, 2019 |
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Jun 13, 2019 18:40
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PT6A posted:Does anyone know how rental aircraft incident rates and privately-owned aircraft accident rates compare to each other? I'm curious if PPL owners do the same quantity of dumb poo poo as our renters, and I just don't see it, or if rental makes people more careless and stupid. I'm a PPL owner and have done some dumb poo poo. In theory renters should be safer, they're closer to the training environment of a flight school and they're flying simple airplanes that don't sit much. For the second paragraph, you're dealing with pilots who have certificates and a valid BFR and meet your insurance and time requirements. If they can operate the airplane safely and have a good understanding of the avionics/systems on your particular example, I'd say your conscience should be clear. Save the go/no-go type stuff for BFR's and those who use you as their primary CFI. It's got to be hard to dig into someones thinking unless you've spent some time with them working on ratings or whatever. sanchez fucked around with this message at 20:04 on Jul 5, 2019 |
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Jul 5, 2019 19:56
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Carth Dookie posted:
This might be a good thing, I believe actually puking is the worst thing because it creates a habit/association in your head that you now have to break. It should be a little better next time.
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Jul 29, 2019 16:49
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CBJSprague24 posted:They got out OK, but I can't get over the initial shock of realizing where geographically the plane was, that it was highly likely it was one of ours, and the uncertainty (until we found out they were fine about 20 minutes later). I'm a mess. 2 of the 5 airplanes I have flown from the left seat have been wrecked, one landed on a road and one in trees, both after engine failures. No injuries in either case thankfully. It's pretty sobering seeing a familiar registration number on news helicopter footage of the wreckage.
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Oct 15, 2019 15:51
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Animal posted:We get a $75 meal allowance if we are working today so I’m gonna go eat a steak and takeout a second one 
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Nov 29, 2019 02:22
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Dalrain posted:Is there a good accelerated program for instrument rating offered in a structured path without a lot of other overhead? I was interested in the Redbird flight center kind of approach with a lot of enhanced sim time, but they are out of business of course. Wrong side of the country, but ifr6.com is one with a Redbird. No idea if they’re any good.
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Dec 20, 2019 02:20
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PT6A posted:we have the ability to call a mechanic whenever we please The odds of me being able to talk to a mechanic outside of bankers hours are pretty slim. If the airplane is doing something weird on a Sunday it’s 100% on me to determine if it’s safe to fly.
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Feb 19, 2020 03:15
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vessbot posted:Who wants to administer the first pilot diagnosed with CV calendar pool? One at American is already confirmed. Stay safe professional pilot goons.
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Mar 13, 2020 01:48
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My CFI does the job basically full time and is self employed, he has some other side flying work sometimes but essentially no instruction given = no paycheck. I feel terrible for him, people still seem to be flying so far but the virus in the short term and the economic hit taking a bite out of students disposable income long term is going to be rough. I have one lesson left on the schedule in March, really not sure what to do...
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Mar 17, 2020 21:03
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PT6A posted:What would you say to someone who's currently looking at a college commercial aviation program? I don't know about Canada but in the US the classic advice to do a degree in something you could deal with doing that isn't aviation while also getting your ratings on the side seems more relevant than ever.
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Apr 14, 2020 16:37
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Captain Apollo posted:I bought a used GTN650 and GTX 345. This with a flightstream 510 (install is very simple on that, it's an SD card) is what we had in the airplane I used to own. It was pretty sweet, I think you will be happy. There is something to be said for having ADSB IN running on certified equipment that won't overheat/go flat even if the GTN map screen is kinda cluttered and useless. I've been working on my IFR in that airplane and now in a rental with the same setup, it's probably ruined me for lesser equipment. It does feel extremely safe compared to a typical vacuum driven AI and DG/CDI panel.
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Apr 16, 2020 19:46
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Southwest is the best US carrier. Maybe Jetblue is close but I haven't flown enough with them to know for sure. Why? -No regional network means no tiny airplanes flown by regional tier pilots (sorry) -No bag fees minimizes over-utilization of overhead bins -Fare change rules are extremely flexible. They don't sell use it or lose it tickets even at the lowest fare tier. -Single class cabin layout improves passenger morale. The seats have 1-3 more inches of pitch than United Economy, which is a miserable experience basically forcing an upgrade to Economy+ -Anecdotally, I am charged for booze less than 50% of the time and have been given vouchers by other passengers more than once. It's still a bus but not Spirit tier. -I live close to a massive SWA hub (BWI) and can fly pretty much anywhere nonstop I love them so much we don't typically price shop domestic airfare at all unless the SWA price seems outrageous for some reason. sanchez fucked around with this message at 19:23 on Apr 21, 2020 |
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Apr 21, 2020 19:19
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I don't think it is? they have the same page up they always have for PPL. I used it to pass my IFR written in the last month (95%  ). Great product and their "study strategy" really does work. The actual software looks like it was written in the 90's and their primary business email is at aol.com but that's aviation for you.
sanchez fucked around with this message at 13:32 on Jun 5, 2020 |
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Jun 5, 2020 13:28
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Sagebrush posted:calculate the correction required for a desired course of 231°, a true spacespeed of warp 4, and a solar wind from 088° at 1.2 million knots And then pick the answer you rote memorized because the UFP test is wrong.
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Jun 18, 2020 18:31
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+1 for a Mini with Foreflight, I use a yoke mount. Get one with cellular service so you can file flight plans and check weather from anywhere.
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Jul 28, 2020 16:00
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Passed my IFR ride this week. Took me a year and a half but I managed to get it done just over the 40hr mark. The actual training was way more fun than ppl but still intense sometimes doing approach, go missed, another approach, go missed etc. I did a normal xc this weekend and it was so much more relaxed, went through an overcast layer at 2000 that would have grounded me as a vfr only pilot as well which was cool. it’s really nice to be able to look outside the airplane again too, 18 months of mostly foggles was getting old.
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Sep 14, 2020 00:54
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In a rental airplane I think you have an obligation to fly it however the owner specifies, even if it’s dumb. If it’s not, and there is no operating limit in the afm to the contrary, you can firewall the throttle when taking off and not touch it again until top of descent. Adjust prop for noise/vibration as desired. Not dicking around with the throttle all the time is my favorite thing about constant speed airplanes. Another avweb article here: https://www.avweb.com/features_old/why-over-square-is-good/ sanchez fucked around with this message at 01:41 on Oct 6, 2020 |
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Oct 6, 2020 01:26
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Loucks posted:Has anyone tried flying in an N95 respirator? Were you audible? I’ve been patiently waiting for this pandemic thing to be over to start ppl training since March, but it’s obviously not going to happen any time soon. At least with an N95 I could worry less about taking Covid home to kill my family. I did most of my ifr with myself and the instructor in n95 masks per school policy. Mask, foggles and summer heat resulted in the closest I’ve come to puking in the airplane. It was doable after getting used to it, the most annoying thing was the impact on mic/radio calls.
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Oct 20, 2020 01:54
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Sagebrush posted:
This is the case most of the time but not in Class B, all traffic gets separation and results in ATC giving IFR style instructions to VFR airplanes. Flying the bravo is not super uncommon here in the DC area, it's not as busy as NYC so going into Dulles or BWI is generally possible if you have a hankering to pay landing fees. I'd also thought it was outright against the rules to fly part 121 airline service with passengers without being on an IFR flight plan, hopefully someone else can chime in on that. I can see a ferry flight with just pilots on board being ok.
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Apr 6, 2021 02:43
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nocturama posted:I like hearing what weird stuff the yank pilots come out with, working sydney approach I heard Australian atc are very particular about correct radio phraseology, is that true?
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Jul 27, 2021 16:34
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