Well tomorrow I have my first flying lesson! Its taken ages to actually get round to doing it but I think after tomorrow I will start on that long winding road to becoming a Private Pilot. Just thought I would share this with everyone.Dean.

good luck and have fun

Well.......... good ! High wing, low wing? or what ever the school has available ??? :) I went from Cessna's to Piper's to Cessna's to Piper's and a few others in between.L.Adamson

I just had my first yesterday. What a blast! We took off from runway 34 at Palwaukee in a Beech Sundowner and flew east over Lake Michigan, south along the lakefront past the downtown, Navy Pier and Meigs field before returning by the same route. Landed on runway 16. Total duration was just under an hour. Great weather but hazy. Visibility was 5-6 miles. Over the lake, the haze was so heavy that it was impossible to tell sky from water. I can certainly see how spatial disorientation could be a problem. Anyway, I'm hooked. My next lesson is Tuesday. What a neat little plane the Sundowner is.

Welcome to the world of flying to the both of you! So Moghdad, I see you're flying out of PWK. Busy airport! You flying with American Flyers? I know a few flight instructors that trained there. You're only about 15 minutes flying distance from my airport at Lake In the Hills (3CK). I hope you get a chance to check us out sometime. We're an uncontrolled field that is 3000 ft long and only 50 ft wide. Good luck with your flight training!

Thanks!It was The Flight Center run by Jim Kwasek out of Service Aviation on the southeast side of the airport. Seems like a solid operation.Do you know of any companies giving lessons out of airports in the southwest suburbs?

At DuPage (West Chicago) you have:American Flyers (630) 584-4700, Cougar Aviation, Inc. (630) 420-874,Illinois Aviation Academy (630) 377-7788I'd give the following a call at Aurora to see if they have flight training:Air Aurora 312-550-7395Lumanair Aviation 800-522-8778Zook 630-466-0180At Lewis in Romeoville I'd give Lewis University Aviation Services a call at 815-838-0500.At Joliet I'd try JF Aviation at 815-744-7528.There are also probably hundreds of independent flight instructors all around, probably at just about every airport. You could call FBO's at various airports and ask if they know anybody that does flight training in the area.

Thanks again.

Listen to what you CFI has to say to you,apply what he is saying, dont get discouraged,don't eat to much the day he teaches you STALLS,never fly with a cold or ear ache,and see if you can solo in 11 hours like I did.Maybe see you up there,Best wishes.http://www.flightsimnetwork.com/dcforum/Us...9d503cc53ab.jpg

A small hint, do not ever get caught up in the "I soloed in 11 hours" and "I passed by checkride in 42 hours" game. Everybody is different and some take more time than others and become better pilots. And some take less time and become great pilots. It is not a contest to see who can do it the fastest. The point of the excercise is to learn the basic skills in order to fly safely and to learn them in whatever time it takes. Bob (Only my logbook, my CFI and the FAA know how long it took.)

I concur. You want to be efficient, sometimes CFI's aren't watching the clock like you are while you're paying. But, take it from me, hour 20 through 43 became a lot more fun, when I relaxed and didn't make my primary concern saving money or getting my license at 40 hours. There is a gentle balance that occurs. Your CFI knows your strengths and weaknesses, but sometimes you need to remind him, if you really feel it and believe it, that you don't need another 20 hours of steep turns and slow flight. Sometimes that reminder that you have the confidence in addition to the ability is enough to show a newer CFI that you are ready for him to put his reputation in your logbook for various signoffs. Sometimes the lower CFI's are understandably a little weary of their own abilities to determine the right signoff points, because they have not had enough experience in determining what that point is. But, as my CFI told me, prior to soloing at 8.4 hours, I will think you are ready long before you will. And for the solo that was true. Unfortunately, we later differed on that point for the checkride, and it killed my confidence for a couple of weeks, even though my flying had been impeccable. But was later told by my 2nd instructor, that I had nothing to worry about.....that instructor, a 430 hour CFI had a history of getting people to the 30-40 hour mark and never finishing them. He apparently was apprehensive of putting his ##### on the line, when it came to making the big signoff. But, he is balanced by others who might be too liberal in that regard.Just keep your confidence in check, don't get cocky, but realize that confidence and technique symbiotically compose 90% of flying. You can be sharp as a tack with the CFI in the plane, but the true test, is when you can't lean over to the right for advice....that is when you are a real pilot......Christopher BraunP4 1.8768 ram 80 gig hardriveVisiontek Ti4 4600CH yoke/pedals19" inch monitor-Soundblaster PCI 512Win XPPrivate Pilot, 97 hours, finishing up Inst 2-3 weeks, then on to MultiAOPALawyerPilots Bar Association"Men without dreams are never free, twas thus this way and thus will ever be."

Great!! Don't stop or look back. Best thing I ever did, even though it took me 62 years to get here. Seven months from first lesson to check ride-to the day and almost the hour! Time it took is only important to me. Remember, a good landing is one you can walk away from, a great landing is one you can use the aircraft again. :-hahFred Zealor, Private PilotUnder looong final to 30 at KSAC

Hi All,Thanks for all of the words of encouragment from everyone, Heres a quick pic from my flight. This was taken on final in to Newcastle Airport in the UK. I'll be posting more in the screenshot forum later on. I can definately say that I now have the flying bug......Amazing!! wish I had done it earlyer.

Nice approach, right down the middle. A tad low, but a little shot of power will fix that. Welcome to the greatest addiction in the world.Bob

Thanks Bob, your right about the "Greatest addiction in the world" my aim now is to get my PPL.