Thanks Buddy,I try to be a nice guy best I can but I am one of those that gets hung up on principles probably more than I should in real life situations of confrontation. My friends know me as a good guy but some know I can fly off handle too, that said I can see opening the door and pushing an instructor like that out then worry about how to land later :(

It was definitely an exciting time no doubt! The good news is, that we are now friends. I'm typically calm, cool, and collected (I mean my name is Buddy right?), but that day got me pretty fired up. We were doing a cross country dual from KHSD to KSWO... a short flight, about 50nm. Now we are both pretty big guys, I'm 6'0 and about 230, and my instructor dwarfed me... So imagine two offensive linemen from the Green Bay Packers burning holes in the sky in a cockpit smaller than a mini cooper. Couple that with fact that it was in the middle of July where surface temps are typically in the high 90's or low 100's. What happened was, our direct course heading was about 38 degrees. About 10nm out I had the field in sight and was looking straight down rwy 04. He insisted that we were lining up for 35. I pointed him to the DG and the magnetic compass, but he wouldn't budge! He even took control of the plane till we were about 2 nm out! Fine, honest mistake, but what really got me happened on the return flight... He told me that I wasn't ready for solo CC because of my navigation skills!!!! We verbally duked it out for about 5 minutes and promptly dissolved our student/teacher relationship at the conclusion of the flight. All is well now, and we shoot the breeze whenever we bump into each other. But holy cow I was hot at the time!On I side note, I often read your posts though rarely reply. I've found your insight to be exceptional and would suggest that you think about doing an online blog documenting your experiences when the time comes. I know I'd like to read it, and I'm sure others would to. Cheers!Buddy Morgan

Thanks again, Matthew. I hope I can do just that and go right into IFR. I'll need to look into what's in my area for PIC's (Professional Instrument courses). That is great news though. I was under the impression I need to have some insane amount of flight time before even getting into a PIC. I know my instrument dvds mention a lot of this stuff but have been trying to figure out where they were packed, doh. I found this website that has some good info also (hehe, I needed to find out what the heck PIC was :().Thanks again,

haha sorry about that. PIC = Pilot In Command

Being an aircraft owner yourself you can understand there is just way too much other expenses to owning one to make it realistic for me right now. Where I live the costs alone for storage/parking would be above my threshold, not to mention maintenance.As for asking future advice, you can bet I will be doing just that! Thanks again, and thanks again everyone for writing down your thoughts, experiences and good wishes.

Believe me, I'll be the first to tell you that owning an aircraft isn't necessarily a rational economic decision. To paraphase my boat-owning friends: The second-happiest day of your life is the day you buy your plane. Can you guess what the happiest day is? Anytime on the advice.

Dan, I've been flying for a few years now. My love for flying actually started with Flight Sim. Anyway, I do have a few suggestions for you as well. Research the flight schools in your area. Check out their fleet and talk with some of the instructors to find out their experience level. Also, I would also make sure to take the Private Pilot ground school class as it will really bring everything together. If you don't take a class, your instructor will probably do a ground lesson before the flight, but the class itself is so much more thorough and will prepare you much better for your written exam/oral exam/checkride. See if the school carries insurance and also check about maintenance of the fleet. There are benefits flying out of both towered and non-towered airports. Non-towered allows you to just go when your ready and when the traffic pattern allows which will save you money. Towered you need to get clearences from ATC which at times can be costly due to waiting, but the good side of towered airports is having to communicate with ATC all the time which will make you more confident on the mic and you probably won't have mic fright. Now when you are actually flying, some of the manuvers such as stalls/slips might scare you. I remember that one day during my training it was pretty windy and I was doing steep turns. The wind guested while I was rolled at 45° and pushed the planed so hard that we had no lift and began to fall a little before I was able to get the plane back under control again. I got a little shaken up and that's bound to happen to anyone during training. Just don't let it get to you and know that you control the plane and the plane doesn't control you. You might even enter a spin when performing a power off/on stall because you turned the yoke just a little and it was enought to dip the wing. I did that the first few times, but we would quickly recover. I love being up there so much and hope to make a career out of it in a few years. Good luck with the endevor.Chad

Dan,I highly recommend going for your PPL. I just completed my training and became certified in April of this year. One of the most rewarding things I have ever done.I recommend that you go and check out the schools in your area. Talk with the CFIs at each school and get a feel for what each school is like. Go up for a "demo" flight with multiple CFIs and find the one that suits you best.Save up as much money as you can before you start, and try to complete training with minimal debt if needed. I had all the money to complete my training set a side, and it was comforting knowing that if anything happened, that things would still be ok.I do NOT recommend paying in advance. If you do, only pay what you are willing to loose. I have heard many horror stories of people paying for flight school up front, only to have the schools close up shop before their training has been complete, and then being out all that money.I started in late December of 09, solo'd in mid January with 10.1 hours, and completed my training in the beginning of April with 44 hours logged. In the end, from start to finish the whole thing cost me about $9500. That includes all the testing, books, medical, checkride fees. It also includes just under $700 in "goodies" (ANR headset, flight bag, and other little "wants")(i have a spreadsheet breakdown since day one of my training if interested)There are no set hours when you will, solo, XC, or be ready for your check ride. Your CFI will let you know when you are ready, so if you get to 20 hours and havent solo'd, dont worry, you time will come, and it will be well worth it.While sim flying helps you learn many aspects of real world flying, they still are two different beasts as people have pointed out before me. After lessons I would come home and fly in the sim and go over things that I have learned. Helped me stay on top of it.Lastly, i recommend joining AOPA, and start browsing their forums. There is a wealth of knowledge and help over there.

I'm 6'0 and about 230, and my instructor dwarfed me... I often read your posts - blog documenting…

That’s insane! I have seen tons and tons of videos and normally the pilot and passenger (or CFI) are on the smaller size and even then it looks incredibly cramped, I can’t imagine how uncomfortable that would be, especially in the average size trainer like a C152!Hi Buddy, Thanks for the kind words about some of my other posts, I’m flattered to say the least. I think when the time comes I will keep a very detailed account of everything probably as a post somewhere here in the general section and maybe once I’m finished possibly post it to one of my personal sites I have.

haha sorry about that. PIC = Pilot In Command

Hehe, thanks for the clarification Matthew, looks like I was way off aye?

Can you guess what the happiest day is?

Haha, I’m thinking it would be the day it’s paid off? Or since you said this is what your boating friends say, I would also guess they might say, the day you get a boat?

make sure to take the Private Pilot ground school class… some of the manuvers such as stalls/slips might scare you... There are benefits flying out of both towered and non-towered airports… more confident on the mic and you probably won't have mic fright…

Thanks Chad, not just on the quoted above but the other advice you mentioned.As for the ground school portion, I definitely plan to take it. The dvd sets I got from Sporty’s Pilot Shop are not just dvd’s but also workbooks to cover most things of most ground schools but regardless, I want as much training as possible and from the ones I’ll be flying with also (not to mention my courses I bought were years ago so who knows what may be different now a days).As for being scared by some of the maneuvers, let me answer that by asking “Do you think the CFI would mind if I showed up wearing a parachute? Hahaa, jk. I know KLWM is a towered airport but we have so many airports in the area, I’m hoping they actually do practice with a few of them. I wrote this down as a question to ask when I go in for my “Discovery flight” (what they call the demo).I want to start flying on Vatsim to help practice my ATC procedures but never have before. My current live in situation and room-mates makes it difficult since I do most of my flying between midnight and 7am. I’ve been hoping someone would create a quick tutorial on the subject since despite what it says on their site a lot of people seem to have issues with some of the programs. It would be nice to have a non official write up on it and perhaps a dummies guide. The one thing I didn’t like about Vatsim was long ago I asked a couple questions on their forum and just got people to link the main page… They say they want the community to grow but then “some” of them treat new potential flyers like idiots. Anywho, a subject for another post perhaps :(

I recommend joining AOPA

Hi Mike, You know I never thought of it and even though I have been a member of the AOPA off and on about 7 times now (yep, I have lots of hats and pins to prove it) I never thought of the fact that they might have a forum. I prefer this one and am still stunned at how many people have commented and how much great info I already received. This is a great forum and probably the most active one that I frequent. I’ll look into though and browse their topics, it will give me more reading fun.Many of you have mention the term “Cross Country”. When I think of that I think of loading 80,000lbs or so in the MD-11 and at least a 3 or 4 hour flight at FL370. Can someone give me a better example of what they refer to in the training sense when they say cross country please?As always, thanks again all for the information. For me it is pure gold!

The AOPA forums are ok, but there is no real reason to join AOPA as a paying member, as they don't do all that much of value in terms of supporting small pilots. There might be a boston-based pilot group on yahoo or something. We've had a few down here in DC over the years.

Many of you have mention the term “Cross Country”. When I think of that I think of loading 80,000lbs or so in the MD-11 and at least a 3 or 4 hour flight at FL370. Can someone give me a better example of what they refer to in the training sense when they say cross country please?

Here is the cross country requirement for your PPL right from the FAR/AIM:(i) 5 hours of solo cross-country time;(ii) One solo cross country flight of 150 nautical miles total distance, with full-stop landings at three points, and one segment of the flight consisting of a straight-line distance of more than 50 nautical miles between the takeoff and landing locations; and(iii) Three takeoffs and three landings to a full stop (with each landing involving a flight in the traffic pattern) at an airport with an operating control tower.Each of my Solo XCs were just over 2.5 Hours, so i had flown two of them during my training. Along with my first one with my CFI, and a Night XC with CFI (required).

Many of you have mention the term “Cross Country”. When I think of that I think of loading 80,000lbs or so in the MD-11 and at least a 3 or 4 hour flight at FL370. Can someone give me a better example of what they refer to in the training sense when they say cross country please?

Things might differ since I ain't talkin FAA speak here but for me x-country was basically everything minus local patterns. Don't even have to be a landing somewhere else, just going somewhere else and leaving the home airport pattern no matter how far. Could be a local flight in terms of take-off, make a tour but land where you departed, that would be cross country already, for me at least. Don't think it actually tells anything about the distance covered. Maybe some from across the pond can expand on how things work for you over there. :(Edit: Mike you beat me to it, but there you have it. :( Sure, also had to do the 150NM for PPL and later the 300NM one. Those certainly qualify as actual cross countries... :(

Thanks Etienne and Mike for the explanation. I have seen the term on web sites also and they mentioned cross country and it was only a short hop so was kind of confused.Thanks Doug, as for AOPA the first time I joined the AOPA I was much younger, infact I had to give my mother the money and have her write the check haha. At first it was just the idea of having a card with my name on it (yep, I was young), but later it was for other reasons. I had a lot of people in the military always asking if I was a pilot because they would see my mail, then when I said no they thought I was nuts since I wasn't an actual "Aircraft Owner" hehe. Pilot groups I will definitely have to look into once I am dubbed a k'nigget of the round table,,, or get my PPL, whichever comes first (sorry in advance, I'm sure not everyone will get that, it's a MP thing :().

Dan,I am a flight instructor (CFI and CFII) at Purdue University, so I figured I would give you my thoughts as an instructor (and much of what I am about to say has likely already been hit upon by others who have posted in this thread). Looking back on my primary training, I would say the biggest mistake that I made was not initially finding the right instructor. I started flying with the first guy who shook my hand. While he was certainly a nice guy, he wasn't the best instructor. You are probably wondering "how can I tell if someone will be a good instructor?" I would suggest asking questions about aerodynamics, airspace, pilot qualifications, etc. to see how well he can explain something. I think that the best question that you can ask a flight instructor to see how well he or she can teach is "so what exactly makes an airplane fly?" I am not sure what exactly your reasoning is behind flying the 172 over the 152, but as far as I am concerned an airplane is an airplane. If you get your license in the 152, you should be able to easily transition to the 172 with just an hour or two of additional training. Remember: your license will say Airplane Single Engine Land - it won't say C-152. Both planes will work very well as trainers - you can't really go wrong with either model.I was very involved in flight simulator prior to getting my license. It really helped me understand the basics of flying. I learned a lot about ATC procedures, aircraft instrumentation, navigation, etc., however flight simulator does not really teach you how to fly VFR and how to perform maneuvers such as stalls, turns around a point, s turns, rectangular course, etc. And obviously flight simulator doesn't teach you what an airplane feels like. Private pilot training will be different from what you have done in FS because you will be looking OUTSIDE the cockpit 90% of the time (remember VISUAL flight rules, not INSTRUMENT flight rules). As for currency requirements, you can look up all the details in FAR 61.56 - 61.57, but the basics are as follows. Within the preceding 24 calendar months, you must have had a biennial flight review (BFR) or have earned a new certificate or rating. In order to carry passengers during the day, you must have had 3 landings within the previous 90 days, and in order to carry passengers at night, you must have made 3 full stop landings at night within the previous 90 days. If you make your landings at night, they also count for day currency. Once you earn your license, it is your's for life; it does not expire. If you do not have a current BFR, you cannot act as PIC or as a required crew member, but all you have to do is get a BFR from a CFI. You are then current for another 24 calendar months.I have always rented aircraft, but I would strongly suggest considering sharing an aircraft if you find good people to do it with. I have several friends who have had really great experiences doing this. In the long run, and depending on how frequently you fly, this can really save you a lot of money.One thing I would suggest for you is to find an approved 141 flight school when you begin your instrument training. This will allow you to go straight into instrument training instead of having to fulfill the 50 hrs PIC cross country requirement for the instrument rating. You obviously have a lot of experience in the FS IFR environment, and this will really help you when you get to that point. Earning your pilots license will certainly be the most exciting and rewarding thing that you ever accomplish! I wish you the best of luck in your flight training, and feel free to email me if I can help you out at all! Fly safely!EDIT: I just saw your question regarding the definition of cross country. For private, instrument, and commercial certificates, flights 50 nautical miles or further count as cross country.Also, one thing I forgot to suggest is to save up all of your money ahead of time that way you can move quickly through your training and won't be held back by money. If you are flying paycheck to paycheck and can only fly once every week or two, you will end up spending more money in the long run because you will have to relearn things from your previous lesson. If you can fly 3 times every week, you will retain what you have learned much better and will require fewer hours to earn your certificate. --David F. LynnFlight Instructor CFI, CFIIPurdue [email protected]

Hi peops, I was going to add this to another post "Back to the Basics" but thought it would have better success as a new post (plus easier for people to find in a search).I have been contemplating getting my PPL (Private Pilot License) for years and even when I had the money something would come up or it was just needed elsewhere, more. This probably won't happen until NEXT fall, or at best next spring. But, I was wondering what others might have for advice for new up and coming pilots, or what you would have done differently if anything when you went for yours?A couple years ago I bought a couple sets of DVD's from Sporty's Pilot shop. I got the Private Pilot and the Instrument Pilot dvd sets. They are great dvd's and offer lots of advice but mainly emphasis on shopping around before settling on a school. This I now know and already know where I'm going to train (Eagle East, North Andover, MA, USA). At least that's what I planned after looking around a couple years ago so that may still change my mind. For me I just liked the instructor. I just hit it off with him and we seemed to share the same frame of mind (I know, scary thought) and I had a great experience in a free intro flight.So that said, I would appreciate what others that have already got their license would recommend or as I mentioned "do differently". Anything at all, but to kick it off, here are a couple questions.* Prices of course vary based on the aircraft you'll be training in and most places do their training in C152's or maybe even cubs. I plan on doing mine in a C-172M, is there a reason I shouldn't other than the cost? It should run a little over $5,000.00, but will probably get a good discount (since I've plumbed some of their houses :(). * I read all the time people saying how simmers have no clue to what piloting is really like. I don't pay any attention to these since I normally see such comments on youtube. Do instructors think this way? I would think a simmer would have a step up in most ways. I'm sure with the inertia and just the reality of it all is quite an awakening but the things I've learned about flight, instruments, and just terminology I would think would be more than a good headstart, right?I also bought the Flight Simmers Bible a few months ago and was enjoying it until my sisters dogs got a hold of it. I plan on getting another, unless you think it's a waste. From what I read was good, except most of the downloads they talk about don't seem to be around anymore.* The closest thing to a pilots license I have is my Scuba cert. That meaning with Scuba if I don't dive for a year or two some places recommend you take a refresher. If I got my license would I need to fly X amount of hours to keep it?* And just for curiosity, do you own or rent? I highly doubt I will ever be able to afford my own aircraft and even a ultralight seems out of reach. I think the rental rates are pretty cheap so that is the way I think I'll go. What about you? Own, Rent or flying club? (Personally, I don't like the idea of a shared aircraft, but that's just me).* Anything else you feel like writing, since I'm sure I don't even know the best questions to be asking (which is another reason for this post, <grin>).

..........David F. LynnFlight Instructor CFI, CFII

Hi David, Thank you very much for taking the time to drop by and share your thoughts on the subject. I don't mind repetitive information either and actually prefer it since it shows others agree and places more emphasis on particular points. I think I am the type that would probably take the first instructor that I met and shook hands with too. Providing he didn't do anything that made me think he was a jerk in some way. I just feel that it would be demeaning of me to say take my demo flight and hear all about the school and programs to then turn around and pick someone else. Of course I know that is wrong and I shouldn't feel that way (and hope I make a wise choice) but think of it as a car salesmen showing someone a car and dealing with this persons questions just to have them decide to buy it, but say "I'll take it! BUT, I want to buy it from that guy over there" haha. I know it's not the same thing I just wouldn't want to hurt their feelings. I hope when the time comes for me to visit the school there are other instructors available so I can possibly talk to more than one at once. Kind of like a cat house and meeting several women then making my choice (cough cough, ummm, not that I have ever been to any place like that, which I definitely have not!)Speaking of salesmen, I think if a potential student ever asked me the question "so what exactly makes an airplane fly" that I would pat them on the back and look at them with a pause and a grin, then say something like "People like you Johny, people like you". Ok, seriously though I just sat here and thought how I would answer that, and even though I know lots about Lift, Drag, thrust and that other one :(, the question seems pretty hard to just blurt out a simple answer. It's kind of like those interview questions that you wish you thought of prior to the interview. Very good point and I have written that one to memory.I don't know if the school I'm hoping to go to is a approved 141 flight school, and honestly am not even sure what that is, but will most likely know by the time you read this. The school I have in mind is pretty much a sure thing with me since there isn't that many others close enough for me to consider so hope they are and will find out soon.Thanks again for your time and insight. This thread has turned up the passion level for me to get started and I'm starting to lose patience with the wait factor and am ready to rob a bank and get started right now, haha. I feel like the little spoiled girl in the Wonka factory movie "I want it NOW!"

Part 61 or Part 141. It doesn't matter what type of school you attend. Honestly if you do your ifr at a 141 school, you don't get that experiece that the 50hrs pic x-country will give you. In my eyes experience is worth more than saving a few bucks.

Part 61 or Part 141. It doesn't matter what type of school you attend. Honestly if you do your ifr at a 141 school, you don't get that experiece that the 50hrs pic x-country will give you. In my eyes experience is worth more than saving a few bucks.

That's certainly a fair argument. VFR cross countries do give you great experience and they are a lot of fun. If you do choose to do your IFR training under part 141, I would definitely continue doing VFR cross countries throughout that process (take friends and family to get the $100 burger!).

I think if a potential student ever asked me the question "so what exactly makes an airplane fly" that I would pat them on the back and look at them with a pause and a grin, then say something like "People like you Johny, people like you".

That is actually incorrect. The correct answer to what makes an airplane fly is: money. Ask anyone who owns one.