Flight Training Hacks?

ChasenSFO

ChasenSFO

hen teaser
For those unfamiliar with the term, a "hack"(like in 'lifehack') is a tip that ultimately saves one time, effort, or money in getting the same end result. I figured it might be nice to have a thread where people can pass on tips and tricks to those of us who are trying to finish our ratings.

One good example is a suggestion I read here recently that one takes the CFII written when they take the IFR written.

Something I can pass on already is that it is better to save up and do as much of your flying in one big chunk as possible if you wish to stay out of debt than it is to pay as you go but have big lapses in flying. Ultimately, it costs you much more money as flying is a perishable skill and concepts are harder to understand sometimes when you barely practice the theory in real life.
 
ChasenSFO said:
For those unfamiliar with the term, a "hack"(like in 'lifehack') is a tip that ultimately saves one time, effort, or money in getting the same end result. I figured it might be nice to have a thread where people can pass on tips and tricks to those of us who are trying to finish our ratings.

One good example is a suggestion I read here recently that one takes the CFII written when they take the IFR written.

Something I can pass on already is that it is better to save up and do as much of your flying in one big chunk as possible if you wish to stay out of debt than it is to pay as you go but have big lapses in flying. Ultimately, it costs you much more money as flying is a perishable skill and concepts are harder to understand sometimes when you barely practice the theory in real life.
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Don't suck at flying? :)
 
* When building time fly the slowest cheapest thing you can find.
* Spend for quality that lasts.
* Dont buy things before you need them
 
1)Come to each lesson prepared. This includes knowing the material to be covered, as well as chair flying the maneuvers.

2)Use a sim like MSFS for your instrument rating.

I would say maybe 1 out of 10 students actually do this, and it saves them a TON of time and money. So many times I would recommend this to my students, and they would completely ignore it while complaining about how expensive everything was. Duh...
 
Chair flying is the single greatest bang-for-your-buck/time in aviation. Mentally rehearsing the flight, down to the most minute detail and including contingencies or emergencies, will expose areas you're not prepared for as well as help identify potential traps and planning or execution mistakes.

There's a reason you see pro aerobatic pilots and teams walking around with their eyes closed rehearsing the performance minutes before they actually strap in to the airplane.

There's a caveat here, and that is you actually have to know what you are doing before you rehearse it. If you have an experienced pilot or instructor available to help you chair fly something, answer questions, provide guidance, or correct errors you make, that is the best case. If you don't know the correct thing to rehearse, or have the awareness to identify your own mistakes, then unfortunately you are reinforcing bad habits and possibly making things much worse.

Also, don't cheat yourself out of the experience by "fast forwarding" through sections of the flight you think you have under control, or just overlooking things that you don't have a good handle on. Sometimes it is the ordinary or mundane things -- like remembering to do your climb checklist or cruise checklist between events, etc -- that are most important to rehearse.

Best of all, chair flying is *absolutely free* and can be done in your underwear from the comfort of your house.
 
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Hacker15e said:
Chair flying is the single greatest bang-for-your-buck/time in aviation...There's a reason you see pro aerobatic pilots and teams walking around with their eyes closed...There's a caveat here, and that is you actually have to know what you are doing before you rehearse it...If you have an experienced pilot or instructor available to help you chair fly something, answer questions, provide guidance, or correct errors you make, that is the best case.
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Very, very strongly in agreement. This is why I've always offered to mentor anyone I know who's in flight training ... not as an instructor, but as a second set of eyes... someone to answer questions off-the-clock and off-the-record—things a student might be afraid of asking their instructor for fear of sounding ignorant.

I stumbled onto the chair flying one in primary training... mainly because I got my paws on an old, banged up copy of the Jeppesen Private Pilot Manual from c. 1982 from the "Friends of the Library" when I was 13, long before I could even dream of affording to fly for real. I would ride along in the rattle-trap $300 family car with my parents, the ubiquitous soda bottle between my thighs my stick, my hindpaws working imaginary rudder pedals on the floor as we turned, left paw manipulating a phantom throttle. I'd read off all the license plates in phonetic alphabet until I knew it cold (and my parents did too, to their lovingly un-expressed annoyance.)

Years before my first flight, I'd sit in a chair working through imaginary (and sometimes fantastical) emergencies in a B-17, A-26, P-51. Engine failures, "merges", scissors, landing with battle damage... leading targets, turning control over to the bombardier on the bomb run, you name it.

I passed my private checkride after 42 hours, on April 17, 1997, then spent the last dollar I'd saved from doing computer work / singing / swordfighting on a flight in a PA-38-112 from PFN to DHN and back with a friend of mine, and that was it.

There was lots of stuff to learn, but imagination and passion carried me through all of it. It wasn't study, it was play; it was pure delight, and most of the knowledge that was cemented in place started from working through it in my head and from living, breathing, wanting to fly.

I guess that's all I've got.

-Fox
 
The only real flight training hack; quit trying to find the shortcuts. Give the art form the time and effort it deserves.
 
Prepare! Show up at you first lesson with:
  • A Flight Suit with a rank of Major or better.
  • Epaulets, a must have for the new pilot.
  • Leather Bomber Jacket with lots of patches even if it's 100* or hotter.
  • Aviator Sun Glasses, don't go anywhere without them.
  • A Knee Board strapped on your leg.
  • A Pilots Watch that tells time in at least five time zones.
  • A Coffee Cup that says something like "747 Captain".
  • A Remove Before Flight car key ring.
 
Runincolorado said:
* Dont buy things before you need them
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+1 Which includes: Don't pay in advance if you don't have to.
Also:
Network, make friends.
Really, spend some time to learn how to fly that 150/172/etc trainer before you venture into IR ( things like slow flight, kiss the runway while landing exactly where you want, steer gently etc -basic airmanship ...)for there's nothing more disturbing than a turkey attempting an ILS approach, and a real waste of time for sure.
 
Here is one I got from a guy who did flight instructing for about 40 years:
If you know you are going to CFI/CFII, start flying from the right seat once complete with Instrument. Don't waste much time working on the Commercial but instead, prepare for the CFII and find an examiner that would give you a Commercial checkride from the left seat. All the time you spend getting ready for your CFII will be valuable towards your commercial and the checkride itself should be a breeze. He suggested the CFII as initial because there is less subjectivity but doing the CFI should also work.
 
mikecweb said:
If you are flight training to become a professional pilot train like a professional.
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It never ceased to amaze me when I was teaching the amount of shortcuts students would take. They would have literally bought their ratings if they could. I guess in a way they did because no matter how bad they were (some had no business ever in an airplane) they threw enough money at their training to get their CPL.

Me and @mojo6911 would tell them multiple times "You know you actually need to know how to fly an airplane one day if you are going to be a professional" It always fell on deaf ears.

Like the guy who started the thread on failing a written twice. I had to bite my tongue because everyone was patting him on the head and telling him to keep his head up. Im sorry, but if you cant get a >85% score on an FAA written test than something is wrong.

One of my biggest pet peeve sayings in aviation is "Oh, the C172 is the hardest plane you will learn to fly" Nope. Not even a little bit. You can take as many shortcuts as you want, but when you someone PAYS you to fly their multi million dollar, highly complex airplane around then you will have a huge wake up call. And you will wish you could go back in time and take things a little more seriously.

Its like cheating at solitaire.
 
Pay as you go makes like easier after getting the ratings.

Make sure you have the money to cover the training cost for your rating prior to starting unless you know you can fly at least twice a week. Flying less than that will likely cost more money in the end.
 
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