Haven't flown in 10 years. Help!

genot

Well-Known Member
So my wife called me today to tell me she'd booked a block of time at a local flight school for me. I'm loving the gesture more and more, but I'm looking for help on how to economize/whats changed.

I've got about 350 hours, PPL and instrument with most of that time coming from a derelict 1966 Cessna 150. Lets just say it was dead reckoning or dead lost in that thing. I'll be in an SP Chickenhawk and after looking over the POH the speeds seem similar to what I've flown. I have used a Garmin 430/530 or fuel injection, but that's been so rare and so long ago.

Two days until the first hour. Any tips are welcome.
 
Why mess with success? They're hiding an old 172 in the shed that doesn't have an "OMG G-WHIZ G-ONE BILLION" in the dashboard. Fly that. Leave the G-One-Billions for the kids who are going to wind up on the dole wondering why God and Life didn't give them a Job because they could press the right buttons. It's supposed to be Fun. Have some Fun. BTW, better if you find a tailwheel or at least some kind of misfit to fly. They have a 177 or Maule?
 
Don't worry about the 430 until you have the basics back. Then when it comes time to learn the 430, just download the online simulator from Garmin and learn it's basic functions for free.
 
As for the fuel injection, just follow the checklist (especially note which checklist items pertain to a hot start) and the starting procedure will become second nature with time. Also, look out for vapor lock during extended ground ops.
 
So my wife called me today to tell me she'd booked a block of time at a local flight school for me. I'm loving the gesture more and more, but I'm looking for help on how to economize/whats changed.

I've got about 350 hours, PPL and instrument with most of that time coming from a derelict 1966 Cessna 150. Lets just say it was dead reckoning or dead lost in that thing. I'll be in an SP Chickenhawk and after looking over the POH the speeds seem similar to what I've flown. I have used a Garmin 430/530 or fuel injection, but that's been so rare and so long ago.

Two days until the first hour. Any tips are welcome.


The real question is "What do you want to do with flying when your BFR / training is complete?" I give different training to the guy who gets a cheeseburger every other weekend than I do for the guy who has decided on a career change or the guy who wants to start flying to better support his business.
 
Don't chase the tape. When transitioning to glass, that is supposedly the biggest problem pilots have. I learned on a g300 so I dont speak from experience. Going to the steam guages was easy and initial training on glass wasn't difficult, i just ignored all the crap I didn't need. If you trim off and you are 20 feet off mark just let it go. You wouldn't even know it on a steam guage.
 
I've got a 430 in my Cherokee and the only thing I'm good at is "direct to airport". It's an amazing box and can do a lot of cool stuff if you play with it enough. You have to be careful about all the button pushing and knob twirling in flight. I find myself doing that too much.
 
Exciting! It's great to get back in the cockpit. I went through over a decade without flying and then Cessnaflyer got me back up to speed in an hour (that or he just wanted to get the heck out of the airplane for self preservation). It comes back fast, like riding a bicycle.

Read the POH in advance. Chair fly basic phases of flight just to get the brain thinking that way again.

The 430 was intimidating the first time I saw one. I was afraid I'd get lost in some menu and not know how to get back, but the basic Com and Nav functions are pretty much like any other digital flip flop radio. Once I understood that you cycle through pages then it was impossible to get lost. Download the Garmin desktop trainer and play with it for a little bit while flipping through the quick reference, then you wont have to waste Hobbs time learning it or being overly distracted in the air.

http://www8.garmin.com/include/SimulatorPopup.html
 

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The real question is "What do you want to do with flying when your BFR / training is complete?" I give different training to the guy who gets a cheeseburger every other weekend than I do for the guy who has decided on a career change or the guy who wants to start flying to better support his business.


Definitely just looking to become a weekend warrior at most. Maybe once I get comfortable again I'll look into instrument currency.

I've got a 430 in my Cherokee and the only thing I'm good at is "direct to airport". It's an amazing box and can do a lot of cool stuff if you play with it enough. You have to be careful about all the button pushing and knob twirling in flight. I find myself doing that too much.

Solid advice. I appreciate it. I know enough to manage direct to, but I think I'm going to have to play with the trainer and stop being such a Luddite.

You're a hard act to follow.


Do I sound more like Waco or a very low level rank amateur version of you?
 
Lots of good advice here for you Genot. Just stick to the basics and have fun, pitch, power, trim. The 430 is actually somewhat intuitive once you get the hang of it. Fuel injection in the Sky Chicken is no biggie, really you just need to turn on the fuel pump and mixture rich for a few seconds to prime the engine. Just follow the checklist. As far as what's changed, download the AIM (Change 3) takes effect on 8/22/13.
 
I would not bother with anything more on the 430 than radio and nav tuning. Direct enter enter is useful if you get lost. Look outside and forget about the magic boxes. Its so much more fun.
Its really fun when you can navigate and name the landmarks you're using. "Cathedral mountains are over there and they run east west, then well see jim bob's farm followed by my uncles favorite fishing pond and then the airport is 10 miles east of there.
 
Wow - how much fun to get back into the air, and just in time for beautiful fall weather.

Work on basic airmanship, learn airspace and terminology changes ("line up and wait" v. "taxi into position and hold"), use paper charts, identify the new ways of receiving weather information and filing flight plans, and find an aerobat + CFI for unusual attitude/spin recovery practice.
 
I would not bother with anything more on the 430 than radio and nav tuning. Direct enter enter is useful if you get lost. Look outside and forget about the magic boxes. Its so much more fun.
Its really fun when you can navigate and name the landmarks you're using. "Cathedral mountains are over there and they run east west, then well see jim bob's farm followed by my uncles favorite fishing pond and then the airport is 10 miles east of there.

This.

For the first couple of hours plan on KISS. ;)

Top freq is active. High lighted box is the one you can change. Push the double arrow to go from standby to active. Plan on at least 1 hr dual for every year you've been away. Enjoy!
 
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