Just a quick update

T

thebot

New Member
Well, its been a few months since my last post and I wanted to update you all on my situation.

I decided to try out the FBO route first with my private pilot and basically drench my feet in aviation. So far I have about 10 logged hours within the past 2 weeks (i don't count my flight time from the past few years which was very occasional) and i'm in love & I love the little 1975 172 that i'm flying around in.

Basically after every flight.. i get back in my car (where no one will hear me and I scream with excitement) I hope i'm not displaying signs of SJS (shiny jet syndrome)

I really do get a natural high after every flight and my instructors have told me that I am "a flying champion" They said they are amazed at my comfort level in the aircraft even from my initial flights .. (but they did say I have shows great strengths in refining my technique) So i probably wasn't a "star" from day one.. but they did say I was displaying signs of a "natural".

I try to fly 5 times a week.. but i've had to switch instructors a couple times because my main guy books up fast.. but i've found a great alternate instructor for when my main is unavailable.

I'm a little concerned because i've had 3 instructors in total.. my first flight was with the guy that I intended on flying with full time, but he does travel a lot for his second job & he books up really fast. So, I tried to find an alternate guy I ended up with a younger guy who seems like a good guy but was a little impatient at times and seeing that I do ask a lot of questions .. it seemed like he got annoyed when I would ask about things like radio calls etc.. so I've now found another alternate instructor who I really click with, and its obvious that he really gets into the teaching aspect of it.

I'm not debating if I should stick with my alternate guy as it seems like we really click... i've now flown more with him than my original pick for instructors.... I was told that they have similar teaching styles so i'm hoping i can alternate between the 2 of them every few days (assuming one is booked up) - Any thoughts on that?

I"m still planning on doing the 141 route later on.. as the part 61 deal hasn't placed much emphasis on ground school. But needless to say I'm having a blast.

I have the Kershners (I might have misspelled that) student pilot text book as my study companion but i'm curious if the king DvD's would be a better route? Any thoughts on that? I feel like i'm behind with the ground school portion of this stuff.. but my instructors haven't given me any indication that i'm "behind" with it..
 
Kershner is great but the PTS knowledge areas required for certification come straight out of the FAA texts. The PHAK, AFH (the new one is great), and the FAR/AIM got me through my ratings. Though, Jeppesen makes a good product and if you do choose a third party supplement, I'd go jepp.
 
Well i'm on a roll with my private pilot and I love it.. I'm actually very glad that I ended up going with a local FBO for my initial training. My instructor is great.. and its obvious that he loves flying.. and he is teaching me the "art" of it along with the fundementals. I feel like he is really setting up the mold to make me a great pilot.

Anyway, I'm still considering my options with regard to where I will work on my next stage of training.

Now that i'm getting exposure to what flight school is all about I think I have a better idea of what I'm looking for in a school.

Overall, I still might be a little more partial to the part 141 ground school as I like structure.. but I have to say that my part 61 training at my local FBO has been awesome. I've scheduled several "ground school" days with my instructor and I seem to be doing fine with just that. I know things will get much more complicated later on in my instrument training... But as far as i can tell doing it that way is totally doable.

I know I lucked out with getting an awesome instructor.. but i'm pretty fond of the part 61 route !
 
thebot said:
Well i'm on a roll with my private pilot and I love it.. I'm actually very glad that I ended up going with a local FBO for my initial training. My instructor is great..
...
Now that i'm getting exposure to what flight school is all about I think I have a better idea of what I'm looking for in a school.
Overall, I still might be a little more partial to the part 141 ground school as I like structure.. but I have to say that my part 61 training at my local FBO has been awesome.
...
I know I lucked out with getting an awesome instructor.. but i'm pretty fond of the part 61 route !
Click to expand...

I'm glad you're having a blast and enjoying your training. As for going to 141 route, you could...but, since you feel like the FBO experience has been so positive, you may want to help yourself to a little self discipline and study the ground materials yourself. That's what you're going to end up doing at a 141 school anyway. To give you a taste, at CAPT, the instructors read off of slides on PowerPoint presentations. Now, if you think that's structure worth paying thousands of dollars for, then go for it. But if you're back on earth, you may want to study the books, which are excellent and have your CFI spend some time with you covering topics you don't quite understand, that would certainly be just as effective and cheaper.

Remember, you need to take ownership to your own knoweldge. It doesn't matter if you're at a Part 61 or a Part 141 training facility. Nobody can download data into your brain. You need to work at it yourself. And if you have questions about any topic areas, you got people online to help you and/or point you in the right direction. And I would certainly be happy to be one of them. There is a vast amount of aviation knowledge on the FAA's web site and because it comes from the horse's mouth, you know that material is solid, and approved for public use. Learn it all. And best of all, that material is FREE for the taking! So download all their PDFs relavant to your training and go for it!

I also highly recommend Rod Machado's Private Pilot Handbook, which is excellent reading. Most of my ground knowledge was from that book and I think of Mr. Machado as my first flight instructor, and had the opportunity to tell him this in person.

Keep up the great work! It sounds to me like you're going to be great at this stuff! :)
 
All I have to say is,

ASA Virtual Test Prep DVD's

ASA Oral guide

ASA checkride cd for in the truck.

Okay ,that's not all I have to say.

I have the Jeppessen part 61 private pilot kit. The textbook is good, but I lacked the necessary understanding of how I should study. I don't have much great to say about the workbooks except along with them and the sporty's study buddy and written tests I passed the written no problem.

The ASA material as well as intense study habits have helped me immensely though, I would (and have) suggested them to anybody.
 
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