Snow does private...a FSA diary

Keep up the good work Snow. Let me know if you have any questions about anything (school, town, etc...) Would be happy to help out if you PM me
 
Snow...Thanks for the public diary...Brings back some fond memories...I miss that place...Glad to hear most of the same veteran ground instructors I had presenting material to me in 2001 are still working there...Good people genuinely interested in relaying the "need to know" information for the written exams along with some "nice to know" stuff...Enjoy your time in Zero Beach while it lasts...The ratings will come quickly and you'll be flying out of there before you know it...You've made a wise decision to enroll there and will definitely benefit from the solid foundation a FlightSafety Academy education provides...Keep the posts coming!
 
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When do you start flying?

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Well I have a few simulator lessons first, get to know the procedures, practice checklists etc, I assume that will take up this week so probably get flying next week or maybe even this weekend (crosses fingers)

Also thanks for the kind words guys, I made my decision to goto FSA largely by what I have heard on here so I'm more than happy to inform others of my experences here.

Day 12 - Sunday October 12th

Today was a quiet Sunday morning, my 2 room mates asleep/gone to chruch (or maybe both lol) I spent a good 3 or 4 hours just reading through the FARs we're suposed to know, after that my brain had had enough so I spent the rest of the evening in front of the TV watching 'Scarface' and some documentry on some crazy 4x4 action.

Also I had a look at the full motion simulators today, wow they're a lot bigger in person than I thought! The level D Saab 2000 sim is like 20f x 20f and 2 stories high at least, it's huge! I'm going to talk to the sim supervisor and see if I can go for a 'ride' and watch when some of the other students are using it. Heck this thing even simulates sunlight coming into the cockpit!

Dat 13 - Monday October 13th - Quiz One

Well today was the day of the test, I went through the sample questions for about an hour before breakfast, was a bit worried that I hadn't left enough time to go through them all but there was little I could at this stage.

Well I kicked ass on the test! I was the 2nd to finish and I got 96%!
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One question I really didn't know, I thought the minium altitude for aerobatics was 2000ft and it was actually 1500ft (I figured the higher the better and I'm pretty sure that rule is 3000ft in Australia) and the other question I kinda misread it. But I only needed 80% to pass so I was pretty stoked about that! I definatly want to start my flight training now because I feel like I'm flying already even without the airplane! hehe
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Well no more classes today, I just have a sim lesson this evening at 20:00. I think I might go get some cockpit time (sitting in the aircraft practicing checklists) or practice in the sim a little (those rudder peddles are WAY too sensitive, even my instructor has told me he fishtails all over the runway in that thing!) and maybe after that reward myself with a little relaxation in the pool
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Oh also my Cheque cleared the bank on Friday night so I was able to write the school a cheque today and be taken off no-fly. (account was below $400) And I also picked up my student pilot certificate so I'm ready to go! Although I still need to buy a headset, flight bag and metal note pad thingy before I go up.

Well that's all for now, I'll let you know how the sim lessons go in a fews days
 
Day 14 - Tuesday October 14th

Well today back to classes, learning about preformance today, spent most of the evening watching the cubs and marlins games since my roommate is from Chicago.

Day 15 - Wednesday October 15th

Had a 8am sim lesson today, first time I've gotten up that early since orentation almost 2 weeks ago. After my lab I went on a shopping spree in the pilot shop. Got a Jeppensen 'captain' flight bag, a David Clark H-13XL headset and a kneeboard. So I'm ready to go flying for real now
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The bag is kinda cool it has detachable bags for 2 headsets and a com radio, so you just take them off if your not using them or store them inside to make the outside of the bag a bit smaller. I had actually wanted the H-13X but they didn't have it in and it was going to take 2wks so I went ahead and got the H-13XL which has a detachable ENC box instead of fixed as on the H-13X, so I could plug it into a pannel ENC or even fit a single plug type connector to it if I wanted, otherwise they are the same.

Learnt about weight and ballance and NDBs in class today, nothing too hard. Again more baseball watching tonight, geez I'm going to have a lot of reading to do this weekend!

Day 16 - Thursday October 16th

Well yesterday one roommate failed his test for the 3rd time so he had the option to wait until the next private class but he decided to call it quits, he said he thought it was going to be like high school and it was a bit harder than that. He's going to try college and come back later I guess, so there's just 2 of us in the unit now. Also he took his VCR and PS2 with him, so we're back to plain olde tv again.

Today we learnt about VORs and how to use the EB6 flight computers, this one lecturer guy makes it sound so complex, our other instructor showed it to us and she explaned it so much better we all figured it out quickly.

I did a little study this evening but there was a cool documentry on tv and considering it was my birthday I decided to take the night off, plus my roommate fixed dinner which was nice for a change. So I'll have about 8chapers to read this weekend now! plus finish my Cadet systems information essay type thing before I can fly (possibly Satuday) on top of my other homework. I'll get it done but it will take up most of friday evening and saturday methinks
 
Hey Snow..since you have been there...what would you say the percentage of people who pass or fail?
 
Happy Birthday Snow
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Sounds like you have a lot more free time on your hands than I thought you would. Don't cut yourself out short, study as much as you can and always be prepared. "Chance favors the prepared mind". Boy, I'm starting to sound like my dad! Sorry.

You'll be airborne before you know it mate.

Blue Skies...
 
Happy Birthday Snow. Now get your butt studying
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!!! If you are going to fly and do ground school at the same time then you better stay ahead of the reading and be as prepared for class as you can. You will find as you start flying that it is a lot of work preparing for those flights. You need to have the systems memorized, checklist memorized, and especially the emergency procedures memorized before you step foot in the plane. damn, I sound like my old instructor at FSA. Good guy! Learned alot from him. Now he is at ACA. Wish I was.......ILS
 
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Also he took his VCR and PS2 with him, so we're back to plain olde tv again.

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Isn't it funny that the person who brought a VCR and PS2 failed out. I don't know, but I don't think those two things would have been on my must have list for FSA.
 
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what would you say the percentage of people who pass or fail

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Hum well in our class of now 12 people, one is repeating, he did a little too much partying his first attempt. I think in the first quiz 4 or 5 failed, the quizes are 50 questions each and cover the topics we studyed the previous week (held each monday) they have a combination of multible choice, fill in the blanks and connect the items and I would say a bit harder than the FAA questions, plus you need to get 80% to pass where as the FAA requires 70% on their tests. If you fail you are allowed to take it 2 more times and 3 strikes and your out, which I think is more than generious. 'Out' meaning your put on 'No Fly' and you'll have to wait till the next ground school to repeat. Only the one student failed 3 times and he opted to quit rather than wait till the next ground school in a month's time.

On the 2nd quiz I'm not sure but I don't think anyone failed it, after a rude shock for some from the first test I think they got their butts in gear and realised it would take more effort than their first attempt. I think some anticapated the first test to be easy or to be like 'high school' and got a shock when they found out it wasn't.

Now that people know what to expect I don't forsee any more failures. Plus with the higher standard we're being held to, once the actuall FAA exam comes around it will seem like a peice of cake in comparison.

Hope that answers some of your questions, and having come from university, the amount of study required is nothing new to me. Plus the fact I actually enjoy the materal makes it seem less like work.

Day 17 - Friday October 17th

Today we did more stuff on AIMs, which is a bit lighter than the FARs because it's practical stuff that you'll actually use, stuff like runway markings etc. I think everyone was glad friday was here, but with the test looming on monday I don't think much partying will be going on. On the contary a bunch of german students arrived in a rather 'jolly' state and there was a large (80 ppl or so) pool party. I actually didn't make it cause i had my first flight scheduled the next morning but I heard some good stories on monday.

Day 18 - Saturday October 18th - First Flight!

Alright, finally after being here for 2 weeks I get to go up for my first flight! The morning didn't start off real well however, I must have hit the off button on my alarm when it went off at 6am and went back to sleep. I then woke up later to find it was now 7:10am and I was suposed to get there at 7!
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So I put on my clothes like lighting, grabed my stuff and ran down to the flight line, getting there about 7:20 (an advantage of living on campus!) My instructor was begining to wonder if I had forgoten completely.

Anyhow got the weather, did weight and ballance and went out and pre flighted the aircraft. I did all the taxing, take off and most of the flying, it's suposed to be a familarasation flight, so we checked out the training areas and I had such good aircraft control my instructor had me do a few extra manovers that I wasn't suposed to do until a few lessions later. Steep turns, climbing turns decending, stalls etc ( I guess all those years of playing flight sim wasn't a waste of time!
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) My instructor landed the plane and did a quick debref, needless to say I was on a bit of a high for the rest of the day!

Spent pretty much the rest of the day writing up the aircraft written exam which I was suposed to have done before my first flight. Good to get it done but that meant all my studying for monday's quiz would have to be done on sunday.

Day 19 - Sunday October 19th

Today pretty much was a big study day, I just read all the chapters I hadn't read durring the week (dam baseball) plus all the homework I didn't get finished.

Day 20 - Monday October 20th - Quiz 2 - Flight 2

Well today I spent the morning craming in some review question, cursing I hadn't done them earlier. Anyhow I took the quiz and got 96%, it took a great deal longer than the first time, the flight computer and w&b questions took a fair about of time. Actually i was kinda annoyed that I got all the hard questions right and the 3 questions I missed were really easy.. doh ah well guess it's better to get the hard ones right than wrong, the easy stuff is simple to correct. The other guys who got in the 80s were saying I was crazy to be complaining about my score, but I won't be totatly happy unless I get 100% and it was definatly acheivable.

Just a mere 1.5hrs after finishing the quiz I had my 2nd flight scheduled. I went back to my room to 'chill' a bit I was actually kinda stressed after the quiz, I had been doing questions in one form or another since 9am that morning (now 2pm)

Did all the usal pre-flight stuff, I'd say having done the 5 microsoft lessons before hand really helped me to get the checklists down and the proceedures like V speeds and how to fly the pattern, when I got into the plane the first time, none of it was new to me. Plus I had spent some time sitting in the cockpit by myself beforehand going over checklist, turning those memory items into actual hand movements (it helps a lot, I definatly suguest you get some cockpit time, plus it's free)

We did some more manovres, this time some slow flight, more turns, steep climbs. I wish I had my camera cause the sunset looked really awsome from 3000ft. When it was time to come back to the field it was getting dark and so came on the nav lights. We were cleared a direct in and since i was flying the approach so well my instructor let me flight it all the way in. He said it's really rare for him to let a student land unassisted on his 2nd flight, on top of that it was a night landing! After shutting down he told me all those hours on MSFS really must have helped,and he jokenly told me next lesson he'll hop out and let me go shoot some solo ILS approachs at melbourne lol
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I replyed, well do you think I've chosen the right career path? hehe

Needless to say I think my feet were barely touching the ground on the walk back to the dorms!
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After I got back I decided to reward myself for a good day's work and went and bought myself a playstation 2 with a couple of games with the graduation money I had accumulated. My roommate and I stayed up late playing PS2 all evening, no study for us tonight!

Day 21 - Tuesday October 21st

Today we started learning about weather and flight instruments, which is cool because i find the weather is a fasinating subject, it is ever changing and never totaly predictable, it's the thing that makes flying a challenge. We also had a tour of the maintance hanger, the floor was shiney, I kid you not, very professional. The head mechanic gave us an indepth tour of the systems on the Cadet and gave us a few good pointers on what items to check during pre-flight. After that it was more classes on weather and flight instruments and the evening was spent largely reading up on the materal. Oh and tuesday is two for one at the pizza place so we had that for dinner.

Day 22 - Wednesday October 22nd - Flight 3

Well today I had an early flight, breif time was 8am so not as bad as Satuday, plus I made sure to get up with plenty of time to spair this time. It was a bit foggy and vis was down to 2sm, so only the IFR guys could leave, the weather breifing room was much busier than normal as 15 odd students hung around waiting for the fog to lift, by the time i had done pre flight paperwork the vis had gone to 3sm and we were good to go. Today we did some touch and goes and then went north to do some slow flight and stalls,this time we were over the coast which was cool since I hadn't seen it yet. Came in to land and we landed 29R and had to hold short 29L for about 5 mins, I'm guessing there was a flood of traffic that left as soon as the fog and lifted and now 1.5hrs or so later they were all coming in, 4 or so planes landed before we were cleared to cross the rwy, plus the ramp was a bit of a traffic jam, heck you would have though we were in Atlanta or somthing! I heard reports of a trainee controler so that might have had somthing to do with it too. I told my instructor, gee you'd sware we were working for the airlines already with all this traffic, lol
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After the flight had a bit of free time until afternoon classes. more weather and flight instruments. Tonight I think I'll finish the weather reading, which I'm instrested in anyhow.

*Thew!* Well congratulation if you managed to read this far! today is really the first time I've had time to get on the net since Thurday, but I think I'm caught up now.

In summery I'm having a totally cool time, doing somthing your interested in really makes the classes and study go quicker, if I wasn't sure I wanted to be a professional pilot before I'm certain now!

Till next time....
 
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what would you say the percentage of people who pass or fail

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Hum well in our class of now 12 people, one is repeating, he did a little too much partying his first attempt. I think in the first quiz 4 or 5 failed, the quizes are 50 questions each and cover the topics we studyed the previous week (held each monday) they have a combination of multible choice, fill in the blanks and connect the items and I would say a bit harder than the FAA questions, plus you need to get 80% to pass where as the FAA requires 70% on their tests. If you fail you are allowed to take it 2 more times and 3 strikes and your out, which I think is more than generious. 'Out' meaning your put on 'No Fly' and you'll have to wait till the next ground school to repeat. Only the one student failed 3 times and he opted to quit rather than wait till the next ground school in a month's time.Till next time....


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Thanks Snow..that did answer my question... and it sounds like you are also having a lot of fun...
fly safe,
Todd
 
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After I got back I decided to reward myself for a good day's work and went and bought myself a playstation 2 with a couple of games with the graduation money I had accumulated. My roommate and I stayed up late playing PS2 all evening, no study for us tonight!

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And that was the last we heard from Snow... hahaa

Dave
 
Quick question for ya.

You said it took you about two weeks before you had your first flight. I assume you are starting from 0 flight time.

You have any idea what the wait would be for someone with their PPL already?

Thanks.

Naunga
 
I came to FlightSafety with my PPL and was given my instructors name and number the first day.

I didn't start flying until the second week. This was just because I had a lot going on the first week...finding an apartment, moving, bank account, etc....
 
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You have any idea what the wait would be for someone with their PPL already?

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Well you still have to do the private audit, there were 4 of those guys, haven't seen too much of them since orentation day but it looks like they had a week or two of classes and I think they did some flying during that time.

We had a guy in our class solo yesterday but he was about to solo before he got here (at a FBO) so he was basicly just flying around from the end of the first week until he had enough time to solo (he couldn't carry over his exhisting 15hrs)

I probably could have started flying at the start of the 2nd week but I didn't actually get in contact with my instructor after a week and the 2nd week was spent doing the microsoft sim lessons. In my class of 12 I was the 3rd to fly and still only one of 4 flying durring ground school, many have opted to do one thing at a time and wait until ground school is over before they start flying, although I'd say at least half have had at least one microsoft lesson. Technically I could be soloing as early as next saturday (day after the FAA exam) but I'm not sure if I want to be flying everyday with the final quiz Thruday and FAA exam Friday. We'll see, if not this upcoming weekend certainly the week after that since I won't have any ground school for 2-4wks and possibly not until January. (can't start the next ground school until you got your private licence and upto solo is only about 1/3 of the total private flight training.)

Day 23 - Thursday October 23rd

Well another flight this morning, this time we introduced flying about a point and emeregency landing procedures, getting to know my way around the practice areas a little better now, plus put the map in my kneeboard which helps, more touch and goes, got a nice greaser in between the thumps lol

More weather and flight instruments today in ground school.

Day 24 - Friday October 24th

Flew again this morning, at the conslusion I have a total of 7hrs flying time, not a bad week's flying considering I haven't done any cross countrys yet. I'm also just 4 lessons away from solo which is kinda scary. Also had a passinger this time, my friend (another student) asked to ride in the back for my lesson (called 'gemini' here) conditions are they do the weight & ballance and preformance calculations but otherwise it's free. Which was kinda cool cause it's the first time he's been in a light aircraft before, it was a bit bumpy but for the most part he did fine. Again more touch and goes, slow flight, stalls, turns around a point etc

In ground school we had our last of 4 weather lessons and a class on airspace, most students were glad weather was coming to an end, today was mostly how to read weather reports and maps, but brains were reaching their limits as it was friday afternoon of what seemed a really long week, guess because most of last weekend was spent studying.

Day 25 - Saturday October 25th

Ah what a glorious morning, I didn't have to fly until 12:30 so I actually got to sleep in for once!
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I had another student gemini with me today, he just got assigned the same instructor as me so he got a little preview of what's to come. This time I got to do touch and goes on a rather windy and rainy day, the plane was a bit dirty when we took off but it was clean when we parked it!
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It was really awsome to see the rain coming in over the airport as I did my circuits. My first landing in a rainstorm was kinda neat, also practiced a few forward slips for the first time and got to see some rather stange flying by others over the airport by another school I won't mention. Aparenty their idea of a touch and go is to fly the wrong approach and then overfly the airport... hum.

Did some more study that afternoon and then settled into a little evening of televison

Day 26 - Sunday October 26th

Well slept in a little, my idea of sleeping in now is like 9am lol it used to be until the afternoon!
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Today I will finish the last chapter or two of reading and tackle some of the questions in preperation for Thrusday and Friday's tests. I also spent a little time sorting through my finances and so far I've spent less than the $130 per/wk I had allocated myself.

Till next time...
 
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