Hello people.
Me and a buddy of mine just passed our medical which was a relief. Now do you guys have any suggestions or anything we should be aware of. Is there anyway we can save a bit of money by doing something? Also we are going to try our best to finish it off over the summer which is before september.But generally how long would it or does it usually take. Another thing, is it better to go for ground schooling first finish it off and then bring in the flying component or do both or if theres any other way.
I would love some helpful feedback.
Thanks Loads

It's doable in 6 weeks - put your heart and soul into it, and have it done before august.

Whatever you do.. DO NOT fly on the computer. You will focus on the instruments too much. The PPL (and CPL really) is VFR. Focusing too much on instruments = fail on the exam. Especially when they ask you to do something like a steep turn etc and cover up the instruments

You need 35 hours flight time to do the "ride". At about 1.2 average / flight.. do the math... realistically... I doubt anyone is prepared for the flight test at 35... more realistic is 50-60? Keep in mind that weather, aircraft availability and your schedule are huge factors... as is a good instructor.

On the flight test you can be asked any question that's on the written. You might as well get it out of the way. Keep in mind you'll have to do the pstar and radio license as well... or are you beyond that point?

Good luck

I'd suggest doing the flight training and ground school at the same time... You might feel overwhelmed by the amount of stuff that's going to be thown at you, but as you go, it will all make sence...
have fun!

Free advice (which no one bothers doing) which will
improve your flight training:

Let's say you're going to do steep turns tomorrow.

Tonight, read the chapter in the FTM on steep turns.

Then do the flight lesson with the instructor on steep turns.
Because you read the chapter in the FTM before, you
should get more out of the prepatory ground lesson
that your instructor has to give you, before you jump
in the airplane.

The evening after the flight on steep turns, read the
chapter in the FTM again. It will be completely different
now that you have received the prep ground lesson
and flight lesson.

Get a cheap notebook. After each lesson, make
notes of important stuff that you need to remember.
For example, for steep turns, it might be to set the
power for 110 mph, then past 30 degrees of bank
increase power to 2400 rpm's and pull back. You
might make a note that in left turns, the nose looks
high at the 45 bank angle, and that in right turns, the
nose looks low at the 45 bank angle, because you're
sitting on the left side.

But again, nobody ever does this, because 99% of
pilots are lazy, and would prefer to spend their money
having their instructor read that material to them like
their mommy reads a bedtime story to them, rather
than read it for free on their own.

I might mention that B.D. Maule, whom you have never
heard of, built his own first airplane, and learned to fly
it via a correspondence course.



I might mention that there is this thing called a
"Pilot Operating Handbook" aka AFM, which is
different for each aircraft, and contains all sorts
of essential information, but ...

Oh, never mind.

Back to your regularly-scheduled spoon feeding.

Ways to save money:
Study the material thoroughly before hand. Less ground time required before flying.
Fly more often = less review required.
Fly with a more experienced instructor if possible, but can be hard to find with the industry the way it is.

I recommend flying during ground school. The flight lessons focus on the how-to, ground school focuses in on theory. I recommend that the ground school be finished before you work on navigation. Navigation puts all the pieces together and is the last thing you work on before you work on polishing up for your flight test. You require at least 10 hours of flight training to write the written exam, and its always best to write it as soon as you complete the ground school. All the information will still be fresh in your memory.

Wacko wrote:Whatever you do.. DO NOT fly on the computer. You will focus on the instruments too much. The PPL (and CPL really) is VFR. Focusing too much on instruments = fail on the exam. Especially when they ask you to do something like a steep turn etc and cover up the instruments

This is VERY important, because it really screwed me up for the first 15 hours or so. Even now I still sometimes 'fixate' on the instruments too much, although I am a lot better now.

Thanks alot guys. These were all good insight as to what i should be expecting and what to do for it. And what do you guys mean dont learn on the computer instruments.?

husky_143 wrote:Thanks alot guys. These were all good insight as to what i should be expecting and what to do for it. And what do you guys mean dont learn on the computer instruments.?

Don't fly computer games like Microsoft Flight Simulator. It causes alot of bad habits. Your head needs to be on a swivel, and eyes on the horizon. They are only useful when working towards an instrument rating.

Good point about the computer flight sim... altho at first it helps getting more familiar with the instruments, what they look like, what they do, that's about it. Works better if you have yoke/rudder pedals but still, it's not the same, there's no point running home from your flight and pretend practicing exercises on the computer.
But a couple of other factors such as weather, booking, and motion sickness are uncontrollable to you and might slow you down.
On my first couple of flights I did only a .5, because of motion sickness, once you get sick you loose concentration (or you concentrate on not too barf) and you must land.
I started mid May, I fly 3 times a week, and plan to finish by September.
Good luck.

Excellent observation on the flight simulator. When I started flying I would almost never look at the horizon but now when I fly flight sim I am always looking for it. Be prepared with the two different environments.

Also do some instrument time in a simulator or at night (with/without hood). Good way to save money in the sim and have fun when doing instrument time .

thanks loads for the tips/advice ppl. One thing im concerned about is tht now the rules have changed tht now students have to give their exam for ground schooling at TC special exam room or something. The ground schooling exam is it all MCQ's or short answers or theory ...and how much content do they cover from (from the ground up) and which is the heaviest component that they focus on the most ...if you guys can give me some feedback there it'll be very helpful .thanks alot.

The written test is all multiple choice. It covers stuff from "From the Ground Up", the Air Command Weather Manual, and the Regulations (CARs). Give all of these a good read (except for the CARs---you don't need to read ALL of them for the PPL. Ask you instructor for a list of CARs to review). To help prep up for the written test I'd get a book of sample exams. http://www.aviationworld.net/ carries some good ones. I'd avoid the stuff by c-u-l-l-h-a-n-e, just as a personal opinion.