Jman
Site Developer
I finally started my fixed wing add-on yesterday! Had a great 1.1hr lesson with a great flight instructor out of Pegasus-air flight instruction in Statesboro, GA.
3 things gave me some difficulty.
One: I can't seem to remember to push the throttle to increase RPM. Seems opposite of the collective in a helicopter. At one point on final approach I felt like I needed a bit of power to make the threshold. I promptly decided to pull on the throttle. Got my attention. Kudos to the instructor for letting me fix my error without freaking out on me!
Two: flying with the left hand! Takes some real getting used to using different hands for the controls. Speaking of controls, it seems strange to taxi without my hand on the yoke. My instructor anticipated this and specifically had me stick my arm out the window to break the habit of using my hands to move the aircraft around.
Three: Very stiff controls. The 172 felt like a flying tank. I'm so used to being able to go from 60deg left to 60 deg right and holding it there with my pinky if I wanted to. I really had to use some muscle.
On the plus side, it felt like the lesson went pretty well. My instructor says probably 3-4 hours till solo. I'm MUCH more skeptical than that. I'm really excited about soloing though because out of my 1600hrs flight time, except for a 4 min glider flight when I was 15, I've never been by myself in an aircraft. I'm really looking forward to it.
I've got 3 hours scheduled for Sunday. I'm really looking forward to it.
Thanks to Belle, my lovely wife, for supporting yet another project. Thanks babe!
Jake
3 things gave me some difficulty.
One: I can't seem to remember to push the throttle to increase RPM. Seems opposite of the collective in a helicopter. At one point on final approach I felt like I needed a bit of power to make the threshold. I promptly decided to pull on the throttle. Got my attention. Kudos to the instructor for letting me fix my error without freaking out on me!
Two: flying with the left hand! Takes some real getting used to using different hands for the controls. Speaking of controls, it seems strange to taxi without my hand on the yoke. My instructor anticipated this and specifically had me stick my arm out the window to break the habit of using my hands to move the aircraft around.
Three: Very stiff controls. The 172 felt like a flying tank. I'm so used to being able to go from 60deg left to 60 deg right and holding it there with my pinky if I wanted to. I really had to use some muscle.
On the plus side, it felt like the lesson went pretty well. My instructor says probably 3-4 hours till solo. I'm MUCH more skeptical than that. I'm really excited about soloing though because out of my 1600hrs flight time, except for a 4 min glider flight when I was 15, I've never been by myself in an aircraft. I'm really looking forward to it.
I've got 3 hours scheduled for Sunday. I'm really looking forward to it.
Thanks to Belle, my lovely wife, for supporting yet another project. Thanks babe!
Jake
