Starting to fly (and failing to blog)

Argh, why is written introspection so hard?! All my good intentions to blog regularly were brushed aside this spring, as my brain decided that me learning to fly wasn't interesting to anyone else (and that I should care whether it was interesting to others when blogging). Rather than weekly, I'm going to aim for quarterly, and then attempt to over-, rather than under-deliver. 

Picking a school and instructor 

In February I started my piloting adventures for real. I chose a flight school with a large fleet of aircraft of the same type that all have the same instrument configuration (Rainier Flight Service), because I only wanted to have to learn one instrument configuration to start with, and I wanted to not be constrained by lack of aircraft availability. Side note about instruments: like cars, there are standards about the types of information an aircraft instrument panel must convey, but there are many different ways of doing it. 

I’m learning in Cessna 162 Skycatchers, which have a stick, rather than a yoke, and a Garmin 300 instrument panel. (I will potentially deep dive on them another time). The plane below is the one I flew yesterday (image copyright Rainier Flight Service). 

 

Interior of a 162 with Garmin 300 avionics (image copyright Garmin).
 

I then email interviewed the available certified flight instructors (CFIs), and chose the one whose responses I liked best, and who, by chance, would be around longest. CFIs are often recently trained piloting graduates who are working to accumulate 1500 hours so they can be hired as an airline transport pilot. It is not uncommon for student pilots to need to switch instructors, so I was interested in how any potential instructor would handle that transition. 

In-aircraft learning 

For me, learning to fly a plane is about becoming immersed in a new environment, and working through awkward tasks repeatedly, in a very structured way. Time in the aircraft, and the very structured checklists and curriculum have made the environment much more familiar. I have about 24 hours flying at this point, and am likely to solo in the next month or two. The CFI I’m flying with is fantastic! He is great at communicating while in flight, and debriefing after flying (with both positive and negative feedback),  hands me new tasks as I can handle them (I’m now doing all briefings, and about 70% of the radio calls), and remaining calm. 

VR learning 

At home, I practice flight procedures, strategies, and processes using Microsoft Flight Simulator with our virtual reality gaming rig. I had to start by learning where all of the flight controls were, and then added the VR headset. I am now much more proficient with virtual reality and can apply updates, reboot, and replug like the tech whiz I've always been. 

Studying 

In order to become a private pilot, I’m going to need to pass the FAA written private pilot exam, as well as oral and practical exams given by a Designated Pilot Examiner. We’ve got tons of e-learning from when Brian got his license, all of which come with practice exam questions. I shouldn’t have been startled by how awful many of the practice question distractors were, and that I needed to learn how to spot the tricky wording. 

I’ve been surprised by my own learning styles: for dry or complex things I strongly prefer listening to audiobooks and explainer podcasts, and pulling out a diagram or two from a book. Listening to the Pilot's Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge and the Airplane Flying Handbook is so much easier than trying to make myself NOT skim the text. I’m also convinced that the audiobooks are narrated by an AI voice… there are no breath breaks! All of the elearnings have aspects to recommend, and I switch among the providers, but I will admit to a soft spot for King Schools when the exam questions are frustrating me, because they explain how to pass the test, and how the questions are likely to be worded. 

What's retirement like? 

Currently, it’s much fun, and often overscheduled. Details in another post :-).