Learning to fly requires the acquisition of physical skills as well as the absorption of reams of newfound knowledge, theories, and terms unique to flight. All of those who’ve gone before have faced the same challenges. Yet, today’s environment calls for preparing newcomers for some hurdles that are shaped a little differently than the ones seen earlier.

“If this were easy, everybody would be doing it,” as the saying goes. When it comes to flying, truer words were never spoken.

If flying were as simple as driving, it would lose much of its attraction. The challenge of tackling a difficult, even potentially hazardous, endeavor is a reward in itself. And aviation never ceases to present challenges, making it a lifestyle, not a simple course of study.

There’s room for pilots of every stripe—those after a career, the ones needing an adjunct to a business, the seekers of pure recreation, and those wanting another personal travel option. There are challenges in pursuing each of these tracks.

Where Do I Go?

To a beginner, the atmosphere of an airport requires some discernment.

Two distinct sets of airport accommodations have evolved in recent years—the sanitized, secure world of business aviation terminals, with a lobby of polished marble and chrome that carries all the warmth of a dental office, and the semi-abandoned rumpled ambiance of a recreational airport, looking for all the world like a weekend hunting lodge. In both cases, inquiring student pilots may wonder if they are in the right place. Everyone is so taken up with their own tasks that a disoriented stranger may be tempted to look for a bell to ring just to get someone’s attention.

The business terminal probably has an efficient, overworked receptionist, required by security paranoia to guard the doorway to the parking ramp against errant individuals. Somewhere, off in one of the lesser-used rooms, is a flight training desk, to which you will be ushered for your appointment. And sure enough, behind the sterile facade, you will find a break room where pilots can mingle to talk flying around worn chairs.

By comparison, a sport-flying airport’s office may be camouflaged as a lean-to shed on the side of a hangar, where an unmarked door with peeling paint opens onto a disheveled world of abandoned Styrofoam cups and well-thumbed magazines. Strangers are viewed with as much distrust as at the bizjet terminal counter, requiring a proper visa to be shown for admittance. Fear not. Once inducted you’ll be able to claim this homey, lived-in place as your own.

A private club atmosphere in aviation is part of its mystique, but it often leads to misunderstanding by the general public happening to make casual contact. An impression may be given that only those on official business are welcome. As I stress to visitors I escort around our airfield, this is a public facility—treat it as your own, but don’t abuse it. Feel free to park and watch the planes come and go, and walk around all you like.

If we in general aviation don’t make the non-aviator feel welcome, we may find our airport paved over for a strip mall someday.

There’s No Right or Wrong Way

Another source of confusion for learners is the oft-heard objection, “We don’t do it like that,” usually given by a self-appointed, expert old-timer. Pilots who learned to fly 20, 30, or 40 years ago are constantly carping about how the world has gone to hell, how aviation sure isn’t what it used to be, and how much more fun it was back then. This can lead a new pilot to wonder if this diminishing business is worth all the time and treasure they’re putting into it.

And the fact is, things are different today, just as things were different when today’s chronic griper learned to fly two decades ago under conditions then far removed from the world of old-timers of that era. We have more rules now, there’s more traffic around some airports, and everything costs more—but it’s all relative. Today’s learners will naturally adjust to the conditions of this age and will probably tell their kids how cheap flying used to be.

Pilots learning to fly now should ignore doom-and-gloom types and dedicate themselves to the preservation of our freedoms.

Eternal Unpredictability

We live in a time of instant-redo fixes for everything, so it comes as a shock to beginner pilots that things don’t always work out as planned in aviation. There are limitations imposed by weather, airplanes may be down for inspection longer than predicted, and sharing access to an airplane depends on the other person’s success at keeping a schedule. Airplanes are not cars, and we have to learn that they can’t be operated like automobiles.

The risks of aviation must be managed with flexibility. When a preflight inspection turns up a frayed tire, it’s imperative that it be fixed before the airplane flies, even if that means scrubbing today’s mission. It’s not likely that the repair shop will have someone standing by to yank it off while you wait, even if there’s an FBO at the airport with the right tire in stock. Student pilots have to adjust to the reality of being able to fly only if everything works out.

The very day a dual cross-country flight is scheduled as the next lesson on the syllabus, a weather front will stall out across the route. So that carefully plotted learning experience is deferred, and another hour of touch-and-goes is substituted for it. Part of flight training is learning when not to attempt a particular task.

How to Pay for It

Can’t afford to learn to fly? Nothing much has changed in the 63 years since I earned my private license. I finished up $200 in debt, and that represented one-third of the cost of my training. But I knew I should finish the course and then pay off the debt with the certificate earned. My menial job paid but $1 per hour, and I could afford one lesson a week—most weeks.

The point is, as far back as I remember, airplanes have always been expensive luxuries, and if we wanted to fly them, we always had to give up some other part of our life. Saving up a portion of the cost or adding debt to learn to fly is about acquiring discipline, as much a part of aviation as life itself. I wish I could hand out free scholarships to every deserving learner, but the fact is, nobody makes a big profit from light aviation. Your flight school is probably already in negative cash flow, so don’t expect freebies unless you trade out work for air time.

As daunting as the financial hurdle appears, it can be cleared with sacrifice and extra work. Take on a second or third job, keep the old car running, and dedicate yourself to achieving something unique—your pilot’s certificate.

You’re Not All That Different

You may think you can’t fly because you don’t see a lot of pilots like you.

Look beyond the classification you think you’re in. Airplanes don’t see your differences—they are going to treat you the same as anyone else when you grab hold of the controls. You are becoming a pilot—period. Not a hyphenated, first-of-your-kind, special pilot, but a pilot like all the others you see in the break room.

More than most aspects of society, aviation has been a great equalizer. If you prove yourself by earning wings, you’ll be accepted as what you are, a pilot like all the rest. That’s not to say you can’t run into a thick-skulled, bigoted idiot in your flying journey, but they are rarer than you’ll find in less demanding activities.

Don’t ask for your flaws to be overlooked, just expect to be given the same training as all the other learners and become the pilot you want to be.

Terminology

Aviation’s lexicon can be perplexing because it’s new and strange.

Wading through the myriad acronyms, terms, and phraseology is one of the biggest obstacles I see learners struggling against. Even longtime aviators sometimes call the FAA “the FFA” when they get their mouth in front of their brains. V-speeds can be arcane because they have two meanings—a number to fly and a statement of purpose. Radio use has both an official distinctness, as set forth by the Aeronautical Information Manual (AIM), and a broader application in everyday use, when one seldom hears the term “over.”

The cure for becoming lost in the jargon is to study and listen. Don’t be afraid to ask for clarification when a term leaves you baffled. When you took up golf, you probably didn’t know a mulligan from a bogey, but you learned. Two of the least-used features of training texts are the glossary and index, supplanted by Google-ization. The publishers went to considerable trouble to include them, so use them to look up a term that baffles you.

Should ATC throw you a string of gobbledygook instead of a preconceived response, fall back on basic English to ask for clarification. Better to be thought a fool than to proceed blindly and remove all doubt. 

I can’t remove all your training obstacles, but I can assure you that you’ll have plenty of company as you climb over them. Knowing that you’re not the first to deal with them makes the job less challenging.  

Editor’s Note: This article first appeared on Plane & Pilot.

The post Negotiating the Flight Training Obstacle Course appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Although it is common for learners to imprint on their instructors, the fact of the matter is that the training connection is a business relationship. There needs to be communication about goals, how to achieve them, progress made, what has been accomplished, and what needs to be done. 

When you are a novice pilot, it can be a challenge to determine if progress is being made. When it becomes clear that it isn’t, it is time to make a change.

Flying Once a Week—Or Less

To make progress you need to fly on a consistent basis. This can be a challenge given limitations on instructor availability, airplane availability, learner availability, or finances.

There is no way anyone can make progress when you fly just once a week or a few times a month. You need a minimum of two lessons per week, three would be better, for learning to take place.

If you don’t have the money or time to fly at least twice a week, now may not be the time to pursue flight training. Save up the money and carve out the time to train. 

Flight Lessons Longer Than Two Hours

Just as flying too little hampers learning, so does flying too much.

Flying is fatiguing both mentally and physically. The cognitive demands, noise, and vibration of the aircraft can wear you out. Learning will not take place if you are tired.

It is not uncommon for pre-solo novice pilots to book five-hour lessons in the aircraft thinking they can knock out huge chunks of training in one lesson. This usually doesn’t work due to the fatigue factor.

You will need to build up endurance in the cockpit just like you do when learning to play a sport. For flights out to the practice area and back, two hours of flight time might be on the ragged edge.

While the FBOs gladly take your money and the CFIs will rack up the hours, you probably won’t get much out of it after about an hour in the air. Flying is too expensive to become self-loading ballast, so consider keeping the pre-solo flights to the practice area and in the pattern no longer than 1.3 hours. When your endurance increases, lengthen the lessons.

Too Early for Ground School?

It is never too early. Most of what you do in the airplane is best taught on the ground in a classroom than practiced in the air. The rules, regulations, and airspace are best taught on the ground as aircraft make terrible classrooms. 

If the CFI doesn’t recommend ground school, insists you self-study, and/or doesn’t make time to review what you have learned, ask why they are reluctant. If you’re not sure about a concept or an aircraft system or how to use a piece of equipment like ForeFlight or the E6-B, and your CFI can’t show you, find someone else to work with.

The CFI Doesn’t Use a Syllabus

A syllabus is the best way to keep a learner on track as it lists the tasks to be performed for certification and the order the tasks are to be learned.

Flight instructors train their clients as they were trained, and sadly many CFIs don’t use a syllabus because the person who trained them didn’t. “No one here uses one,” is a tepid excuse and unprofessional.

Minimal Preflight and Post-Flight Briefings 

“Did you check the weather?” and “See you next week,” are not pre- and post-flight briefings.

The preflight briefing consists of what the planned lesson is, how it will be conducted, and completion standards. The post-flight briefing consists of how you performed on the flight, ways to improve if required, and what will be done on the next flight.

Reluctance to Teach Basic Navigation

If your CFI is all about GPS, and says that no one uses the VORs, magnetic compass, pilotage or ded reckoning anymore, know that this is not accurate.

The basic method of navigation is using outside visual references. You also need to be able to determine time, speed and distance calculations using the E6-B—either analog or electronic—rather than relying on an app to do the work. 

For your check ride, you will need to know how to perform a divert in midair, and it is likely the examiner will disable the electronic devices to test your skills.

Reluctance to Use Paper Charts

While the electronic flight bag is a marvelous tool and reduces cockpit clutter, it can overheat, run out of power, or disappear from your flight bag or airplane.

Learn to use paper as backup. Also, you may find it more expedient to use paper for certain operations, such as looking up an airport tower frequency.

Instead of tapping on multiple tabs, a quick glance at paper gives you the information you seek.

No Introduction to the FAR/AIM

The Federal Aviation Regulations/Aeronautical Information Manual (FAR/AIM) spells out the knowledge and experience required for every certificate and rating. Your CFI should tell you about this book on day one of your training and demonstrate how to use it. 

The FAR/AIM is a tool to be used to “trust but verify.” There are far too many learners going on flights that are more for the benefit of the CFI building their hours.

How many times have you heard about a low-time, pre-solo private pilot candidate doing an IFR flight or night cross counties at the insistence of their instructor? 

Remember this is your training, and it’s supposed to benefit you. If you ever feel like that has not happened, you are well within your rights to make a change.

The post When Flight Training Stalls appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

For years, Bob Gardner’s Say Again, Please: A Pilot’s Guide to Radio Communications has been an educational resource for pilots. The seventh edition of the popular book, first published in 1995, has just been released by Aviation Supplies & Academics Inc. The information reflects Gardner’s decades of experience as a flight instructor and designated pilot examiner as he explains how ATC works, and how to ask for what you want or need.

Say Again, Please has been recommended reading for aspiring pilots for the past 28 years. The new edition has been updated to reflect current aircraft equipment, navaids, changes in airspace infrastructure, rules, and procedures.

Gardner’s prose is conversational and concise. You feel as though you are sitting across the table from a favorite instructor as he lays out scenarios and presents typical radio transmissions and appropriate pilot procedures. The book takes the mystery out of pilot-to-controller speak.

This is more than a what-to-say book. Gardner goes into detail explaining how radio equipment works, radio etiquette and rules, the differences between VFR and IFR communications, emergency communications, the role of ATC facilities, and who to call when, as well as differences in procedures in different airspace. There is also a pilot/controller communication section with terms and phrases you will hear and need to use.

Say Again, Please is available in softcover from FBOs, online retailers of asa2fly.com for $24.95.

The book can also be purchased as an e-book viewed on both small and large screens for use with the ASA Library app for $19.95.

For more information, visit asa2fly.com.

The post ‘Say Again, Please’ Remains a Must-Read for Pilots appeared first on FLYING Magazine.