I’ve passed my skills tests! Got very lucky with the weather on Saturday morning and hey two hours later I was on the ground signing papers!
Just wanted to say thank you to euroga members from which I have learned loads and helped me with their tips.
The plan now for the next year is to spend some time gaining more experience before trying to get a further ratings (maybe IMC/EIR?). In that respect wanted to ask you guys if you have other tips to efficiently learn/experience more. Some have suggested to continue to flying without GPS and use VOR/Dead reckoning… School recommands not to take any passengers for the first few hours as they’re likely to be a distraction (to which I agree). Any other tips/advice?
Well done :-)
I think the first thing to do is go and have some fun. Maybe a few more solo trips to get comforable flying under your own license rather than an instructors, and then seek out a few passengers who will enjoy the experience, and are unlikely to cause you any issues as captain (e.g. panicking, being ill, non-stop waffling, drunk, 3 x overweight adults) and set targets along the way.
I have just spent the last few weeks in my spare time transferring my logbook into Excel so I can view it online and look at statistics, and have a backup somewhere. It was interesting to note in 8.5 years of flying, at least in the first few years, how boring my flying looked. Much was solo circuits where I had been cautious about the weather but still wanted to fly, or untold return trips to Southend and back. There were two (actually three) things that triggered a change:
1) Getting my IMC – even if I never launched into legal minima (still dont actually, not in a basic SEP), it gave me the legal ability to deal with weather that even as a PROB30 might have stopped most flights just on a VFR basis
2) Getting into a group and owning an aircraft – prior to this event I had visited something like 15 airfields in total, now 4 or so years of owning by my last count I have visited 65 airfield (58 UK, 7 France). I also noted I did more exciting stuff like climbing above 2500 feet because with cost sharing with other pilots, I was now going twice as far as before. So this would be one important recommendation now, even if you dont get into a group – share piloting responsibilities so you do one leg, the other does the return, you really do get to go twice as far for the same money 
3) Beginning to read forums and being inspired by posts made by Peter on 2 other forums before this one was created, and on his website.
I cant afford to fly the aircraft, do the hours or cover the miles that some people do, I also have other expensive vehicles and hobbies too, but in 8 years of flying, I am still having enormous fun, do about 5 hours a month, and dealing with new challenges.
CONGRATULATIONS! I bet you are still on cloud 9. An awesome feeling.
Sorry, dont have much in the way of tips except to say enjoy, explore and fly safe!!
Well done!
Depending on where in the UK you are, there is unusually good wx around the next few days so get out there and make the best of it
1) Getting my IMC – even if I never launched into legal minima (still dont actually, not in a basic SEP), it gave me the legal ability to deal with weather that even as a PROB30 might have stopped most flights just on a VFR basis
My suggestion would be to get a bit of VFR flying under your belt, before starting on instrument flying. The reason is that instrument flying is very hard work unless you are already a very good VFR pilot. Once you can sit there, chilled as a cucumber and holding headings to 5 degrees and altitude to 100 feet (on a nice smooth day) then go for it and it will make you a better safer pilot – plus the IMC capability which is priceless.
2) Getting into a group and owning an aircraft – prior to this event I had visited something like 15 airfields in total, now 4 or so years of owning by my last count I have visited 65 airfield (58 UK, 7 France). I also noted I did more exciting stuff like climbing above 2500 feet because with cost sharing with other pilots, I was now going twice as far as before. So this would be one important recommendation now, even if you dont get into a group – share piloting responsibilities so you do one leg, the other does the return, you really do get to go twice as far for the same money
You should investigate that ASAP because as you say you will go a lot further for your money. Also the direct (hourly) cost is much lower than renting, which encourages currency.
Congratulations!
Other tips? Stay with and fly with seasoned pilots, ideally on real missions*. You’ll soon discover that you have yet only learned maybe a tenth of what it takes to be a a really competent pilot. The most learning is still ahead, but the difference is that there is no pressure, making this so much fun and pleasure.
*But do not blindly believe in everything the old guys say or do. Be open-minded, but always a tad skeptical.
I would not recommend to continue flying without GPS. Flying without one, in today’s airspace, is just not prudent any more. This is not to say you shouldn’t stay absolutely sharp in navigating visually, dead-reackoning and using radio nav aids.
I would agree that you shouldn’t take passengers on you very first flights. Do a few flights on your own in order to develop your own “style”, your personal workflows and a bit of routine. That will make your flights with passengers a much more pleasant experience, for both.
Congratulations.
While of course you want to take it easy, being too proscriptive may make you not enjoy your new privileges. I actually think going up and doing a few solo circuits on a nice day followed by taking a friend for a short local flight is perfectly fine.
You can certainly continue to fly by DR/VORs now if you want but if I was you I would start to enjoy actually flying and begin to use a GPS like every other pilot out there. I would still plan the same way but using the GPS in flight simply makes sense and is less error prone if you do it properly.
Gradually build the length of your trips but the key is to keep flying. You are at statistically the safest point in your flying (at least for the next few hundred hours) but also the point at which many people give up. Don’t get complacent just because no-one is there to check what you do but also don’t be so paranoid that you don’t fly.
If you can pass a skills test you will find flying on your own is easier (once you get past your initial natural trepidation). I always think that your first pre-flight after getting your licence is almost certainly your most thorough!
Some even older guy might come up and recommend to not fly with a compass but use a sundial instead ;-))
Only kidding – but since you will ALWAYS fly with a GPS for the rest of your days you might as well learn how to use it well. Just don’t do DIRECTS all the time but really learn the important features of all devices. If you have a GNS430 for example learn how to use the OBS feature.
What i did all the time the first years: i would not do 200 km coffee or hamburger runs… i would always practice and do SOME airwork on every flight. Steep turns, stalls, slow flight in all configurations. Later i practiced Chandelles and Lazy Eights, and after 4 years i added an aerobatic rating to my licence. Not to become an aerobatic pilot – but to be SAFE in all conditions!
It’s really a licence to learn!
I would say pick somewhere you want to go and go there. That’s what I did when I got my PPL at first. I ended up in places with little to nothing there just because I looked at a map and decided I wanted to go.
I would also not recommend abstaining from using a GPS. It IS a good idea to practice DR skills and now and then maybe do a flight without referring to GPS, but if you actually want to go from A to B it is silly not to use one. If you do decide to do an IMCr or its equivalent, GPS becomes even more important. I DID do my IMC rating on an aircraft without a GPS, but to actually fly IFR without one is making life difficult for yourself, and ATC will assume you have one. Even if you discount the airway reporting points that ATC will send you to which can’t be easily navigated to without a GPS, I have been given almost 300nm long directs to VORs in the UK, and obviously you can’t (99% of the time) use conventional NAV for such a long distance.
Definitely get yourself a decent aviation GPS, get the manual out, learn to use it, and use it for every flight. Load the route into it and fly the route. It will transform the confidence with which you can go to places.
The backup for GPS can be visual nav, or – if your aircraft has the equipment – VOR/DME which is actually quite easy to use. The only issue with VOR/DME is that on many route you are likely to be flying, there isn’t a handy VOR on the route.
Firstly – congratulations.
Second – the best advice I can offer is to keep doing things as you were taught, but keep trying to do that better. Don’t re-invent the wheel, it’ll sooner or later bite you.
Where you add gadgets such as GPS, incorporate that in the cockpit and flight management you’ve been taught, don’t drop the original good practices.
Things like stalls, flapless circuits, PFLs, diversions – keep practicing them once in a while to ensure that should you ever REALLY need them, you’ll be sharp enough.
And finally, don’t forget to enjoy yourself.
G
