Glass cockpit vs steam gauges for low time PPL (and getting into a fast aircraft early on)

@MedEwok
I agree with the others. Just go up by yourself. If you were fine before, you’ll be doubly fine now. I’m willing to bet you will see your caution (flying with a FI) in a different light. There is such a thing as being TOO cautious. That has a high price WITHOUT INCREASING ACTUAL SAFETY.

I’m not talking about marginal weather or an international cross country. Just go up by yourself. You’ll be fine.

I am a big believer in flying periodically with FIs, but this sounds over the top.

MedEwok wrote:

Now one year has passed and I have only 10 hrs as PIC since getting the PPL. I am considering giving up…
No matter how you decide, make sure you fly again quickly! Don’t let your currency degrade!

@MedEwok, I seem to recall you started a very similar thread to this one when you were in the same position. You clearly had a great deal of enthusiasm for taking your flying further. I’m sure it is still in there somewhere. Having a child and moving to a new city will, no doubt, have taken a huge chunk out of you mentally. Once you settle in to the new life you’ll soon get the love back. Don’t entertain any thought of giving up.

I was in a very similar situation as you. I passed my skills test on a Friday and started a new, very stressful, job on Monday. I didn’t fly for five months. I felt the currency slipping so went for a flight with my old instructor who was very encouraging. She signed me off after that flight to hire the club aircraft and that is what I did. I felt nervous on lining up. Why? I don’t know. I’d done it plenty of times before whilst soloing. Perhaps the thought that I was on my own; no one watching me in the background. Anyway, I got on with it and really enjoyed it; my first flight as a qualified pilot.

Like others have said, just push through it and you will not regret it. If you are not feeling it with the new instructors perhaps you should make a trip back to your old school where you know and trust them? Heed your own advice from the quote above.

Perhaps these posts should be moved to a new thread: “Don’t let MedEwok give up flying”?

The most important thing after you get the PPL, is to go flying. Ideally the type of flying that makes you uncomfortable and that was not part of training (i.e. longer trips). Weather, customs, routines, anxiety – all these things build skills and makes a more confident pilot. Force yourself to do it, and the rewards will be huge.

LeSving wrote:

Unbelievable. Is this something you have decided yourself, or is your (new?) FI behind this? Your currency is NOT obliterated in 6 months. One flight on your own, a few touch and goes, some stalls, steep turns etc etc, and you are back. If this really is the case, as you say, and you cannot handle an airplane on your own, then I wonder about the quality of the flight school that gave you your license. IMO of course and so on

One mistake I probably made is to jump right into a new and more complex aircraft type (TB20) after that 6 month hiatus. The new FI then found me wanting for currency (sort of obvious isn’t it, for a type I’ve never flown before?). They then decided I needed more conversion training, but were never available for it when I had time, so another gap appeared until the second flight. By then my currency had obviously not gotten better, and I was told to go and train on an easier type again. I then changed to a largish outfit with several C172s among others. The new FI there treated me somewhat like a student pilot, and although he was nice in general this didn’t really help much either. I would have wanted to just fly on my own by then but all rental planes I had tried so far required more or less extensive checkouts with an FI first, thwarting that.

Peter wrote:

But the sooner one gets out of the school environment and starts to enjoy solo flying, the better. Many clubs/schools discourage people from doing much, for a variety of reasons.

Yes. The problem is that is hard/impossible to do as a renter. How do I rent a plane without having to go through some FI somewhere first?

WhiskeyPapa wrote:

agree with the others. Just go up by yourself. If you were fine before, you’ll be doubly fine now. I’m willing to bet you will see your caution (flying with a FI) in a different light. There is such a thing as being TOO cautious. That has a high price WITHOUT INCREASING ACTUAL SAFETY.

Fully agree but I cannot just go on my own with most rental organisations. I am not taking an FI voluntarily.

S57 wrote:

Like others have said, just push through it and you will not regret it. If you are not feeling it with the new instructors perhaps you should make a trip back to your old school where you know and trust them? Heed your own advice from the quote above.

Thank you. Will do my best. I am thinking of changing the outfit again, this time to a club instead of a commercial organisation, and start over again with a type more similar or same as the one I did my PPL in (Aquila A210/211). I heard the DA20 is quite similar, only a bit slower.

S57 wrote:

Perhaps these posts should be moved to a new thread: “Don’t let MedEwok give up flying”?

I certainly didn’t want to hijack Valentin’s thread. I wish him all the best. It sounds like he has both the capacity and the will to avoid what has happened to me. I would certainly be in a much better position now if I had my own plane.

MedEwok wrote:

I certainly didn’t want to hijack Valentin’s thread.

I don’t think you did. My original response was to get a simple easy going plane and just fly around on that island, get some hours and flying experience. Then decide what to do next. Lack of experience is not the same as lack of currency IMO. You can get currency with an FI, experience as PIC you have to get on your own. One way to look at it (sort of) is currency is stick and rudder skills (technical skills), experience is airmanship “skills” and doing things on your own. As PIC you have to be the captain, not just the second officer. You cannot possible learn that by flying with an FI.

There are TONS of flight schools with Garmin equipped SR22s in central Europe. Makes no sense to go to a place which has poor availability. Particularly if that’s in Zürich, which will very likely be by far the most expensive option of all of them!

Valentin have you checked with AeroPoznan? They specialize in cirrus, I believe it’s the largest operation in Europe. Probably much cheaper than Switzerland too!

I believe they also have simulators which would be great for you to try explore the avionics