In the beginning....

[Half Fast]

Had my first two lessons today at First Landings in Apopka, FL. Turns, climbs, descents, and power on stalls over two sessions totalling 2.4 hours together. Fun, but very intense and I'm pretty much whipped. My instructor was quite complimentary but I take that with a big grain of salt; nobody making his living at flight instruction is going to tell a student he sucks on his first day. At least there were no screams of "OMG!" or "Holy s..t!" over the intercom.

The Tecnam Bravo seems like a nice plane but I'm going to have to take a cushion with me tomorrow so I can see over the cowl. Today I had to put two cushions behind me to reach the pedals comfortably, and I'm still too short to see out well so I'll need another cushion under my butt. I was having to depend on the instruments too much because I couldn't see the horizon well, but still did okay.

I'm off to a start in any case. Two more sessions tomorrow, then two on Monday. Three days off, then I'm scheduled for another two sessions per day next Fri, Sat, and Sun.

Tips and advice will be most welcome!

[MackAttack]

Or if I may paraphrase the Good Book... "Let there be FLIGHT!" Personally, I think that's what the good Lord meant to say but it was lost in translation ... Congrats on getting started!

Is First Landings the school near Orlando which has an all-Tecnam fleet? I may be doing flight review and possibly transition training there in July. I would really appreciate your thoughts on the school, instructors, etc., if I wind up getting a Tecnam ...

Thanks in advance for any thoughts you may have...

Cheers!

[Half Fast]

Yep, that's the place. I checked out several other options and decided they have the best program. They have several Tecnams and I believe they had a Cessna that's been sold. They also have a Cherokee.

So far I'm happy with the operation, but of course I don't really have enough time with them yet to have a meaningful opinion.

A friend at work who's a long-time PP did his BFR there last year and recommended them to me. He was very satisfied.

[Cluemeister]

Congratulations! Nervous at all?

[Half Fast]

Congratulations! Nervous at all?

A bit, but not too much with the CFI beside me.

[rcpilot]

Congrats and enjoy! The fun has just begun.

[MackAttack]

Congrats again and thanks for the info!

[Half Fast]

Well, we only got one flight today, but that was fine. Spent some time repeating yesterday's power-on stalls, then worked on a few power-off stalls. I'll need more practice on those. Plan for tomorrow is to start ground reference maneuvers.

On the way back to the airport after the lesson, I had just returned control to my CFI at ~3000' when the engine began to sputter. We had been flying on one tank to balance the loads. When the sputtering started, my CFI saw the fuel pressure was low and he immediately switched on the fuel pump and went to both tanks and the engine cleared up. Fuel looked clean when I checked the sump during the pre-flight; we speculated an air bubble, but it still might have been a bit of crap plugging the line and the electric fuel pump provided enough pressure to clear it.

I'm not sure I would have had the presence of mind to switch on the pump and go back to both tanks. I should probably start doing some mental "what if" rehersals of problems and solutions. I have lots and lots to learn.

I had a second flight scheduled for today, but a couple of the loaner headsets had crapped out and the remaining ones were in use by other students, so we did a ground session and reviewed the maneuvers we did yesterday and today and the ones planned for tomorrow.

I need to shop for my own headset. Anyone have any experience with the ASA headsets? The reviews look very good for such an inexpensive headset. My thought is that it might be adequate through training, then later when I want to upgrade it could become a passenger headset.

As always, all thoughts and suggestions will be appreciated.

[Cluemeister]

I agree on the headset. If you are going to buy a headset, get a good one now. Plenty of good choices!

Plus then you have to get a flight bag and you start feeling like a real pilot!

[HAPPYDAN]

Just my 2 cents, but, if you don't already have an "unwind outlet", find one. In the beginning, I had real problems with anxiety. Obviously, drinking and drugs are out. Playing sports or a musical instrument can really help, but I found a good friend's Labrador retriever to be the most relaxing. I was able to pick up the dog on short notice and keep him for a day or two. His goofy antics never failed to entertain me. Best of luck to you. You have certainly come to the right place for support!

[Half Fast]

Actually, this is my unwind outlet. Takes my mind off my job.

[Half Fast]

Well, I finished out my first weekend with two lessons today, 1.1 hr and 1.4 hr. This morning there was clean air at 3000 so we decided to take advantage of it and defer the ground ref maneuvers for this afternoon. We did some more stall work and my power on stalls are getting decent but power off will need more work. We then worked on some slow speed flying for a while; I'm having a little trouble maintaining altitude in slow turn, so more work to come there.

This afternoon we hoped to do more slow speed, but when we got up we saw a line of thunderstorms moving in from the NW that hadn't been on radar when I checked 20 minutes before the flight. We decided to stay out of their way and start on ground reference work a few miles from the airport so we could dash in if the wx started to crap out. I flew rectangular patterns first to the left and then to the right (left was better, but both okay). We then did turns around a point for a while, then moved on to S turns over a road. I'll need considerably more practice there, as I'm not doing great about holding my altitude. We were also getting kicked arounds a bit by winds leading the t-storms; wind kept changing direction and was also gusting a bit. We decided it was time to set her down before the wx arrived.

All in all, a decent first weekend. I got 5 flights for about 6 hours total Hobbs time, started on a variety of skills, and got some of the willies worked out. My instructor also signed me off to take the written based on my practice test scores, so I'll try to knock that out this week before doing more flying. My next two lessons are scheduled for Friday.

[Half Fast]

Plus then you have to get a flight bag and you start feeling like a real pilot!

Good point. Do you know if the $20 ones at WalMart have FAA airworthiness certificates?

[Half Fast]

Oh, yeah. Headsets. Almost forgot.

My instructor lent me one of the ASA headsets today. He's used it for a couple of years and it's still in great shape, though he now has a Lightspeed. I was satisfied with his ASA and I've read good reports so I'll order one. It should be okay for a while. I've heard great things about ASA honoring the lifetime warranty as well.

[Wm.Ince]

The new Bose, with Bluetooth, are excellent.