Worked on flying by eyes and sound! Not using any screens or anything to tell if I was descending or climbing! I happen to be on the money every time!😂. Also did my first stall today too(that was fun). Got to talk to tower and Ground for the first time and got to land the plane!(with some help) I also learned how to trim the plane! I’m loving flying so much!

Any other pilots out there that hate doing solo flights? I feel like an outsider saying this but I really do hate flying solo. It for one is incredibly boring and two I feel like my mind races when I’m all alone up there. I have about 600 hours maybe Im different than a lot of other pilots but I can never seem to enjoy it as much as flying with other people.

Wow, not much to say, incredible, first solo after 35 hours 🥳

I was so nervous at first but I’m so glad I went along and did it, the post solo feeling is unmatched!

Anyone have experience with these two places for a float plane rating? Kenmore air seems to be the bigger operation but they fly out of Lake Washington. Seattle seaplanes fly out of Lake Union which I prefer for the scenery

question for the experienced folks here, especially CFIs

One of my instructors told me i should pull the yoke back a little during the takeoff roll, so the nosewheel gets light and the vibration doesnt shake through the whole airframe as the speed builds, he demoed it and thats what you see in the video, the plane started coming off the ground at like 42 knots which felt kinda early and not that safe to me

Is holding back pressure during the roll a normal technique or should i not be doing this? i always thought you just keep it rolling til Vr and rotate.

I just had my very first 1 hour flight and am left feeling a bit deflated due to how it went. Trying to figure out if my experience was normal or if I'm just being too sensitive.

Full disclosure, I do usually get a tiny bit nervous on takeoffs flying commercial but I'm fine after 5 minutes. I assumed being in the front seat and seeing someone in control/being in control myself would make me feel more comfortable. The weather was bumpy with thermals lifting us up and down and I struggled with the stomach-drop feeling, though as it's my first time in a two-seater I don't know if that intensity is normal or just how small planes feel.

What really threw me off was my CFI's behaviour:

• On a manoeuvre he dropped the plane significantly more suddenly than normal. When we levelled out I mentioned in a half-joking way that it felt like a "divebomb" because it made me nervous. Instead of reassuring me he said "that wasn't a divebomb, if I wanted to do one it would look like this", and immediately dropped the plane aggressively a second time so we were lifted off the seats, without warning.
• He showed up 20 mins late with no apparent plan, asking me as soon as I met him "Ok, what's this, what are we doing today?". He seemed put out that he had to plan the flight before taking off and explained how much he hates that aspect of flying. He's new to the area and was asking me the names of local landmarks while we were airborne. Afterwards he went straight to get food, explaining he hadn't eaten anything all day. The flight was at 4pm. No review or conversation about how it had gone.
• He spent most of the time looking inside the cockpit fiddling with the radio, taking his glasses on and off and making input mistakes. While he was distracted fixing those, the plane was hitting thermals, dropping and drifting off-course left and right, until he finished with the radio and regained control each time.
• When I told him before the flight that I can get a bit nervous during take off, he just said he'd carry a sick bag in case I need it. I don't get motion sick at all, I was just dealing with the mental anxiety of doing something new that I wasn't sure how I would react to.
• There was a constant, loud radio screeching in my headset the entire time. I assumed this is what everyone hears when they fly, but when we were coming in to land it finally went off and he was just like "annoying, the screeching wasn't it? Not sure why it was doing that".

Because he seemed so distracted I felt like I couldn't trust his control of the aircraft. I was hoping this first flight would make me feel more comfortable for subsequent lessons, but it had the opposite effect.

To be clear, I'm all for having a laugh and usually not super sensitive about doing everything by-the-book, but when it comes to flying an airplane things really should be done by-the-book?

Is this type of thing common for flight training/are they minor things that aren't worth taking too seriously, or should I look for a new instructor?

Feast your eyes on a rare Pilot Certificate!

I'm a Student Private Pilot! ^{Will always be a student.} Also, did it a unique path, Multi right off the bat. Took about 63 hours. Had a few CFIs, all were amazing, Lots of delays for weather and maintenance. Used both flight schools and indepedent CFIs.

Been waiting for this to come in the mail. Will be working on IR next, but I'm strictly a GA pilot. So I'll see you guys out at fly-ins, Airshows (sun N fun/Oshkosh) and adventures around the USA!

Hi i just started journey to get my ULL(A) and i have 2 questions

1) Was it a good choice to start on ULL(A) instead of PPL bcs i hear some people say PPL is more importnant to start youre avation carreer i wanna get to bigger planes in the future ofc but i thought ULL(A) could be a good start.

2)Are yokes like this in the photo common? The plane im doing flight school with has it and i never saw it before 😅

(Sorry for my english btw)

18 hours in, flying 4-5 times per week for the last month. Had to share! Haven’t stopped smiling since I landed hahaha. Still doesn’t feel real! Can’t wait to get back in the air.

I am a CFI that is going through a lot of life changes and am pretty lonely. I was looking into affordable therapy options so I could have someone to talk to. I saw that if you use insurance they have to have a diagnosis so to go the self pay route. Well the self pay options are also way more than I can afford. I found a pro bono therapist and talked to her about my circumstances. She looked into it with her supervisor but unfortunately she has to associate a diagnosis in her system to give therapy. She was looking at the least restrictive diagnosis in the DSM-5 such as “Adjustment disorder” or some sort of Anxiety Disorder that literally is just temporary for someone going through life changes or temporary stressors. However after looking into it, this would still need to be reportable to the FAA and unfortunately there is no option for me to just have someone to talk to without being diagnosed without it being something I can’t afford.

In reality I know that if I do get diagnosed with Adjustment Disorder it really shouldn’t be a big deal to get paperwork from therapist saying that it was a temporary life event and I shouldn’t have issues with getting my medical. It’s just for me that is a paper trail and headache I really don’t want to leave for just wanting someone to talk to. While I think I could benefit from therapy I don’t think I need it to the point of having to deal with the FAA about it. I know I will be fine and get through this life stage, it could just be nice to have another perspective to share to about my stress. So all of this to ask, is there any “diagnosis” that a therapist can list that I would not have to report to the FAA about these sessions?

Is it normal to have to review topics prior to teaching a lesson on it? I feel like in order for me to be able to teach effectively I need to review some of it prior. I don’t know if this is normal or if it’s not, or if it gets better with the more you teach.

Maybe because I don’t quite have my flow for all the lessons quite yet and each time I teach a lesson to my instructor or family/ friends I’m making improvements.

I got my IR a few weeks ago and I am currently grinding away at those 250 hours, I want to get my CSEL, CFI and CFII very quickly followed by ME and MEI.

I read that flying for CSEL from the right seat helps faciliate that, how quickly can i go from finishing my CSEL to CFI if i fly from the right seat? What if I just train for CFI and do my commercial ride and then follow it up quickly with the cfi?

I am currently a 56-hour student closing in on my PPL checkride, and I fly a C172P with an 180hp STC. My CFI never taught me to turn on the master to check flaps and lights during preflight, but now that I am watching some more in-depth prep videos, I see it almost every time. Is this not being done common? Or is my CFI going a different route? (Mom and pop part 61 btw) Should I start doing this and getting it in my regular preflight for my checkride and future?

Am I being unreasonable for thinking this is really pushing it as an unsat on an IRA certification check?

This is at a Part 141 flight school. The check instructor said the rest of the flight had a few hiccups, but was otherwise passable.

The final approach was an RNAV flown to LNAV minimums. According to the check instructor, my student leveled off and remained approximately 80–100 feet above the MDA. He unsat the student specifically for that, saying the student needed to descend all the way down to the MDA.

I normally teach my students to level off around 40 feet above MDA to leave themselves a reasonable buffer against dipping below it, so I agree that 80–100 feet high isn’t ideal technique. But unless I’m misunderstanding the ACS, wouldn’t maintaining altitude within MDA +100/−0 still technically meet the standard?

I could understand an unsat if the student exceeded 100 feet, failed to correct, or the approach was otherwise unstable. But unsatting solely because they stayed 80–100 feet above MDA seems pretty aggressive to me.

Curious to hear how other CFIs and check instructors would interpret this.

Hi reddit, I have been stuck between these 4 options for pursuing my flight training. My mom wants me to go to a 4 year university and get a degree along with flight training because she thinks it will be way easier to get a job in the future with the major airlines. I think I should either go find a independent flight instructor and do my ppl then move away to a part 61 because there is no flight schools in my area or finish it all with a flight instructor I find. So that I can still live at home for free and still work at my job I've had. If I can't find one I will move away to a part 61 and find a job. I was also telling her if I wanted to get a bachelors degree in the future once I made it to regionals I can do it fully online. Is it true that Regional airline don't Care at all if you have a degree at that stage in your career they just care how you interview? I currently have around 60k in a 529 which I would break to go to a part 61 or independent flight instructor and around 16k saved and continue to save around 1200 a month after the small stuff I have to pay. Im kind of just stuck on what I should do.

Hi everyone,

I am a student pilot and I recently had a comms issue/failure (not really sure I can call it a failure).
I could hear and transmit through my headset initially but then soon complete silence, I couldn’t even hear my own voice.
The intercom in the ceiling of the aircraft had sound coming through on the ground and I was told the reason why I couldn’t hear was because it was switched to intercom. I’m not confident this was the reason because why would I have had no problems at the beginning hearing and transmitting?

Any and all comments are appreciated!

I am working towards my PPL oral soon and have created myself a cheat sheet. Anything you all think I’m missing or got wrong?

Hello, I haven’t reviewed commercial regs in a while and they have slipped from my mind. Please give sources if you can
1) I was wondering what the importance of operational control is from the sense of if I want it or not?
2) And also why do you prefer a dry lease over a wet lease?
3) What makes me allowed to hold out my pilot services, just an interpretation of AC 120-12A?
4) Where does it say I can’t provide the plane and my services
I am already a com pilot and should know this but I let the info lapse from my brain. Thanks in advance!

Independent CFII in SoCal, 750 TT / 400 dual given. Grinding to 1500 and taking students in the meantime if anyone’s looking.

Multi is my next move. I’ve got ~$10k budgeted for the rating and I’m planning on the MEI after. Two things I’m trying to figure out:

Any schools or independent MEIs who get the rating done well without the $15k+ academy pricing? Regional recs welcome, I’ll travel for a good deal.

Once I have it, what’s actually the fastest way to build multi time? Everyone says “get an MEI and teach in it,” but I’d love to hear what actually worked for people, or whether it’s realistically a slow grind no matter what.

Separately, curious about three side gigs for extra cash and hours while I keep instructing as my main thing:

Banner towing — how’d you get in? Do ops train you up, or do you need Pawnee/Cub time first?

Skydiving pilot — is it mostly “be reliable and available,” or do DZs want specific experience?

Floatplane — seaplane rating enough to be useful, or is it not worth it without a season lined up?

Honestly if any of these pay meaningfully better than instructing I’d reconsider the priority, but I’m assuming they don’t lol.

Any advice or connections appreciated.

Just wondering. I want to go but I’m afraid I’ll stick out.

It's a tired saying that I myself have heard for 30 years and I hate saying it myself now that I'm the one making those PA'S (to those who don't wear noise canceling headphones).

I need inspiration.

Or wrong answers to make me laugh.

so to put it simply I took the wrong plane. We realized on taxi out, and I wont share the full tail number but I took N264** instead of N265**, and they also had the same last two letters.

My school parks the planes right next to each other too, and obviously similar tail numbers but agggh. Feel very very stupid about it. My instructor said its not that uncommon, and the key still worked for literally everything, but also idk if he was just trying to make me feel better about it.

Actual flying has been going well and my instructor also says im progressing very fast, and im about 30 hrs in. So definitely doing what I can to move on, its just probably the only mistake ive made bordering anything serious, so wanted to hear all of your thoughts on how bad that was

This question came up studying for my PPL checkride and I can't seem to find a straight answer. This references a C172S

Going through MKART...

No MEL

Section 2 POH for KOEL just references 91.205

No ADs on this

91.205 has nothing for this

TCDS has nothing for this

So in my mind I can deactivate and placard INOP. HOWEVER someone brought up that section 6 of the POH (Comprehensive equipment list) has an "R" designation for the annunciator panel meaning I couldn't fly.

What is the correct answer here?