As hard as it is to confess to your flight instructor, your mentor, your best friend, or whomever is encouraging you to Learn to fly, you might not possess an innate desire to soar above the clouds and dance in an aerobatic waltz with the wind.
Hello. My name is Julie, and I am one of those people.
However, my life path placed me directly in front of my fear—I am an editor with the world’s largest aviation organization. So I had to overcome my fear and, dare I say it, embrace flying. In the beginning I suffered (as did those who flew with me) and it took quite a while before I could say I “liked” going GA. But on one memorable fuel stop in North Carolina with the winds gusting at a billion knots beyond hurricane force (OK, 25 to 30 knots) we landed to have the FBO attendant tell me that not many “brave souls” were flying in that wind and he applauded my pilot’s finesse—and several minutes later we took back off in that same wild wind. And I was fine. And enjoyed the ride.
So here are my five things that I wished I had known—or understood—earlier in my training. Maybe it will help you take the mystery out of your early flights.
1. Why the preflight? My first GA flight started out OK…that is, until the preflight. In other words I was ready to fly but the lengthy preflight process only served to exaggerate my fears. By the time we were in the air, I wanted down. Shortest flight on record.
Once you know the whys of the preflight, it becomes less overwhelming. I tried to equate flying with driving, so checking out the aircraft before the flight didn’t make sense to me. In the car, you jump in and go, right? Well, sort of. Maintaining your car is no different than maintaining aircraft. It’s ensuring everything is as it should be. It also makes you more comfortable not less. You’ve checked that everything is as it should be. Really, we all should do that more with our cars. Eyeing the gas gauge shouldn’t be your only pre-drive inspection. And, knowing the aircraft systems makes you a better student—and pilot-to-be. A preflight checklist lays it all out in front of you, and even the most experienced pilot gets out that laminated card for a double check.
2. Turns around a point…what’s the point? OK, so it’s nice to see my house from the air (once I discovered my 16-year-old was home without permission on a school day! I could see his car in the drive), but what’s the reason for turning this way and that around a visual point on the ground?
My dear friend Bill Kershner, veteran instructor and author of The Student Pilot’s Flight Manual, whom I never met in person but who guided me often via the telephone before he passed away, said, “The idea of turns around a point is to show your instructor how well you can fly the airplane when your attention is directed outside.” Now, that made sense to me—would I be able to fly the airplane at altitude when distracted?
One of my favorite GA experiences took place in Florida when we “practiced” turns around a point over actor John Travolta’s hangar home—Is that his jet? Is someone coming out of the house? We stayed on altitude even with all that excitement.
3. Steep turns. On a recent photo flight (the one that produced this month’s cover) I asked Senior Editor Dave Hirschman explain to me—again—the reason for steep turns. Of course, he had us execute one, and luckily he was in the left seat (although we had some 30-degree banks to the right on the photo mission). Why practice them? So if you ever find yourself in a situation that calls for one, you know what to do. Sounds simple, but that feeling of artificial weight increase bearing down in the 50- or 60-degree angle to the Earth is still not my favorite. Dave held the altitude all the way through the turn—that’s the lesson to be learned—but it still felt like my stomach was heading out the door.
4. Stalls. Why, Why, why? For that I turned to Rod Machado, author of Rod Machado’s Private Pilot Handbook and columnist for this magazine and AOPA Pilot. I said give it to me simple and he did with this direct answer: “First, you have to know what a stall is like if you want to avoid it. Second, if you actually do stall, then you need to know how to get the airplane flying again.” So what is a stall? It’s when the wings go on strike and cease producing the necessary lift for flight. Those wings can only bite the air at so big of an angle before they stop working efficiently. To remain stall-free, don’t fly too slowly or bank too steeply, and don’t treat your flight controls roughly, as if you’re using a hockey stick. As far as how to get the aircraft flying again if you do stall, that’s what you’re paying your instructor for. Personally these answers do not make the intentional act of stalling an airplane any more pleasant for me, but maybe they will for you.
5. Go fly in the practice area. Perhaps I am too literal, but the first time that my instructor and I went to the “practice area” I was lost. Where was it? Make your instructor show you the visual clues on the ground that outline your flight school’s practice area. It’s the silo on the top right corner, the stand of trees on the top left, the housing development on the bottom right, and the long L-shape shopping center on the bottom left. That’s the area your school has determined has the least amount of traffic and offers you easily identifiable visual ground clues to establish where you are.
Oh, and remember that unlike the road, the sky is offered to you in layers. Once on a flight through the congested Washington, D.C./Dulles International Airport airspace, air traffic control radioed that we had a Boeing 747 at our 10 o’clock. I looked. No Boeing bearing down. Then ATC said our 11 o’clock. Ack! Where? At our 12 o’clock my pilot said, “There he is” and sure enough at our 12 o’clock several thousand feet below us was the 747.
There are no stupid questions. Don’t let the excitement of learning to fly or the fear of the unknown stop you from asking for clarity. At the end of those questions is an unbelievable new way of looking at the world.
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