Originally Posted by uvmflier

short what you're going through is completely normal and i'm glad you posted it up here. There is nothing wrong with you feeling nervous up there. When you start flying being up in the air in something smaller than a Honda Civic at 3,500 scares anybody. Your nerves will greatly improve especially after you solo the thing in the pattern a few times.

When I was flying at the University I soloed in about 10 hours. Then when I went back home to the FBO I had a CFI who also started yelling at me from taxi to runup, throughout the whole flight, with no constructive feedback just yelling. I canned the loser CFI went back to my old flight program at the University and immediatley started my solo cross countries.

Short ask around and find out how many people have actually soloed and or completed their private pilot under this guy? My original CFI was hard on me but he had me soloed in 10 hours. The guy is a shady character too he has like 2000 tt 200 multi and keeps getting denied to Mesa, Colgan, Comair, XJT. etc. He must have something on his record is all I can fathom.

Back to my good CFI (and trust me they are out there you just have to look) At one point I was having nerves too about leaving the pattern and getting lost. Something that seems silly now but was a big concern back then. I talked to him about it and he really helped me out. Try and stay away from people who teach people to fly and find a CFI who teaches people to become Pilots. Next time your at the FBO shopping around look around at the students and the CFI's. If you see a CFI with many students doing cross country planning and stuff you may want to take a ride with them. You can do stalls and touch'n'goes till you are blue in the head. Being an airman is way beyond that its like a way of thinking on your own and problem solving. Thats what you need to learn.. Not be yelled at because you didn't hit the carb heat in time or turned downwind too soon.