Originally Posted by
PearlPilot
Today I tried something completely different before my 12 P.M. lesson. I woke up early, went to the library, reviewed everything in peace, and drove to the FBO, got a cup of coffee and felt great. I felt much confident than the last time, when I woke up an hour before the lesson and rushed to the airport. I did all my homework, impressed my instructor with the stuff that I learned. I am a book worm, love studying, taking tests, etc. I plan well, take good notes, sometimes, I even make my own tests. I learned these skills from my 4 years of college. It works for me, so I am applying them for flight school as well. But, all this book work I did, did not make me fly better today. Although I remembered and memorized the procedure for slow flight, power on and off stalls etc. when I performed them, it took me 2 or 3 tries to make a satisfactory maneuver. I learn by doing, rather than by observing. I understand that your rusty areas gets better by repeatedly performing them. But am I missing something here? I want to be as good on the airplane as I am on the book work. Would buying a flight sim help me in polishing up these skills? Am I worrying too much at this pre-solo stage? Any help is appreciated.
I would say that if you are turning out a satisfactory maneuver after only 2 or 3 tries, that you are ahead of the curve.
Learning a new skill is hard work. Most instructors will try to strike a balance between keeping flying fun and learning at the maximum rate. When you show up prepared, you will cover more maneuvers than if the instructor had to spend more time explaining before each maneuver, so you will be learning faster. Learning more maneuvers faster means that you will make more mistakes. You are training your muscles and reactions now as much as your brain, and the muscle memory needs repetition.
Most instructors will slow down if you ask them to, however the difference between learning at max rate versus a "comfortable" rate can easily be 10 hours of dual during your private training. At the current cost of dual training, that is a significant dollar difference.
Joe