Newbie advice needed
 

HI all I am going to start training in a 172 under part 61 in the very near future. I am going this route mainly because this is the only school in the town that I live in and amazingly enough out of the six schools in my general area they are the only ones that even called me back!!! I've never worked so hard to give someone my money!!! :confused: anywho.... I was wondering if ya'll had any advice you earned in the hindsight is 20/20 department. Like don't bother doing this or I wish I would have done that kind of thing. On a side note every one in my area uses Jeppesen. My brother gave me all his Gleim's books. Does which book you use really matter? My instructor says he uses jeppesen though he didn't say gleim's was bad or anything, can I still use my Gleim's books? or does anyone out there want to trade a set of Gleim's books in good condition for a set of Jeppesen :D

Hi,

If aviation is what you truly want to do, then go for it. If it isn't, then look into finding something else, make a little money and THEN get into it, because it is not cheap.

As far as the books go, I've used the Gleim's for my writtens (along with other study materials) and they have worked great so far. The only Jepp books I have used are the ones that a geared for specific licenses/ratings (Jepp Private Pilot, Jepp Instrument/Commercial, etc.) and I still use them to supplement information when I am teaching my students. Both companies do good work, and there is nothing wrong with using both, often if I can't find the answer in one, it is found in the other.

Otherwise, good luck, have fun and let us know how it goes!

Thanks, I definetly want to be a pilot though my long term goal is to be a rotorcraft pilot. I'm just anxious to get started which is why I'm doing the part time thing. I am hanging on to my full time job because I plan to pay in cash instead of taking a loan out for training. There aren't any helicopter schools within 500 miles of where I live and with the housing market crash I don't see myself selling the house any time soon. The plan is to finish out this year working full time, hopefully have my F/W PPL by the end of the year and start full time training for rotorcraft next year. The free books from my brother was just $100 more flight time I can buy that's all, definetly not a bank breaker. Ideally I would be training 141 but the closest 141 is 60 miles away so I think in the long run the price of fuel in the car would negate any savings from that.

I guess what I was wanting to know more or less is that since I'll be training on weekends is there any thing wrong with going at it for two or three hours at a time? once I get past the initial stages that is. The advice given for rotorcraft is to not train for more than a hour at a time as it will plain wear you out and negate the learning process. I'm sure my CFI will answer all these questions I'm just very anxious and trying to keep spirits on the up and up if you know what I mean.

If you want to fly choppers your best bet is the Army or Marines. RW training is more expensive than FW. In the Army you don't even need a college degree. Check out WOFT.

http://usmilitary.about.com/od/armyj...blprogram5.htm

As with anything else, there's no free lunch. In exchange for training these days, prepare to visit the desert...

Come on, its not a desert... its just the world's largest sandbox... Or now the world's only 50,000 hole golf course... But id like to see you try to hit it out of the sand... :D

while I'd love to serve my country I'll have to pass, it takes army helicopter pilots like 10 years to get a couple hundred hours of experience with most of that as SIC.

getting my f/w PPL will save me money on my rotorcraft private add-on. i should have enough saved to pay for rotorcraft training in full by next year.

Rogue,
I just recently got my F/W PPL. I also did my flight training exclusively ( for the most part ) on the weekends. My advice from my experience is to go after it when you have the money so you aren't taking long breaksin between lessons. I got my PPL at 40 hours and there were students who had a lot more hours than what I have now. One of them didn't even solo until 35 hours! You need to ascess your abilities to learn because most of your training on the ground will be your reading the book and talking about it with your instructor. Jeppesen makes an excellent product for flight training although I found the book to me is out of sync. For instance, performance was towards the back while, cross country was towards the front. The problem is that most students ted to learn airplane performance well before they go fly a cross country. Bottom line if you want to do it do it but, once you start investing money in flight training it's not worth it to quit. If your unsure try and intro flight with an instructor. Thats just my two cents!

Ray

Ya I agree with the above posts as a "retired" to airlines CFI. The biggest problem with part timers is many of them take alot more hours of training due to the fact that they have less scheduled flight with longer time in between flights. Even if this works for you, you have less flights per week meaning a cancellation or some weather may cancel you straight out for an entire week or longer. My .02 cents was always to try and just save as much as you can, then do your flight training in a manner so that you could fly about 3-4 times a week. Good luck its a blast!

thanks Ray that's good advice, and thanks every one else also, Jeff

If you do go Army, "GET IT IN WRITING."


I can't stress that enough.



atp

Rogue,

I would suggest using the Jeppesen Private Pilot Training Syllabus. This is the closest thing you can get to 141 training while getting your rating under part 61. The main goal is to maximize your learning while minimizing costs. The less time you spend repeating objectives in the air, the more money you are going to save, and the faster you will get your rating. But the most important thing is to just have fun! :)

Get it in writing! No doubt!

Jetcaptain - Roger that! Jeppesen seems to be the books of choice from every one I've talked to.

Ok time for ya'll to get a big laugh! I had planned on keeping my "proficiency" up to speed with FlightSimX!!! ok ok laugh away but seriously... that's the plan. I've been in small craft, never piloted one and was able to fly an instrument approach on FSX, the infamous one at Innsbruck or something like that. I've been studying aeronautical texts for about 6 months now and can pass the private pilot test at mywrittenexams.com. and long story short FSX helped make sense about all the stuff I've only been reading about up to that point.

FSX won't help as much with visual flying. It's fine for instrument stuff since it forces you to solely rely on the instrument references. However, you get no "feel" which is essential to flying in visual conditions. I'm glad it makes sense, but be prepared for a lot of new sensations as you enter a 3-D world of motion.

yea its pretty hard to simulate feel :)

don't get me wrong ya'll, I don't expect to hop in a plane and be an ace pilot - i guess my point was - I think I have the concept figured out and I hope that any new concepts or procedures I learn can be practiced on FSX since I'll be part time.

Rogue,

Everything you are learning now will fall into place when you start your training. Half of flying is learning the rules of the air, and it sounds like you are off to a good start.

You can use a simulator like the one mentioned to help with certain things. I used it to help me. It will help you actually learn how to read instruments and how to do stuff while, not wasting valuable money with a CFI. Keep in mind though that it is simulating the real thing but, ins't the real thing. Intercepting a VOR in real life is a tad bit different but, youll atleast know what your talking about. Also, for 200 bucks go to sportys.com and get there a Private Pilot video course. I highly recommend it since, I am more of a visual learner. You get everything youll learn out of Jepp books plus some. I've heard king schools is good also but, they are really pricey. Rumor has it they are still trying to pay off that Dassault!

I've looked at that Sporty's course a few times, there are just so many choices! My Gleim's books are kinda on the dry side and like said some of it don't make any sense until you see it in person then that little light bulb comes on. If my instructor is down with the Sporty's then I'll pony up for it, I think the more visual approach may be helpful also. Thanks Ray, Jeff.

I had some Gleim software that I used for my ATP written. It was a good piece of gear. I started with a ton of questions, then was able to have the software skip ones I had learned or did not want to see again. Lots of repitition 3-4 days prior to the written. It got to the point where I knew the answers on sight instead of having to calculate, or think too hard.

Learn the material in ground school, but cram hard for the written.

I would avoid Sporty's like the plague. Overpriced for everything!!!