Today was great

[Mudge]

FINALLY...some decent weather. Had an 8k wind but it was directly down runway 14. Made 5 landings and I was only ashamed of one of them. Did some low passes, (which I'm getting better at). Also did a couple of short field take-offs. Those are fun.
On 2 of my landings, I had to hold a low pass attitude about 1/3 of the way down the runway, then chop the power and do a touch-and-go. Not too shabby, if I do say so myself.
I had FUN today.

Mudge the fun-loving

[Bill Greenwood]

Sounds like you are nearing solo. Everyone admires your persistence and enthusiasm. Solo is mostly about having confidence. Realize that for the last 5 or 10 hours you have been doing the flying. That other guy has just been in there as a safety check. Just go up and do the same thing you have done, in the same way. Take your time and only go if the weather is real good. Once you solo you are a pilot, enjoy it. Finally, if you need it, say to yourself, this can't be too hard, W did it. Remember to trim after you make a flap or big power change. Good luck.

[Bill Greenwood]

Mudge, I don't think you have written anything about your ground school study. How is that going, are you keeping pace or ahead of the flying? Do you have any suggestions you can pass on to any others starting out?

[Mudge]

Ground school? GROUND SCHOOL?
I don't do no stinkin' GROUND SCHOOL.

Tell me what I should be learning in ground school and I'll tell you if I'm doing it.
As far as a "formal" sit in the classroom "school"...no I don't.

Mudge the educable

Hints...none except for the ONE that I've heard on almost every post.
FLY AS OFTEN AS YOU CAN. It becomes "muscle memory" after awhile.

Last edited by Mudge on Thu Apr 12, 2007 3:33 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[Jiggersfromsphilly]

AH, the no pilot student left behind method!

Go getem Mudge!

[Forgotten Field]

I don't recommend this for everybody, but it is what I did. I read, read, re-read, and read again the Student's Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge, the Airplane Flying Manual, the FAR/AIM 2001, 2002, 2003 and the Gleim study guide for the knowledge test. I made it through my pre-solo written without a problem, and picked up the books pretty heavy again one week before my written, which was the day before I flew down to do my last week of flying before my check ride. I was very well prepared for the both the written and the oral portion of the check ride, reading about 1 to 1.5 hours a night for a week before the checkride. I think the formal ground school is a useful course if it is well presented, but I have seen my share of VERY poor ones, where the instructor was hand-drawing with a pen on a piece of note book paper an inverted wedding cake 5 minutes before class time. I read the US DOT publications and not the aftermarket ones because the test questions are made up from writing in the book. US DOT exams are written and validated by the same people for everything from EMT training to HAZ MAT endorsements, so if you read what they write and get used to their method of asking questions, you are a leg up on many other people. I want to say that the Gleim test manual was the most helpful after reading the FAA books, and hammered the knowledge in a way that supported the actual testing process. I know there are others out there but the red book is what I used and will probably use again for other ratings. Good luck, Brad, and hope to see you are RDG for WWII weekend.

[Bill Greenwood]

I wasn't asking about a formal classroom, rather I meant to ask how your preparation both for the written tests and the flying were going. Lot's of people find it more fun to do the flying.