Suddenly afraid of training

Slipping is pointless… it is a way of quickly losing height on the approach, after you have screwed up the stuff beforehand Never done it in 24 years of flying.

Most important thing is, as I wrote, never end up with the tanks full of air (lots of people do). And get a GPS as soon as you are allowed; the WW1 nav methods are crap.

Peter wrote:

Slipping is pointless… it is a way of quickly losing height on the approach, after you have screwed up the stuff beforehand

You should try a flapless Cub. Slipping is a way of life It’s what differentiate men from boys, or aviators from pilots ha ha I will never forget when I got a “cleared short approach” due to a Boeing (SAS I think) which was approaching the runway ready to line up. Did a slipping turn and landed right in front of them. “The boy can fly” was the comment from the Boeing The “boy” did a good landing I agree, but don’t agree with the “boy” comment. But then I remembered those SAS pilots are usually not spring chickens either so…

Also, a short field landing in the Alphatrainer (those without aur brakes) requires slipping.

I also must mention another time. The IAS went bananas due to blockage of the static port. I didn’t see anything wrong before started climbing. Was cleared immediate landing just before a Boeing that time also. Since I had no IAS, only the GPS, I flew faster than usual and ended up flaring half of the runway. The comment that time was “that was a terrible landing”. That made me a bit pissed, since I’m sure they heard my communication with the tower and why I needed to land.

Volaris wrote:

But still a weird feeling as a passenger experiencing it the first time

Well, I’m sure he had his reasons for doing it. Perhaps only to show you something you hadn’t experienced in the back of an airliner. It makes me wonder. Do you have any previous experience or knowledge about aircraft or flying? Like RC, PC simulators etc?

It’s what differentiate men from boys, or aviators from pilots

No wonder GA is in such a mess

@volaris, I totally get what you are feeling.

I knew I wanted to be a pilot from the age of 12. It became an obsession. But as I was born into poverty, there was no way I could do it before I reached the age of 37. I spent most of my life dreaming about it.

And then, on my first lesson, I felt sick and scared. The following ten lessons were awful. Learning the basics, stalling the plane, steep turns… I was clearly a pilot (not an aviator), as someone said it here.

Around that time I was conflicted. I wanted to stop. But after committing to the idea for many decades, I decided to keep going. And then I went solo. On that day, everything changed. I felt in control; my confidence grew, and I felt like a superman (but without the costume).

Give it a go. Set a goal for a few lessons. See how you feel by then.

Wishing you all the best!

P.S. I’m glad you are here. This group helped me a lot in critical stages of my training process.

Peter wrote:

No wonder GA is in such a mess

He he. But is it a mess? It’s perfectly ordered in an EASA-ish pyramid diagram (they are very found of pyramids at EASA for some reason). Here’s my version

In case anyone is wondering. Yes I am kidding Buuut, as a personal mental image, it’s a grain or two of truth in it IMO

Funny how discussions on ‘aviators’ and ‘pilots’ usually focus on the skills of the person to handle the aircraft and that therefore aviators are considered superior. I know quite a few airmen that indeed have superior skills to handle the machine but seriously lack in airmanship in many respects. Try to define a ‘good aviator’ or ‘good pilot’ looking at the overall picture, not so easy.

Psychology has developed a whole specialism in NO TECHS team based behavioural markers. It started with flight crews but has since been applied to surgical teams, nuclear plant facility engineers, sub mariners, etc

Today the main airline selection process (80% plus) is identifying soft type skills. The old days of acing a jet assessment, asymmetric, circle to land on a raw NDB to Knock, turbulence on 11 if you were english, are a quaint historical footnote.

Volaris wrote:

I think the fear is irrational.

Man. I feel for you. At the risk of being seen as an absolute weenie, I’ll share my experience here. I had been dreaming about being a pilot since I was a kid. My family could not afford paying for lessons, so I started flying when I was already established in professional life. I got my SEP license in 2004 (a french “Brevet de base”, followed by a real PPL a couple years later). Prior to that I had 250-ish hours in gliders. While I always was on the conservative side of risk taking, I enjoyed flying and was not particularly fearful. I flew around 20 hours per year in the local club. Then around 2012 I had a health issue and stopped flying. I will not go into details on record, but quitting flying was my own decision, my medical certificate was not impacted.

Fast forward to 2020, my health had fully recovered, and I still wanted to scratch the itch of flying. I reactivated my PPL after re-training. At that time, I thought that renting 20-ish hours per year, like I did before, did not make sense. I’d either go full speed ahead or leave flying entirely. Went for the former and bought “Emmie” in late summer 2021. But for some reason, after 2012 my health issue triggered that irrational fear of flying you mention. The first 10-20 hours after getting “Emmie” I did not dare going up alone. Fortunately the previous owner became a good friend and was always happy to join me as safety pilot. I almost panicked when my FI sent me out for a few solo landings, but managed to suppress the fear and concentrated on flying. At the end I enjoyed flying alone again after all those years! I finally became more comfortable in 2023 after a few long trips and 40-ish hours during the year. But the irrational fear still surfaces when I lack practice or when I find myself in “too-turbulent-for-my-taste” meteorological conditions. I had experienced much worse conditions in the past without concern, why now? Answer: “It’s in your head.” Note that the fear has nothing to do with my flying abilities. I have always been considered a competent flyer (within my level of experience, of course) by FI’s and fellow pilots who join me, and this did not change through the years.

My solution to the problem is: experience, experience, experience. Flying really helps. I realize how I become more confident with every hour I fly. Defeating that fear has become a personal goal of mine, to become a better me.

A thorough flight preparation also helps. But this is advisable whatever flying you do :)

@Volaris, given your situation, at the beginning of your journey, I would think a bit of fear normal. After all, if mankind were intended to fly, we would be born with wings. Take your time. As stated above, the risk is minimal while you fly with an FI. After 10-20 hours you can assess whether flying is for you or not. If not, no worries – this does not make you a weenie!

If it can be of any help to you, we can exchange more about our experiences over the phone. Just send me an mp.