I suppose I am at that “what next, now what” stage and whilst I am happy to be flying no matter what I am doing, I don’t want to just put-put about aimlessly doing the same old thing and not really improving.
Some pilots enjoy mastering a taildragger, some enjoy farm strips or even real mountain flying (Link), some enjoy traveling the most … I suggest you try the different “ways” of flying to find out what’s your thing.
I did my PPL in 2005/06 and learned quite soon that the typical “1-hour-bimbles” from one flying club airfield to the other bore me. However, in 1,5 hours I can reach Venice or in 2 hours Croatia. You may be in France or Ireland in the same time. Such trips are really enjoyable, you learn about flying along the way, and destinations like these are usually much more attractive to “significant others” than boring holes in the sky 
…
Personally, I found out in the course of the years that flying is too important for me to regard it just as a hobby. As I am still quite young and have the necessary personal freedom, I did my CPL/MEP/IR in the past months. Who knows where your passion for flying will take you …
Personally, I found out in the course of the years that flying is too important for me to regard it just as a hobby. As I am still quite young and have the necessary personal freedom, I did my CPL/MEP/IR in the past months. Who knows where your passion for flying will take you…
I know that very well: Sitting in a meeting room on a beautiful sunny afternoon enduring boring PowerPoint presentations about project goals and timelines whilst seeing bits of contrails through the gaps in the drawn blinds made me think “i should be the one making these contrails, not the guy who watches them whilst listening to this bullsh**” so often that I went ahead and did it.
Many thanks all for the encouraging and thought-provoking replies!
- I did mean the coordination exercise when referring to Dutch Rolls. A US PPL friend was apparently taught this during his PPL. Actually, his instructor would tell him to go off and practice stalls, lazy 8’s as well as other coordination techniques all of which were taught during the course. I was kindly informed that practising stalls was verboten without an instructor in the UK (or at my school in any event), but I suppose the trick is to not stall in the first place. Still, having the right “instant reflex” seems sensible.- I spent a while working on Lazy-8’s a couple of weeks ago which was interesting given the winds (the ‘8’ initially looked like my 2.5 year old son’s attempt at drawing any shape), but it was good fun in a C152 – will have to see how that works in a PA28. I would need to find someone who can demonstrate a chandelle though – the concept seems straightforward, but the implementation…
- “whatnext” – great forum name, kind of like an instant/constant reminder to stay curious and keep going, whatever you are doing! Well noted about learning and maintaining the speeds (and greater energy/momentum of the PA28 vs C152) and going for the centreline. It always seems to be 10-20 feet off the deck that I start drifting to the right or left of it. I certainly know what you mean about sitting in a meeting room listening to lots of blahblah – doubly so as my office is on short final Rwy 25 at RAF Northolt with the approach lights in the car park… I have not quite found a job to transition to which involves flying vs family commitments but who knows.
- Yes, the “1-hour-bimbles” started the “now what” thinking when I flew from Denham to the QE2 bridge the other day and spent about 10 minutes pondering “OK, that is the QE 2 Bridge. So now I turn around and go back whence I came. Yey.” It did get more exciting between Stapleford and Bovingdon playing spot the aircraft which is apparently very close to me (turns out there were 3 – quite close – but that stretch seems to be like the M25 sometimes).
- Blueline, very interesting what you say about treating flying as more than a hobby. I feel like I am “not being serious” if I am not trying to test or learn something new on my aviation/aircraft procedures knowledge in some way almost every day (working through the Garmin 430 manual now) and was abstractly thinking about doing the CPL, but for now, may just focus on building up some hours on the basic skills.
Overall and based in part on your input, I will focus for now on flying “to the numbers” and try some longer navs to see how that goes. Just put my name down for the club flyout to Perranporth, then perhaps meet up with a flyer relative in France. Taildragger would be interesting as would aero’s eventually if I can make the budget work for the latter.
Perhaps I was expecting a “Eureka, I get it” or sense of proficiency satisfaction at some level, but it seems I will be better off just accepting that it’s a continuous road and just keep learning and trying to do my best at it. I will hopefully along the way work out what the “mission” is. This site is a great source of inspiration so thank you again!
I was kindly informed that practising stalls was verboten without an instructor in the UK
This must be complete BS. Personally, I don’t feel “at home” in an aicraft until I have stalled it several times in different configurations. By that, I mean real stalls, not just recovering when the stall warning horn starts (which should be 5 to 10 knots above the real stall speed, but may be way off in your average training aircraft).
The important thing in this case is, of course, to have enough air under you. I do stalls in 3.000 feet AGL which fits neatly in the airspace structure in my area.
Watch out if your aircraft is certified for spins. It has to be recoverable even if there’s a placard “intentional spins prohibited”, but as they say on television, “better don’t try this at home” .
OTOH, if your aircraft is spin certified and you have acquired reasonable proficiency with an instructor, spins are fun.
It did seem odd. After all – especially after having obtained my PPL – aren’t I supposed to have been deemed sufficiently proficient to fly an aircraft? OK, my experience level is low but…
CKN I find it odd, as a PPL you would be entitled to carry out approved manoeuvres. Is the restriction in their flying order book?
With ten hours solo for the PPL most solo flights are taken up with circuit consolidation, solo nav, land away and the QXC – it would be unusual to sign off a solo sortie for stall practice, although not unheard of.
It is indeed in their operations rules. However, slow flight is permitted and if I were some what sloppy and inadvertently entered into a stall at a safe altitude, I would of course have no choice but to apply stall recovery techniques… 
The “Flying Order Book” of the ATO I trained at did allow stalling when solo, but required a 3000ft floor solo compared to the 2,000ft floor when instructing.
There can be lots of silly rules in “Flying Order Books”, and I always found that when you rent an aircraft you have to stick to these rules; it is the equivalent of the rental car company writing their own, more restrictive version of the Highway Code…
There can be lots of silly rules in “Flying Order Books”, and I always found that when you rent an aircraft you have to stick to these rules; it is the equivalent of the rental car company writing their own, more restrictive version of the Highway Code…
Totally right. And I have to say that the UK schools / clubs seem to be the masters of that.
Just have a look at the one from White Waltham. A total turn-off from flying!
As White-Waltham is being singled out for its “anti-flying” FOB, I would balance that by suggesting that it is one of the more “pro-flying” clubs post-PPL, with two club fly-outs per week. Two per year has been my experience elsewhere.
If Flying Order Books read like the prospectus for a share issue – 217 reasons why you should never even think of buying the shares – I suspect it is to meet similar regulatory requirements.
