Yesterday was the big day !
It was a fairly long flight (or two flights to be precise). Weather was ideal (the morning mist had completely cleared up by the afternoon, and everywhere was CAVOK). The briefing was quite short compared to what I expected. We went to LFOL and then (after taking off again) diverted to LFON, and then back to Pontoise (and did manoevering exercises in-between).
Contrary to other big steps (first solo, etc.), it was a very humbling experience. My flying was far from perfect (and, I hate to admit, my preparation as well, mainly because I felt stressed and sleepless the day before). Compared to those other big steps I feel much more the weight of responsibility and the need to get better. I was really remembering (from our discussions here) that it’s after all a “license to learn”. And, while I focused more on manoeuvering exercises lately (which I viewed as my “weak point”), those did not pose any problem during the test and were executed quite well.
I’m still extremely happy about it, and excited to start (learning) flying ! And proud of this achievement which is the result of two years (nearly day-to-day) of dedication.
Special thanks to all EuroGA members for advice, amazing stories (which are an additional motivator), and general high quality discussions around our shared passion !
Note that this very exciting news is a little tainted for me because my car got broken into and looted during the night (while I was at a bar celebrating). I lost my passport, medical, and many more things so I can’t really fly yet, although things should get sorted out pretty quickly.
Once this is straigthened out, I’ll take @Peter on your proposition of a day fly-in in LFAT (or any other proposition for that matter) ! Evidently I’m a little late to the party for this one ^^
Congratulations
Well done!
Excellent news maxbc: a full pass, and on the first attempt. Well done 😀
If it helps, my PPL test was very humbling too (atrocious landings)
Good luck for replacing the stolen stuff
Hopefully see you at LFAT one day
Congrats !!
Good stuff @maxbc 👍🏻
Thanks for the report, I sure love them personal stories. Hope you’ll find that hobby interesting enough to stay hooked for a long time, and enjoy yourself. As you already know, GA offers many facets, and yes, one never stops learning.
Good flying 🥳
Félicitations!!! :)
Reflecting on your “my flying was far from perfect”: Loads of pilots said that their performance the day of the test, be it PPL or commercial/professional, was subpar. I am certainly no exception to the rule.
As my examiner told me on that day, today is not the end, but the start of your learning. I am still learning many years later. Have fun and if by any chance you come around EDQN, let me know!
Bons vols,
Etienne
Félicitations !
Welcome among the pilot community.
Congratulations! As others have said, my flying was also far from perfect on my PPL. In fact I took two attempts, because I ended up departing with thunderstorms in the area and got stuck surrounded by them. I was terrified and the examiner had to take over the old 152 while I calmed down! So don’t worry about that and just go learn as much as you can. Enjoy!
Well done!
Don’t worry about the sub par performance. Obviously the examiner thought it was good enough to pass. So what you really should be thinking is that “If that was good enough to pass, then on a normal day my flying would be well above the standard needed to pass! I’m an ace!”
When I first got my PPL, I thought that phrase “It’s a licence to learn” meant that I’d learn much more in the future. While that is true, I’ve now come to the view that it actually is more to do with the fact that I no longer need an instructor and are free to go any practice anything I want whenever I want. And that’s something you should do.
Practice the areas that you feel weakest on, now that you no longer have an instructor beside you to keep happy. It doesn’t matter if you don’t get it perfect first time as there is no one there to notice! (Just keep it safe!) That give you the freedom to practice by yourself without any judgement. It’s much easier to get better without the pressure of judgement in the other seat!
On the occasions in my flying “career” when I needed to learn something new, I found that I learnt far more once I no longer needed an instructor with me