EPT
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/gSNPUs4.jpg)
Dramatization
About four and a half years ago I wrote this blog where I discussed the possibility of getting a private pilot's license. Aside from some online research I hadn't done anything about it. Last year I tried to schedule an introductory discovery flight a couple of times but they got cancelled due to weather. This year I had to reschedule a couple of times due to weather but today the weather was pretty nice and it happened!
I will discuss how things went for anyone who is interested in what your first day of being a student pilot is like. For starters, all I had to do prior to today was call a flight school that offers introductory/discover flights and make an appointment. When I got there they asked for my driver's license... that's all I needed. The cost for the flight, including briefings, was 90 dollars (this varies depending on what school you do the flight at and what plane you are in...). I was in a 1984 Cessna 172 which looks like this:
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/ewugmuV.jpg)
During the pre-flight briefing the instructor kind of raced through a ton of information, and even acknowledged that I wasn't going to remember all of it the first time I heard it. Some of it I only understood because I actually showed up prepared after having done some studying from http://www.free-online-private-pilot-ground-school.com/ .
I then went out to the plane with the instructor for a pre-flight check. For any of you who don't know, the experience of getting to the plane at a small airport is much different than at a major airport. I parked in a lot directly adjacent to the flight school building, walked in to the building and out another nearby door, and was on the tarmac. The planes were less than one minute of walking away from there.
First we climbed into the cockpit and went through a quick checklist. Then we got back out of the plane and went around inspecting every surface and exposed component. We checked the oil level and took samples of gasoline from four separate places to verify the fuel was clear and free of water. We removed the ropes tying down the plane and got back in.
After another brief checklist we attempted to start the engine which actually took a few tries (like trying to start a car on the coldest night of the year). I learned you always yell "CLEAR" out the window before you start the engine. Eventually we started the engine, checked a few more things (as you might expect, you check things a lot!) and began to pull away.
You probably think taxiing is pretty easy. All you need to do is follow the line and go straight most of the time... occasionally you turn, and guess what, there's a line for you to straddle. It is NOT easy (at least not at first). One reason is that you are not steering with the "steering wheel." You are steering with pedals (note that they control the rudder, not the ailerons on the wings). You push the right pedal to turn right and the left pedal to turn left. The pedals have an upper component with a brake that you use as well... each pedal has an independent brake for the corresponding wheel. Even though I understood the concept of how to taxi, it felt like the instructor had the power up a little too high and it was quite difficult to follow the line. Also you can't always tell when the instructor is helping you a little because they have their own set of pedals linked to yours. Here is what the pedals more or less look like with everything else removed:
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/oc96S38.jpg)
I was sitting on the left
The instructor was handling the radio communications with the tower throughout this process and the rest of the flight (thank God). I was way too busy trying not to somehow lose control of the airplane to worry about how the heck you are supposed to communicate over the radio (I'll have to learn that obviously if I do more flight training). Shortly before getting to the end of the runway, we pulled off to a little area where planes perform a quick pre-takeoff check before getting on to the runway. We pulled up alongside another plane and went through a checklist while that other plane pulled away and took off. When radio permission came we pulled out on to the runway and started to accelerate.
The instructor let me control everything during takeoff including the throttle, which honestly is pretty easy to operate during takeoff. You... push the throttle in all the way. That's it. The only difficult thing about the throttle is that you are controlling it with your hand rather than foot (it's the gas pedal on your car).
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/jUsR539.jpg)
The big knob in the middle is the throttle. For those who are interested, the small knob to the left is the carburetor heat control (to prevent icing), the orange knob controls fuel mixture (how rich), and the beige lever to the right controls the flaps (more down for more flaps). I essentially was learning how to use the controls during the flight... it's easier to learn controls in MS Flight Simulator when you aren't actually in a flying plane
The plane happily removed itself from the runway once the speed was high enough, and we climbed steadily. The instructor told me when to take most/all actions such as when to retract the flaps a setting, when to bring down the throttle, and when to level off (if I recall correctly, it was at 1200 feet, with the airport at ~200 feet of elevation). We made two 90 degree left turns and traveled downwind, parallel to the runway over some farmland. The instructor pointed out two adjacent silos (on a farm) as a good landmark. We received a report over the radio that a plane was coming in for landing and that we should make a 360 degree turn to the right to buy time while the plane lands. However, the instructor stated on the radio that we had visual of the incoming plane (which we did) at which point the tower authorized us to continue straight until the plane passed us in the other direction and then make our two 90 degree left turns again to approach the airport. There is a single-file line of trees that leads directly into the runway (the airport has two runways but we were using the short one near the flight school).
We approached the runway as though we were going to land, but purposefully pulled back up a few seconds before we would have been actually in the process of landing. We went around for another loop and actually landed the second time. The instructor helped a fair bit with ensuring the plane came into the runway properly. You essentially hover over the runway and keep the front wheel of the plane off the ground as long as possible, even as the rear wheels are making contact. Even as we coasted we kept the nose up a bit to keep weight off of the front wheel which is apparently the most delicate part of the plane for landing purposes.
Taxiing back to the tie-down area was probably a bit easier now that I had a bit more practice. We set up the airplane to back into the 'parking spot' but then got out and literally pushed the plane into it's final location (with the help of a small tow bar). The instructor tied the plane down and then we returned to the school building.
For 14 bucks I got a pilot's log book where you keep track of all of your flights. The instructor recorded 0.4 hours into the book. Even if I decide not to continue with my training for now, the logbook is pretty nice actually.
At this point I have to decide whether to continue training. If money were no object I'd immediately say yes. The worst part about the flight was my lack of familiarity with the gauges and the flight plan. If I actually start training for real I'll get comfortable with that quickly and be able to focus on improving techniques. The thing I was most worried about was that I would feel really uncomfortable being up in a tiny plane, but overall I didn't mind it. It was a bit bumpy and I'm sure it can get much worse if you fly in sub-optimal conditions...
I have the potential to use the G.I. bill to pay for flight training, but the pros/cons/challenges associated with that are complicated and probably outside the scope of this blog. For now, I'll sleep on it (and I'll probably roll out of my bed one time tonight).
