• A Chronicle on Learning to Fly, by Aviation Photographer Max Haynes • Sponsored by Full Motion Flight Training and Twin Cities Aviation •
• Home
• 1 - And So Begins A Journey
• 2 - First Things First
• 3 - I'm 'Fliming!'
• 4 - In The Air Junior Birdman!
• 5 - From The Ground School Up
• 6 - The Hang Of It
35th
Day of Training
- Current Anxiety Gauge Reading -
If you have a comment about my quest, or a memory of learning to fly, send it in via email. I may post it here, subject to editing.

• deep cleansing breath...
- Corrie

• Thanks Max! I love the Anxiety Meter. I'd be somewhere to the right I think ... :~)
- Paula Pertile

• Max, as usual I enjoy your stuff.  I especially like the T-6 that looks very much like mine.
 
Regarding you training, however:  I would suggest that you are starting in the wrong kind of airplane!
From the pictures it appears that you are flying something with the tail wheel in the wrong place!
I suggest that you learn in a taildragger --- at first your anxiety gauge will go around a second time,
but when you learn it will be all downhill from there.  You learn things in a taildragger that aren’t emphasized enough in trike training.  Also, with the glass panels, have you had a chance to look outside in flight yet??? That is a real thrill. I speak from 55 years of flying and aerial photography.
- - Dick Fields

• Relax & Enjoy yourself!...

It will be a lot of fun when you have a few of the more technical aspects become more second nature to you.
That will allow you to live more in the moment rather than on the edge of your seat.
You probably switch Fstops and shutter speeds near thoughtlessly while non professionals sweat that petty stuff....
It will all suddenly click if you continue to do the homework, keep up the good work!
- David Lyles
• Home
• 1 - And So Begins A Journey
• 2 - First Things First
• 3 - I'm 'Fliming!'
• 4 - In The Air Junior Birdman!
Entry #5 February 4th, 2010 • From The Ground School Up
What I Learned On My Summer Vacation--
I haven't mentioned Ground School yet, because, frankly, it hasn't been very visual, up 'till now. Now we are starting to talk about things I've photographed before, and things I've learned about learned by seeing first-hand. Things like how to spot other aircraft in flight--
And learning to recognize the runway markings--
My Ground School instructor is Torben Kiese, who is also the Chief Flight Instructor for Twin Cities Flight School, part of TCA. Nothing like going for the top. Flight instruction has a lot to do with trust-- trusting your flight instructor, and trusting you are getting the information you need in Ground School to pass the written test. We have a huge amount of information to cover and I just have to trust Torben, that somehow, we'll cram it all into my tiny little brain in the time allotted. I have to confess that right now, I'm doubtful.
SIMple--
I spent some quality time in the FMFT sim this Tuesday, almost exclusively on landings. One of the great things about the sim is being able to just plunk you out there on an approach about a dozen times in an hour and just get practice staying on the glide scope and keeping your pitch up on the flare. By about the tenth one I had it down pretty good.
Back in the operator/instructor's seat, Chris can watch me like a video game, very cool. So, I guess I'm ready to tackle doing some more real landings in the plane on Wednesday.
Walk About--
When I get to the TCA headquarters at Jane's Field I'm already getting into hyper-focus mode, there is so much to remember, from how to call for weather on through to the engine shut down.
This time of year, it's really nice to be able to do your pre-flight inside the hangar. Chris did this pre-flight so I could take pictures.
1. Get in, turn on the battery 2 power, check the lights and the pitot heat. Then get back in and turn those off, then get back out again.
2. Check the oil.
3. Check the brakes.
4. Check the fuel level.
4.5. Check the 690 Charlie Delta.
Yup, that's the right plane.
Does airplane still have a rudder
after the last student finished his flight?
Sticker on tail let's other pilots know to run away!
Tail strike thingy. I don't plan to make use of that.
Registration plate, in case you don't believe the big numbers painted on the side.
It's showtime!!
Okay, so here we are, with the Anoka Tower in the background. I look pretty calm. This is incorrect. Let the record show that I was already in a mild state of panic at this point. And, we hadn't even started the engine.
Fire Hosed--
This is me after the flight. I'm pretty sure the expression-- Drinking from a fire hose was made for learning to fly. There is so much going on all at once, and for me, at least, on my second flight... I only half-understand half of what you need to fly correctly. It's like learning how to juggle by starting with five flaming swords. Oh, and by the way, if you drop one of the more important swords and your instructor doesn't pick it up in time, there's lots of grinding metal, and explosions, and people talking about what a great guy you were, and isn't it a pity, and stuff like that.
To tell you the truth, if it weren't for this FLOG and my pilot pals knowing, and all that, I would have been sorely tempted to pack it all in after this flight.
Thinking Too Much--
The kind folks at Twin Cities Flight School talked me down off my ledge. They patiently reminded me that it was not uncommon for folks to have 20 hours of flying time and still not have their landings down pat. They also made me realize, that while some folks might be ready to solo after 10 hours of flight time, I wouldn't have to solo until I was READY. No matter how many hours it took. So, I'm thinking 90, or maybe 100 hours should do it, if I don't die of anxiety in the process. So, 2 down, 98 to go. My mom used to say to me, "You think too much." This is part of my problem, I know. But if one more seasoned pilot tells me to "relax" and "enjoy myself", I'm going to pop! Tomorrow, it's back in the sim, for a dozen more touch-and-gos. I'm getting so I really love that simulator!
Thinking Too Much - Part 2--
Tonight, after my flight, I had Ground School class again. Despite the fact that we've only covered about a third of the material, we took a pre-test to kind of gauge where we were in the process. I actually got enough right that if I had been taking the real test, I WOULD HAVE PASSED! At first I thought, GREAT, I am so darn clever that I managed to guess at enough of the multiple choice questions to skate by. Then I thought, OH NO, they are going to qualify me to be a pilot when I'm still a babbling idiot!
I will die for sure!
I know, I know, I think too much. I need to 'relax', and 'enjoy myself'. I promise, I'll work really really hard at relaxing. Maybe I could just become a simulator pilot and get my simulated license?
Nah, tonight I'll dream of what to do, and how I'll do it a little better next time.


P.S. Today I climbed back in the sim and did some great landings. So there IS progress, even if it seems ever so slow to me at times.
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