A Facepuncher Learns to Fly

[HiddenMyst]

And then everybody played IL-2 when the teacher was out of the room. (relevant to the OP)

[MachiniOs]

[QUOTE=K1ngo64;19461978]Do a barrel roll.[/QUOTE]

I can't let you do that, Starfox.

[editline]07:01PM[/editline]

Thanks OP, now imma have to get my Foo Fighters Greatest Hits out.

[:smug:]

I was expecting OP to have suicidal tendencies.

I am disappointed, to say the least.

[KillerSlash]

Bumping, cos I might join the ATC soon :)

[blackdenton]

I flew a localizer approach today, you fly by watching two needles in the cockpit and I had a hood on so I couldn't see outside. Like this:
[img]http://jakespilotshop.com/image.php?type=P&id=1599[/img]

[img]http://www.americanavionics.com/shopping/images/P/ki209_lg.jpg[/img]
The horizontal needle tells you if you are above or below glideslope and the vertical needle tells you if you are left or right of course.

Then my instructor told me to take it off and we were 200 feet above ground and right on top of the airport. Kind of scary to be flying that close to the ground without looking.

[emPiRe14]

I'm afraid of heights, so I don't think I'll be flying a plane anytime soon.

[KillerSlash]

[QUOTE=emPiRe14;19887040]I'm afraid of heights, so I don't think I'll be flying a plane anytime soon.[/QUOTE]
Post in an aviation thread why not.

[SBD]

Stalls (again)

Ok, so today I actually flew. Got out to the aeroplane and it's blowing a gale, but it smoothed out further up. Today we practiced stalls. Stalling an aeroplane has nothing to do with the engine, it occurs when the angle of attack (the angle between the chord line of the wing the oncoming air, usually just referred to as the AoA) becomes to great and the air cannot flow over the wing properly. Once the aeroplane exceeds this 'critical angle', lift drops sharply and drag also rises sharply, and because the forces have also moved about on the wing the nose pitches down.
Now, if the nose drops you'd think pulling back on the stick would be the way to go, right? No. This would only further increase the AoA and thus be quite useless. To recover from a stall, you release any back pressure on the stick, or give the plane some nose-down if you need to (you shouldn't, a plane should be designed to be naturally rather stable but there are some planes that have been known to have vicious stall characteristics). Then [I]smoothly[/I] increase to full power and bring the nose up to the horizon, increase to a safe speed and climb. If all goes well you shouldn't have lost much altitude, or any at all. Not loosing altitude is important, because the most likely place for stalls to occur is during take off and landing, when obviously you're rather close to the ground.

Next lesson will be part 2 of stalls, where we will learn what happens when one wing stalls but the other doesn't.

[Smart Patrol]

can you fly me a pizza

can you fly a pizza

[SBD]

Oh yeah, forgot to say that I also spoke to air traffic control for the first time.

[Alfacow]

I thought you were doing real flying.
[img]http://filesmelt.com/dl/MyDoodle7.jpg[/img]

[runtime]

[QUOTE=rossmum;19659413]i wasn't born yesterday, i'm painfully aware of the costs and also of the amount of training it takes to fly one. in my book, though, one flight in a spitfire is worth a lifetime of relatively uneventful flying in something that (to me) looks ugly, is slow, and doesn't really do much worth note. yes, it does feel amazing to be in the air; yes, the earth does look pretty from above. but given the amount of money that goes towards a pilot's license, no way am i doing it for anything less than a warbird or other vintage plane. obviously you think otherwise, i'm not saying there's anything wrong with that; just that it's not my cup of tea.

having a spitfire or mustang rocket over my head at 400mph brings tears to my eyes. watching footage of the first flight of the avro arrow makes me well up like you wouldn't believe. watching a cessna putter about the sky doesn't do it for me at all, i'm afraid.[/QUOTE]
Spitfire eh?

Supermarine in Australia still build Spitfires. Albeit, not the WW2-era models. Will set you back around $120,000 - not bloody bad, for a warbird.

[QUOTE=blackdenton;19886942]I flew a localizer approach today, you fly by watching two needles in the cockpit and I had a hood on so I couldn't see outside. Like this:
[IMG]http://jakespilotshop.com/image.php?type=P&id=1599[/IMG]

[IMG]http://www.americanavionics.com/shopping/images/P/ki209_lg.jpg[/IMG]
The horizontal needle tells you if you are above or below glideslope and the vertical needle tells you if you are left or right of course.

Then my instructor told me to take it off and we were 200 feet above ground and right on top of the airport. Kind of scary to be flying that close to the ground without looking.[/QUOTE]

Welcome to the world of instrument flying IMC.

[QUOTE=SBD;19932892]Oh yeah, forgot to say that I also spoke to air traffic control for the first time.[/QUOTE]

You'll be doing a lot of that. My advise - get a pen and paper. They're going to throw a lot of instructions at you and unless your familiar with what they may/may not be, then you're going to want something to write it down on.

[KillerSlash]

Bumped
I request an update!

[SBD]

Dude I just updated like yesterday.

[jammy job]

I've heard the bermuda triangle has some breathtaking sights. You should fly there.

[SBD]

Only if you come.

[jammy job]

I'm busy on that day.

[bigdan]

What suburb in Perth you from? I am from Rockingham

[worm]

Fucking awesome OP. I have a friend that just got his pilots license and Im going to go for mine sometime in the next few years (need to get the money). But I will be going for a helicopter license. How long did it take you to clock the hours?

[PoloXGS]

Fly into a subway. For bad ass points, naturally.

[AwesomeDino]

fly to the past and we'll get high

[Takkun10]

I have never been on a plane. Come to maryland and we can hang out in the sky.

[Big Dumb Patriot]

Good luck on your training, man. I just graduated- got a 97% on the FAA exam and a cumulative GPA of 96% in reconnaissance, surveillance, target acquisition, imagery analysis, and the FAA ground course!

[img]http://usera.ImageCave.com/ZFS_Cartographer/UASdiploma.jpg[/img]

:)

[SBD]

Well done. On a related note, I got word today from a mate that the Tafe course that I planned on taking this semester has been canceled due to the fact that their simply isn't enough students. I'm gonna wait until I have official confirmation from Tafe, but this really throws a spanner in the works. Might mean I can fit in more flying though. Boy will mum be pissed.

[sltungle]

lol dropped out of uni and now you've been shunned from tafe, too.

[SBD]

Well I had another lesson today, but it was just a quick revision of medium turns and the various cruises so I don't think it warrants a full write up. For a quick update on the Tafe/uni situation, I'm going to apply at a university who offer a Bachelor of Science in Aviation, part of which actually includes flying training. the Cert IV i achieved at Tafe plus the physics unit I (somehow) passed at uni before that should give me a leg up. Tomorrow I shall go and apply at the uni, and go back to the Tafe campus to yell at the people there so I can actually get my certificate.

Now Facepunch, is there any subject, topic or perhaps a particular aeroplane anyone wishes me to cover?

[KillerSlash]

[QUOTE=SBD;20076769]Well I had another lesson today, but it was just a quick revision of medium turns and the various cruises so I don't think it warrants a full write up. For a quick update on the Tafe/uni situation, I'm going to apply at a university who offer a Bachelor of Science in Aviation, part of which actually includes flying training. the Cert IV i achieved at Tafe plus the physics unit I (somehow) passed at uni before that should give me a leg up. Tomorrow I shall go and apply at the uni, and go back to the Tafe campus to yell at the people there so I can actually get my certificate.

Now Facepunch, is there any subject, topic or perhaps a particular aeroplane anyone wishes me to cover?[/QUOTE]

Have you ever flown a glider? I might be doing so, soon and i'd really appreciate the advice.
Also some advice on the first flight seeing as I've never flown before?
Thanks, and Bump!

[runtime]

[QUOTE=KillerSlash;20253813]Have you ever flown a glider? I might be doing so, soon and i'd really appreciate the advice.
Also some advice on the first flight seeing as I've never flown before?
Thanks, and Bump![/QUOTE]
I'm a solo glider pilot, have been for around a year now and have had my fair share of launches to boot.

All I can say is - bloody well do it.

Gliding is as similar to flying a conventional, powered aircraft as walking is to running. Principles are the same - you turn the engine off in an engined aircraft; you get a very heavy, and very unstable, glider. Similarly, you strap an engine to the front of a glider (and some have!) then you will get a very heavy, and unstable, powered aircraft. The two modes of flight are linked but then - they aren't.

It's difficult to explain but personally, being a pilot of both powered and powerless flight, I prefer gliding. It's so quiet, so peaceful; you'd be a fool not to try it. Powered aircraft are all well and good but for me they don't have the same effect as a good ol' fibreglass Grob.

If your first flight is to be a glider flight - fantastic. But prepare yourself. In a powered conventional aircraft you have the engine pulling you along. You point the aircraft in a direction - it goes there, by use of the prop/jet/turbine that you have strapped to it. Sheemples. In a glider - all thats keeping you up in the apair is the wings. There is no resulting force that is moving you apart from these two struts of craftsmanship. So you will feel the effects of yaw and roll more precisely, as well as any rises (or sinks) in air, and most definately feel the wind. Whilst it seems daunting - it's bloody good fun!!!

[slippp22]

I can fly in RL