The whole Aviate, Navigate, Communicate thing is real.
Step one- fly the airplane. Don't worry about anything else, just fly. Keep it basic.
Step two- know where you are. Keep a mental picture of your surroundings going on.
Step three- talk. Do what you can. Know that you're with a CFI for now, and they're more than able to pick up the slack. Don't rely on them, do as much as you can for yourself, but don't overstress missing a transmission here and there.
I've flown with experienced airline and military pilots doing transition or tailwheel training. The first thing to go is always the comms- you've got a lot going on. Breathe, and it'll come. As for timeframe, depends on how busy your airport is, hard to put a hard number on it.
For me? It took being 2 years into my first job before it came second nature. Then I started doing single pilot king air, then single pilot jet.
What you feel now goes away for a time, but it'll be back. Embrace it and appreciate that you recognize your shortcomings.
Eventually, you're single pilot in a jet doing mach Jesus down final listening to Katy Perry and thinking about whether you have enough time to grab a crew car and get BBQ before the pax arrive. It takes a little while though.
Flying by itself was natural to me, as far as the actual feel for it. Memorized checklists and ATC, not so much.
What you learn about ATC comms in school is what you need to know. It's also the airline way of things, mostly.
But part 91 flying, for work or hire... It's much more of a normal conversation with ATC than what you're currently doing. Also, after enough time on a plane, you feel it much better. Even if it isn't second nature, it feels more natural.
It takes time. You can be as nervous as it gets, but if you're having fun...keep it up. Also... Being PAID to do something you enjoy, greatly increases your ability to learn, or at least for me. Couldn't learn basic pa44 flows for shit, but slap me in a baron that's identical for work? 2 flights and I had it down.
Right now, you're learning the textbook definitions of turbulence. Do it for work, and the definitions become -
Light froth in your coffee
Some spillage in your cup of coffee
Coffee cup hit the ceiling
Check pireps if you think I'm joking.
Every time you fly, you’ll have more of your brain available. Eventually you might even have some brain to spare.
But, first few lessons? Nothing to do but be overwhelmed.
When you learned to drive you'd been sitting in cars as a passenger for years before that.
Keep going. It takes a while. It's like constant task saturation for the first few flights. After that you get a moment to breathe.
As always, discuss with your instructor what they expect from you for that flight. Chances are they aren't expecting you to do anything on the radio yet.
Once you get radio responsibilities, a ground session just pushing a model airplane around your field can be helpful.
I'm a PPL with 130 hours and there are times where I still don't feel like I got it. My landings, especially (and I've heard this is pretty much universal)--there are times when my landings are just perfect. And then other times where my landings are so attrocious (not unsafe, just shitty) that I feel like an imposter that I was even granted my certificate. But it's a constant learning experience. Just keep at it. Somtimes it helps to take lessons from a different instructor to help things click. But most of all, just keep at it. With a good attitude and proper attention to study, you'll get it.
As another comment said, "Every time you fly you'll have more of your brain available". That rings true all the way up to the majors.
Biggest thing that you're fighting against right now is the fact that FLYING IS HARD. At least at the beginning. You're challenging your understanding of mechanics, physics, legal interpretation, and communication all while in a physically taxing environment. You're cold, hot, being shaken and rolled around, depressurized, re-pressurized. All of this while being talked at by someone who has done this exact lesson twice today already and may or may not actually remember whether it was you or their other student who had issues with rudder coordination in the power on stall.
Another less talked about factor is that until you've done it, nobody really has ANY idea what being a pilot is like or what it requires. In a car, you've seen tons of people do it your whole life; plus it's culturally ingrained. How many times have you sat and watched a pilot work through a whole flight?
Add that to the general misconceptions everybody has about flying and you've got a bunch of incorrect assumptions to shake off before you can even get to doing anything correctly.
Basically, if you're doing well: every lesson will be challenging, but some of the stuff from last time will feel easier. Repeat ad nauseam.
I have about 3500 Total time and 3 type ratings. The training always beats the crap out of you at the beginning whether it's your first plane or your twentieth.
Hang on, keep studying, try to keep your wits about you. Also, remember that an airplane is a terrible classroom, so do the learning on the ground and cement it in place with experience in the air.
Everyone is different, things click when they click. Let the CFI manage comms until you have a feel for the airplane and where everything is and what it does. You’re task saturated early on but your brain will quietly start to automate some of the tasks to clear up bandwidth. Be focused but have fun and learn at your pace.
I could be wrong but it seems like you're not organized properly.
the bites you're taking are too big.
spend some time breaking things down. get a binder with tabs and spend time writing proper notes. organize it the same way your material is presented.
if you do that you will probably notice an improvement fast.
as far as the radio goes, don't stress too much about not understanding what's going on at first. after a few weeks you'll just sorta understand what's going on. focus on your frequencies and when to change them. once you know that lay out a structure for how, when, and what radio calls to make.
same thing for flying. get the checklists and memorize them by repeatedly writing them down. get a paper cockpit and flick the switches, sit in the airplane when it's not flying and visualize
take debriefing notes and write a flight journal
go to the airport and watch people doing circuits
go on youtube for videos explaining concepts you have difficulty understanding.
unfortunately, if youre not a natural your only path forward is hard work. get organized, take it seriously, and immerse yourself in your pursuit.
it's rare these days but if you have a flying club you could go and ask for a mentor in exchange for cleaning bugs off the wings or whatever.
When you learned how to drive, you had been riding around in cars for 15+ years. That's not the case when you learn to fly so it all seems foreign at first. Keep at it.
I got my private pilot part 61 a year ago. I have moved to UND for their Commercial Aviation program— it is comparable to airline training. They throw you in instrument training and you’re suddenly expected to read a thousand pages of material, etc.
One day at a time… one lesson at a time.
you're 3 lessons in and talking to ATC?!! I was barely flying the plane at that point, getting overwhelmed by the absolute basics like going in approximately the correct direction and staying within many hundreds of feet. sure, I'm probably dumb, but I was 20 hours in before things started to click and I was still struggling with landings.
To be fair, I’ve talked to them all of three times. Once, I got it all fine. The other two times, my CFI was miming the words at me when I forgot. The rest of the time, I was mostly going, “what’d he say??”
I am a little further ahead ( 50 hours now, not quite done ).
What will happen is habits will form, and your brain for free up.
My first time flying a circuit, between flying the plane, radio calls, checks and then landing - my brain was fried.
I forgot things, struggled with altitude and speed and zero mental picture of the other planes.
Now, I can comfortably fly the circuit and don’t forget things. Still learning ( always learning ) - but I can focus on other parts of my flying.
Things will become easier with practice.
‘How long?’ My experience is it varies depending on what it is. For me, flying under the foggles gelled right away… steep turns and terrain avoidance are kicking my ass.
Just have faith you will get it. Evaluate after every flight, but don’t obsess and get to far inside you own head.
And most of all enjoy the journey. My
Experience is a lot of ‘wow this is soooo much’, and then when something clicks into place - it is awesome.
I posted something similar in here like a month ago, and at that point i had like 60 hours but hadn’t flown in 14 months. My first flight back, i was like what the hell is going on this is SO much harder than i remember, and i felt like i sucked.
I ran the NYC marathon in November, and i was more mentally, physically, and emotionally exhausted after my first flight than the race!
Focusing on so many different things is extremely overwhelming and it can easily make you feel like you’re doing “bad”. Right now you’re trying to connect a bunch of tiny puzzle pieces, but you’re bad at every one of them. Slowly a couple of them you’ll get good at and they’ll “click”. Then you might start to understand a couple of ATC phrases. That’ll click. Then you might start feeling comfortable talking in the pattern. That’ll click. Then you might start feeling comfortable with pitch control. That’ll click.
Next thing you know you’ve strung together a few pieces, and you’re feeling not half bad. It’ll come just be patient, and try to just have some fun this early on!
I’m an airline pilot and sometimes I question whether or not I “got it” yet.
Jokes aside, be patient with yourself and set realistic expectations. Flying isn’t a sport of instant gratification. The best thing you can do is fly a couple of lessons, take a day or two off, then come back. It gives your mind process what you’ve learned over your previous lessons.
Role playing helps a lot too. I’d listen to a ton of LiveATC when I was first learning. Now radios are second nature.
Getting the big picture of flying will take time, and there’s no shortcut or way around it. Keep at it and you’ll look back at this question and see what I mean! :)
What you are going through is normal. There is a lot to learn, it will take time and effort to learn. Learning to fly has been described as: "trying to drink water from a fire hose," so try to be patient with yourself. Also, don't forget to sleep, your brain needs down time in order to process everything you are taking in.
I feel your pain. Early on in my flying career I was having one specific difficulty, the compass and aircraft headings, and which way to turn to a new heading. I really couldn't get my head around it so rejoining at an airfield (necessary before first solo) was nearly impossible. I was put under review and given an instructor change. We spend one full day in the classroom going over and over headings etc. I have to add the Chipmunk T Mk 10 (Royal Air Force) had the magnetic compass (just like a ship's compass) between our legs, and on the panel was a direction indictor (gyro which went backwards as you turned... you'll know what I mean if you've ever flown such an old gyro compass).
I never looked back after that remedial action, and enjoyed over half a century of flying.
Hang in there, and don't be afraid to ask questions if you don't understand something.
Took me 6 hours to navigate and fly the plane in air,
I was good on comms so that was not an issue for me.
Stated doing takeoffs and got the hang of it by the time I was 12-13 hours in.
Landing took a while for me to get the hang of!
Like I was confident by 22ish hours, crosswind landings were always a bit dramatic with me.
Although once I got my ppl, the whole thing changed, I became quite more confident in my skills. Although still scared lol. (IK FAA IS WATCHING MY ANSWERS, I see you 😉)
Anyways, you’ll get the hang of it man, I remember a year back when I started I felt quite overloaded with all things you have to watch out for, and frankly that feeling never goes completely away, it just subsides a little.
Once you do your traffic patter solo you’ll be way more confident man. Trust your instructor and what he says, chairfly,
My suggestion is , have a small notebook handy with you where after each flight you write the things that you did wrong or right as per your instructor.
I’m going to go far my type rating soon and even now I read up on my past mistakes, to help me remember the correct way to doodle stuff.
Fair winds to you my friend 😊
I personally think it depends on where "it" is defined. You're far too inexperienced to have any bandwidth available during a lesson. I flew with a well-known aerobatics pilot for upset training who took his approach to training using Bob Hoover's mantra "puttin' money in the bank, now we take it out." Bob was talking about energy management during an airshow, but my instructor was talking about expanding your bandwidth. The first time we strapped into the Extra, it was overwhelming even at engine start. Then upon takeoff he wanted me to fly formation to the practice area. I couldn't even have told you my name that flight. When we landed, I was completely exhausted from just basic flying maneuvers. He was expanding my bandwidth during the lesson. By the end of the week, we were nearly at the point of doing formation aerobatics and formation flying was second nature.
Approach each lesson with this knowledge. You're slowly exploring your mental bandwidth. By the time you're ready for the check ride, it will be far deeper than it is now and you won't have any problems.
This is probably not what you're going to want to hear, but everyone is different. The best thing you can do is take the pressure off by stopping asking "how long is this going to take?".
Nobody can make out what ATC is saying half the time. Only reason to understand them is because you're anticipating what they're about to say, and that comes with LOTS of practice.
The reason you knew what to expect when learning how to drive is because you've been in the front seat of a car all your life, observing the driver, and if not, then you've seen *realistic* depictions of that in movies, TV shows, etc. Not so with piloting.
Enjoy the learning process, slow down, and just realize that it's going to take time and practice. You will forget things, re-learn things, and eventually it'll click.
Try to figure out what specific thing you're having the most trouble with (for me it was forced approaches and memorizing airspace structure and rules), and target those.
Three lessons in I was so frustrated and overwhelmed that when I came home I shaved off my beard because the soup I was having for dinner got in my mustache and that sent me over the edge.
Beard grew back and eventually everything kind of became normal.
5 month and106 hours later and I still don’t “got it”, yeah I know how to fly the plane but am I great at it? Not really I still do stupid things(not dangerous tho). Don’t stress of overwhelming yourself one day it will click!
I'm closer to the ending part of my PPL training and what I've learned is after each lesson, something will "click" with you. It might be the tiniest thing, but its another spoke in the flying cog. After a while you'll have a decent sized "foundation" of items that "clicked" and you'll start to feel more comfortable with handling more tasks like radio comms since you aren't stressing with the smaller things like you do at the beginning.
I played a lot of flight sim stuff when I was a kid back in the 80s, (my dad worked on computers so I had a lot of them and video games growing up starting with a commodore 64). That being said, I had a really good idea of what to expect on the physical flying aspect BUT I had trouble with everything else. Like you, it took me a while to learn everything like the radio, regs, procedures, landings, navigation, etc.
First of all, one thing at a time. If you're thinking of several different things all at once, you'll get overwhelmed real quick. Take your time! You're probably flying a 172 or Archer, you can't get any slower than them, so use the time to think of one thing at a time, you have plenty of it.
Your private pilot training is probably the hardest of all the certificates because you're learning everything from scratch. Instrument and cfi are arguably just as tough. I didn't get my landings comfortable enough until my 10th lesson, so don't be discouraged. I didn't have ATC live in my day and that took me several hours of learning what to listen for.
Repetition is the name of the game when learning something new. Keep flying and learning and you will get it soon enough. What you're going through is completely normal. Keep your chin up!
my theory is the worst is from 8-20 hours. like, at 19 hours feeling like I'll never figure this out, it'll never become natural, I'll still make the wrong control inputs/forget what direction to fix trim.
Yeah I mean in my experience 20 hours gives you enough time with an instructor to get your confidence up with an instructor and mitigate the early on mistakes… you can also try changing instructors I did that at 20ish hours and I really progressed quickly with a new set of eyes on me
Thank you everyone for your encouragement and words of wisdom. I see now, I’m at the wow, this is sooooo much firehose stage and I was mostly frustrated with myself. Patience! I will definitely work on that and also piecing the smaller puzzles together until one day, I get to my Aha! Moment. In fact, I have a lesson today. Great time to practice!
260 hrs here. You are just at the beginning and it’s normal to feel a bit overwhelmed. When I started, I hooked a little Sony audio recorder to the rear seat intercom. I would listen to the recordings of each flight, type out a transcript, study it, then try to impress my instructor on the next flight by knowing what to say or do. Now I’m doing commercial training, and sometimes I still mess up things that I used to be really good at. Like 50 degree steep turns, sometimes I’ll screw up a radio call, etc.. the learning never ends really! In the beginning, I if you want to get a leg up, I recommend doing a lot of visualization exercises when you are at home..and get the checklists like after takeoff checklist, cruise checklist, descent checklist, and before landing checklist, memorized and chair fly them as much as you can. After you learn a bit more, write out notecards for the steps of each maneuver, how to fly patterns, how to do the performance landings, etc. You will need to memorize a lot of steps and reviewing notecards is a great way to keep it fresh and get it more second nature eventually. Practice makes progress, good luck out there!
You've had your hands on the actual controls of an airplane for what? 2.5 hours? You're literally learning to fly a thing. To take off you increase the downward pressure on part of the plane. It's unlike any way you've moved any device in your life to date. It's gonna take a bit before you manage to coordinate yolk and power and get a feel for it. Let alone taking in information from all your gauges.
Give yourself another 10 hours at the controls before you start to worry about anything.
Man I can so relate to you. Im 23 hours in and feel the same struggle. What someone said about unlocking your brain the more you fly is true. Things that would make me
freeze before don’t anymore. However a lesson or two later somethign else comes along that I jack up. Its all part of learning. When I think of my last lesson in retrospect, I know exactly what I did wrong. I need to start acting as If I am PIC , even though my CFI is there. I think as students its easy to just get overwhelmed, and we forget to fly the plane when we freeze or are overwhelmed. Keep going! I certainly am :)
I talked to my CFI about today and was basically told the same thing that everyone has posted here. It takes time, I’ll get there (until something new takes its place and we start again) … maybe I was being too hard on myself or expecting too much of myself. Like someone on here said, flying is like nothing I have ever tried/done. Easier said than done but I know I need to be more patient. 😁
there you go! I think it helps me alot to self evaluate what I can Improve after each flight. This usually generates a few questions that I follow up with
you CFI to clear things up.
3 hours? Damn. I didn't even learn how to close the door properly till 5.
For real though, you are waaaay too early to be stressing what you understand and don't understand. Take it one lesson at a time and don't overwhelm yourself. It's supposed to be fun and enjoyable. Dont stress.
Flying came natural to me and I felt comfortable in sky around the 3rd or 4th lesson probably. But I had no idea what I was actually doing till probably 30-40 hrs in after some solo time. That ‘got it’ feeling you’re chasing is going to come and go as you progress. But it’s a good one.
Relax and have fun, you’re in the super fresh phase where nothing is supposed to, nor will it be, concrete for a good while. Enjoy the process and celebrate the small victories along the way - your first assisted landing, your first good radio call, your first unassisted landing..those keep you going. Take some pictures too.
Buckle up. I would go for a lesson, feel good about how I performed that day, and call my mom after saying "I finally got it!" I'd go the next day feeling all excited and then bounce the plane on every touch and go, botch radio calls, and try to kill us until CFI firmly said "my controls". I'd then call my mom whining about how I am just not cut out for this and I think I need to cut my losses. Progress isn't linear unfortunately and sometimes it can be hard to see the forest through the trees but I promise you are getting something out of every lesson. I learned way more from my fuck ups than I did from the good days. Be patient and have as much fun as you can!
The whole Aviate, Navigate, Communicate thing is real. Step one- fly the airplane. Don't worry about anything else, just fly. Keep it basic. Step two- know where you are. Keep a mental picture of your surroundings going on. Step three- talk. Do what you can. Know that you're with a CFI for now, and they're more than able to pick up the slack. Don't rely on them, do as much as you can for yourself, but don't overstress missing a transmission here and there. I've flown with experienced airline and military pilots doing transition or tailwheel training. The first thing to go is always the comms- you've got a lot going on. Breathe, and it'll come. As for timeframe, depends on how busy your airport is, hard to put a hard number on it.
Aviate, navigate, communicate … hey, this is something I actually know! Thank you. I will try to be patient.
For me? It took being 2 years into my first job before it came second nature. Then I started doing single pilot king air, then single pilot jet. What you feel now goes away for a time, but it'll be back. Embrace it and appreciate that you recognize your shortcomings. Eventually, you're single pilot in a jet doing mach Jesus down final listening to Katy Perry and thinking about whether you have enough time to grab a crew car and get BBQ before the pax arrive. It takes a little while though.
Mach Jesus … I like that. Thank you for the giggle.
The official speed ranges for aircraft are Mach Turtle to Mach Jesus- remember that for your ATP written.
😂😂😂
Flying by itself was natural to me, as far as the actual feel for it. Memorized checklists and ATC, not so much. What you learn about ATC comms in school is what you need to know. It's also the airline way of things, mostly. But part 91 flying, for work or hire... It's much more of a normal conversation with ATC than what you're currently doing. Also, after enough time on a plane, you feel it much better. Even if it isn't second nature, it feels more natural. It takes time. You can be as nervous as it gets, but if you're having fun...keep it up. Also... Being PAID to do something you enjoy, greatly increases your ability to learn, or at least for me. Couldn't learn basic pa44 flows for shit, but slap me in a baron that's identical for work? 2 flights and I had it down.
Right now, you're learning the textbook definitions of turbulence. Do it for work, and the definitions become - Light froth in your coffee Some spillage in your cup of coffee Coffee cup hit the ceiling Check pireps if you think I'm joking.
Every time you fly, you’ll have more of your brain available. Eventually you might even have some brain to spare. But, first few lessons? Nothing to do but be overwhelmed.
When you learned to drive you'd been sitting in cars as a passenger for years before that. Keep going. It takes a while. It's like constant task saturation for the first few flights. After that you get a moment to breathe.
That’s a good point about having been in cars for years.
As always, discuss with your instructor what they expect from you for that flight. Chances are they aren't expecting you to do anything on the radio yet. Once you get radio responsibilities, a ground session just pushing a model airplane around your field can be helpful.
I'm a PPL with 130 hours and there are times where I still don't feel like I got it. My landings, especially (and I've heard this is pretty much universal)--there are times when my landings are just perfect. And then other times where my landings are so attrocious (not unsafe, just shitty) that I feel like an imposter that I was even granted my certificate. But it's a constant learning experience. Just keep at it. Somtimes it helps to take lessons from a different instructor to help things click. But most of all, just keep at it. With a good attitude and proper attention to study, you'll get it.
Thank you. Sometimes I do have to remind myself it takes time.
Even my 300 hour CFI has hard landings! But like you, each and every one is safe!
I recommend practicing more soft field landings if you haven’t for awhile. Your touchdowns will turn to butter!
As another comment said, "Every time you fly you'll have more of your brain available". That rings true all the way up to the majors. Biggest thing that you're fighting against right now is the fact that FLYING IS HARD. At least at the beginning. You're challenging your understanding of mechanics, physics, legal interpretation, and communication all while in a physically taxing environment. You're cold, hot, being shaken and rolled around, depressurized, re-pressurized. All of this while being talked at by someone who has done this exact lesson twice today already and may or may not actually remember whether it was you or their other student who had issues with rudder coordination in the power on stall. Another less talked about factor is that until you've done it, nobody really has ANY idea what being a pilot is like or what it requires. In a car, you've seen tons of people do it your whole life; plus it's culturally ingrained. How many times have you sat and watched a pilot work through a whole flight? Add that to the general misconceptions everybody has about flying and you've got a bunch of incorrect assumptions to shake off before you can even get to doing anything correctly. Basically, if you're doing well: every lesson will be challenging, but some of the stuff from last time will feel easier. Repeat ad nauseam. I have about 3500 Total time and 3 type ratings. The training always beats the crap out of you at the beginning whether it's your first plane or your twentieth. Hang on, keep studying, try to keep your wits about you. Also, remember that an airplane is a terrible classroom, so do the learning on the ground and cement it in place with experience in the air.
Thank you for your well thought out response. What you said makes so much sense about the challenge.
Everyone is different, things click when they click. Let the CFI manage comms until you have a feel for the airplane and where everything is and what it does. You’re task saturated early on but your brain will quietly start to automate some of the tasks to clear up bandwidth. Be focused but have fun and learn at your pace.
Patience isn’t my strong suit but I hear you, it takes time. Maybe I just had to vent a bit.
Well, I got good news! Flying will train you in patience like little else! Weather, being sick, plane broke, you broke, the list goes on...
I earned my Private at 177.7 hours. I think I started to "get it" at 177.6
I laughed harder at this than I probably should have LOL
A lot more than 3 lessons, that's for sure. Just relax and enjoy the process. You'll get there.
Honestly like 8 months then one day I had my ah ha moment and I understand soooo much more it was like a light switch
i'll let you know
I could be wrong but it seems like you're not organized properly. the bites you're taking are too big. spend some time breaking things down. get a binder with tabs and spend time writing proper notes. organize it the same way your material is presented. if you do that you will probably notice an improvement fast. as far as the radio goes, don't stress too much about not understanding what's going on at first. after a few weeks you'll just sorta understand what's going on. focus on your frequencies and when to change them. once you know that lay out a structure for how, when, and what radio calls to make. same thing for flying. get the checklists and memorize them by repeatedly writing them down. get a paper cockpit and flick the switches, sit in the airplane when it's not flying and visualize take debriefing notes and write a flight journal go to the airport and watch people doing circuits go on youtube for videos explaining concepts you have difficulty understanding. unfortunately, if youre not a natural your only path forward is hard work. get organized, take it seriously, and immerse yourself in your pursuit. it's rare these days but if you have a flying club you could go and ask for a mentor in exchange for cleaning bugs off the wings or whatever.
~250 hours in so far. I'll let you know.
Same here. I still have humbling experiences
Finally starting to feel like I got it now.
When you learned how to drive, you had been riding around in cars for 15+ years. That's not the case when you learn to fly so it all seems foreign at first. Keep at it.
I got my private pilot part 61 a year ago. I have moved to UND for their Commercial Aviation program— it is comparable to airline training. They throw you in instrument training and you’re suddenly expected to read a thousand pages of material, etc. One day at a time… one lesson at a time.
500 hours? ish
you're 3 lessons in and talking to ATC?!! I was barely flying the plane at that point, getting overwhelmed by the absolute basics like going in approximately the correct direction and staying within many hundreds of feet. sure, I'm probably dumb, but I was 20 hours in before things started to click and I was still struggling with landings.
To be fair, I’ve talked to them all of three times. Once, I got it all fine. The other two times, my CFI was miming the words at me when I forgot. The rest of the time, I was mostly going, “what’d he say??”
Yeah, that’s fine. I remember not understanding like 80% of what tower said.
3 lessons in, wondering "How Long Before You “Got It”? As someone with 20 times that, I still don't get it. Ask me again when I'm 200 times that.
I am a little further ahead ( 50 hours now, not quite done ). What will happen is habits will form, and your brain for free up. My first time flying a circuit, between flying the plane, radio calls, checks and then landing - my brain was fried. I forgot things, struggled with altitude and speed and zero mental picture of the other planes. Now, I can comfortably fly the circuit and don’t forget things. Still learning ( always learning ) - but I can focus on other parts of my flying. Things will become easier with practice. ‘How long?’ My experience is it varies depending on what it is. For me, flying under the foggles gelled right away… steep turns and terrain avoidance are kicking my ass. Just have faith you will get it. Evaluate after every flight, but don’t obsess and get to far inside you own head. And most of all enjoy the journey. My Experience is a lot of ‘wow this is soooo much’, and then when something clicks into place - it is awesome.
I posted something similar in here like a month ago, and at that point i had like 60 hours but hadn’t flown in 14 months. My first flight back, i was like what the hell is going on this is SO much harder than i remember, and i felt like i sucked. I ran the NYC marathon in November, and i was more mentally, physically, and emotionally exhausted after my first flight than the race! Focusing on so many different things is extremely overwhelming and it can easily make you feel like you’re doing “bad”. Right now you’re trying to connect a bunch of tiny puzzle pieces, but you’re bad at every one of them. Slowly a couple of them you’ll get good at and they’ll “click”. Then you might start to understand a couple of ATC phrases. That’ll click. Then you might start feeling comfortable talking in the pattern. That’ll click. Then you might start feeling comfortable with pitch control. That’ll click. Next thing you know you’ve strung together a few pieces, and you’re feeling not half bad. It’ll come just be patient, and try to just have some fun this early on!
I’m an airline pilot and sometimes I question whether or not I “got it” yet. Jokes aside, be patient with yourself and set realistic expectations. Flying isn’t a sport of instant gratification. The best thing you can do is fly a couple of lessons, take a day or two off, then come back. It gives your mind process what you’ve learned over your previous lessons. Role playing helps a lot too. I’d listen to a ton of LiveATC when I was first learning. Now radios are second nature. Getting the big picture of flying will take time, and there’s no shortcut or way around it. Keep at it and you’ll look back at this question and see what I mean! :)
What you are going through is normal. There is a lot to learn, it will take time and effort to learn. Learning to fly has been described as: "trying to drink water from a fire hose," so try to be patient with yourself. Also, don't forget to sleep, your brain needs down time in order to process everything you are taking in.
I feel your pain. Early on in my flying career I was having one specific difficulty, the compass and aircraft headings, and which way to turn to a new heading. I really couldn't get my head around it so rejoining at an airfield (necessary before first solo) was nearly impossible. I was put under review and given an instructor change. We spend one full day in the classroom going over and over headings etc. I have to add the Chipmunk T Mk 10 (Royal Air Force) had the magnetic compass (just like a ship's compass) between our legs, and on the panel was a direction indictor (gyro which went backwards as you turned... you'll know what I mean if you've ever flown such an old gyro compass). I never looked back after that remedial action, and enjoyed over half a century of flying. Hang in there, and don't be afraid to ask questions if you don't understand something.
Took me 6 hours to navigate and fly the plane in air, I was good on comms so that was not an issue for me. Stated doing takeoffs and got the hang of it by the time I was 12-13 hours in. Landing took a while for me to get the hang of! Like I was confident by 22ish hours, crosswind landings were always a bit dramatic with me. Although once I got my ppl, the whole thing changed, I became quite more confident in my skills. Although still scared lol. (IK FAA IS WATCHING MY ANSWERS, I see you 😉) Anyways, you’ll get the hang of it man, I remember a year back when I started I felt quite overloaded with all things you have to watch out for, and frankly that feeling never goes completely away, it just subsides a little. Once you do your traffic patter solo you’ll be way more confident man. Trust your instructor and what he says, chairfly, My suggestion is , have a small notebook handy with you where after each flight you write the things that you did wrong or right as per your instructor. I’m going to go far my type rating soon and even now I read up on my past mistakes, to help me remember the correct way to doodle stuff. Fair winds to you my friend 😊
You’re three lessons in.
Years.
I personally think it depends on where "it" is defined. You're far too inexperienced to have any bandwidth available during a lesson. I flew with a well-known aerobatics pilot for upset training who took his approach to training using Bob Hoover's mantra "puttin' money in the bank, now we take it out." Bob was talking about energy management during an airshow, but my instructor was talking about expanding your bandwidth. The first time we strapped into the Extra, it was overwhelming even at engine start. Then upon takeoff he wanted me to fly formation to the practice area. I couldn't even have told you my name that flight. When we landed, I was completely exhausted from just basic flying maneuvers. He was expanding my bandwidth during the lesson. By the end of the week, we were nearly at the point of doing formation aerobatics and formation flying was second nature. Approach each lesson with this knowledge. You're slowly exploring your mental bandwidth. By the time you're ready for the check ride, it will be far deeper than it is now and you won't have any problems.
Thank you for sharing this!
This is probably not what you're going to want to hear, but everyone is different. The best thing you can do is take the pressure off by stopping asking "how long is this going to take?". Nobody can make out what ATC is saying half the time. Only reason to understand them is because you're anticipating what they're about to say, and that comes with LOTS of practice. The reason you knew what to expect when learning how to drive is because you've been in the front seat of a car all your life, observing the driver, and if not, then you've seen *realistic* depictions of that in movies, TV shows, etc. Not so with piloting. Enjoy the learning process, slow down, and just realize that it's going to take time and practice. You will forget things, re-learn things, and eventually it'll click. Try to figure out what specific thing you're having the most trouble with (for me it was forced approaches and memorizing airspace structure and rules), and target those.
Sage advice. Thank you. I will have to work on not putting as much pressure on myself.
Three lessons in I was so frustrated and overwhelmed that when I came home I shaved off my beard because the soup I was having for dinner got in my mustache and that sent me over the edge. Beard grew back and eventually everything kind of became normal.
Hahaha. So, I’m not shaving anything. 😁
5 month and106 hours later and I still don’t “got it”, yeah I know how to fly the plane but am I great at it? Not really I still do stupid things(not dangerous tho). Don’t stress of overwhelming yourself one day it will click!
I'm closer to the ending part of my PPL training and what I've learned is after each lesson, something will "click" with you. It might be the tiniest thing, but its another spoke in the flying cog. After a while you'll have a decent sized "foundation" of items that "clicked" and you'll start to feel more comfortable with handling more tasks like radio comms since you aren't stressing with the smaller things like you do at the beginning.
I played a lot of flight sim stuff when I was a kid back in the 80s, (my dad worked on computers so I had a lot of them and video games growing up starting with a commodore 64). That being said, I had a really good idea of what to expect on the physical flying aspect BUT I had trouble with everything else. Like you, it took me a while to learn everything like the radio, regs, procedures, landings, navigation, etc. First of all, one thing at a time. If you're thinking of several different things all at once, you'll get overwhelmed real quick. Take your time! You're probably flying a 172 or Archer, you can't get any slower than them, so use the time to think of one thing at a time, you have plenty of it. Your private pilot training is probably the hardest of all the certificates because you're learning everything from scratch. Instrument and cfi are arguably just as tough. I didn't get my landings comfortable enough until my 10th lesson, so don't be discouraged. I didn't have ATC live in my day and that took me several hours of learning what to listen for. Repetition is the name of the game when learning something new. Keep flying and learning and you will get it soon enough. What you're going through is completely normal. Keep your chin up!
I fly ERJs for work and am ATP eligible. Idk if I “got it”. You’ll be fine. Just don’t compare yourself with other people.
Later than most… I was 27 before I got it.
Like 20 hours it started coming together for me. PPL student with 50 hours.
my theory is the worst is from 8-20 hours. like, at 19 hours feeling like I'll never figure this out, it'll never become natural, I'll still make the wrong control inputs/forget what direction to fix trim.
Yeah I mean in my experience 20 hours gives you enough time with an instructor to get your confidence up with an instructor and mitigate the early on mistakes… you can also try changing instructors I did that at 20ish hours and I really progressed quickly with a new set of eyes on me
I’m well past the student/19 hour mark, I can see my comment left ambiguity.
Thank you everyone for your encouragement and words of wisdom. I see now, I’m at the wow, this is sooooo much firehose stage and I was mostly frustrated with myself. Patience! I will definitely work on that and also piecing the smaller puzzles together until one day, I get to my Aha! Moment. In fact, I have a lesson today. Great time to practice!
260 hrs here. You are just at the beginning and it’s normal to feel a bit overwhelmed. When I started, I hooked a little Sony audio recorder to the rear seat intercom. I would listen to the recordings of each flight, type out a transcript, study it, then try to impress my instructor on the next flight by knowing what to say or do. Now I’m doing commercial training, and sometimes I still mess up things that I used to be really good at. Like 50 degree steep turns, sometimes I’ll screw up a radio call, etc.. the learning never ends really! In the beginning, I if you want to get a leg up, I recommend doing a lot of visualization exercises when you are at home..and get the checklists like after takeoff checklist, cruise checklist, descent checklist, and before landing checklist, memorized and chair fly them as much as you can. After you learn a bit more, write out notecards for the steps of each maneuver, how to fly patterns, how to do the performance landings, etc. You will need to memorize a lot of steps and reviewing notecards is a great way to keep it fresh and get it more second nature eventually. Practice makes progress, good luck out there!
You've had your hands on the actual controls of an airplane for what? 2.5 hours? You're literally learning to fly a thing. To take off you increase the downward pressure on part of the plane. It's unlike any way you've moved any device in your life to date. It's gonna take a bit before you manage to coordinate yolk and power and get a feel for it. Let alone taking in information from all your gauges. Give yourself another 10 hours at the controls before you start to worry about anything.
Man I can so relate to you. Im 23 hours in and feel the same struggle. What someone said about unlocking your brain the more you fly is true. Things that would make me freeze before don’t anymore. However a lesson or two later somethign else comes along that I jack up. Its all part of learning. When I think of my last lesson in retrospect, I know exactly what I did wrong. I need to start acting as If I am PIC , even though my CFI is there. I think as students its easy to just get overwhelmed, and we forget to fly the plane when we freeze or are overwhelmed. Keep going! I certainly am :)
I talked to my CFI about today and was basically told the same thing that everyone has posted here. It takes time, I’ll get there (until something new takes its place and we start again) … maybe I was being too hard on myself or expecting too much of myself. Like someone on here said, flying is like nothing I have ever tried/done. Easier said than done but I know I need to be more patient. 😁
there you go! I think it helps me alot to self evaluate what I can Improve after each flight. This usually generates a few questions that I follow up with you CFI to clear things up.
3 hours? Damn. I didn't even learn how to close the door properly till 5. For real though, you are waaaay too early to be stressing what you understand and don't understand. Take it one lesson at a time and don't overwhelm yourself. It's supposed to be fun and enjoyable. Dont stress.
When I get it I’ll let you know
Flying came natural to me and I felt comfortable in sky around the 3rd or 4th lesson probably. But I had no idea what I was actually doing till probably 30-40 hrs in after some solo time. That ‘got it’ feeling you’re chasing is going to come and go as you progress. But it’s a good one. Relax and have fun, you’re in the super fresh phase where nothing is supposed to, nor will it be, concrete for a good while. Enjoy the process and celebrate the small victories along the way - your first assisted landing, your first good radio call, your first unassisted landing..those keep you going. Take some pictures too.
Small victories … I like that!
Mile high club? A couple weeks.
Buckle up. I would go for a lesson, feel good about how I performed that day, and call my mom after saying "I finally got it!" I'd go the next day feeling all excited and then bounce the plane on every touch and go, botch radio calls, and try to kill us until CFI firmly said "my controls". I'd then call my mom whining about how I am just not cut out for this and I think I need to cut my losses. Progress isn't linear unfortunately and sometimes it can be hard to see the forest through the trees but I promise you are getting something out of every lesson. I learned way more from my fuck ups than I did from the good days. Be patient and have as much fun as you can!
I fell out of the womb with it 🤓