Great student pilot podcast and pretending to fly on the ground

When I told some people in my "network" I was beginning flying lessons recently, Tim Heuer (@timheuer on twitter) pointed out a great podcast by Bill Williams (@billwil on Twitter) called The Student Pilot Podcast. He started it almost a year ago and has used the audio format (and some video) to record his learning experiences from beginning to end. I've spent some time listening in, and it's been especially useful. I like the way he throws in the occasional comment about being too low or too high on approaches, those little details that make a difference and let people like me know it's truly a learning and growing experience. It's a good informal learning tool, and for someone like me who's just getting started, it's especially nice to be able to hear complicated stuff like radio traffic procedures and to vicariously share in Bill's training milestones. A couple times last weekend as I was flying (on an airliner) to Philadelphia and listening on my iPod and laughed out loud at situations happening in the podcast, which drew a couple funny looks from the passengers around me. In his latest episode, Bill highly recommends another site and podcast called Uncontrolled Airspace. So, I'm checking that out this evening. It looks quite good, too.

I was supposed to fly this morning for a couple hours and do a bunch of landings and approaches with my instructor, but we had to cancel due to high winds and cruddy weather. Yesterday the weather was poor, too. But I dropped by the airport anyhow since I was in the area and asked if it was permissible to sit in the aircraft while they're on the ground and "pretend" to fly. I've recognized early on that running through the procedures and drills in a calm, quiet, non-distracted environment might just help when it comes time to actually fly, especially after reading my newly-acquired copy of the C-150's Pilot Operating Handbook (or POH) and realizing there were a couple things I'd missed in the cabin.

I was pleased to find out from the kind and friendly people at Twin Oaks Air Park that not only would they allow me to sit and practice in unreserved aircraft, they encouraged me to do so as much as possible. Just turn out the lights if everyone's gone - Nice! One of the people there said, "I really wish more people would do that," and my instructor Kelly said, "Yeah, that's a good idea, you'll save yourself some money" (by potentially reducing the number of flying hours needed to become proficient).

So, I headed for an unoccupied Cessna 150 with my trusty visual flight procedures book, the POH and a few other odds and ends, and started practicing the in-cabin procedures for things like startup, taxi, run-up, take-off, departure, airport traffic patterns, approach and landings. I also did a pre-flight inspection on a couple different airplanes. After about an hour of practice time my good friend Dave, who's about to complete his own private pilot license as part of his pro-pilot schooling, dropped by the air park, so we geeked out on all the aircraft there for a while. Dave was pretty impressed with the trainer/rental fleet there as well as a big, old, very-cool airplane on pontoon floats that's parked there (I think maybe it's an old Beaver, but I'm not really sure - I'll have to ask).

Dave and I left the air park, and I went and grabbed some food. I realized I still wanted to practice some more, so I selfishly decided to call another friend (who's also named Greg, which makes for a bit of confusion in a group but we do okay when it's just the two of us) to see if he'd want to go check out the airplanes and help me learn. He didn't hesitate to say yes, so we headed back over and spent a good hour and a half, with me explaining everything I'm learning out loud to Greg while I practiced it and checked myself with the checklists and maneuver instructions. I also found myself teaching him a lot of what I have recently learned in my ground lessons and study, which is a great way to reinforce it for myself. Ultimately, I'm learning more and better by sharing it with others.

It's amazing to me how much information I've picked up and learned in the past week and a half. This middle-aged brain still works, heh. I'm also realizing that one of the things I like the most about doing this pilot training is that there is so much information I have absolutely no clue about. Much of what I have been involved in over the past several years has been quite fun and rewarding, but this is all those things plus it's really, really challenging. I guess that's what I need right now: a good challenge tied to a fun undertaking. It's invigorating.

Sounds like we're focusing on landings next time around. After spending some time getting more familiar with the controls and practicing procedures on the ground, I'm looking forward to it. That should happen Monday, if the weather cooperates.