Pilots?

[HDNB]

As part of my recent mid-life crisis i went for a "discovery flight" last week.

I think it would be fun to possess a PPL (private pilot's license) so after a lifetime of thinking about it... i did it. The adrenaline rush was so huge, trying to take in all the info, my head just about exploded. I was not prepared for the weighlessness feeling, nor the feeling of not really moving (almost felt like falling) these two things combined for a fair bit of nausea and i was pretty happy for it to be over after the hour. (the instructor dude was pretty happy those hiccups didn't get any bigger )

Now I have to go back for a couple more flights to see if this can all be overcome. I think now that i know what to expect (body/motion -wise) it will be a better experience and i can actually learn something. I hope it will all settle out, because if i can't control the adrenaline and nausea, i may have to take a pass on the whole dream... and that would suck.

any pilots out there with some advise? maybe some gravol is in order for the next run, but they frown on the whole medication thing...

[rad14701]

I did the same for my 35th birthday... Also helped a since deceased friend build an ultralight around that time... Life changes have kept me away from flying since then... I was pretty obsessed for a while, however...

[ben stiller]

Was it windy and choppy for your flight? How much of the flying did you do. If not much it might help to be in control rather than a passenger. I have had my private for 20 years and still own 1/2 share of a plane. The feeling of weightlessness and falling are not familiar to me. I have never felt like that since day one. Adrenaline for sure. Are you afraid of heights? Sounds like maybe a minor anxiety attack. Take it slow and don't try to rush getting your license. For your first flights the teaching should be on the ground and the flying just an introduction. Don't fly for more than an hour. Your learning curve can't handle it. If your issues persist past a couple more lessons then try a different instructor. No shame in changing. I did during my primary training and it was the best decision. Each instructor has their own style. If changing does not help then I hate to say it but flying is not for you. It is not for everyone. Good luck and keep us posted.

Edit to say that the weightlessness was probably in chop where the plane was dropping. If that is the case choose a calm day the next time and see if it gets better. Nothing worse than being introduced to something in the worst conditions. Just curious as to what type of aircraft you where flying?

[wtfdskin]

Went through ground school at the age of 16. Training flights with my older cousin in a piper cub and cessna tri-pacer. Never finished to get my liscense. Pockets weren't deep enough at that age.
I never experienced the symptoms you speak of other then the butterflies of nervousness the first few times up.

Cousin belonged to a flight club. Club owned the plane, your dues got you so many hours a month flight time plus fuel. Was a blast, barely old enough to drive a car but flying a plane. Great memories.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I547 using Tapatalk

[shadylane]

Home-distillation is a hobby, flying is an obsession.

[rad14701]

When I flew my introductory flight I flew the entire flight from taxiing, takeoff, all the way through landing... Ended up landing with a turbulent storm front rushing in which cut the flight time short by a few minutes... The flight instructor was impressed that I was even able to crab the landing without him even mentioning it...

After finishing my friends ultralight, a Challenger single seater with Rotax 503, I performed ground testing and extended crow-hops but when asked to make the maiden flight I insisted that that honor belonged the owner, not me... I had open offers from several untralight owners to fly their planes but at the time was holding out until I could get mine built... Unfortunately, I scrapped all of the components I had assembled during a move, out of frustration... All I have left is the engine...

+1 on what shadylane said... I stay clear of airfields now just like I stay clear of dirt tracks...

[cranky]

I have a private pilots license but haven't flown in many many years. I loved flying on floats and skis, winter flying on skis 3-10ft off the ground in my old pre war Chief was a blast. Don't really know what to tell you about the nausea, I get motion sick if I sit in the back but not when I'm up front in control.

[HDNB]

it was pretty choppy, 15k gusts to 25k...cold air on a sunny day so lots of thermal lifts going from over small water to black fields.

flew a 172 4 seat, i think they designated it G-1000 because of the electronics on board. had huge avionics display

the weightlessness was from the chop for sure, it was better once cruising around 3000' the feeling of not moving was more the huge visual you get...i'm used to seeing the highway go by at 75mph, this was akin to driving beside mountains 50 miles away...you are moving the same speed but the mountains don't seem to be moving at all.
the combination =nausea. I get green on a 50' boat on the ocean after 6-8 hours, but this was fast onset.

i'm sure the adrenaline/anxiety was part of it too. I don't get vertigo and not anymore feared of heights than one should be.

i was on the controls for taxi and climb, flew the circuit, did a few slow down/speed up but the instructor had to land it...my brain was wayyy to full to maintain level flight, find the power settings, maintain the airspeed and actually move my eyes down to the flaps control. too much fatigue trying to keep all that straight at that point. and you're right... an hour is lots for the learning curve at this point.

i think it will be easier once i start memorizing where different things are and what they are supposed to be, for example i have no idea what the landing speed is, where the flaps setting is, what RPM relates to that speed...and when you are searching the dashboard for the airspeed readout is located...and you want me to look out the windscreen too??? i woulda flew the strip and put the thing in the lake.

i will take the advise for a calm day for the next test flight. hopefully find the mind/body connection and be able to extend body schema into the aircraft...then burn some cash on ground school!

[cranky]

Sounds like a plan HDNB I think you will do better on a smoother day. I learned to fly in Oklahoma so windy was all part of it. I once landed my Chief in Orr Mn with a 20knt crosswind 90 degrees to the runway. My plane had a stall speed of less than 28MPH so I was barely able to keep it on the ground to taxi in. Of course my Chief was pretty basic and simple, a non sensetive altimeter and not much else as far as instruments, no radio or starter for that matter but it was fun. I never flew much above the treetops so there was always a sense of movement even when the traffic was passing me on the road. First time I ever got motion sick was in the back seat of a Champ on floats on a bumpy day, not a nice feeling but I think you will do fine next time.

[HDNB]

heh Cranky, i rebuilt the entire interior on a prewar Aeronca(sp?) Chief about 30 some years ago. I think i know the type of plane you are talking about. twisted wrenches rebuilding pre-wars and built new ultralights for about 4 years when i was about 20...man that was underpaid underappreciated work where they demanded perfection.

[thecroweater]

I have a private pilots license but haven't flown in many many years. I loved flying on floats and skis, winter flying on skis 3-10ft off the ground in my old pre war Chief was a blast. Don't really know what to tell you about the nausea, I get motion sick if I sit in the back but not when I'm up front in control.

Hmm OK here if you don't keep your hours up you loose ya licence, Dad let his lapse years ago but I grew up flying in alsorts of light aircraft

[apdb]

I'm gonna get dragged through the mud for this....

I love to fly, although I've only flown a handful of times. The best trip ever was from our Victoria inner harbour to Union Bay, Seattle.
It was like flying in a Volkswagon Bug with wings. Another, was a Heli-jet from Victoria to Vancouver. (I don't get out much)
My curious nature got me thinking about how it all works and how one gets from A to B in pea soup thick fog and how suddenly the clouds break and your there.
I was encouraged to get into flight simulators and picked up Microsoft Century of Flight and a decent flight stick. Now I know its not even near the same thing...
What I did enjoy, was that within the software was flight school training which introduced the beginner to all the various pieces of equipment used in navigation and operation of some more common planes using their virtual cockpits. You could download user made maps and charts and fly in real time to places you are familiar. That software is way dated now and I've gotten from it what I wanted. Computer gaming and graphics are way farther ahead since 2004 when that simulator came out.
I highly recommend checking simulators out. Crashing into ex girlfriends houses is fun too.

And...
There are more planes underwater then there are submarines in the air.
Just sayin'.

Aaron

[cranky]

heh Cranky, i rebuilt the entire interior on a prewar Aeronca(sp?) Chief about 30 some years ago. I think i know the type of plane you are talking about. twisted wrenches rebuilding pre-wars and built new ultralights for about 4 years when i was about 20...man that was underpaid underappreciated work where they demanded perfection.

It was a pretty simple, basic and cheap plane at the time, cheap was very important since I really didn't make much money. Mine was a Super Chief, which meant it had 75HP instead of 65. It could fly at 28MPH and if I pushed it a couple hundred RPM above redline I could go as fast as 100MPH but most of the time cruising was around 65. I could also take off on ice in 1/3 the distance of the Super Cubs or anything else on the lake.

Hmm OK here if you don't keep your hours up you loose ya licence, Dad let his lapse years ago but I grew up flying in alsorts of light aircraft

In America you license never expires, if I wanted to start flying again I have to get a new medical and 3 landings and I'm good to go. I knew lots of people in northern MN and Alaska that never even had a license. One of them took lessons until he soloed then they never saw him again. He bought a Champ on floats and I would frequently see it parked at the dock of one of the lakeside bars. One day after leaving one of those bars (drunk) he and a friend decided to buzz someones house, afterwards he pulled up too steep and stalled and pancaked into the lake. Typical of a floatplane crash the front struts buckled and the prop chopped the front of the floats off. Somehow they got out but the plane was a total loss except for one float that was later salvaged. The FAA investigated but since he had no license to begin with they didn't do anything to him.

I think I just went into old geezer mode and drifted off topic a bit there

[bearriver]

A good choice for a midlife crisis. HDNB, I hope you see yourself somewhere new and exciting. Nothing represents freedom quite like a pair of wings.

[ben stiller]

My only flight in a Super Chief was an unhappy story. It was a float plane that belonged to a friend that he totaled when we crashed onto his grass runway. We were very slow waiting for a boat to clear so we could land in the river and the bottom just fell out. FAA ruled it a microburst. It was a weird day with shifting winds. The floats absorbed much of the impact or I would not be writing this.
Till this day I am uncomfortable with someone else flying except for a select few talented pilots.

[thecroweater]

For all my exposure to aircraft the only water planes I've seen up close are the old Catalina flying boats, they got one up at lake bogs where my ex's uncle lived right next to it. They sparked my interest as I had relations that flew with them in the war. Lot of the old pilots that towed gliders up and were instructors back home when I was a kid were old WWII pilots. Had two great uncles that fought in the battle of Britain, dafs uncle Arthur who survived and mums uncle Ambrose who did not and was shot down (missing) over the English channel

[googe]

My dad had planes when I was young, had a Cessna 172 for as long as I can remember, had my first go when I was 12, couldn't see real well though, to short lol. He said I was a natural lol. Wish I'd pursued it more. My favoriate of his was I think it was called a Cessna 33?, front and rear engine, helped him restore it, only got to go in in a couple of times though, think he lost his passion, didn't seen to get back into planes after that. I think my most memorable flight was flying the 172 all over Frazer island and landing on the beach, was awesome!.

[DAD300]

I had been flying with friends for a few years and got my license in 1986. There is little to compare. Where else can you go hundreds of miles without seeing another airplane in the air, 200 mph without thinking about the cops, cut any travel time to 1/3 (compared to a car). I've owned four airplanes. I can drive to airport, load plane and be two states away before you can park, get through security and board a commercial jet aircraft.

I travel between two states regularly...it's a miserable 11 hour drive or a relaxing 3 hour flight!

[rubber duck]

The rubber duck doesn't like to fly, them things crash and it's not pretty when they do. I don't mind jumping out of one cause I'm at the controls but I get really nervous when I'm below a thousand feet. Why in the heck would anyone want to go really high up in the sky for fun when you could sit on the ground and drink beer?

You guys are crazy I think...

[Plaincrazy]

i woulda flew the strip and put the thing in the lake.

As I understand it, you really need to be... "cooking"... down the strip to put her in the lake. Wave back if you get it

[InvertedSpin]

Hey, some of my worst friends are pilots!

I've been flying since around 2000, and for a number of years, my daily commute was by either my original 1982 PA32-301, or later my 2000 PA32R-301. The Great Recession took my bird away, but I rent from time to time to keep current: single-engine/land/instrument..

It's a pleasure to meet you all. Cheers!