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10 tips to get the most out of each flight lesson

September 15, 2023/in Tips and technique/by Bret Koebbe

Learning to fly an airplane should be a fun and enjoyable process, but you need to have a game plan to ensure that your flight training proceeds smoothly and efficiently. Here are 10 tips to help you get the most out of each lesson.

My experience as a rusty pilot

September 14, 2023/in Get Started, Personal stories, Tips and technique/by Chris McGonegle

People who could fly airplanes had an elite reputation in my mind; one that seemed too far-fetched for me to consider. So my teenage years were filled with school, sports, and summer jobs outside occasionally interrupted by the distinct hum of an engine passing overhead.

10 tips to get the most out of each flight lesson

September 15, 2023/in Tips and technique/by Bret Koebbe

My experience as a rusty pilot

September 14, 2023/in Get Started, Personal stories, Tips and technique/by Chris McGonegle

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10 tips to get the most out of each flight lesson

September 15, 2023/in Tips and technique/by Bret Koebbe

Getting the most out of each lesson involves preparation.

I was recently reminded of what it’s like to be a student again last week after attending the first of a series of guitar lessons. Everything about it was foreign to me, from feeling like an outsider at the music shop to opening a book of sheet music that looked like it was written in a foreign language. Each lesson is only 30 minutes, and takes place one on one with the music instructor in a very small room. The first lesson was over before I knew it, and on the drive home it got me thinking of how similar this was to when I took my first flight lesson 13 years ago. I considered myself a good student at the time, but in hindsight there were many things I could have done better to get more out of each lesson. And having been a flight instructor for 11 years now, I’ve seen both the good and bad habits of students, and how it affects their flight training.

When I got home that night, I sat down and wrote out how I could maximize each 30-minute lesson. I decided out of the gate I would arrive to each lesson early, have the assigned chapters from the Guitar Method book nearly memorized, and ensure that my guitar was properly tuned so I wouldn’t waste any of the instructor’s time with something I could do on my own.

Now of course in music the #1 way to improve is to practice, practice, practice. In aviation you obviously can’t practice flying the real airplane in your living room, but there are many things you can do make the most of the time with your flight instructor.

1. Use a Syllabus or Training Course Outline (TCO) – this is good advice whether you’re learning at a big flight school or from an independent CFI. A syllabus provides a logical order to flight training and allows you to effectively track your progress lesson by lesson. Sporty’s offers its TCOs free of charge for all Primary, Instrument and Multiengine courses: get them here.

2. Prepare for each lesson in advance – I can’t stress the importance of this one enough. After each lesson your instructor will assign you reading material and specific items to study (and if he or she doesn’t, make it a point to ask what you should be reviewing). For ground lessons, make sure to review the appropriate subject areas in advance, and make notes of any areas that you don’t understand. To prepare for flight lessons, review step-by-step each maneuver that is listed in the lesson, and do some “arm-chair” flying where you mentally run through each task with a checklist in hand. A dedicated maneuvers guide can be a big help here.

Seminars are a great opportunity to meet the aviation community.

3. Become part of the airport community – make an effort to get to know the other instructors and students at your flight school, and attend seminars and forums when offered at your airport. In addition to feeling more comfortable each time you arrive for your lessons, you’ll find that other students can offer valuable advice on how they progressed through challenging lessons and tasks during their training.

4. Minimize distractions – if you find yourself continually distracted during ground lessons by the typical activities of a general aviation airport, ask your instructor for a more secluded meeting area. Most schools have designated quiet areas that provide a good one-on-one learning environment.

5. Start with an organized cockpit – make it a point during the cockpit pre-flight to organize the cabin – have your sectionals, kneeboard, A/FDs, pens, iPad and E6B all readily accessible. Leaving the A/FD in your flight bag unreachable on the back seat doesn’t lead to a positive learning experience when your instructor requests a diversion to a new airport.

6. Use a video-based home-study course in conjunction with your training at the airport – This ties in with the 2^nd item above. Using a home-study course like Sporty’s Learn to Fly Course will allow you to prepare in advance for both ground and flight lessons, and is much more engaging than just studying text books.

Maintain a consistent schedule and show up to each session rested and ready to learn.

7. Maintain a consistent lesson schedule – try to schedule at least 2 to 3 lessons per week, and avoid long stretches of time in between lessons. You’ll retain the knowledge and skills better, leading to a quicker and less costly path to earning your certificate.

8. Show up for each lesson well rested – this may seem obvious, but you’re wasting both your and the instructor’s time in the airplane if you’re not physically and mentally rested for each lesson.

9. Don’t skimp on the post-flight briefing – the post-flight briefing is one of the most important components of any flight lesson. Here you’ll cover what you did well during the flight along with items that need improvement. Make sure to record the flight times in your logbook (with instructor’s signature), document the flight details in a syllabus and discuss what needs reviewing before the next lesson.

10. Set realistic expectations – don’t expect to execute each new maneuver and procedure to pro-pilot standards during the first attempt. There will be a learning curve, but with proper preparation on the ground and practice in the air, you’ll quickly become proficient. And as you become comfortable with each task, don’t settle for just meeting the FAA minimums – always try to exceed them.

My experience as a rusty pilot

September 14, 2023/in Get Started, Personal stories, Tips and technique/by Chris McGonegle

Editor’s Note: Welcome to a four-part series on Chris McGonegle’s experience as a rusty pilot – a relatable category for many. Chris is an Instrument-rated Commercial pilot and product manager with Sporty’s Pilot Shop.

My Experience as a Rusty Pilot – Part I

My Experience as a Rusty Pilot – Part II

My Experience as a Rusty Pilot – Part III

My Experience as a Rusty Pilot – Part IV

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My Airborne Beginning

To say that aviation is in my blood would be an understatement.

The house I grew up in lies just over two miles as the crow flies from Lunken Field, so planes overhead were a common sight. I had an aunt who worked as a flight attendant and was able to introduce me to a professional aviator, who in between flight legs one sunny day, gave me a tour of his office. I learned from an early age that balsa wood models and rockets required attention to detail and gentle craftsmanship. For icing on the cake, my father ran thermodynamic stress tests on jet engines for General Electric and would take me to Lunken on the weekends to fly RC planes. To say that aviation is in my blood would be an understatement; it’s practically a building block of my DNA.

Even with all these subliminal signals for me to earn my wings, I never took the steps toward jumping into an airplane and seeing the world with an AGL altitude over 0. People who could fly airplanes had an elite reputation in my mind; one that seemed too far-fetched for me to consider. So my teenage years were filled with school, sports, and summer jobs outside occasionally interrupted by the distinct hum of an engine passing overhead.

In my third year of study at the University of Cincinnati, I decided that I would need a new hobby to freshen up my all too routine days filled with work and studying. I remember sitting in my room trying to decide which musical instrument I wanted to pick up (to the detriment of my friendship with my roommates) and was again interrupted by the sound of an airplane flying overhead…my new path was beckoning and who was I to ignore it?

After researching local flight schools, I coordinated with my dad and we drove out to the Clermont County Airport to investigate how much it would cost and what the required time allotment would be in order to earn my license. I still remember that first time I touched the strangely-designed handle to open the Cessna 172 door and peer into this alien machine. The dials and gauges seemed like hieroglyphics to this caveman and the fuzzy sheepskin seats looked like something out of a disco movie.

Why would you ever put that on your seats? (I’ve jumped in a 172 around midsummer day after the leather seats have had ample time to cook in the sun and realized REAL FAST why sheepskin is a luxury seat cover). I found out during this visit that the University of Cincinnati had an accredited aviation program connected with the airport and after careful research and consideration, I was enrolled in the Academy.

My first flight was early October 2010 and I can still remember looking out the left window, watching the ground shrink beneath me. I’ve always had a fear of heights but something about this metal box gave me a sense of serenity and caused my fear to evaporate. For a truly memorable first flight, my instructor told me I was going to land the plane just as we turned onto an extended final. After what seemed like an eternity, he informed me he was kidding and he would show me a few before I tried. My pucker factor quickly lowered.

Four months later, in mid-February, I was cutting the back off a cheap button down shirt I had purchased from a discount retail store two nights before. A little over a year later, I earned the proud certification of a Private Pilot. In 2012 there were 514 people in the U.S.A. for every one pilot, so my mom associated me with the likes of Chuck Yeager to all her friends and family, but I knew there was much more to my training and learning.

A few months after the proud certification, I found myself scheduled for a solo cross-country in an airplane that had plenty of payload with full tanks. I asked my instructor if I could take someone with me and he responded, “Why wouldn’t you be able to”? It was a push towards strengthening the important skill of aeronautical decision making, while simultaneously reminding me of the benefits of possessing a Private Pilot certificate. All too often I found myself looking at the next challenge rather than reflecting on my accomplishments, and this was my first order to smell the roses.

My Dad was my first passenger after earning my Private pilot certification.

On September 15, 2012, I took up my first passenger. This was easily my favorite flight during training, because I was able to share the exhilaration of flying with one of my biggest supporters. We also enjoyed a great BBQ meal at the end of our second leg before firing up the 172 for the sunset leg home. My flight with dad really reaffirmed this new path in life, which started just under two years earlier, and helped to show that it’s not all work.

A little more than a year after my flight with my dad, I earned my Instrument Rating – one of the most challenging and frustrating things I’ve ever experienced, but I cherish the memories of learning the IFR system and how it improved my aptitude and safety margin in an airplane. In passing I’ve heard the analogy that gaining an instrument rating is the equivalent of earning your master’s degree in aviation and I tend to concur.

According to AOPA, since 2002 accidents involving fixed-wing aircraft inadvertently transitioning from visual flight rules into instrument meteorological conditions were fatal 86% of the time. The recent passing of a basketball legend—in addition to the early death of our 35th President’s son almost 21 years ago—all too grimly relays the importance of understanding the challenge of instrument flight. The confidence I’ve gained from earning the Instrument Rating, in my opinion, is one of the most important side effects of training.

Fast forward another 16 months and on June 24, 2015, I earned my Commercial Pilot certificate. I felt like I had finally made it—the door for monetary compensation was cracked open. Mom was marginally closer to the truth when she compared me to Sully, and at long last I considered myself an aviator rather than a trainee and I was ready to take on the skies! But not before giving myself some time to relax and focus on work and at-home responsibilities to decompress slightly before leaning into the next level of flying… The rust began to accrue.

My Experience as a Rusty Pilot – Part II

My Experience as a Rusty Pilot – Part III

My Experience as a Rusty Pilot – Part IV