potential pilot

[stingray]

Go for it, its never to late. When i was still doing the cfi thing my last student was a retired enginneer, I thought he was teaching me for a bit, my best prepared student. Anways he wated till he was 62 to accomplish his childhood dream of become coming a pilot. You are 30yrs younger then him. Chase your dream the sooner the better but its never to late.
Stand before you walk, walk before you run.
Get the proper training and know what your personal flying limitations are (JFK jr exceeded his). I could go on and on. stuff like this all good instuctors try to instill in there students.
Put the area you live in here so someone can give you some good flight schools and insturctors to go to.

 

[B-J-J Fighter]

Docs as Students

I had 2 MD's as students when I was CFIing full time. They tended to be know it alls and ALWAYS would question what I told them. I think they both thought they knew more than I did after reading a few books. Both came in for lessons already having finished reading a few books before there first flight. I will admit my knowledge level isnt the highest but it was good enough to pass with the FAA and not a DE.

I was going on a dual xc with one of them and we were looking at the metar for the destination airport and it read something like VRB02KT 5SM BR OVC009 12/09. I said Steve can we go and he said sure the ceiling is 9000 OVC and the vis isnt bad. I said are you sure we can go and he said yes. Well I looked at the last few previous metars and the conditions were getting worse. I said to him it looks like there might be mist there because of the BR. The student said "mist", "BR doesnt mean mist." ANd I said you sure. He said Im not sure what BR meant but he knew I was wrong and it didnt mean mist.

I was alright wx's 9000 ovc "let's rock and roll". I knew the destination airport was ifr so while he did the preflight I went back to the officee to get the Jepps. We blasted off and the distance to the airport was about 100 nm each way. The closer we got to the destination the worse the wx got and the lower we had to drop down. We were in range of the destination airports awos we listened and it was like 2 miles ovc 007 and the voice on awos said mist. I looked at Steve and I said "**CENSORED****CENSORED****CENSORED****CENSORED** Steve I wonder where that mist came from, he looked over at me and said I dont know, muat have just moved in. To make a long story short I picked up a pop up and shot the approach in. Got on the ground and told him that I was tired of him questioning me about everything and always thinking he was right about everything because most of the time and hadnt a clue what he was talking about. I told him if he did this trip on his own he might not have been here to tell me he was wrong when he read the metar.

From that day foward he didnt question me again about anything.

 

[bobbysamd]

Know-it-alls

Sometimes you have to give such a lesson to get your point across.

By the way, where can I find a METAR decoder legend?

All help will be appreciated.

 

[ShawnC]

There is a decoder inside of the AFD. Also I picked one up at Sun n Fun, it was at the FAA hanger. I might be able to pick up another one, if I head there this Saturday.

 

[LUV2FL5]

metar coding handbook

here you go bobbysamd,

http://www.nws.noaa.gov/oso/oso1/oso12/fmh1/fmh1ch12.htm


you can thank Andy for it.


short

 

[bobbysamd]

METAR legend

Thanks, folks.

 

[Stephen Naylor]

Wow, I'm still surprised at all the replies.

To answer stingray's question, I live in Cecil County Maryland - near the border of Newark, Deleware and not too far from West Chester, PA.

I think there may be some possibilities at New Castle Co. or in that area. I'm excited and nervous about starting both at the same time.

Can you tell - I've been checking these threads a couple times a day!



Thanks again!

Steve

 

[ILLINI]

Don't get me wrong, I don't necessarily think having an ego is a bad thing, just don't let it get you into trouble. Stephen, if you are going to be a pilot you need to have at least a little bit of an ego! Every pilot has one wheather they admit it or not. There was a saying I once heard that went something like... If you don't think you are the best pilot at least some of the times, you are in the wrong business!

Have fun!

 

[stingray]

Stephen
It takes a little work, sometimes you will be nervous when you see things for the first time.
But all the work and effort is well worth it. Its one of the most fun and rewarding things you will ever do.
Though i do fly in that area a lot,I live in SW FL. Hopefully one of the other guys can give you some good info in that area

Fly Safe.

 

[A Squared]

B-J-J FIghter,


>>>> From that day foward he didnt question me again about anything.

That might have gone too far to the other extreme. Certainly your lesson was good, and it sounds like he needed a wake-up call, but neither is it good to accept an instructor as infalliable. If I believed everything every instructor told me, I'd be one confused, mixed up pilot today. I believe that a healthy skepticism is good. Examine everything an instructor says to see if it makes sense. Consult outside sources, ask for clarifications. Don't just blindly accept everything an instructor tells you as gospel. That's how old wives tales get started and are perpetuated.


regards