My wife gave me a 1 hour discovery flight gift (with AoA, Republic airport, KFRG). It will be in a C172 G1000 plane in mid April.
I have been on pilotedge since 2016 (I think) and I have been flight simming for longer than that, but I have never been in a GA plane IRL.
I am not sure sure what to expect and I wonder whether I will get a chance to try the controls. Heck, I don't even know whether I will find it scary (did I say I am afraid of heights?!).
I suppose there are many IRL pilots in this forum and some may have started this way, so any advice and heads up on what to expect would be greatly appreciated.
About to try my first GA flight IRL
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Keith Smith
- Posts: 9939
- Joined: Sat Oct 09, 2010 8:38 pm
- Location: Pompton Plains, NJ
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Re: About to try my first GA flight IRL
Congrats on taking the first step to real world flying!
You didn't mention what types of flying you've been doing in the sim all this time, so it's hard to know how much of the upcoming real world experience will be something you've seen in the sim before. If you've been doing LNAV/VNAV airliner flights with an FMS, purely IFR, then you'll find very little resemblance. If you've been doing GA VFR flights, then it's going to be pretty much identical
In terms of what your participation level, FRG is one _busy_ airport. As a result, I would not be surprised if the pilot doesn't hand over the controls until you're clear of the Class Delta airspace. After that, though, I would FULLY expect the pilot to hand the controls to you for remainder of the flight, possibly into the pattern, depending on the instructor's style, school policy, traffic level, and your performance until that point.
Here's what you're likely to encounter during the flight:
+ instrument fixation: if you've been flying GA VFR in the sim, there's a very good chance that you've either been sightseeing with the autopilot on, or hand flying and looking at the gauges way too much. As a result, most sim pilots fixate heavily on the instruments as they're unfamiliar with the visual and audio clues that tell you if you're climbing or descending. It's not a problem you need to solve during the discovery flight, just know that the instructor will have to beat it out of you during the first 1-2 lessons. After that, it ceases to be a problem.
+ seat of the pants flying is different: the plane moves around you. You can feel when you transition into and out of a climb, particularly if you are heavy on the controls.
+ turbulence: unless you are flying at night, there's a good chance there is going to be some light chop at the altitudes at which you'll fly during the discovery flight (probably no higher than 3000ft, maybe 4500 tops). On many days, the air really doesn't smooth out until 6-8k. Don't freak out, you will eventually barely notice the chop.
+ controls are HEAVY in a 172 compared to consumer grade flight controls. It's going to take more force to make them move. Also, the controls change in stiffness when you compare how they handle at rotation speed compared to cruise speed. It's ok, left is still left...right is still right, etc. Eventually, the difference between the sim controls and the real controls cease to matter. At first, though, it might surprise you and you'll likely be really timid in applying timely inputs to the controls. That can lead to you not applying enough elevator in turns to stay level, etc. No biggie, you'll fix it soon enough.
+ rudder. SO much right rudder is required in the climb because there are, at last count, 15,763 distinct forces trying to pull that plane to the left
+ stall warning horn doesn't mean you're about to die. The stall warning horn just means you've got a high angle of attack (note, that doesn't mean the nose has to be up...it just means the path through the air is different than where you nose is pointing). It's absolutely normal to hear it during the flare and all the way to touch down.
+ traffic: traffic labels in P3D are total horsesh*t. You'll find it exceptionally hard to spot another GA airplane at more than 1nm away because....it's a small piece of metal 1 MILE away.
+ airports: surprisingly hard to spot from the air. The secret is that it's the "patching of nothing" among all the other buildings. Your eye gets trained over time.
Take the time to look around and enjoy the view, the sights, the sounds, the sensations. You're flying an airplane...it's amazing!
If you have some VFR chops (again, I don't know what type of flying you've done thus far in the sim and on PE), ask the instructor to review the plan of where you're going. See if you can articulate the types of airspace you'll be flying through, and the comms sequence (ATIS, ground, tower until clear of the Delta, then putt around in Class Echo, before coming back to the Delta). If it's of interest to you, see if you can practice the initial call to Ground with the instructor before you're even in the airplane. If you show that you know what your'e doing, you might even get to work some of the comms on the flight. That's purely optional, of course, there's really no rush....but if you want a taste of each aspect of the flight, then being involved in the planning, the review of the airport diagram, likely taxi route (after getting the active rwy from the ATIS), the radio calls, the airspace awareness, looking for traffic, etc...then there's a LOT you can be involved in during the flight other than just looking out the window and flying the airplane.
Here's the dirty secret....anyone can fly a plane. Not kidding...I've given the controls to a ton of people. They either fly quite well, really well, or amazingly well. Nobody I've met is TERRIBLE at flying. It's pretty intuitive. All the OTHER stuff is actually pretty time consuming to learn. If you've been simming and using PE, you should have a head start on all of it. The only caveat would be that if you're doing airliner IFR ops, then the GA VFR stuff is going to be a little different other than the taxi phase
Have a great time! If you have any other questions, fire away. Please do let us know how it goes.
You didn't mention what types of flying you've been doing in the sim all this time, so it's hard to know how much of the upcoming real world experience will be something you've seen in the sim before. If you've been doing LNAV/VNAV airliner flights with an FMS, purely IFR, then you'll find very little resemblance. If you've been doing GA VFR flights, then it's going to be pretty much identical
In terms of what your participation level, FRG is one _busy_ airport. As a result, I would not be surprised if the pilot doesn't hand over the controls until you're clear of the Class Delta airspace. After that, though, I would FULLY expect the pilot to hand the controls to you for remainder of the flight, possibly into the pattern, depending on the instructor's style, school policy, traffic level, and your performance until that point.
Here's what you're likely to encounter during the flight:
+ instrument fixation: if you've been flying GA VFR in the sim, there's a very good chance that you've either been sightseeing with the autopilot on, or hand flying and looking at the gauges way too much. As a result, most sim pilots fixate heavily on the instruments as they're unfamiliar with the visual and audio clues that tell you if you're climbing or descending. It's not a problem you need to solve during the discovery flight, just know that the instructor will have to beat it out of you during the first 1-2 lessons. After that, it ceases to be a problem.
+ seat of the pants flying is different: the plane moves around you. You can feel when you transition into and out of a climb, particularly if you are heavy on the controls.
+ turbulence: unless you are flying at night, there's a good chance there is going to be some light chop at the altitudes at which you'll fly during the discovery flight (probably no higher than 3000ft, maybe 4500 tops). On many days, the air really doesn't smooth out until 6-8k. Don't freak out, you will eventually barely notice the chop.
+ controls are HEAVY in a 172 compared to consumer grade flight controls. It's going to take more force to make them move. Also, the controls change in stiffness when you compare how they handle at rotation speed compared to cruise speed. It's ok, left is still left...right is still right, etc. Eventually, the difference between the sim controls and the real controls cease to matter. At first, though, it might surprise you and you'll likely be really timid in applying timely inputs to the controls. That can lead to you not applying enough elevator in turns to stay level, etc. No biggie, you'll fix it soon enough.
+ rudder. SO much right rudder is required in the climb because there are, at last count, 15,763 distinct forces trying to pull that plane to the left
+ stall warning horn doesn't mean you're about to die. The stall warning horn just means you've got a high angle of attack (note, that doesn't mean the nose has to be up...it just means the path through the air is different than where you nose is pointing). It's absolutely normal to hear it during the flare and all the way to touch down.
+ traffic: traffic labels in P3D are total horsesh*t.
You'll find it exceptionally hard to spot another GA airplane at more than 1nm away because....it's a small piece of metal 1 MILE away.+ airports: surprisingly hard to spot from the air. The secret is that it's the "patching of nothing" among all the other buildings. Your eye gets trained over time.
Take the time to look around and enjoy the view, the sights, the sounds, the sensations. You're flying an airplane...it's amazing!
If you have some VFR chops (again, I don't know what type of flying you've done thus far in the sim and on PE), ask the instructor to review the plan of where you're going. See if you can articulate the types of airspace you'll be flying through, and the comms sequence (ATIS, ground, tower until clear of the Delta, then putt around in Class Echo, before coming back to the Delta). If it's of interest to you, see if you can practice the initial call to Ground with the instructor before you're even in the airplane. If you show that you know what your'e doing, you might even get to work some of the comms on the flight. That's purely optional, of course, there's really no rush....but if you want a taste of each aspect of the flight, then being involved in the planning, the review of the airport diagram, likely taxi route (after getting the active rwy from the ATIS), the radio calls, the airspace awareness, looking for traffic, etc...then there's a LOT you can be involved in during the flight other than just looking out the window and flying the airplane.
Here's the dirty secret....anyone can fly a plane. Not kidding...I've given the controls to a ton of people. They either fly quite well, really well, or amazingly well. Nobody I've met is TERRIBLE at flying. It's pretty intuitive. All the OTHER stuff is actually pretty time consuming to learn. If you've been simming and using PE, you should have a head start on all of it. The only caveat would be that if you're doing airliner IFR ops, then the GA VFR stuff is going to be a little different other than the taxi phase
Have a great time! If you have any other questions, fire away. Please do let us know how it goes.
Re: About to try my first GA flight IRL
Thanks Keith (and thanks for giving us PE).
In the sim I have been flying 80% GA and 20% Airliners (Boeing 738, almost exclusively).
On PE I almost always fly single props (Arrow, Archer, Skylane, Skyhawk) and I have taken all the CAT- and I- ratings in these planes. Of course I am under no illusion that the flying muscles I have developed in the sim will help me in the air (for a thing, I use a cheap joystick in my PC, not a real cloche!). But I will certainly ask the instructor if I can do some of the initial radio calls on the ground, I think this is an area were PE has been incredibly helpful. I do know the registration of the plane we will use is N820JA, and I have been logging a few virtual flights on PE with this callsign this weekend, just to practice.
As for the airspace issue, I did look at the charts already. KFRG is sandwiched between a class B (KJFK) and a class C (KISP) airport, so it must be quite tricky. I don't know what flight path we will take, but I suspect we will go on the south shore of Long Island while staying out of the Bravo and then back to the field.
Only negative so far is that the IRL plane has a glass cockpit, while I am much more familiar with steam gauges.
I wish I had a go-pro to record the entire experience, but I will certainly report how it goes on this forum. Cheers.
In the sim I have been flying 80% GA and 20% Airliners (Boeing 738, almost exclusively).
On PE I almost always fly single props (Arrow, Archer, Skylane, Skyhawk) and I have taken all the CAT- and I- ratings in these planes. Of course I am under no illusion that the flying muscles I have developed in the sim will help me in the air (for a thing, I use a cheap joystick in my PC, not a real cloche!). But I will certainly ask the instructor if I can do some of the initial radio calls on the ground, I think this is an area were PE has been incredibly helpful. I do know the registration of the plane we will use is N820JA, and I have been logging a few virtual flights on PE with this callsign this weekend, just to practice.
As for the airspace issue, I did look at the charts already. KFRG is sandwiched between a class B (KJFK) and a class C (KISP) airport, so it must be quite tricky. I don't know what flight path we will take, but I suspect we will go on the south shore of Long Island while staying out of the Bravo and then back to the field.
Only negative so far is that the IRL plane has a glass cockpit, while I am much more familiar with steam gauges.
I wish I had a go-pro to record the entire experience, but I will certainly report how it goes on this forum. Cheers.
Re: About to try my first GA flight IRL
I've had only a few rw lessons. They are a ton of fun. Just very expensive where i am. But to me to add to what keith wrote ( nailed it ) i found the cockpit much smaller and cramped in a 172 than i had imagined. That was my take. But when you fly in a large room you get use to elbow room. Nit in the real deal lol. You won't even notice the heights. Only the view. Have fun!
Dave
Dave