Crash and burn on first flight with PE.

[djrisc]

Ok, so maybe slightly over dramatic, but still.

I am a flight enthusiast, and have been around airports since birth. (My parents owned an avionics shop at two airports when I was a kid in the 80's, and we had the 'family plane' a Cessna 182)

I would get in to GA flying, but it's just not cost effective with my budget at the moment. So I have stuck with Flight Siming on my own.

I heard about PilotEdge via a podcast, and thought it would be an awesome way to take my flying in sims to the next level.

I realized that my knowledge was lacking, so I went and read about what to expect, and watched videos to prepare myself.

Yeah... So it obviously wasn't enough. lol

ATC talks so fast and I was so nervous and flustered I basically froze before I even got to taxi. Then I repeated it wrong, and when asked to repeat in full, I couldn't remember what he said as I was busy focusing on being nervous.

Luckily I did this right before 11pm so I could only make an ass of myself for 15 minutes. lol

Any recommendations on additional study material would be appreciated. I just picked up Jeff Kanarish's book "Radio Mastery for VFR Pilots" so I'm hoping that helps.

Have you thought about having an ATC for beginners class like once a quarter or something? I'd be all over something like that.. (and even willing to pay for it?)

I'm just worried about being able to copy things down fast enough in order to read it back.

Another thing I noticed was that in FSX, the taxiway "G" was actually referred to as "A" both in the charts and via ATC Ground on PilotEdge for Van Nuys airport. Is it common that FSX is out of date graphically with the actual airport? Is there a way to resolve this?

Thanks again, I'm -really- looking forward to getting in to PE and start flying with you all!

Brett

[Vincent Meier]

Brett,
You are off to a good start. A few things to keep in mind.
1. We have all been there.
2. Start slowly, pattern work, short VFR hops..do not give yourself to much workload to start
3. In your flight plan in remarks say that your are a noob...ATC tends to annunciate a little slower if they know this.
4. If they are still speaking too fast, just ask them to slow it down. They will not be offended.
5. If your are unsure of what they said, just ask "say again"
6. Just sit on the apron and listen, you can pick up a lot of understanding from other pilots
7. Go to the ATC recording section and listen to those, this really helps with hearing the cadence of the ATC and pilots
8. Do not give up, you are going in the right direction by reading and learning more.
9. Go through the available ratings/lessons on the website
10. Do not give up...

Good Luck,

Vince

[djrisc]

Vince,
Thanks for the pointers and encouragement!

I'm not sure how, but I missed the "first flight" video/example for PE. So I think I'm going to give that a go tonight. (and hopefully I don't hyperventilate in the process.)

I've been listening to ATC like crazy. I actually downloaded a cool app for my phone called "LiveATC" and have been listening to local ATC. (I actually live in Los Angeles, near Van Nuys, so I can literally see the traffic that I'm hearing on ATC during my commute home.)

I never thought about asking them to slow down. Great idea.. Also, a good idea to add "noob" to flight plan.

I'm going to give it another shot tonight, and hopefully this time I'll do a bit better. (I just need to remember to breathe this time.)

Wish me luck, and happy flying!

Brett

[Tim Krajcar]

Hi Brett, welcome to PE! You've already gotten some good advice, but I'd also recommend a great book on pilot radio communication: Say Again, Please by Bob Gardner. It's a very readable, building-block approach to mastering radio communications and I learned quite a bit from it.

[djrisc]

Thanks for the suggestion Tim, I will check that book out as well!

Brett

[julio.elizalde]

Hi Brett,

One of the major things that is always a source of help for me is listening to real world controllers and pilots on liveatc.net. I find just listening for a half hour (pick any major international airport or perhaps a GA field like SNA or LGB) and spending some time repeating what I hear really helps the learning experience.

[Keith Smith]

Try the ATC transcripts in our Pilot Training program (http://training.pilotedge.net). Click on RATINGS, click V1, then click on the TRANSCRIPT. Those are the exchanges for a sample flight around the pattern.

Avoid VNY, the scenery doesn't match the real world and is generally a source of confusion as a result.

Also, try the ATC archives on our web page, they are better than liveatc.net because:
1) the silences are removed
2) they are usually a bit more clear
3) you can track a flight through all phases of flight in just one or two recordings

Regarding interactive training classes, stay tuned for our Workshops announcements.

[djrisc]

Thanks for the tips Keith! That's a huge help!

I feel like a million bucks!! I just completed the "First Flight" as listed on the PilotEdge website, and I didn't make any mistakes!

Wow, that felt awesome... PilotEdge is amazing..

Woo hoo!!

Brett

[Ryan B]

Write stuff down... taxi insctructions, clearances etc... it will help a lot.

Have fun!

p.s. it's common for FSX (dated 2006) to be out of date. You can go to www.avsim.com and download new airport files for a lot of the socal airports.

[djrisc]

Thanks Ryan!

I just picked up MegaSceneryX for all of Southern California, so that should solve the issue.

I just want to be able to fly out of the airport that is near my house. lol

Brett