Marc's Public Blog - Flying


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This is a collection of my blog entries and experiences with flying, and learning to fly. Something I had been wanting to do for quite a while.
You can find all the pictures I've taken here, and read below for my experience.
Specifically, I have a page for my Trips to Oshkosh, the mecca for pilots

Table of Content for flying:

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2004/12/18 My first flight
π 2004-12-18 16:55 by Merlin in Flying, Nflying

(well, with me holding the stick for the most part that is)
So, as planned I was at the Palo Alto airport at noon today for my introductory flight. The instructor was supposed to chip in his time for free (in exchange for you hopefully picking him when you sign up and select your instructor), but that didn't seem fair since he spent a good two hours with me, and in my book it takes balls to let some random dude fly a plane you're also in, even if there are dual commands (since they don't touch the commands until/unless it's really needed). So, I ended up typing him a little more than his hourly rate, since he well deserved it IMO.
Impressions: it confirmed that flying isn't easy, but at least I wasn't misguided enough to think beforehand that it would be easy. My main problem was really sensory overload with all the commands you had to deal with, and gauges to watch all at once (or at least it felt like it). This definitely reminded me of learning to drive a stick shift in the middle of parisian traffic, worrying about everything around you in addition to the car's controls and shifting gears of course, except that it felt harder :)
Either way, I did ok overall, except for the landing, where I struggled a little bit with the stick because I forgot to also reset the trim since I was too busy looking at all the gauges and doing the approach, and in the end, the instructor did the final part of the landing.
Too bad because my approach was decent otherwise, but I guess one isn't actually supposed to know how to land a plane without instruction, so that's not the end of the world :)

Either way, I just have to confirm which club I want to join (I think I know), and go through the fun new FAA paperwork to make sure that I'm not going to aim a cesna at a building since I'm not a citizen (more paperwork, fingerprints they already have, etc, etc...). If all goes well, the waiting part will happen while I'm gone on vacation anyway.

More pages: November 2023 October 2023 April 2023 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 May 2021 November 2020 August 2020 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 June 2019 March 2019 January 2019 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 June 2018 May 2018 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 April 2017 January 2017 December 2016 August 2016 July 2016 May 2016 February 2016 January 2016 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 February 2015 January 2015 November 2014 September 2014 August 2014 June 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 July 2013 June 2013 April 2013 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 January 2012 November 2011 August 2011 July 2011 April 2011 March 2011 November 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 May 2010 March 2010 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 March 2009 November 2008 August 2008 July 2008 May 2008 April 2008 December 2007 October 2007 September 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 December 2004 September 2004 August 2004 May 2004 March 1999

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