With it being six months since my first flying lesson, I thought it would a good time to do some reflection on my flight training journey with Par Avion so far.

Lesson 1 – ‘Learn to Fly’ Taster Lesson

My first lesson was a basic 40 minute taster to start getting familiar with the cockpit and controls of a Cessna 172. Despite this, I still was able to control the plane a bit and have a go at taxiing, and by the end of the lesson I was getting somewhat familiar with the primary and secondary controls of a C172 and their effects. This included the rudder, elevator and aileron.

 

Lessons 2 to 5 – Getting The Basics Down

After getting absolutely hooked on flying after my taster lesson, I continued to try and fly every 2-4 weeks, with my next block of lessons focusing on getting all the basic skills down.

Every lesson we would head out to the training area and focus on a particular skill – climbing and descending, turning, stall recovery, etc. This was all to build up the skills required to operate circuits.

During this time I also started to learn and improve on skills such as taxiing, taking off, radio calls and pre-flight checklists. I also kept up a decent level of understanding and reading of all the flight theory from the Par Avion flight manual.

Lessons 6-10 – Circuits

With the required training and theory now understood, I was ready to start flying circuits. Circuits are effectively where you take off the plane, make a series of turns then land again. During circuits you practice taking off, climbing, climbing turns, medium level turns, straight and level flying, descending, descending turns, slow flying and landing.

Unfortunately, my first few circuit lessons were in tough crosswind conditions, so although I was learning the circuit procedures I was spending just as much time simply learning to fly in bad weather (which is admittedly a very useful skill). Fortunately, my last two or three circuit lessons have been in beautiful conditions and I’ve been able to make solid progress. I have also continued to improve my checklist, radio calls and taxiing skills.

I’m now at the stage where I’m fairly comfortable with everything, though I still have a few key areas of improvement (attitude control and landing flare). My instructor has also said that if I can operate a few more solid circuit sessions we can move onto circuit emergencies.

The Future – Going Solo

As previously mentioned, my next few lessons will be spent continue to improve on circuits. Following that, the next topic of learning is emergencies (such as flapless landings and engine failures.) Every lesson I will also be continuing to improve my skills with checklists, pre-flights, radio calls and taxiing.

This is all to eventually build up to flying solo at 15 (about seven or eight months away). From there I will continue to fly until I eventually hope to go for a Recreational Pilots License (RPL) at 16.

My very end goal is to end up flying commercial but this is still a long way away and my plans could easily change.

My Personal Thoughts

Personally I’m enjoying everything about this experience: my instructors are great, I really enjoy the challenge of flying and the views of Tasmania are great!

I hope you enjoyed reading this blog, if so please also consider checking out my Instagram and Youtube. Thanks for reading and have a great day!