Hello IFC!
Next Saturday or Sunday (not finalized yet) I will be taking my first ever flight lesson! My instructor will be a family friend that holds an ATPL and flies the Citation CJ for a private owner.
We will be renting a C172 (G1000) out of KVGT. Should be a ton of fun!
My question to you is… what was your first lesson like? What should I expect? Any tips?
Also. I would like to bring my Hero 9 along for the ride. Any ideas of how to get it hooked up in the right spot?
Thanks!
What you should expect is some very basic stuff. Turns, climbs, descents, straight and level flight. Finally, if you don’t get as much “flight opportunity” as you hoped, just trust the process. Everyone starts slow and builds up their confidence!
Finally, don’t rely on IF information to get you through the lesson. Pretend you know nothing and you’ll be surprised at how much you learn :)
Make sure you eat breakfast before (dont wanna be in a little plane on an empty stomach)
Don’t bring your mother with you she’ll be screaming louder than a boiling kettle.
Seriously though, just do what the instructor tells you and you’ll be completely fine. Have fun!
Try to enjoy it as much as you can! Mine was a while ago, but make sure to look outside and actually enjoy the flight. You’ll be in good hands with your instructor.
This is another good one. Flying in the real world is a lot different from the simulator, so make sure to just be open to whatever your instructor shares with you!
Basically, just have fun and don’t crash ;)
It’s okay if you get sick. Happened to me too, completely normal. Happens to many people on their first time up in a tiny plane.
Thanks Bobby 😂
Thanks everyone else!
And on that note tell the guy if you feel sick - it’s better than him finding out the other way
Try not to death grip the yoke. Keeping everything relaxed will lead to more fun :)
One thing I found cool on my first flight was listening in to my instructor talking to ATC. It was quite cool to get an idea of the aircraft around me and how we were avoiding them, so if you’re at a controlled field, I’d recommend it listening in !
Most of all though, enjoy the experience, it’s very nice up there ✈️☁️🌤️
Ya, this is sort of a big thing. I mean infinite flight and others will be good for the very minimum basics like what the controls do in a general sense, but I know someone who was talking to me about the first few flight lessons he did and was critiquing the instructor based on what he learned from XPlane and Google. Don’t be that guy lol. At best you look like a know it all, at worst you will dismiss important information that could some day get you killed. I know that’s a big of an extreme example and I’m not saying you will, but I just wanted to throw that in there. Go in there and learn, forget all your pre conceived knowledge unless it came from an official ground school or something along those lines.
Congrats!
You can usually expect a basic introduction to the fundamentals of flying - climbs, turns, descents and straight-and-level flight. Along with some scenic overflights, if there’s any good views around! Also probably a small overview of the G1000.
Just go in there, wanting to learn and focus on enjoying the flight, rather than getting technical.
If you’re gonna get into GoPro cockpit recording, I highly recommend you look here:
Good luck, and hope to see you as a fellow real-world pilot soon!
I recently had my first lesson, don’t expect much at first
you will do some turns, maybe a little climb to reach stall then fall back down and some other fun stuff
Some things i would recommend
Gum (ears pop easily)
Good noise cancelling headphoens if they don’t provide them (it gets loud in there)
Water
Some latex gloves if you fuel the plane and are a bit clumsy like me (my hands were sticky for the whole flight)
If your instructor allows it, a gopro or small camera with lots of memory
a mask
a mask
a mask
a mask
a mask
I only have a couple of hours so far since I’m starting training also, my best advices I can give You as others said, is that even if you have good knowledge of aviation, just go as if you didn’t have any. It will help you a lot but you’ll be surprise as how some things you though were one way, are actually different way. Also be prepare to use a lot of right rudder. In my case, my instructor was a really nice young guy, who let me be in control all the time since my first discovery flight all from taxi to the landing(he do grab the yoke for inputs since its the most critical part), so expect both with your instructor(have most of the controls or sit, watch and learn). Best of luck to you but most of all, have fun.
try some aerobatics (serious suggestion)
Learn the phonetic alphabet if you haven’t already
Done ✔️
Why was this flagged? Aerobatics can greatly increase flying ability and knowledge with your aircraft’s abilities.
Thanks for the suggestion @realnickchan!
Learn how to use trim, learning proficient trim is like flying on Autopilot and can help when flying VFR.😉, oh and I feel bad for you for using the G1000, I feel its more important to use the original instruments when beginning. But that’s just me
Enjoy ur time in the Air!! I had my first lesson when I was 15. I was also in the C172 and the Citation. You will learn the basics like everybody else said.
You will have a blast