I had my first flight lesson ever today with Somerset Air Service at Somerset Airport (KSMQ). A lot of it met my high expectations, some things caught me off-guard, and to spare the suspense, we didn't crash. It was an enormous amount of fun and somewhat addictive.
I met my certified flight instructor (CFI) in the fixed-base operator (FBO) office. We talked about my flight experience – which was easy, none – and a little about what we would do in the air. Upon learning that I had never been in a small plane before, even as a passenger, my CFI was eager to simply get flying and get some experience under my belt. He didn't come out and say it, but I had the understanding that his primary objectives were to determine if I (1) got disgustingly airsick, (2) got stupid scared, or (3) otherwise had yet undiscovered psychological/moral/ethical aversions to small aircraft. Teaching me any amount of flying skill would be purely secondary. As we walked out to the planes, I started to imagine all of the first-flight scenarios in his twenty-year instructor career that may have brought about this strategy and was thankful it was in place.
We did an abbreviated pre-flight inspection of the 1974 Piper PA-28 Cherokee assigned to us, tail number N44055. Abbreviated meaning my CFI didn't go into detail about everything he was checking in the interest of saving time. From what I understand, we basically (1) checked for evidence of fire/leaks/electrical arcing in the engine bay, (2) checked for evidence of collision or structural over-stress on the airframe, (3) checked the fuel for quantity and contamination, and (4) checked that the control surfaces were free and coordinated with the cockpit controls.
Somehow we started the engine (escapes my memory how) and I tried taxiing (emphasis on "try"). Taxiing involves controlling the propellor speed with the throttle lever, steering the nose-wheel and rudder with the rudder pedals, and differentially braking the main gear with the brake pedals. More on my impressions later, but the plane rarely traveled straight.
We eventually made it to the run-up area where, while holding the brakes, we brought the engine up to flight power to see if all systems were happy at that power and to test the magnetos. Airplanes have two independent magnetos that generate voltage for two independent sets of spark plugs. The engine is happiest with both magnetos sparking, but should be able to run on just one. It was, although one set of plugs seemed dirtier than the other.
My CFI handled the takeoff and did a slow climb up to 1500 ft. Then, a bit unexpectedly, he uttered the nerve-inducing words, "Your controls."
As agreed upon beforehand, I responded with, "My controls," to confirm handoff of the flight controls. I was then the pilot, quite obviously, because the plane was no longer flying straight nor level, but instead fell into a series of side-to-side and up-and-down overcorrections that you would expect from a child stealing a car. My CFI pretended not to notice and kept talking about what gauges I should keep tabs on (all of them), what I should be mindful of outside (everything), and some basic maneuvers. I eventually did some turns, some climbs and descents, some climbing turns, and some descending turns. It was a warm afternoon which meant that there were many thermals (rising columns of hot air) knocking the little plane around as I tried to control it. It also meant that there was a thick layer of haze obscuring the horizon, which would have made a handy reference. But it was a beautiful day with sunshine and puffy white clouds, and I was flying.
Thankfully, my CFI handled the landing. We then went through shutdown procedures and talked a bit about the private pilot certificate (PPL) training process.
My feeling while flying was that of information overload. I simply could not process all of the inputs fast enough. If I focused on vertical speed, my airspeed drifted. If I focused on airspeed, my altitude drifted. Flying amounts to scanning the outside world and the six main flight instruments while controlling the motion of the aircraft in three dimensions. It's a challenge, which is partly why it's attractive.
Another theme was uncoordination. It is impossible to practice one flight control in isolation. Instead, even for basic maneuvers, several controls must be used together to execute a smooth motion. I could understand what one control was doing and what effect it was having, but maintaining two or more in my mental model of the aircraft was sometimes too much. Similarly, maneuvers involve multiple steps, and if I felt I had a handle on the first step, the time to execute the second would arrive and I wouldn't be ready.
These things simply require practice, I know, which is why flight training involves so much actual flying to begin with. It's possible to learn and understand a great deal from reading, but the muscle memory aspect can only be had by doing it. My CFI did say I got a handle of the controls quickly and that I showed no fear of experimenting with the plane's motion, which was odd (how did I make it this far in life alive?), but that quality would help with training if I did decide to pursue it.
It's worth reminding everyone that (1) in the 200 or so centuries of human civilization, we live in the only one where flight is possible (the other 199 were spent dreaming about it), and (2) anyone can just go and fly one of these things with absolutely no experience or knowledge for about $150.
At this point, I'm still undecided how I'd like my training to progress, or even if a certificate is something worth attaining. I'll leave my thoughts on this to a separate post.
- Flight Hours: 1.1
- METAR KSMQ 011853Z AUTO 00000KT 8SM FEW050 28/18 A2976
Somerset Airport. See that airplane in front not lined up with the line? I parked that.
