2nd Lesson

Does your instructor use a syllabus, and provide you with a copy? Hard to
tell from where I am sitting, but it seems to me that you are being pushed
into things you are not ready for. Successfully, apparently, but the key to
flight training is the building block concept, where each new maneuver
depends on a foundation of basic elements learned and mastered earlier. She
may be having you install the front door before the crawl space has been
completed. ASA sells a syllabus for $6.95...should be available at your
local pilot supply shop, from Sporty's, or from the publisher at
1-800-asa2fly. Even if your instructor does not want to follow the syllabus,
it will give you an idea of what should be taught and in what sequence so
that you do not miss anything.

In a thread in another pilot forum, a shiny new private pilot admitted that
his instructor had never explained much of the communications information on
sectional charts and did not make the student aware that such a thing as an
Airport/Facility Directory even exists. How he got through the oral is a
mystery. So you need a "map" of the path your instruction will take.

Rudder use is a matter of pressures, not movements. Sounds like you are
doing just fine.

Bob Gardner

"Crash Lander" wrote in message
...
Well, just got back from my 2nd flying lesson.
It was a perfectly clear day. Not a cloud to be seen. A little blustery on
the ground, but nothing major.
Today, I did my first take-off. I wasn't expecting it to be such an
intense
experience. It was much twitchier than I was expecting. Not really sure
what
I was expecting to be honest.
Anyway, barrelled down the runway, and at 50kts gently pulled the stick
back. Up we went. Pretty much nailed the climb rate which I was pleased
about. I had been worried about pulling back too hard, or not enough.
The air was fairly rough for the first 500ft, but then settled down, with
the exception of a few hefty reminders that the wind was still about,
thrown
in for good measure.
It had been just over 2 weeks since my first lesson, due to bad weather
the
previous weekend.After about 10 minutes or so, my instructor was satisfied
I
was once again comfortable with the handling of the a/c, and we moved onto
todays lesson. Climbing and descending.
We did about 3 step climbs, and she was satisfied I was understanding the
concept well. After the 3rd one, I was feeling confident with it. Same
with
descents. I actually enjoyed the descents for some reason. It's hard to
explain why I felt that way. I think I maybe felt like it was ME flying,
rather than the plane flying. You know what I mean? I know I AM flying the
plane, but it's hard to describe. Maybe it was because the power was down,
and I could hear more, I don't know.
Next was climbing turns and descending turns. Didn't really have any
trouble
with these, again, I enjoyed the descending turns a great deal! :-)
Lastly, we covered medium turns and steep turns. Medium turns were fine,
as
most of my turns so far have been a bit closer to medium turns than
shallow
turns anyway! ;-)
Steep turns were a little more difficult. On the first one, I lost some
altitude, but on the second attampt I was within the 40-50ft tollerance
she
allowed me. Was getting a little more blustery by this stage too, so half
way through a turn, mother nature would say hello and push my nice 30
degree
turn into a 45 degree turn for a brief second.
So, now I have a total of 1.9 hours, with the next lesson booked for next
weekend. Next lesson is Stalls, providing the weather affords us a high
cloud ceiling. If not, it's landings apparently! My instructor says she
thinks I'm progressing sufficiently well enough to proceed to the next
steps
so I must be doing ok. :-)
One thing I did notice, and I commented on it with my instructor, is that
I
don't feel that I am using the rudders enough because I can't physically
feel any movement with my feet. She told me that I am moving them, and
that
it only requires very small movements, and the a/c is responding to my
miniscule inputs just nicely. Maybe my shoe soles are just too thick? :-)
Crash Lander