From: vancleef@netcom.com (Henry van Cleef)
Subject: Re: Beginner needs advice...badly!
Date: Mon, 28 Sep 92 08:33:50 GMT
Organization: Netcom--posted from Andover, Mass.
Distribution: usa

I've omitted a copy of the rather lengthy original post asking about
part 141 schools, etc.  I'll respond to this in a different tone than
the other responses I've read.

I haven't any experience with 141 schools.  I learned to fly in a very
small (read short grass strip) operation 30+ years ago when learning to
fly meant airplanes, not radios.  I don't know what is available in the
Austin area, but if there is a strip out there giving instruction in
taildraggers, such as the J-3 Cub or Champs or C-140, go for it.  I took
my initial training in a C-140.  You;ll learn how to handle controls,
and develop some skills in handling airplanes that you don't get from
"drive-em-around" trainers that will stick with you forever.  

In the long run, how much time you need depends on you, the instructor,
and how frequently you fly.  Fly every day and you'll probably be headed
for the checkride in two months.  Fly once a week and it will take you
well over a year.  Instructors are catch-as-catch-can.  I got my initial
training from a guy who had been flying since 1920, and he made sure
that I got plenty of doses of the real world---traffic, marginal
weather, high density altitude, equipment problems.  A lot of training
was done at other fields---plenty of cross-country experience in the
early hours.  

Ground schools?  Mostly designed to get you past the test.  A copy of
Langewiesche's "Stick and Rudder" is a good book to read backward and
forward, and some of the guides, such as Kershner, are good both for
learning and for the test.  Plan to put some time of your own in on
this.  Read the FAR's, learn what every symbol on a sectional and WAC
chart means.  

There is no substitute for flying every day, and that means flying in
any weather that is flyable.  Anyone can fly in CAVU light wind
conditions.  Go out and find out what 3 miles visibility looks like,
what gusty crosswinds landings are.  I once flew from Mass to Arizona
and didn't get anything but gusty crosswinds at strange  one-runway
airports the whole way.  

Beyond the private---and things these days are such that you won't get
much of a chance to find out about the real world until you get that
ticket, the Instrument rating is the one where you learn to fly.  I went
years without one, and can't believe I did that.  Get yourself some
serious cross-country, then get into serious instrument training.
That's where you will really learn to fly.

Of course, there's always the chance to ride with a really proficient
pilot flying the types of airplanes that you fly.  Don't miss the
opportunity, and take notes on doing things smoothly so that you can
develop those skills.  

My own opinion, after flying lots of hours in Cessnas, then lots of
hours in a Bonanza, is that the Bonanza is far easier to fly, and that
if you can be smooth in a C-140 or 170 you can be smooth in anything.
-- 
Hank van Cleef  vancleef@netcom.com vancleef@tmn.com  Andover, Mass.
Unix systems consultant---kernel, device drivers, networking, X11
SysV, BSD, Sun, Ultrix, AIX, SCO. Porting a specialty. 
	     The Union Institute  History of Science