Copyright 1999How to learn to learn to fly
Learning to fly From the Ground Up, I’m Tony Seton.
Learning to fly is more than racing down a runway and climbing into the heavens. It’s about studying hours and hours of videotapes and a reading a pile of books. I suddenly found myself immersed in a process I hadn’t known in thirty years — I was a student again.
Learning is so much more fun when it’s your choice. For only a coupla hundred bucks, I got the King School Private Pilot course of tape instruction with all of the information I’ll need to pass the F-A-A private pilot’s written test. I learn about meteorology and physics, and how I will trust the gauges in the cockpit more than my own sense of even whether I am upside down. I learn about radio communications and different kinds of airspace. How red over white means you’re all right, but white over read means you’re dead.
At first, in watching these tapes, I can only presume that what seems like an endless mass of computations will eventually seem clear. There’s a lot to calculate, and myriad gauges to check. Of course, it’s part of the learning process to feel somewhat daunted, but never overwhelmed. While the tapes help me to learn on a book level -- and thoroughly enough so that I won’t be afraid of taking the F-A-A written test — it is the time in the cockpit that will give me the assurance that I need to be a safe and competent pilot.
Learning to fly is like a lot of learning...what seems confusing when it’s new becomes old-hat with time. Somehow, though, I don’t think flying will ever become old hat. A good pilot is constantly moving his eyes from the dials on the dashboard to the skies in front, above, below, and around, making sure that he is alone on his path. It’s a wonderful journey.
From the Ground Up, I’m Tony Seton.