What follows was written in answer to a young stranger's query about learning to fly. Thanks to Cass for the inspiration--I've wanted to write this summary for a long time. He's in Australia and I'm in the US, so I had to point out that my answers might not all apply for him. I'm also not currently flying, so I've noted a few cases where I'm rusty on the details. Nonetheless, there's enough grains of truth here that I'm pleased to make it available to whoever want to read it. Please don't distribute this without alerting me and giving due credit. Thanks.
Here's how learning to fly is organized. There's stuff you learn on the ground, which is the general understanding of how aviation works--this is basically training your head, and we call it groundschool. Then there's the stuff you learn in the plane, a combination of eye/hand/plane coordination and learning what things look like from the pilot seat. A lot of it is just learning to do a bunch of stuff at once, and learning to prioritize when something really needs your attention. A lot of it is also training your subconscious mind to fly the plane (just like riding a bicycle) and getting emergency procedures burned into your brain so you can do them even while you panic if something bad happens. When you have learned enough of the basics with your flight instructor (flying together is called dual), he or she will get out of the plane and tell you to try flying alone (called solo). At that point, both of you will be a bit nervous, but quite exhilarated once you demonstrate you can do it.
In the US, there are several levels and types of licenses. For each one, there is both groundschool leading to written exam and flight training leading to a flight test. Flight experience is measured in hours. Most of my flying lessons were between 1 and 1.5 hours. The Cessnas and Pipers used for training typically cruise 80-100 knots (150-180 km/h), so a nice little day's outing is good for 2-5 hours in the logbook. Here's the progression civilian pilots face in the US:
Student Pilot minimum age: 16, medical certificate (needed for solo flight) Private Pilot minimum age: 17, minimum hours: 40, typical: 60 Instrument rating: 125 hours (I'm uncertain about this number) (optional)Multi-engine: 10 hours of special training (more for insurance!) (optional)Seaplane: ? hours of special training (much more for insurance!) Commercial Pilot: 250 hours (good enough legally to become airline co-pilot) Flight Instructor: Commercial Pilot plus training about training Instrument Flight Instructor: Flight Instructor, more training Flight Engineer: ? hours (learn systems of jetliners to join major airline) Airline Pilot: 1500 hours (needed to be "Pilot in Command" of airliner)
In Private Pilot groundschool, you learn such things as the aviation regulations that will effect your licenses and flights, how airplanes fly, how airplane engines work, what the airplane instruments are and how they work, how airports are organized, how weather effects your flights, how to get weather information, how to use aviation radios and the air traffic control system, how to navigate, how to plan flights, and general flight procedures.
Some people recommend getting through groundschool before starting flying lessons, while others recommend starting flying lessons first. My compromise is to recommend an introductory flight lesson first, and then get through groundschool before more flight lessons. Why? If you find from your intro flight that you don't like flying, you've saved yourself a bunch of money and effort. The experience of that intro flight will make it easier to understand what you study in groundschool. What you learn in groundschool will make it easier to understand what you are trying to learn from flying lessons. It is much cheaper and easier to learn groundschool things in a classroom, where you and your instructor can concentrate on the topic at hand, than it is to learn them in a noisy, bouncy airplane where at least one of you needs to pay attention to flying the plane. The same can be said of the concepts behind the flight manuevers you learn in flying lessons--try to understand as much as possible what you're going to do in a lesson before you start the engine.
Flying lessons toward a Private Pilot license are known as primary training. It's basically divided into four parts. The first few lessons get you used to doing the pre-flight inspection of the plane, taxiing the plane to the runway, doing the "run up" engine checks, taking off, climbing, turning, leveling, cruising "straight and level", descending and landing. There are several classic exercises to get the feel of the plane and the effects of winds: circling around a point, S-turns along a road, flying rectangular patterns, and recognizing and recovering from stalls (which is when the wings no longer provide lift). You will learn to do them by just looking out the windows, and you will also learn to do some of them by just looking at the airplane instruments. If your airport has a control tower, your instructor will start having you work the radio once you have enough of the basics under control.
Once you're good enough with the basics, you get your first solo. At this point, you are going to want a bunch of practice with take-offs and landings, and your lessons will alternate between solo and dual. Your instructor has probably already taken you to a few other airports, and once you demonstrate that you can find your way there and back, you'll get signed off to practice at one or two of those airports solo. Each of these solo flights will be permitted only under favorable weather conditions, which your instructor will specify. Your dual flights in this phase will focus both on improving your control of the plane and getting better at emergency procedures. Learn those procedures well--your life will probably depend on them.
The third part of primary training is known as the "cross country" phase. For this purpose we define cross country as at least fifty nautical miles away from the departure point. This phase is about navigating over unfamiliar territory, dealing with unfamiliar airports, judging weather and managing your fuel. You'll get experience with navagational radio beacons, as well as picking out milestones you can see both on the map and the ground. After you've got the hang of cross country, you'll get some solo cross country flights, which will give you a feel for some of the practical possibilities of flight. A few weather-delayed flights will also provide a reality check for its limitations. Some of the most dreadful flights are those that should have been weather-delayed but weren't; they are not fun, as John Kennedy tragically demonstrated.
The final part of primary training is the clean-up. You've been having a great time jumping from airport to airport without your instructor along fussing about your precision. To pass your flight test, you're going to need to get your altitudes, headings, speeds and turn angles exact enough to meet the test standards. It will serve you well if you get your instructor to climb into your mind, constantly reminding you to get those things right, so you are actually practicing them during your solo cross countries. When you're doing these things smoothly enough to not embarass your instructor, you'll get your sign-off saying your ready for flight test.
Once you pass that flight test, you are a Private Pilot, free to carry non-paying passengers under Visual Flight Rules. As soon as you can, start working on groundschool for your Instrument Rating, because it's just a question of time before you get stranded somewhere or worse if you don't get the Instrument Rating first. Besides, you had fun with flying lessons, and the Instrument Rating is like learning to fly all over again. Well, that's what they tell me, anyway, but I've stopped flying for a few years while I attend graduate school and tend some other important expenses.
About your "which plane is better" query, each has its own charm. The low-wing Piper will give you a slightly smoother landing and is a nice spacious airport-to-airport plane. The high-wing Cessna glides farther in an emergency, gives you better ground clearance when you take the plane camping and the wing provides some shade. In the Piper, the wing is out of your way as you turn toward the airport; in the Cessna, the wing is out of your way when you look down. If there were truly a single right answer, the other company would go out of business. Personally? For most flights, I choose low wing.
Something I'd recommend to you if you were around here is Civil Air Patrol. This is the civilian auxiliary to the Air Force. The adults get involved in search and rescue missions from the air. The cadets learn search and rescue from the ground, and sometimes get flying lessons. It's a lot of fun (though sometimes serious), and there's many different things to learn, from aviation to radios to survival skills to uniforms and military practices. Sometimes CAP squadrons visit military bases, and sometimes they visit squadrons in other countries. My local squadron has photos on the wall from a visit by an Israeli squadron several years ago.
If you can, spend a bunch of time at a local general aviation airport. Get to know a few flight instructors. Let them know about your interest. Remember that pilots are people, so you will run into a mix of friendly ones and jerks; don't waste time with jerks, because there are too many good people yet to meet. Also, be careful whom you fly with--this is not easy advice to follow--some perfectly nice people don't have such good judgement, and you need to watch carefully for clues to see if they are really serious about safety. Trust your gut feel; sometimes it's important to say, "thanks, but no thanks." It's also important to have something else fun to do. When the weather's got you wondering whether you should fly or not, that fun other option will make it easier to decide to safely stay on the ground. Then you'll save your flight budget for the good days when you really ought to be flying.
Good luck pursuing your flight dreams. They can serve you well, not only as eventual transportation or a career, but also as motivation to better understand things in school. Whenever you are taught a new math skill that you don't see the use for, I can usually come up with an illustration of that skill as it relates to flying. The same is true for communication skills, history and literature. What? Understanding how people communicate, relate, imagine, and organize will help you figure out what the radio is about, why the rules are the way they are, and how to make your way through flight school, flying clubs, aviation bureaucracy, airlines, and other lands where you may want to fly. Happy studies!
----------------------------------------------------------- Doug Hirsch, Box 1464 GMF, Boston MA 02205 USA 617/497-9088 http://www.pobox.com/~dhirsch dhirsch@pobox.com -----------------------------------------------------------