Flight Training Tips From a Flight School Owner

This is a short discussion about 4 tips that I found helpful during my time as a student pilot.

While there are plenty of things out of our control in aviation, there is always at least one thing within our control..
and that's ourselves and the way we show up to life.

These tips are helpful ways to show up really well to flight training, so here they are:

1. Bring questions to every lesson. In hindsight, this was the most helpful advice I received as a student pilot.
   
   When you are studying between lessons, write a note of anything you do not have a feeling of full comprehension. Remember, you will have to explain these things to a DPE all by yourself soon!
   
   A good goal would be to bring a minimum of 3 questions to every lesson from your study time. This will accelerate your ground knowledge and make time in the air more efficient as well.
   

2. Study with other students. This helps for the sake of camaraderie and motivation, as well as to expose you to a greater variety of questions, conversations, and learning tools. 
   
   Our group grounds are a great place to meet fellow classmates in similar stages of training. My fellow classmates and I would grab a classroom with a whiteboard and quiz each other, highly recommend!
   

3. Chair fly. If you are learning procedures, don't wait until you are in the airplane to fumble through them.
   
   Get familiar with checklists, procedures, and ACS maneuver requirements on the ground so that your training time in the air is as efficient as possible.
   
   This can look like pretending to perform steep turns from the pre-maneuver checklist all the way through completing the maneuver and returning to cruise flight. Our cockpit mock-ups in a few of our classrooms are a helpful tool for chair flying.
   

4. Adopt a PIC mindset. If you look over to your CFI every time you miss a radio call or don't know what to do, you are reinforcing a "passenger" mindset.
   
   I encourage you to remind yourself before your next flight that YOU are the "Pilot In Command"(even if you're not), because you will be PIC on the checkride and thereafter.
   
   If you train as a passenger, the stage checks and checkride will be a rude awakening.
   
   If you train as the PIC, those same checking events will be par for the course.

I hope these nuggets are helpful! Study hard.

Jack Parrish