I started out reading as much as I could on the FAA website - what the requirements for a private pilot license are, etc. I also found PDF copies of the Pilot's Handook of Aeronautical Knowledge, which looked like a pretty comprehensive guide to stuff you need to know to fly. I spent the whole weekend reading (much to my wife's dismay - sorry honey!). Only counter-intuitive thing I learned is that humid air is less dense than dry air. Reading didn't provide much of the stick-and-rudder knowledge - I will make it a point to concentrate on that during flight training. I think the only guide I read in there is to "step on the ball" (the turn coordinator) to help fix uncoordinated (slipping or skidding) turns.
After studying, I think I'm going to be pretty good at the technical parts of flying - I'm very scientific/technical from my computer & engineering background. Plus, there are lots of acronyms - and I'm just good at acronyms... :) Overall, most of what I was learning is pretty straightforward or I already knew in principle: theory of flight, how airspace is laid out, ATC, how the instruments operate and what they tell you, etc.
Over the next few weeks, I worked out some details with Bob:
- Purhcased 10 hours of flight time in a Cessna 152 - a pretty good deal at $80/hour "wet" (which means including fuel & oil)
- Made a trip with Bob to Richmoor Avaition, one of the FBOs at the airport, and got all of my books and training materials:
- a FAR/AIM manual
- a sectional map
- my first log book
- a plotting tool
- guidebooks for study for the written and verbal exams.
It took a couple of weeks to work out training time that fit into Bob and my busy schedules - but things are set for next week!
