My First Flight

After 2-3 years on FS I thought it was time to get even more real than
it gets and try a flying lesson at my local airfield (Farnborough,
UK). So, booked it yesterday. I suppose I'll start it a Cessna and
graduate to 747s later in the week..

You real-world pilots in this group, a list please of the top DON'Ts
when in a real cockpit (bad habits learnhed from FS9?).

If I don't post back, you'll know it all went horribly wrong!

Martin

"Martin S." <ms RemoveThis @ms.com> wrote in message
news:i029621h83mqqig252d5craq4q5nj26ql7@4ax.com...
> After 2-3 years on FS I thought it was time to get even more real than
> it gets and try a flying lesson at my local airfield (Farnborough,
> UK). So, booked it yesterday. I suppose I'll start it a Cessna and
> graduate to 747s later in the week..
>
> You real-world pilots in this group, a list please of the top DON'Ts
> when in a real cockpit (bad habits learnhed from FS9?).
>
> If I don't post back, you'll know it all went horribly wrong!
>
> Martin

As an instructor who has handled hundreds of these introductory flights, I
can pass on to you a few items of note.
The way these flights are handled varies greatly from one instructor to
another but there are some common aspects involved that you should know.

You can assume that at some point in the flight you will be asked to fly the
airplane. The first thing you will notice is that although you will know
basically which direction to move the controls from your experience on the
simulator, you won't know how much PRESSURE to use to achieve a specific
result, and it's pressures, not movement, that define control usage in a
light airplane.
I wouldn't worry all that much about it really. You will probably do just
fine if the instructor is any good at all.

Just relax; do as you are directed, and enjoy the flight.
One thing that might help you to relax a bit when you take control of the
airplane is to be told something I told every one of the people to whom I
gave these flights. I won't be there with you of course, but remember what
I'm about to tell you.
Don't worry about over controlling and causing the airplane to go into some
kind of extreme attitude when you take the controls for the first time.
Mentioning this up front to a first timer is something all instructors
should do and unfortunately many do not. The result is a nervous first timer
worrying more about doing something wrong than doing it right, which makes
the first time up less educational and enjoyable than it could have been
otherwise.

You making the airplane do something it shouldn't be doing simply won't
happen. The response of the airplane to your control input is slow enough
that nothing bad is going to take place. The instructor flying with you is
more than capable of keeping you out of trouble, so don't be nervous when
you take the controls. Just fly the airplane gently by following
instructions.
I hope this information is helpful to you, and by all means enjoy your first
flight.
You might want to report back here to us afterward and let us know how
everything went )
Dudley Henriques