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Eliacim,
CONGRATULATIONS on getting your Sport
Pilot license!
As you will be (and have been) told by
bunches of people, you now have a license to learn. I’d urge you to
build your hours cautiously at first by flying in lighter winds and slowly
building your ability to handle bumpy air and crosswinds. Most of your
flying, so far, has been in the colder months.
You’ll “enjoy” those
dry-Texas thermals this summer but you may want to avoid them at first. Mid-day
thermals can make a passenger never want to get in a small airplane again (as I
found out the hard way).
I’d suggest you not take passengers,
at first, in any conditions but ideal. Early morning and late evening
times are normally the smoothest time to introduce passengers to flight. You’ll
build your skills to the point where passenger’s distractions can be
handled while still giving sufficient thought to flying the airplane.
In some ways, you are now at a peak of
skill – you’ve been practicing and practicing maneuvers, landings .
. . everything. It’s good to keep practicing and learning and striving for
improvement. Your ability and safety will keep improving forever if you
keep trying to improve.
Soon, (fall or next spring) you’ll
need to beware of the 300-500 hour complacency (which hits some people earlier
and some people later) that can bring people to grief.
It’s been great having you as part
of the group for this last ¾ year and I’m looking forward to
corresponding with you for years to come.
According to Gen. Chuck Yeager, the best
way to become a really good pilot is to go fly. Fly anytime, fly
anything, and fly a
http://edburkhead.com
ed -at-
edburkhead???.com (change
-at- to @ and remove "???")
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