Hi,

I just feel very overwhelmed with everything at the moment.(only 17 hrs)

Im stuyding 30 min every day and then doing my flying on the weekends.

I just feel like there is so much to know,weather,emergency procedures,flying,navagation etc etc.

I just wanted to know if this is a normal thing or maybe some more experienced guys here have some suggestions on what helped them
put things into perspective.

Thanks!

Normal.

This is why people who have grown up in aviation have a tremendous leg up on people who are trying to learn it all in 4 weeks.

Agreed, what Hedley and I agree, yes it is totally normal. Some will take to it faster then others etc.... but overall most people find it overwhelming for the first while. especially when they haven't been exposed to multi tasking or anything that requires a bit of co-ordination.....like riding a bike.

It's important to focus on the basics first and then start adding in stuff slowly. For example, the student shouldn't be forced to learn about documents and air law in the first few lessons,,,,,such things can wait till the solo.

the licence your studying to get a PPL? should have its name changed to 'licence to learn'

The PPL is the hardest licence to get .As you have ten NEW subjects to learn.Most students have very little exposure to airplanes prior to training .Try to keep the fun in your training as you will learn quicker if you are enjoying the flights.Doing it only on the weekends means that you will take longer to complete your training .The upside of that is you will probably remember your basic traing longer than the students who do the three week course .
Three weeks after the three week course most students could not recognise a piper from a cessna. They can become frustrated as you are now even though they have a piece of paper that says they are a pilot.Ask your instructor to explain the theory of forgetting with you.
In laymans terms it is .Three steps forward after a week one step back after two weeks two steps back.

One of the best learning tools you can get is the training videos.Sporty's and King schools .They look expensive but get at least one set as they will improve your rote knowledge and pay for themselves in the amount of training time required.Hit the rewind until you really understand .The videos have lots of patience and you can watch them until you understand most of the subect matter.

PS this advice will cost you a donation to your local childrens hospital
If you get the video's they will save you about two grand in training so be generous to the hospital .A nice teddy bear at least

W/ school and having a job, it can definetly be overwhelming. My first few hrs. I couldn't concentrate and remembered so little. Suprisingly, I found everything in the air easy. Weather & all the groundschool crap was cheese. It was just the technical. Taxiing? haha Insurance hazard! If I got a gush of wind, the possibility of that bad boy ending up in the lake was a big 50%. Ahh, the days... lmao

"Drinking from a firehose" is the expression that comes to mind, you just can't get it all in. It will all be worth it in the end, especially when you solo.

Cheers,

ETTW

What Ettw said.


If you're having trouble with that schedule, try to dedicate a bit of bulk time to it, very difficult learning all that in 30min/day. I'm sure it's hard if you're working full time, but there is a lot of information there to absorb, and the less you retain between flights, the more $ it's going to cost.

Best of luck,

stl

Sounds normal.

I'd say the most important thing is just be persistent. No matter how long it takes, no matter how much you think it's impossible.

Good luck!

-istp

Thanks to everyone for chipping in.

It helps me just to know that what im going through was also experienced
by all of you.

I dont mind doing everything.I really enjoy it ,but im just concerned for my safety.The more i learn the more i realize how much i DONT know,and what i dont know/forget could comprimise my safety.

Maybe thats also normal because i havent been around aviation my whole life.

Ill give the videos a try and increase my study time to 1 hour a day
and see how it goes.

Maybe a good donation will also put me in the good books of the big guy upstairs

The words "Overwhelmed" and "Aviation" go hand in hand, and will so for your entire career.

You will be overwhelmed during your PPL because of all the new stuff,
You will be overwhelmed during your CPL because of all the new stuff
You will DEFINATELY be overwhelmed during your first type rating and any jet type rating after that.
And finally, you will be overwhelmed in 35 years when you are switching over to your last career jet and are praying to God that it is in fact your last type rating, so that you don't have to go through the whole process all over again.

But consider this, there are thousands of pilots out there, as well as Butchers and Bakers and Candlestick makers, and they all had to study their brains out to get where they are today. They can't all be Einsteins. If they can do it so can you. Even I managed...(I am in the "pray to God..." category)

Have at it!

I found that doing my groundschool before my flight training really helped ease the pressure (But not completely, of course!). After completing ground school and passing the test, I began my flight training and started attending a second ground school just as a "refresher." Many flight training operations will allow you to re-attend groundschool with a minimal fee (or free).

Completing groundschool before actually flying may work for some, but I believe it's not the best way. There are several students in my PPL groundschool who have not flown at all and ask questions that should have already been answered inside the aircraft. These questions slow down the class. Going over arrival/departure proceedures for airports is an example of learning that would benefit from having some experience flying with an instructor in and out of an airport. Also, altimeter settings can confuse the student who has never been inside an aircraft. I beleive the best way is doing each hand in hand.

Ah yes, I totally agree with Vancouver pilot in part. Ground school can cover many topics, but anytime questions like those crop up (I've asked a few), the response was always "Your flight instructor will tell you" and the class moves on.

The flight training helps reinforce the lessons you learned and gives you practical experience, and the follow-up groundschool lesson crystalizes it all into a good bank of knowledge.

I really believe in the ground-flight-ground style of training.