drewhosick

Well before I tell you why I have posted on this subject I should first explain what brought me to the point of worrying that I may get cocky.

First let me put this into perspective. 2 weeks ago I flew a trainer for the first time. It wasn't my trainer but someone else's plane. I flew about 10 minutes and that was it. Anyways weather wasn't good after that and then this last week I was on vacation. Today I went out and flew my own trainer this time because I got a hold of a patch cord and another Tx. My instructor took off gave me control and the airplane stalled after 2 minutes. He brought her down. Then the same thing happened again a second time. So we worked on the engine about 10 to 15 minutes and we got her up again. Well anyways he thought I was doing well and told me to try some low passes aligned with the runway. So I did. The first pass I was about 15 to 20 feet over the runway when the a/c passed me and got it down to about 8 feet before I floored it and brought it back up. The second pass I was about 5 feet over the runway when the aircraft passed me and I could have put it down. The third pass I landed the aircraft as if I had been doing it for years. I was at the same altitude in both the second and third pass. Everyone was very amazed including my instructor who never had to take the controls after letting me take em.

Now the problem. I know I'm not that knowledgable in this sport and I have a lot to learn and I was fairly lucky as well. But I can't help but feel that I'm good. And I feel like I'm getting cocky and thinking that I'm invincable. This is where the problem is because people say that when you start getting overconfident and cocky that's where you put a plane knee deep in the ground. How do you cope with that.

MikeL

My Feedback: (3)

How do you cope with feeling full of yourself? It's the same as in any other aspect of life: fail or find some humility.

w4kv

My Feedback: (2)

Don't worry about being cocky. You will get humility soon enough. Just have a second plane ready to fly.

wgeffon

My Feedback: (4)

Couldnt have said it better myself.....

Congrats though on doing such a good job.

I had a student the other day do basically the same thing. Soloed on his first few attempts.

TerrellFlyer

Sooner or later the earth gods WILL spank you for being over balanced with a swelled head, not to worry,because your fellow fliers will feed you large doses of humble pie,the fellowship comes with how well you digest that pie.
Wish I could watch,John.

mskyhawk

If yur lucky, with a lot of glue and some covering........It's coming.

Hanger Rat

Big deal!!! You landed a trainer. A well designed trainer will land itself. In the real world we say "there are bold pilots and there are old pilots but there are no old bold pilots".

wgeffon

My Feedback: (4)

Boy, you guys are harsh.

YNOT

Best line out of Star Wars:

"Great kid! Don't get cocky"

I had a student, 12 years old, second flight he landed it and took it right back off. Third flight he soloed, my finger got tired of holding the button. Flew the next day by himself, I wasn't there.

The following weekend, pile drove the plane into his dad's car.

I donno, just take it easy. Flyn is not hard to do. Its what you do with it, that can add the challenge.

drewhosick

Hangar Rat,

Thx, methinks that's what I needed to hear. Hehe.

drewhosick

Of course thx to everyone else who posted with the nice comments and the heads up.

Ed Smith

You have obviously made some progress. You are about to step up to the next level of incompetence.

Ed S

fliers1

drewhosick,
If you like, I will be glad to give you some free instruction on the finer points of flying. Along with that, I will let you fly my trainer(s) and work with you on dozens of takeoffs and landing from every angle, altitude and wind conditions and work on some aerobactics, if you like. I'm retired and got a lot of time on my hands. Where abouts are you in Ontario? I'm 20 miles east of Niagara Falls, NY. Just trying to help.

Take care,
CCR
http://www.kites.org/rc_instructors

MinnFlyer

My Feedback: (4)

In all my years of training, I did have ONE guy that soloed his first day out. Next thing you know, he was out there every weekend just like one of the old timers. And he occasionally crashed just like the old timers.

Drewhosick, Congratulations! You have overcome the first major obstacle. Enjoy the sport and get cocky all you want to.

Just be prepared to buy a new plane now and then. I don't mean that in a bad way, it's just the nature of the sport.

drewhosick

Flyers1 unfortunatly your about 12 hours south of me I'm up way up in Northern Ontario. Thx anyways and thx to everyone else.

uonlylivetwice

My Feedback: (2)

I just have to add, I think it is a 'choice of words' thing. Be proud. You did something not very easy to do. On the other hand, I have moved around a fair amount, and every club has a story of someone who went out and flew the first day. Cocky suggests a misplaced confidence. Be proud, and have fun with it.
That's all.
By the way, good job!

Razor-RCU

My Feedback: (50)

"And my best trait, out of ALL of them, is my humility!"

Dazzler 2

Well, we always say " It's not if, you crash it's when..." After I learned how to fly a trainer I jumped right in to the planes that I should'nt be flying and I paid the price. Don't get me wrong I had fun at the time but I learned how to repair and cover with the best of them now....LOL... I pick things up really fast, but I jumped to far ahead.... We had a show at the airport last month and I was flying doing all kinds of things and when the guy announced my name and what plane I was flying he then went to say that I had been only flying for a year and he asked me again to make sure.... I own 12 planes and I can tell you that I only fly maybe 4 of them right now... Some I bought when I was learning and now I am tired of them, and some I am afraid to fly cause something can happen at anytime and they are to nice to see wrecked... Anyway, good luck and keep it up..!!!!!!

jimcork1

My Feedback: (4)

Great that you can take off and land.. The earth is easy to find with a plane,, most can confirm this.. Now lets consider precision flying. Try flying just above stall,, low then manage system energy to do your maneuvers.. Also try flying cuban eights,, clover leaf's,, and flat spins.. Snap rolls after take off are nice,, but just 1,, no more and only 360 roll..Also,, bring your maneuvers down close to the earth.. adds free thrills.

When you do a loop, is it round or egg shaped.. Do you add throttle in the climb,, and take it off on the way down to maintain constant airspeed.

When you think you are a good flyer,, your precision should show it.. I never considered myself good because I can find the earth,, Now if I could just fly with precision. I practice everytime I go out and have not yet attained the level of precision that I would like. However.. by working on precision,, Most of my planes find the earth with the little round rubber thingies on the bottom half of most planes.. Good luck,,, Happy flying Jim

drewhosick

Slow your horses down. I said I could land, never said I could take off LOL j/k Actually I haven't gotten to taking off yet. I wasn't suppose to land either but that changed with a few low passes. I was just about to take off after all that when the wind took a turn for the worst. I haven't been able to go back and fly since then since I've been busy, my instructor has been busy, or the weather didn't cooporate. Hopefully this evening I'll get out. The weather has been fairly nice all day although I'm worried because they're announcing possible t-storms. We'll see.

wrbirch

My Feedback: (1)

Jimcork1, Is that what those little round rubber things are for, Finding the ground? my trainer usually uses the prop or wingtip.

drewhosick

I thought that too at first I mean it gets you slowed down a heck of a lot quicker than the other way and you don't have to worry about running into the tall grass at the end of the field.

Razor-RCU

My Feedback: (50)

good job

drewhosick

A little addition for all of you. Since my first landing I had not gone out to fly until this evening. Just got back. Well to make a long story short. I landed and took off 6 times without one hiccup. So my instructor decided to pull the patch cord and let me go. Anyways I came around on final and my instructor told me I was comming in to close to the end of the runway on all my landings except for a few and that I should wait until it is farther down the runway to land. I clipped some of the tall grass and my wing's front dowel that holds the front of the wing down broke. And I couldn't fly anymore. Oh well my first incident. Nothing Major but because of the way the wing is bolted on in the back and the front has a dowel comming out of the wing into a slot through the front wall, I couldn't fix it there. Well now I have to admit that I was lucky that it wasn't worst than that but I guess I don't have a clean slate anymore.

drewhosick

Just wanted to mention that I'm really happy it happened. It's a 5 minute fix and I found out a weak spot in the plane. I bought it second hand so I didn't know if there was going to be anything wrong with it. The dowel piece was made out of balsa. We're going to use a pine dowel to replace it and make it tougher.