Welcome to ~flying!
As some of you already know, I signed up for flight school a while ago.
The last three weeks I had been on vacation to collect the required 100 hours for the theoretical exam.
However, before you can attempt the theoretical exam by the LBA (Luftfahrt-Bundesamt, the German equivalent of the FAA), you also need to pass a (free) pre-test by the school.
Today, I took the pre-test as the first in my class, and I failed! But I’m happy, because I didn’t expect to pass. I only took it now because I currently live close to the school, so I thought, why not try it before I move back 1–2 hours away? I can repeat it six times.
I’m actually surprised I even reached 82% of the required 85%. There were 72 questions in total, so with just three fewer wrong answers, I would have passed. I’d say that’s pretty good, considering I haven’t had time to go through all the questions even once yet. For example, I haven’t practiced a single question about meteorology—I can’t even pronounce it—and there are 300 different questions in total, 20 of which appeared on the exam.
However, “three fewer wrong answers” doesn’t really mean much. Our instructors told us that if we failed because of one wrong answer, we didn’t fail because of "one wrong answer," we failed because we got enough other answers wrong as well. I liked that grounded perspective (pun intended)!
In general, I really like how all of our instructors (most former Luftwaffe pilots) cared that we take what we learn seriously, because our lives and the lives of others might depend on it one day. This is especially true for the 13 other young students in my class, most straight out of high school, who want to become airline pilots (only another guy in his forties and I are doing it just for fun). Some even used a shock factor by first showing us how much fun aviation can be, and then abruptly pointing out that the same pilot we had just watched performing aerobatics died because his engine failed during a critical phase of a normal flight, and there wasn’t much he could have done except be luckier. I also didn't expect the instructors to just randomly send us an email with the subject "Oh man" and a link to a recent crash, with nothing else.[1] It's as if they want to scare away anyone who hasn't really considered the risks yet.
Anyway, I’m now pretty relaxed about the real exam on December 3, where I only need to get 75%.
In addition to the theoretical exam, I also need to pass a test to get my license to use the radio on November 13, but we’ve already practiced a lot and will practice some more in the days leading up to it. I’m not too worried about that one either. A simple way to describe it is that you’re basically just repeating back what you’ve heard, and if you don’t understand something, you say “Say again?” until you do.[2] As far as I can tell, there’s only one fatal mistake: repeating a clearance like “cleared to land, runway two-zero” when you have not actually been cleared to land on runway 20.
I’m actually a bit worried that I’m too relaxed now, because learning to fly turns out to be not as hard as I expected. It’s not difficult to understand; there’s just a lot you need to have looked into at least once. The rest is practice, practice, practice, so you can perform well under high pressure. But on the other hand, what do I really know yet? I haven’t even had a single flight lesson, haha.
That's why I'm going for the 100% now so I can be very confident about starting my flight lessons in December if the weather allows it.
Now please ask questions so I don't feel presumptuous to have assumed people would be interested in this AMA, haha
According to the narrator, the pilot lost control because a tire blew. However, it’s not clear to me whether he actually lost control or simply overreacted. 🤔 ↩
Ideally, you say "Say again wind speed?" if all you didn't understand was the wind speed. Otherwise, the controller will repeat everything, and you might miss the one thing you didn’t understand the first time again. It’s also important to be precise: one time I said, “Say again wind?” and the instructor only repeated the direction. Then I had to call back one more time and say, “Say again wind speed?” We all had a good laugh about that little situational comedy, haha. ↩
100 hours just to take the theoretical for PPL? Oof.
Over here we have exams for each module as soon as you want. 85% to pass.
My instructor advised to practice until we hit 95 or more consistently before taking the exams.
Hang on, so what were the 100 hours spent on if not flight training? Just briefings and classroom hours? Even more oof.
Anyway, training is basically just moving the maximum of tasks you can handle through practice. You'll experience task overload and that only gets better with seat time and repetition.
Beyond that, it's also learning where your gut instinct is deceiving you and retraining your first responses in those situations. Like using pitch for speed and throttle for altitude, not the other way around.
It's hella fun. Enjoy the process!
Exactly, it has only been ground school so far. You didn’t have to do ground school first? Are you in the US?
I need at least 45 flight hours to get my license (10 solo, 5 cross-country). With 100 flight hours I could have done my license two times lol.
Thank you, will keep this in mind!
I’m especially looking forward to the spin training but it’s not mandatory to get the license which I think is weird. If I don’t learn how to recover a spin, do they just assume I’ll never get into one? 🤔
We did ground school in tandem with actual flying lessons. I learned in South Africa.
They did lean on us to complete all exams before hitting 20-25 hours, before starting solo cross country flights iirc.
Yep, same here for hours required.
At around 100h I'll be starting my instrument rating. And only because my school prefers us getting more PIC flight time in visual conditions before starting with IR training.
The way it was explained to me, is that the chance of incidents in spin training is too high to make it mandatory. And some popular training airplanes aren't rated for spins either.
Incipient spin recovery was required though. So you learn to recognize and correct the issue before a spin happens.
I'll probably still get some spin training done eventually and maybe combine it with a few hours of other aerobatic lessons.
A new territory, hope he flies! Hahaha
From what you’re saying, the test doesn’t sound that important. Seems like it’s just to see how you’re doing. It’s more for learning. Could you tell me two or three of the questions that were on the exam?
Sure! Tried to pick interesting ones from different topics and translated them into English:
I was about to answer and then I realized you’d already marked the right ones! I would’ve gotten the first one right though, hahaha!
Oh, sorry! Maybe I shouldn’t have spoiled the answers haha
I can give you new questions if you want 👀
How did you know the answer to the first one?
Just intuition. Seemed like those were the three most important instruments to help the pilot. Give me three more questions, but easier ones this time!
Tried to pick ones where intuition or common sense could be enough:
hints (from me):
bonus question:
This is the most German thing I've heard in some time
lol, because two people died and he only wrote “oh man”?
Exactly, no unnecessary words, completely non-plussed... just the an "ah, yup" matter-of-fact attitude at any reminder that death and despair is part of being.
Brits can be like this too but with a bit more levity and self-deprecation.
lol I think because I grew up in Germany I don’t really notice it
But I did notice that in the US, everybody was so friendly it creeped me out. Like there’s a person in HEB at the entrance and afaict, their only purpose is to greet customers and smile at them? Wtf, haha
I've been fortunate to work with people from all over through the years, had a German (Stuttgart) boss for years and with a great rapport and a shared taste in beer.
Must not have been in Boston, and you're right, over-niceness is more often than not a facade for people that aren't kind... very southern/western coded. Direct/gruff people from the Northeast are showing respect by valuing your time.
Seems like you know a lot already without studying. Did you used to play Microsoft Flight Simulator? Haha
No, never had a PC good enough when I had time and now I don’t have time. But the instructors did tell us that it can be good training!
But I’ve been watching a lot of Pilot Debrief and Mentour Pilot, maybe that also helped in some way.
Edit: Oh and I think my college experience helped, because I learned that I learn way better when I just pay attention in class instead of trying to write everything down all the time.
Did you read Brave New World? The first chapter describes students who eagerly write everything down “straight from the horse’s mouth.” That’s how I felt in that room sometimes. Everybody was distracted by writing while I was just paying attention and trying to come up with good questions to make sure I really understood it.
Do you know what questions you got wrong?
Yes, absolutely
I also know the correct answer
Were you distracted by a cute girl?
No, I was alone in a room with a camera
Aviation has a way of punishing overconfidence and rewarding thorough preparation. You are already seeing that the technical material is not conceptually difficult but is vast enough to require consistent exposure and practice. That is a useful insight before you even touch the controls...