It’s my first semester on becoming a pilot, we’ve been going through a lot on the fundamentals of flying but it has been really hard remembering everything, especially the airspace classes and the map charts, is this a liability or am I overthinking this problem?
Jeremy,
I don’t know the program you’re going through but yes flight training involves learning and remembering a large amount of information. If you can’t retain it yes that can be a concern. That said the more you understand the less you need to memorize. Could be too soon to tell. What do your teachers/instructors say?
Adam
The class is FLT 110 and the problem is more remembering than learning, I’ve gotten 85s on two tests already, constant studying but every class there’s just a bunch of information to remember. My school offers 5 hours on mandatory flight simulator, haven’t done it yet, but hopefully that clears things up for me a little more. Did you or anyone have this problem while starting college?
Jeremy,
Sounds like you need to adjust your study habits or find a tutor to help you. The knowledge portion od aviation is hard. You’re right. There is a lot of information. The flight simulator will help you learn how to manipulate the controls. It’s not going to help connect the dots in your knowledge gap. Flashcards were my friend when I was going through training. Even when I got hired at Horizon. I had a shoebox full of flash cards. There are online flashcard applications available as well. Can’t promise that it will work for you. Just a suggestion.
Tory
I think flash cards will be your best friend if your not already doing so. Learning them backwards and forwards. I know myself and a lot of people at my training center use flash cards religiously to help memorize things, eventually you will have them down pat you can spew knowledge without even trying.
Jeremy,
I would recommend finding some good videos online to help. There are many different resources out there to help new pilots, start with youtube.
That being said, this is FLT 110, this is the easy stuff. If it doesn’t start to click soon, you might need to have a serious conversation with yourself.
Chris
One word, ACRONYMS, ACRONYMS, ACRONYMS 
There is indeed a lot to memorize in the knowledge stage, and unfortunately, a lot of it is memorization at first, until you advance in your training and things start to “click” as the pieces of the puzzle all start to fit together.
As others have said, I myself find flashcards extremely helpful. Everyone’s learning style is different, but for me, the process of writing the information down on the cards, and then studying off of them later on helps me remember them more than if I were just studying cards that someone else created/rprovided to me.
Those acronyms always get me, but I’ll definitely try using flash cards. Thanks for all the suggestions
Which acronyms are you struggling with? What I did when I first was learning all the acronyms was I’d write them down a few times will looking at them then slowly use them less and less until I was able to write them several times on my own without looking, then after I was done with that I would start each day by writing them all down a few times to make sure I didn’t forget them overnight. I did this until few like two weeks just writing them until I was certain I knew them.
pilots have acronyms for everything and so you will need to figure out what works best for you as far as memorizing them.
Honestly acronyms I know I can learn and manage, but I’m a little confused on the airspaces (A,B,C, etc) any tips on how to deal with them?
Have you seen the airspace triangle?
Maybe try drawing that out?
Now i personally didnt like trying this way but I know a few instructors teach this way.
My students always seem to struggle with airspace classifications and what requires what. Class A is easy to remember. It’s the one you won’t see for quite some time either. Then set aside Class B, C and D as “airport airspace” classes. You won’t find them anywhere without an airport smack dab in the middle. That leaves E and G. E is controlled, while G isn’t. Think of it in terms of types of services that ATC can provide. Can they see you and maybe even talk to you? Then they can “control” the airspace and provide services. That airspace (Class E) is everywhere from 14,500 to 17,999 unless otherwise depicted. “Otherwise depicted” pretty much covers the entire CONUS because the US radar ATC coverage is pretty daggum good. There are actually 7 types of Class E—use acronym SETADOG to remember them (google it, I won’t write it all out ). ATC can provide services to you there so if you want those services—you need a way for them to talk to you and see you (2-way comms and transponder). While not required equipment, if they can’t see you, they can’t provide services and you are on your own. B, C and D define what kinds of services ATC is providing for the airport environs that are covered by these classes. Class D ATC is like a traffic signal—they regulate traffic on then airport surface and within the immediate proximity of the airport. That’s because most of them rely on a radar feed from a TRACON radar at best. A lot of them have binoculars and tell you where to enter the airspace, look for you and provide services strictly visually. Class C is congested and ATC provides services to get you into and out of that congested airspace. They not only need to be able to talk to you, but they also need to know where you are way beyond visual range and at what altitude. That’s why not only radio comms are required, but also a Mode C transponder is needed. It goes without saying that Class B ups the ante further. Because of the volume of high speed traffic and the intricate flows that traffic follows into and out of the airspace, ATC needs to be able to dictate who can go where and when. They need to talk to you, need to know where and how high you are, and need to be able to tell you to stay out if your Cessna 152 Heavy is going to foul up the flow of high speed IFR traffic in and out of the busy airport. Hence why a clearance into B is required in addition to the other fancy things that Class C needs.
This is a very oversimplified explanation, but it helps my students get the basic foundation of understanding of airspace classes beyond simple rote memorization.
I’ve never hear of that acronym? The one I remember for the Class E is SETFOOD
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