Heya everyone!
I am expected to start my classes August 16th at the KLAL location,
I am having a little concern for my training however, I received my private in March about a year and a half ago at around 47 hours. I am currently at 77, I have been flying off and on throughout the year and a half to make sure my flying skills themself keep up to date, I recently did a little review over all the maneuvers with my instructor that I used to have and he implied that most of them are still within’ standards of a private pilot, however, I definitely do not recall all the little specifics that was implied in the knowledge test and the oral section of the private. I am currently working through Sheppard Air to hopefully get my written done before my start date, I have two questions for the community here, do I need to know all the little things from my private when I’m starting or can I pick all of it up again throughout my training on instrument since it seems to be next needed for my commercial phase. Also, how much time at home did former or current students here spend on self study such as on Sheppard Air daily?
Hopefully everything makes sense here!
Thanks
I would say that the more you know and remember from private when you begin your instrument training, the better and more confident you will feel - although you definitely will pick it back up during your instrument and commercial phases. And if your maneuvers are within standards, you’re fine - you can perfect your maneuvers when you start commercial training in a few months.
Don’t worry at all about not remembering the specific questions from the private pilot knowledge test.
For the “oral section” though, this is stuff you should know and can/will still be asked about on your instrument checkride, even though it was knowledge you learned in private. Since you have another week before you start training, refresh yourself on the topics in the Private ACS - airworthiness, weight & balance, weather, performance, etc. It would also be a good idea to go over the Cessna or Piper supplement that ATP provided you so you’ll be familiar with your aircraft. When it comes to VFR-specific knowledge though (like XC flight planning) you can catch up and refresh on that when you have more time later on.
I spent at least 8 hours a day doing anything related to training - if I wasn’t flying, I was studying for the knowledge test or any other material I had. The more dedicated you are now, the more you will thank yourself later.
Good luck and have fun in training! Instrument is the best.
John,
Being rusty is not a problem, when you enter ATP (Credit Private) you are given TOLs (takeoff and landings) which you’ll fly around with your CFI and get familiar with the airspace and get some landings. Once you get a class date, ATP gives you all the material you will need for your program and you can start reviewing things like maneuvers, airplane systems etc. ATP gives you study modules from textual guides/supplements to videos to live classroom discussions on Zoom that go in depth on common phase questions. It’s never too late to do a flight review at a local airport to get back into the sky and be familiar with everything. Before I entered ATP (Credit Private) I did a 3 hour flight review in a Skyhawk with my previous instructor and aimed to get proficient in maneuvers and landings since it had been months that I had flown.
Sheppard Air is the best route to get your writtens done, it’s not a bad thing to get the writtens done if you have time. In fact it’ll allow you to get more time focusing on flying specifics more, i.e. maneuver flows, airplane systems, etc. Studying for Sheppard Air is dependable on how you work through it, some things may need to be seen once, or twice, maybe three times…it’s all up to you and your comfortability. I know instrument studying took me a while since there was nearly 1,200 questions in the allocated test bank. As you progress through your writtens things start to get easier and you’ll pick up study habits that will make it seem more efficient.
Please let us know if you have any other questions.
Brady
John,
Are you entering the program with credit for Private? If so, you will be expected to have the knowledge and skills of a Private Pilot. As a reminder, you will need 78 hours of flight time to enter ATP’s program with credit for private. That should give you plenty of time to catch up. Will you be flying that extra tie out at a local school or with ATP?
Chris
John,
Obviously the more you know the better. That said when I started training with ATP I had my PPL and hadn’t flown for maybe 5-6yrs. The rust comes off fast!
Adam
John,
From my experience, the flying comes back quickly - the knowledge doesn’t. I strongly recommend you hit the books as hard as you can. I saw too many students struggle with the knowledge when they reached the commercial and CFI stages because there were blanks spots in their PPL knowledge.
Tory