DarkSarcasm

Hey Dave, I'm flying with Jeremy. :)

Graeme, I might see you there sometime. I was meant to fly today, but cancelled because of a cold (I've heard about bursting eardrums etc and decided to err on the side of caution...). My next lesson is Saturday 25th.

I have perfectionist tendencies, which make me feel like I should remember everything and get it right the first time. I keep telling myself that isn't true and everyone askes questions, and I'm slowly getting around it :P Unfortunately these perfectionist tendencies don't show up about really important things, like university and my future career...

Hi all,

Thanks for the replies. I'll definitely ask my instructor about it next lesson. Right now we're only in the training area, but it's good to get into the habit of checking it before I (eventually) start doing cross-country.

I'm assuming it isn't a bad thing that I don't find things wrong to mention to the Instructor? Since it's a training aircraft, I like to think that if there was anything wrong someone else would have found it already, so it's not a bad thing that I don't find anything... To be honest, I'm not confident enough yet in how things are supposed to look, to really realise if something was wrong (unless it was something really obvious).

And Hi Graeme, nice to hear from someone else at Lilydale :)

I didn't actually realise that about the pedals and the wheel. So, in the Jab on the ground, the pedals are linked to both the wheel and the rudder? So if you try to physically move the rudder (by actually trying to move the rudder fin), it tries to move the wheel as well?

Thanks for all your replies :)

cheers, thanks for your reply :) I'm still trying to get around my perfectionist tendencies (which only show up at odd times, not with uni work or anything career-related oddly enough) and ask more questions. I know it's for my own good to ask questions, and I will definitely ask about this at my next lesson.

As for now, I've temporarily grounded myself due to a cold (sigh), so the questions will have to wait for next week.

Hi all,

I'm a new student, whose only been flying for a few months - this is my first post here actually. I've recently started doing the pre-flight checks myself and I have a few (probably stupid) questions:

1. When I go out to do the check, my instructor tells me that he'll follow me out in about 5-10 minutes. By the time he comes out, I've usually been through the check about 2-3 times. Is it meant to take 5-10 minutes and I'm being fast (and perhaps missing things) or is he just giving me lots of time to do it in?

2. Are you meant to dip the fuel tanks during each preflight, or just during the first of the day? I do the fuel drain to check for water etc, but I'm not sure whether I'm meant to dip the tanks as well. I'm flying a Jabiru J160, are the little bits sticking up on top of the wings the fuel tank lids? Also, I'm fairly short, does anyone have any tips for short pilots when dipping tanks?

3. When checking all the different control surfaces (like ailerons, elevator etc), I can move the ailerons and the elevator (to check movement) but not the rudder. I'm assuming that's because the rudder is harder to move in general, is that right or is it just because I'm weak?

Any help anyone can give me would be appreciated :) I keep thinking I should stick L-plates to the windscreen of the plane....