When does the “clueless” feeling fade as a student pilot?
Posted by poorcablemanagement6@reddit | flying | View on Reddit | 49 comments
Hi all!! This is my first time posting here, so forgive me if anything seems off or weird, not super familiar with Reddit haha.
Here’s some context: I’m finishing up my freshman year of high school, and towards the beginning of the year, I spontaneously became really interested in airplanes and piloting. I have recently had the amazing opportunity to take a few lessons, and I LOVE them. However, nobody in my family or anyone I’m close with has any experience in aviation, so I’m pretty much going into it by myself, and navigating it alone is prettyyyyy intimidating.
My CFI is awesome, he’s super kind and understanding, and so I’m learning a lot very quickly. the problem is, I feel like no matter how much material and content I consume, it feels like every other pilot speaks a foreign language I just can’t pick up on. I understand I’m super early into the experience (third lesson next week lol) but I’ve always been the kind of anxious over-preparing type, and feeling underprepared is super stressful. I guess what I’m asking is, is this normal? This might sound dumb, but sometimes I’ll be on social media and scroll to one of those “hahah relatable pilot” videos and I just don’t get it. There’s so much jargon and terms I’ve never even HEARD before. For example, I remember during my first flight, magnetos were mentioned, and I remember thinking, “WHAT are those?? was I supposed to know what those are beforehand?”
naturally, when I come across something I don’t understand, (like a new abbreviation or term I haven’t heard) I always go read up on it right away. Im trying to do everything I can to eliminate confusion, but I STILL feel like I’m walking into each lesson blind.
does the “I don’t know what I’m doing” phase pass soon? should I just continue to go with the flow and learn with time?
any thoughts or advice greatly appreciated!!
TdoggJenkins77@reddit
Focus on the fun, not on how others see you. A big part of growing up is not being so afraid to fail or look like a dummy. Happens to all of us all the time. Other people give you way more credit than you realize.
UsuckUnoob@reddit
Just got my first type…
Still clueless…
PayCautious1243@reddit
Change your mindset from I am clueless to I will understand or things will be understood. Being prepared changes your mindset but if you don’t feel prepared even though you did everything by the book then address that mindset to I am ready to show what I can do. If you are not prepared then be realistic and take initiative whether it involves your CFI or an adjustment to positive habits. Student pilot here, you will do great my friend. It makes me happy you came here because you care, and when you care great thing happen, lets do this!
poorcablemanagement6@reddit (OP)
thank you so much friend
PayCautious1243@reddit
Lets fly high!
Ouchies81@reddit
It’s not that the clueless feeling fully fades, rather at some point you realize everyone else is clueless too.
poorcablemanagement6@reddit (OP)
this is actually wildly reassuring thanks
cmdr-William-Riker@reddit
Kind of like driving
coldnebo@reddit
yeah, don’t worry OP, pretty soon the “should I have known that?” feeling fades and it’s replaced by the “I should have remembered that!” 😅🤦♂️
cptnpiccard@reddit
CFI here. Can confirm.
3inches43pumpsis9@reddit
😂😂😂😂
FlyingArtilleryman@reddit
A good pilot learns something new every flight. Flying is easy. MASTERING flying and all the knowledge is hard. You'll keep learning and practicing and the things you struggle with now you'll do automatically without thinking down the road. Then there will be new stuff to struggle with. So on and so forth.
Jwylde2@reddit
Wait a minute...it fades???
No-Building2255@reddit
I’m about to start instructing and I still feel this way sometimes
It never ends
Apprehensive_Cost937@reddit
Never.
The more you know, the more you know how much there is you don't know.
FvKuR0@reddit
It still blows my mind that I ever got my instrument rating. I felt like drowning in info when studying for the written test and I already know I'd struggle to remember half the things I memorized for it.
Old-Trouble-8830@reddit
I have my CPL single engine and I’m still clueless I just now have a little bit of confidence while also being clueless. I have some strong areas and some weak areas but CRM is a great way to manage that.
However once on your solo or you are taking up a passenger who can’t do anything except maybe see outside. Play to your strengths know your weaknesses so you can work and play around them and try your best. Second guess yourself when you need to, don’t be afraid to ask for help ATC is your friend even if they’re being mean their whole job is to keep us safe. Most importantly take your time brother everything will turn out fine in time and never give up.
HornetsnHomebrew@reddit
Lots of good advice here, but I’ll add another tidbit: the clueless feeling will keep you safe. Try to value the frank admission of what you understand and what you don’t. There will always be items you don’t understand.
The thing you really need to watch is confidence. Being unconcerned about being thousands of feet above the ground with no parachute should concern you. All of us are susceptible to complacency; it’s human but it is dangerous. As you do any hazardous activity consistently, complacency becomes your enemy. Fight complacency. Keep being conscious of what you don’t know. Stay humble with respect to what you know and what others know. Look to learn from others.
These are my thoughts, and probably indicators of those things with which I struggle.
Good luck.
DillonTheVillon@reddit
I completely agree with this op. I hope you take the time to read through everyone's wisdom nuggets as the general consensus is correct. Everyone's clueless and that's the name of the game. However to answer your point, through time and experience you'll be come more familiar with the foreign concept you feel are ALL around. But you'll still be at a thousand hours as a cfi and talking with a student or another cfi, and a question comes up that you realize you haven't heard. Or you mention something that a colleague hasn't heard and you wonder jeez... That was primary level knowledge...
When I was a student pilot I remember my instructor sitting so chill in the plane, with a dip cup in one hand. He'd take controls to demonstrate stuff, butter landings, the dude could walk and chew gum at the same time while holding a conversation. I asked, "maaan. You look so comfy, like I do driving stick shift in a car. When can I expect to feel that way?" He said it didn't start to click and feel comfortable till about 500 hours. I had the same experience. By 500-600 hours you've made pilots, seen pilots better and worse, and lived experiences. You'll look back and realize damn. I'm comfortable. That's the dangerous part. There's a reason the highest accident rates are with 750 hour-ish guys and not fresh minted ppl.
Stay vigilant. Stay curious. Keep learning. There's a whole career ahead of you and for the love of God do it the right way. Learn paper charts. Read the books. Don't grovel at doing vor approaches because we have gps. The old heads used to shoot ndb approaches that would wind up in separate counties with 200 passengers on a 200,000lb jet. Stay the course buddy!
oandroido@reddit
Not for a very, very long time. Embrace it. It makes you a better pilot.
poopybuttwo@reddit
I remember that for the first 10 hours I had a really hard time steering the plane with the rudders on the ground; it felt wildly unintuitive. A lot of this is just building muscle memory / mental pathways that attune you to how the airplane works. At some point your brain will intuitively pitch down to accelerate, it won’t be as ‘decisional’. I did all this while watching my kids learn to walk, a big part of your PPL is learning to fly and it’s going to take 50+ hours to start feeling comfortable.
mr_dee_wingz@reddit
I gave up feeling clueless.
SumOfKyle@reddit
still clueless and I’ve got my cml checkride coming up
throfak@reddit
I'm still trying to figure that out
PLIKITYPLAK@reddit
All joking aside, Once you solo you gain a bunch of confidence.
22Planeguy@reddit
About a week before retirement
PsychologicalGlass47@reddit
About 2 years after retirement
PsychologicalGlass47@reddit
No matter where you are in your journey there is simply no way for you to have been down every trail. A lot of things are going to sound foreign to you, especially this early on.
I'd guess to say you're part 61? Magnetos are usually covered in ground school after a handful of hours. The best way for you to learn about most things, as you seemingly have, is to simply be there and have someone to guide you. It's the point of a CFI.
Admirable-Writer-213@reddit
The more you fly (fly purposefully—a good pilot is always learning so always try and be learning) the less brain power it’ll take to fly and the more brainpower you’ll have to do “everything else” It gets to be kinda like driving, ease-wise. That being said…. Always use your checklists, always be ahead of the aircraft, and always have a plan B.
mconrad382@reddit
Mostly never 😂
Mithster18@reddit
When you over learn what you're required to know. The issue is theres always another page, and another book.
Schwalbe262Guy@reddit
It’s a “Eureka” moment
Professional_Read413@reddit
Maybe never? Hell I still do runups, run through the entire checklist, and then have anxiety about what i forgot the whole way to the hold short line
VileInventor@reddit
Do it more, you’ll get there. To be honest you don’t really know anything until you’re actually the one teaching it.
Recent-Day3062@reddit
I'm at your point as well, but flew a lot when younger with frinds/family.
I can consume new info like few people - and I mean that totally seriously. If it's math or scince I just "get it" and remebermber.
One hard thing about piloting, however, is it's not linear learning, like algebra or some such. There are many things you are learning at once, in addition to handling the airplane. Even stuff like radio usage. Also, from looking ahead at training, as you get farther they often teach you to look at it another way. For example, right now you and I are learning to manage airspeed and altitude for landing. But you will see on here and other places where pilots talk about managing the energy of the plane instead. It's a slightly more sophisticated way to think that would not be obvious now.
As I said, I am super good in things like math, but already I see how this is different. Your goal is to run a marathon, but right now you are just learning to walk. You can't understand the advice of a running coach until you can actually run - clumsily - on your own. For example, I clicked on a link here today about medical issues, and most of it was about illusions while flying that could kill you. I knew some, but I learned an immense amount already about optical illusions and why the brain falls for them. There's just an ocean of info to learn. For an example, I'm an engineer and understanding wings, lift, AOA, and drag was super easy for me. But it would be a lot to absorb were I not one. (fun fact: the Bernoulli explanation, which I think is required to be taught, is actually wrong. Were it the 100% explanation, requiring camber on top, then no plane could fly upside down, which many can.)
I have found the approach to teaching flying to be quite good. It comes down to a multi-factor approach: ground school, dual instruction, online courses (like Sporty's), etc. You just have to drink from each hose at the same time
Logical_Basis_3643@reddit
Im at 17 hours right now and the complete clueless feeling probably got better for me around 10 hours. Im talking just in terms of simply flying the plane and managing altitude and airspeed. It’s really just cognitive overload. My cfi is good at finding my limits and where I get saturated then backing off a little bit and pushing it a little more each lesson. But anyways I’ve heard no matter how many hours you have you still have to stay humble and not assume you know everything.
Accomplished_Beat418@reddit
The worst part is when a student pilot doesn’t understand they’re clueless until shit hits the fan (in their mind) and the CFI has to take over.
It’s the valley of despair on the Dunning-Kruger curve.
_-Cleon-_@reddit
I'll let you know.
poser765@reddit
Let me know too, while you’re at it.
RoseRedHillHouse@reddit
After a few dozen hours, you will get less clueless in that you know more about what you don't know. Flying is something where you need to keep a certain awareness of your cluelessness and the humility to acknowledge your limitations. Everyone has them, and it's healthy to either accept those limits and not tempt fate, and train like hell with experts who can prepare you for some of those limiting factors if they are what you want to do with flying.
If you feel like you know everything there is to know, you're at the peak of the Dunning-Kruger curve and likely in some considerable danger in the air.
__joel_t@reddit
You're two lessons in. It's definitely drinking from a firehouse. Totally normal. It's your instructor's job to have a plan for ensuring you know all the material you need to know. After each flight, ask the instructor what you're going to work on the following flight and what you need to do to study up beforehand to maximize the learning. If it's not working for you, talk to your instructor. If it's still not working for you after that, change instructors.
FrugalGuy007@reddit
Ground school. Classroom education in the evenings. Around here it’s one night per week for several months. Get the Jeppson book, the AIM, and a seat in a class.
GirraffeMan1@reddit
I would encourage you to change your paradigm. Instead of thinking, " I'm clueless and I don't understand any of this, " change it to, " I'm glad I have another opportunity to learn something that I don't yet know."
I'm a relatively new CFI with only 350 hours flight time. There are still plenty of times where I feel like I don't know enough... Part of that is imposter syndrome, part of it is perfectionism, and part of it is I not realizing that I can't reasonably be expected to learn every single thing that exists for every single airplane and every flying situation.
TLDR: Don't get discouraged, get excited to learn. Even once you get your pilot's license it isn't saying you are a good enough pilot... It's getting permission to continue learning.
Dethgrave@reddit
Entirely normal to feel clueless, especially for the first 15 hours or so until certain things start to click and make sense. Even then I felt like I didn't know anything even when I completed my first checride. A large portion is just the immersion into the lingo and jargon.
No one expects you to be perfect or even to understand everything. Simply reading the lesson plan for the next lesson is often more than other students do. Remember your CFI works for you. If you have a question about what your about to do or just completed just ask!
T-1A_pilot@reddit
Cluelessness never fades, it just moves to different topics....
Mrs_Fagina@reddit
It’s constant. Had a conversation recently on the flight deck about mode limitations in the jet I fly.
Like “hey did you know XYZ does this?” Or “yea man it doesn’t like it if you do XYZ”
Just make a note on it. Go back and read. Before you know it, you’ll be the guy teaching someone a fun fact.
pattern_altitude@reddit
Have you started ground school yet?
Flyingredditburner44@reddit
Sounds like there is none.
rFlyingTower@reddit
This is a copy of the original post body for posterity:
Hi all!! This is my first time posting here, so forgive me if anything seems off or weird, not super familiar with Reddit haha.
Here’s some context: I’m finishing up my freshman year of high school, and towards the beginning of the year, I spontaneously became really interested in airplanes and piloting. I have recently had the amazing opportunity to take a few lessons, and I LOVE them. However, nobody in my family or anyone I’m close with has any experience in aviation, so I’m pretty much going into it by myself, and navigating it alone is prettyyyyy intimidating.
My CFI is awesome, he’s super kind and understanding, and so I’m learning a lot very quickly. the problem is, I feel like no matter how much material and content I consume, it feels like every other pilot speaks a foreign language I just can’t pick up on. I understand I’m super early into the experience (third lesson next week lol) but I’ve always been the kind of anxious over-preparing type, and feeling underprepared is super stressful. I guess what I’m asking is, is this normal? This might sound dumb, but sometimes I’ll be on social media and scroll to one of those “hahah relatable pilot” videos and I just don’t get it. There’s so much jargon and terms I’ve never even HEARD before. For example, I remember during my first flight, magnetos were mentioned, and I remember thinking, “WHAT are those?? was I supposed to know what those are beforehand?”
naturally, when I come across something I don’t understand, (like a new abbreviation or term I haven’t heard) I always go read up on it right away. Im trying to do everything I can to eliminate confusion, but I STILL feel like I’m walking into each lesson blind.
does the “I don’t know what I’m doing” phase pass soon? should I just continue to go with the flow and learn with time?
any thoughts or advice greatly appreciated!!
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