Private Pilot License

Here’s a short film that may interest you, if you can find it online somewhere or if you happen (like me) to own the DVD of the James Cagney film The Fighting 69th (on which it’s a bonus extra feature):

Young America Flies (1940)

Bill, Jane, Jim, and Jack, four aspiring young pilots, enroll in flight school and are assigned to John Woodward, a tough but sympathetic flight instructor. Bill hopes to become a commercial pilot, Jane, his fiancee, an instructor, and Jim, an army pilot. Jack’s brashness and lack of discipline cause him to get cashiered as a pilot, but to his credit he re-enrolls in order to become an aeronautical engineer.

Still on the subject of movies, these two WWII-era Technicolor feature films include flight-instruction sequences.  Part of the plot of Dive Bomber (1941) involves a Navy doctor played by Eroll Flynn taking flying lessons from Navy pilot Fred MacMurray, so that the doctor can become a flight surgeon.  These two guys detest each other and they exchange a great many sarcastic lines, such as “Tim, the doctor here wants a pair of wings so he can visit his ex-patients. See if you can jam his head into a cockpit.”  Captains of the Clouds (1942) is the story of four devil-may-care bush pilots (one of them played by James Cagney) who enlist in the RCAF and who are insulted (particularly in Cagney’s case) to learn that they’ll have to learn to fly all over again.

Since you’re aiming to pilot an F-16, another film you’d probably enjoy would be Fighter Pilot: Operation Red Flag.  It was originally an IMAX documentary (which I saw at the National Air and Space Museum), but it’s available on DVD.  It’s a documentary about an advanced aerial combat training exercise that takes place periodically at Nellis Air Force Base.  Great flight footage and an interesting look at the computer technology that’s used to monitor the planes in real-time as they slug it out with simulated missiles.  The pilot we follow flies an F-15, but as I recall we get to see a squadron of F-16s function as the “enemy” force that the trainees try to defeat in combat.  The F-16 aggressor squadron has the advantage that it resides at the base and is thoroughly familiar with the canyon-filled landscape of the exercise area, so its pilots are very tough opponents to beat – which is the whole point, since the trainees learn more that way.

I just realized from your last post that I got my museums mixed up.  I’d forgotten that the museum in Dayton (where I saw the film and bought the DVD) is actually called the National Museum of the USAF, not the National Air and Space Museum (the one in Washington DC, which I also once visited).  Sorry for the confusion.  According to its website…

http://www.afmuseum.com/attractions/theatre/schedule-show-times

…the movie is still being shown there, so if Dayton is within reasonable travel range you can get to see the movie in full IMAX format (plus pick it up on DVD from the gift shop if you want your own copy).  The link above provides a clickable 1-minute preview.  The music in the actual film, by the way, is much better that whatever it is that they used for the preview.

Great!  Looking forward to hearing your comments on the film once you’ve seen it.

Good luck with the pilot’s licence, Hoffman. Very exciting!

I remember one of my first flying lessons.

I showed up, and saw other students leaving, I spoke with my instructor (an Aussie) who said “It’s a bit too windy, but it’s your call”.

Having no fear of a “little” wind, I laughed at the other students and proceeded to prepare the plane…

If you’ve ever wanted to know what it would be like to be inside a washing machine, this is what I recommend you try.

There’s nothing quite like trying to land a plane on a 45 degree approach angle whilst you are bouncing 300M +/- in elevation.

(A lesson for any non flyers.  The Propeller keeps you in the air, but is not necessarily indicative of the direction you are actually going.)  It was like trying to slide a car sideways into a straight forward parking stall, but correcting the wheels at the last second.

P.S.
And did you know the school charges you if they have to replace ALL of the barf bags?

My best advice Hoff, is to set all the money you’ll need aside before hand.  And then set a schedule that sees you complete.  Do not stop until you PASS!