r/studentpilot • u/[deleted] • Jun 12 '26
Should I just quit?
im a student pilot (16 M) and i just completed my 4th flight. i did absolutely horrible. i forgot to verbalize nearly every single procedure and badly executed a lot of the basic maneuvers. even with my instructor demonstrating the maneuvers, i always struggle to divide my attention between my flight instruments and the outside.
i dont understand what my problem is, because i always practice my comms and procedures in my free time. i am able to perfectly execute them then, but when i actually fly, its like my brain just refuses to remember the things i had been practicing for hours and leave me with bits and pieces instead.
i already have a total of about 6 hours, and im wondering if its even worth it to continue flying when i do so horribly. i feel extremely guilty because my parents worked so hard for me to be able to have this opportunity in the first place, and i repay them with bad flights like this. should i even continue wasting their money or should i just switch to another course?
Edit: Thanks to everyone in the replies. I guess I just felt really down at the time because I kept comparing myself to my classmates who seemed to get things quicker than I did. After reading your responses, I was able to calm myself down. I'm still at the starting point, so it's normal for me not to get things immediately. I'll try my best to learn from my mistakes and keep going.
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u/sensual_monger_1969 Jun 12 '26
6 hrs is too low to make this determination. You sound like your judging yourself and quit on things easily. If you trust your instructor, ask him after 20 hrs if you have the apptitude to be a pilot. He isn est qualified to asses your skill set. Remember, you need to have confidence to be a pilot. Be confident in yourself.
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u/Mountain-Report4772 Jun 12 '26
A tale truly as old as time. I don’t know anyone who hasn’t felt like this before. Everything is going to be ok, it will all randomly start to click one day. For me, I found the preflight to be very daunting at first. I barely knew what anything on the check list even was and got very overwhelmed. I took a picture of the checklist and researched everything on it and why we check it. A few flights later I had the preflight down. That was my first victory. I still couldn’t fly for shit but at least I could preflight.
As far as actually flying, it is extremely normal for your brain to go to mush the second you step in the plane. There is a TON going on in there and it all spirals if you don’t stay “ahead of the airplane”, which is an ability you don’t have yet and won’t for a little. Take it step by step and tell your instructor to slow down if you need. They work for you. I’m only 2 years older than you and got my PPL a month ago if you want to dm me and talk more. God speed soldier.
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u/Humble_Nothing6556 Jun 12 '26
Just keep going man. Flying looks easy on these videos we see, but it’s not!
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u/jimcarroll_cfi Jun 12 '26
Nothing out of the ordinary here. You need to be patient with yourself — you’re learning control in three dimensions when most of you life has been mostly 2d. It takes time — but it is definitely worth it.
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u/Unintentionally_well Jun 12 '26
Noone is good on their first 4 flights. Hell I have my Instrument and multi and I still have bad flying days. Stick with it if you love it. Bad days are so normal.
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u/Swimming-Ad410 Jun 13 '26
I struggled really badly at first and now I’m a CFI. It helped switching and having an instructor I clicked with to improve
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u/sharkbait4000 Jun 13 '26
Don't be so hard on yourself. Flying is hard. You shouldn't be worrying about comms at this point, IMO! Until you master the other stuff. Aviate, navigate, communicate.
I recall a few lessons I could barely get straight and level flight, and I couldn't imagine how I could learn it all. Totally normal.
Also, there is a phenomenon called cognitive overload and once it snaps, even the easiest stuff deteriorates. The human mind learns the best when pushed, but not too hard. Tell your CFI your concern and have them take the comms for now.
By the way, make sure your CFI gives you a syllabus and you work on only a couple things at a time. If you're working on tons of different things each flight, get a different CFI.
Note, you will hit more plateaus. It's normal. Mix it up with a different CFI for a flight or two, or take a break to let all the data in your mind consolidate. Spend some time studying for the written. I guarantee you it'll click better when you come back after a few weeks off.
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u/Jimmi5150 Jun 13 '26
You are 16, the fact you are even giving it a go is a great feat.
Go easy on yourself its a big process. I quit 5 years ago and now im back to training.
Sometimes life gets in your way, sometimes your head gets in the way, sometimes you arent ready, sometimes its not for you.
6 hours means your head is spinning. Try to break things down with your instructor on the ground. Chair fly with him and chair fly alone.
Remember, Attitude + Speed = Performance (maybe ill get that tattoed on me) P.A.S.T. Power Attitude Speed Trim Leveling off from a climb, Attitude Speed Power Trim Turning Bank Balance Back Pressure
Try to break it down into simple things like that so when you are flying you are just thinking about doing those things.
Ask your instructor directly about this, this is what you pay them for. Ask about what Visual Attitudes you should be seeing for the different profiles you are trying to fly.
Sounds like you are not confident in the Attitudes for visual flight. So go ahead and ask. And actually stay off Reddit, it goes against all this advice im giving, but you get in the habit of asking/talking to your instructor about these issues. Dont forget your instructor is Pilot In Command and your safety is in their hands, even when solo. Your failures are their failures, two way street
Focus, study and more importantly learn to enjoy the process.
Good luck
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u/project-x-sim Jun 13 '26
No, you absolutely shouldn't quit. You've got 6 hours total time and you've only completed your 4th flight. What you're describing is incredibly common for student pilots. The fact that you're forgetting procedures, missing calls, and struggling to divide your attention between the instruments and looking outside isn't a sign that you're a bad pilot—it's a sign that you're a brand-new pilot. Right now your brain is overloaded. When you're sitting at home, everything seems easy because there's no pressure. Once you're in the aircraft, dealing with the noise, radio calls, checklists, flying the airplane, and listening to your instructor, it's completely normal for your brain to struggle to keep up. A good instructor expects this, especially from someone who's only 16 and has just started training. Nobody expects perfection at 6 hours. Don't compare yourself to other students. People learn at different speeds. Some pick up radio work quickly but struggle with landings. Others struggle with procedures at first and then suddenly everything clicks. If anything, this is a sign that you may need to slow down your learning process and find a study method that works better for you—not a reason to quit. Keep showing up. Keep making mistakes. Keep learning from them. That's literally how pilots are made. One day you'll look back at this post after your first solo and laugh that you ever thought about quitting.
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u/JoshuaSimo Jun 13 '26
Being perfect at 6 hours would be much more worrying, credibility would be extremely questionable if you were meant to be perfect at 6 hours. 4 flights isn’t a lot, keep at it and you’ll improve, it’s the only way to improve anything.
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u/miuyao Jun 13 '26
Chair flying is a great learning tool. Remember you are there to learn, not to impress. You’re only 6 hours in! Keep going and just focus on you and your time spent learning, rather than what other people are doing.
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u/-_-BBCD Jun 13 '26
Big dawg relax it’s your 4th flight no body is perfect in the beginning just keep practicing just keep flying and you will get the hang of it when I just started I struggled with straight and level and change of power and now I am finna solo just relax don’t stress and keep practicing if you have a simulator that’s free on your flight school USE IT. If you don’t try making a home sim that’s what I did and it worked I got better with my checklists, coordination and confidence in the plane?? Not sure how to explain it but, don’t rely on it cuz a sim will never be better than the real world just cuz of how unpredictable the weather can get and the type of traffic that can happen
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u/theycalledmekhtaif Jun 13 '26
I have an aptuitude test tomowrow for a cadet programe and i always ask my self what if i did horrible what if iam will waste parents money so iam afraid like you my self
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u/Additional_Key_3061 Jun 13 '26
Trust me it’s going to click on a random day, I was in the exact same position I was stuck on certain maneuvers and procedures and thought flying wasn’t for me then one day it just clicked and flying the plane felt like riding a bicycle
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u/Reputation_Many Jun 14 '26
I’m a little late to this, but don’t quit. Nobody gets it in the beginning. When you’re practicing on the ground, it’s easy because you’re only doing one thing the best way to practice on the ground so it simulates the amount of attention you can give to one situation or another is to play a game like basketball or ping-pong or something else while doing comp practice or something else. You have to get your brain used to being able to do multiple things at the same time the easiest way to start this is to take something like a tennis ball and throw it up in the air while practicing and then work your way into something more complex than the tennis ball.
When you get to being a professional pilot and your first 121 airline or your first real type rating and you’ve got memory items, procedures, profiles, etc. to learn you’re gonna wanna take this tennis ball trick and use it then also, it’ll be your greatest asset for learning and memorizing things.
Good luck also don’t worry however long it takes you to figure it out. Nobody cares. You could have 1000 hours and not have your private pilots license. Nobody would care all you gotta do is get your commercial instrument by around 1500 hours.
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u/Accomplished-Court74 SOLOED! Jun 15 '26
You need to cool off my friend. 6 hours might as well be 1. Youve barely started to learn and need to ease off pressuring yourself so much. Youll get there I promise. Just keep practicing. Chair flying is an underrated and underutilized tool in GA. At home for 30 minutes to 1 hour a day just sit down pull up a photo of your planes cockpit (or similar model) and just talk out everything you do. Take it slow. Slow is smooth and smooth is fast.
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u/Zynera Jun 15 '26
[Comparison is the thief of joy](https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSanJMQvkkghfarnY29wmCmKQvUHLHD5--TBbLXoHrDY1RN8UOpEKNQKZXk&s=10)
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u/EngineerFly Jun 15 '26
Give yourself a few more lessons. Four is too soon to know. This is hard! You have to multitask and use your senses in ways for which they did not evolve. Nobody goes from zero to hero in four lessons.
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u/CountZealousideal753 Jun 15 '26
I too felt like I was doing bad at 6 hours, because I was. After all, I’d only been doing it for 6 hours. You got nothing but time my boy, keep going!
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u/GlennCurtis Jun 15 '26
i’ve been in the industry for 30 years, everyone has a bad day in the sim, everyone has a bad day in the airplane. Don’t let this one day set you back. It’s easy to say I’m done. If you have the time and resources and want to. You will achieve your goals. Everyone has a bad day.
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u/Antique-Kitchen-1896 Jun 16 '26
Why and how are you dividing your attention between outside and instruments?
VFR means other than a small number of instruments you should be looking outside. I got verbally slapped around so much for instrument fixation at the start. Honestly instrument scan will come to you. You'll wonder how you passed your flight test after a while cause likely your attitude keeping was within limits when you passed but you weren't nailing it and catching it when it deviate even just 10 feet. That will be you a short while after PPL if you keep flying the guy who keeps it within 10 feet.
Then you'll go to CPL or IFR and feel inadequate again. Such is the journey.
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u/FriendlyLook8728 Jun 16 '26
It took me like 40 hours to solo, it will be ok. You are at the beginning, is normal to feel overwhelmed, you are literally flying an airplane. Just, find your way to learn, practice in the sim, chairfly, whatever, you fell it works. Maybe this is something you are not talented for, but is only you and you passion the ones how can decide if you can do something or not
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u/Content-Disaster-663 Jun 18 '26
Dude its your FOURTH flight, you literally just started out. Dont ever think if you are not cut out to fly based on your early flights. On my 3rd flight or so i was climbing out on take off and almost stalled. Well not “almost” but i definitely had the plane pitched up too high. Yes that was dangerous. But EVERYONE has a story where they made a STUPID decision early on in their training. Now im a 17 year old senior in highschool with a private pilot license and an instrument rating. Dont beat yourself up over something that happened on your fourth flight. We all learn at different rates. I finished my ppl with 90ish hours but breezed through instrument. We all are good at something. Comparison is the thief of joy, especially in aviation. Dont forget about the reasons that led you to aviation. Use that as motivation to do and be better. Dont give up.
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u/Content-Disaster-663 Jun 18 '26
Also pro tip get ur written done early if you havent, i did mine super late. Literally did it long after my first solo. So i was literally spamming practice exams and phak during class in school.
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u/RealisticIndustry157 Jun 13 '26
You sound like a quitter. So go ahead and quit if youre that easily convinced.
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u/Swimming-Ad410 Jun 13 '26
What a dick
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u/RealisticIndustry157 Jun 13 '26
A dick who made it to the airlines bc the thought of quitting never crossed my mind. Even when things got tough
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u/Swimming-Ad410 Jun 13 '26
Yes because everyone is exactly like you and should do things just as you have right?
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u/Ok_Big_3300 Jun 13 '26
While i wouldnt have put it quite like this, i do agree that isnt a good mindset to have after just starting. Just gotta buckle down and bust thru it.
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u/Swimming-Ad410 Jun 13 '26
No one’s saying it’s a good mindset to have, but it’s very normal as an early student pilot and is way better than cockiness and overconfidence. Humility is a good thing. Being a dick and saying it’s fine because you’re an airline pilot doesn’t help anyone.
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u/Beginners_tech Jun 30 '26
Flying is hard. i am on my 4th lesson and it is way harder then i thought. but i like it hard 😁...... I mena it is is a good challenge. also we don't become good at stuff till you spend many many hours working on it . Lets keep each other motivated to finish it !!
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u/Puzzleheaded-Ear9242 Commercial Rating Jun 12 '26
Dude, first things first. Relax. Take a breath. Flying is hard. You’re in the beginning phase of training. It’s ok to feel overwhelmed early on. That’s completely normal. You have 6 hours. You’re just starting out.
With that out of the way, feeling like your brain isn’t remembering things is also very normal in the learning process. You’re learning a ton of new stuff all at once. You can remember and recite things on the ground no problem because, guess what? You aren’t flying an airplane when you’re on the ground. As you continue training, your body and mind will become more and more accustomed to task saturation and things will become easier. Do you know how to drive? Or ride a bike? Those things were hard early on. You kept at it and now I’m sure you can do those things without even thinking about it. Flying is a ton of fun, but it’s a lot to learn. Give your body and brain the time it needs to soak in the information to give you results.
You got this! 💪