Lesson 1, Getting started

Discovery flight

Flight: Out West

FAA Detroit sectional, 29 OCT 2026 edition. For briefing, not for navigation: fly from the current chart. Tap the chart to open it full size.

Today's flight

What do Ann Arbor and the Chelsea Proving Grounds look like from a few thousand feet up, with your own hands on the controls? Today you find out. This is why people fly: the view, the freedom, and the feeling of moving an airplane yourself.

Before we go, pick one landmark on the chart west of the airport that you would like to see, and you will fly us to it. Today you are a passenger who helps: you watch how a pilot gets ready, take the controls on the way out, and feel what each control does. Nothing to learn by heart and nothing to get right. Ask anything.

Every flight

Before every flight

P
Pilot. Am I fit to fly today? IMSAFE:
- Illness
- Medication
- Stress
- Alcohol
- Fatigue
- Emotion, and eating
Aircraft. Is this airplane ready, and right for today? Documents, inspections and open squawks; fuel and oil on board; weight, balance and performance for today's load.
V
Environment. What will today's flight meet? NWKRAFT, what 14 CFR 91.103 asks you to know before every flight, then the airspace and the route:
- NOTAMs and TFRs
- Weather, against your minimums
- Known ATC delays
- Runway lengths
- Alternates
- Fuel required, with reserve
- Takeoff and landing distances
- Airspace: the Class B limits from the current chart
- The trip: heading, time, landmarks, wind and runway
External pressures. What is pushing me to go today: a passenger, a schedule, a plan I don't want to cancel? Would I go without it?
If it goes wrong. The takeoff emergency brief, out loud: an engine problem on the runway, after liftoff with runway left, and after liftoff without.
Who flies. Who does what today, and how we hand the controls back and forth.

Who runs it today: The instructor, out loud, so you hear it once before you ever do it yourself.

Deeper today: Nothing yet. Just notice that it happens before every flight, and that it covers every way a flight can go wrong.

Recall

From earlier lessons

This is the first lesson.

Why Knowing what to expect turns surprise into curiosity.

What flying feels like

Small movements: the airplane answers gentle pressure, not big pulls.
Bumps are normal, like a boat on small waves.
The engine gets louder to climb and quieter to descend.
Feeling uneasy is fine: say so, and we fly gentler or head home.

Why Every maneuver you will ever fly is a mix of these four.

The controls

Yoke forward and back: nose down and up.
Yoke left and right: the wings bank, and the airplane turns.
Rudder pedals: keep the nose pointed where the turn is going.
Throttle: more power to climb, less to descend.

Why Two pilots, one airplane: there is never a moment when nobody is flying it.

Who is flying

To hand over: "You have the flight controls."
To take them: "I have the flight controls."
To confirm: "You have the flight controls."
Then look: check the other pilot really has them before you let go.

Why In a small airplane, most of flying is looking out the window.

Eyes outside

The horizon is the main instrument: the nose against it says climbing, level or descending.
Help look for traffic: point and say where, like "airplane, two o'clock, low."
Gauges get a quick glance, then eyes back outside.

Why Your first look at the airspace you will learn to read on the chart.

Why we practice out west

Detroit's airspace sits on top of Ann Arbor, and we stay below or outside it.
To the west of the airport it ends: that is why we practice out by Chelsea.
You will find its edges on the chart yourself in lesson 4.

A real accident

This lesson is about why people fly. Real accident reports start in lesson 2, which explains why every flight starts with the same routine.

Your calls

Decision points

Which landmark you want to see, picked from the chart before we go.
Whether to take the controls, and when to give them back.
Whether to keep going or head home early. You can end the flight at any time, for any reason, and that is a good call.

The whole flight

Also on this flight

Part of the flight	Who
Every-flight routine	Instructor, out loud
Picking your landmark on the chart	You
Preflight inspection	Instructor; you watch and ask
Engine start, taxi, runup	Instructor
Takeoff and climb	Instructor; you can rest a hand lightly on the controls
Out to your landmark	You fly, with the instructor
Climbs, turns and descents: at least three gentle turns each way, one climb and one descent	You fly, with the instructor
Exchange of controls	Both: at least once each way, said out loud
Back to KARB, pattern and landing	Instructor
Shutdown and securing	Instructor; you help
Debrief	Both, you first

The standard

Ready to move on when

You want to keep going.
You have handed the controls back and forth with the exchange said out loud.
You have started the paperwork: a student pilot certificate application on IACRA and a medical certificate application on MedXPress.

At home, before the next flight

Chair fly it

Read the club's new student orientation before lesson 2.
Replay the flight in your head for ten minutes: the takeoff, the view, the feel of the controls.
Say the exchange of controls out loud a few times until it comes without thinking.
Think about why you want to fly, and one trip you would like to fly someday. Lesson 2 starts with both.

After the flight

Debrief

You go first, then the instructor. Three points at most, and you write down one thing to work on next time.

Your first time flying an airplane: which moment do you want to remember?
What felt easy, and what felt strange?
What do you want to see or try next time?

Notes for teaching this lesson

Before the flight

Book the model the student will train in for the whole course, 152 or 172, so the first airplane is their airplane.
Pick a day with light wind and good visibility. A rough first flight costs more students than anything else.
Have the club's new student orientation checklist ready; part of it can be done after the flight.
Help them pick the landmark on the chart: west of KARB and clear of the Class B (Pleasant Lake, the proving grounds, Chelsea). If they name something east, like their house in town, say it's a later flight and why.

In the air

Let them fly as much as they are comfortable with, and no more. Gentle turns, no steep banks or stalls.
Watch for motion sickness: cool air, eyes on the horizon, head home early if needed.
Point out Ann Arbor, the proving grounds, Rossettie (75G), Pleasant Lake (about 12 miles west), the gravel pits west of the field that mark the west end of KARB's Class D, and where the Class B ends on the chart or the moving map.
Run the routine and the takeoff brief out loud without explaining them yet. Lesson 2 explains them.
Talk the trip through out loud on the way: which way the practice area is, about how long it takes, what to look for on the ground, and where the wind is from. Just enough that planning a trip is something they have always heard a pilot do.
Common first-flight errors: gripping the yoke, big inputs, eyes on the gauges, and forgetting the rudder in turns. Say "relax your grip, look outside" before you correct anything else.
If it isn't working (they are tense or queasy), take the controls with the positive exchange, fly smooth and level for a few minutes, and offer them back only if they want them.

Curveballs

Briefed on the ground first: "I'll hand you the airplane, and you fly us to your landmark."
Briefed: a small power change in level flight, so they feel the nose rise or drop on its own.
Briefed: one turn with no rudder and one with it, so they feel the difference.
Briefed: the student spots the next traffic or landmark before you point it out.

After the flight

Debrief with the student talking first. End on something they did well: the first turn, finding their landmark, the first exchange of controls.
Schedule lesson 2 before they leave. The club recommends two to three flights and one ground lesson a week.
Start the orientation checklist and the IACRA application together if there is time.