by Jeb Burnside

The first few hundred hours of any pilot’s flying career are the ones involving the greatest accumulation of experience and judgment. In some ways, it’s a miracle any of us survive this period; in other ways, these first few hours of flying time are both necessary and something of a rite of passage. In any event, a new Private pilot’s objective should be to get through them without bending sheet metal or bones. He or she should take few risks and concentrate on learning about making decisions, conducting proper pre-flight planning, developing various in-flight routines and constantly monitoring a flight’s progress. A healthy respect for weather doesn’t hurt anything,…