November 30, 2004
Spelling in the blog
I'm really not a bad speller, actually I'm quite a good speller. And often, I use correct punctuation. However, for the purpose of this blog I am not really concerned about these things inasmuch as I am concerned with getting out the message of the content, which I find personally quite interesting.
However, I did learn to spell maneuver today thanks to http://www.dictionary.com so hopefully in the future I will use the correct spelling in these entries.
Posted by Chris Mitchell at 02:36 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
A day off
A day off for some much needed rest.
Sorry about the delay in posting. I didn't plan on getting three flight days behind, but I did not know how exhausting those three days would be. Aside from the flight time, I also have been studying for the Private exams as well as still studying (a bit) for the instrument exams which I'll have as soon as I finish this license.
So, with 7.7 hours of flight time logged in only 4 days, and with my building confidence in the plane, I'm pretty happy with what has been going on in my training. The more confident I am in the plane and the more familiar I am with the procedures, the better I'll be able to practice the techniques with my instructors, and eventually (probably sooner than later) in my solo hours. I am definitely looking forward to that, but I am sure that the main thing which would hold back my solo endorsement would be landings (from the base leg to the runway) and I have a feeling we will be practicing that pretty heavily in the next few flights. Tomorrow I'm flying with Scott, who I have not met yet, and that will likely be more traffic pattern and practice of what I already have been doing. In truth, these few simple procedures are really useful because they carry in them a lot of multitasking work. Rather than just working on climbing or descent (which still need work) or turns, you do them all in a specific order, along with changes in cockpit controls and radio use.
Definitely having a good time if nothing else.
Posted by Chris Mitchell at 12:15 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
November 29, 2004
Day 4
More practice of the same essential maneuvres with some good traffic pattern work. I also pick up a headset and give it a go in live flight.
Time Logged: 1.2 daytime VFR (Hank)
Location: KIWS TT: 7.7
Just a relatively short time out at the airport today, gaining 1.2 hours of flight time. The weather today was starting to get a little hazy/cloudy, and this was my first experience with rain showers on the windshield. As we lined up to takeoff (which, by the way, I am much more confident in now. My taxi'ing is not nearly as ... um.. all over the place as it was when I started) and got up to about 350 ft, rain started showing up. I commented "I don't guess this thing has windshield wipers" but in truth, once you get to cruise speed the rain is pretty well pushed out of the way.
At any rate, it was a relief to me that this kind of weather was not a problem for VFR flights and training. We had appropriate visibility and cloud clearance, and the forecast did not have any bad thunderstorms supposed to show up in our area soon.
So, we took off and went out to the practice area. I was feeling much more confident in handling the airplane, though nothing is perfect yet (and definitely not perfect enough for Hank, but that's a good thing I think since he may be my checkride examiner). We did more stalls, slow flight and forced landings. Then Hank asked me which way the airport was, and I started looking for I-10 and tracking slowly southeast. According to the GPS the airport should be just outside my left window, and there it was.
So, here we were to practice the traffic pattern. We entered the pattern and came around, then went around twice more. Each time, my pattern handling improved, my radio handling became much improved, and my actual touchdown was better. The third landing of the day was by no means spectacular, but at least I did my darndest to keep the plane in the air, which made Hank happier though the landing on the whole was not so hot.
Credit for 3 landings, and now I'm off tomorrow.
---
hardware: This morning I went by The Aviator Shop near Ellington to try on and pick up my first headset. I did not want to get too cheap a set since they do get used nearly every day, and likely will be for a long time. I also did not want to get too expensive a set, nor any active noise reduction because they are very expensive and really not necessary for what I'm doing currently.
Harvey had recommended Flightcom's Denali model, and the shop had a pair on display that I tried on. They were definitely lightweight, and easy to adjust the size, but the seal was not as perfect as I'd expected. I then tried on Peltor 7000 pro GT. The cups are a little fatter on this, and it is very slightly heavier than the Denali, but the seal was VERY GOOD and they were much quieter than the Denali even when just using speech as the comparison audio source. So, I was quite happy with them and bought them. They come with a very nice protective bag and a lifetime warranty (the big selling point of the ASA sets).
So, this flight used them, and I have to say they are great. They cost less than the Denali also, slightly, so in the same price range I would recommend that if you're shopping with the Denali in mind, give the Peltor 7000 Pro GT a try. It may just be a matter of head shape and size that made the difference, but I really was glad that we still have a specialty shop around here that let me see that first hand instead of taking a risk ordering blind (deaf?) online.
http://www.theaviatorshop.com
http://www.peltor.com/peltor.com/comm_detail.cfm?prod_family=Aviation%20Headset&ind_prod_num=7000%20PRO%20GT001
http://www.flightcom.net/site/headsets/denali.php
Posted by Chris Mitchell at 01:46 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
November 28, 2004
Day 3
Today we start talking about approaches... this is much more difficult than the take-off.
Time Logged: 2.2 daytime VFR (1.2 Harvey / 1.0 Hank)
Location: KIWS
TT: 6.5
---
The first flight of the day was with Harvey. We went back out to the practice area and performed some more power-off stalls. (We practice power-off stalls more because there are several important steps in the procedure that are not present/necessary in power-on stalls. Remember that power-off stalls simulate approaches, and so you have to deal with power changes, trimming to the max glide speed, flap changes, and all these same things in reverse. It is critical, for example, to remember to flip up the flaps immediately after full power is applied on the recovery.)
We talked about the traffic pattern, and I'm beginning to feel more comfortable with my orientation over and around the airport area. The GPS with its direct bearing is useful in locating home base, but I'm able to find the airport now just by orienting myself with I-10 and finding out where I'm at. Generally you want to enter the downwind leg of the pattern at 45 degrees, but since we were coming from the west into a left pattern on runway 15 (150 degrees) we planned on entering the pattern on the crosswind leg.
There is a lot going on inside the traffic pattern, even at an uncontrolled airport. Radio calls are coming in and being made on every turn. You've got to constantly be looking for traffic in all the legs, or coming in "illegally" and ignoring the pattern/going backwards or straight in on approach. In the meantime, you've got to orient yourself with the runway, make power changes, trim to glide speed, put in flaps, and concern yourself with maintaining that airspeed ABSOLUTELY while also making sure your altitude is in the pattern (in this case 1100 feet) until that speed is reached, and then concern yourself with losing altitude at an appropriate rate (flaps, power adjustments, etc) to follow the glidepath right down onto the runway. Not to mention crosswindws and slipping down are way different (but more manageable) in reality than in flight simulator.
So there's a lot going on in the landing approach. We made one approach where I flew low tracking the runway, and then went around the pattern again and touched down for full stop.
---
With Hank today we really spent our time talking about emergency procedures and forced landings if, for example, the engine went out. We flew around looking at different terrain to see what would make the best possible landing site that would keep us safe, and the plane from being ripped apart. To simulate a forced landing, you pull the throttle to idle and immediately pitch up (without losing an inch of altitude hopefully) to the best glide ratio speed, which happens to be 65 knots on this airplane. If you had not already done so, decide on your emergency landing spot and map out your flight path to a landing pattern based on your current altitude.
What really was surprising about this to me was how close we came to the ground during the simulation. We had to come a good 50 feet or closer to the ground before putting on full power, setting the flaps up and climbing. I had no idea that this was even legal, but since in unpopulated areas you just have to stay 500 feet away from anything (people, buildings, vehicles) you don't have any lower limit on your height above ground level! So, we were basically buzzing farmland and I guess the cows were the only witnesses.
I wonder, however, why I have never seen light aircraft doing these practice maneuvres? Obviously I do not live in the country, and there is nowhere good around here to make a forced landing (except for the football stadium maybe, but with the aerial obstructions I'm sure a local field woud be preferred)... One could never practice this over a populated area anyway with the altitude requirements.
We also practiced landings and I ended up getting credited for 2. In neither one was Hank happy about how quickly the plane set down! The lesson here is that you have to basically pull and pull on the stick to make it maintain altitude for as long as physically possible, and it will come down on its own. Tomorrow's landings will surely be better.
Posted by Chris Mitchell at 05:00 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
November 27, 2004
Day 2 - Two Flights
My second day of flying, now with two flights and two different instructors.
Time Logged: 3.3 daytime VFR (1.3 Harvey / 2.0 Hank)
Location: KIWS
TT: 4.3
---
I flew 1.3 hours with Harvey, reviewing take-offs again (still dealing with that ornery left-turning tendency battery and the requisite right-rudder response). We also covered constant speed climbs and descents.
As we were going to head back to the airport, he asked me if I had any questions. Well, I said, yes I did. For 29 years I'd been afraid to fly small aircraft/learn to pilot because of my father's description of his brief Army pilot training which he quit after he especially did not like the dreaded stalls. I had always been under the impression that, based on his description, the sensation of the stall would be massive G forces worse than a rollercoaster. You do, after all, fall several hundred feet (if the stall is held) in just a few seconds.
Well, earlier in the flight he had flown into the wind and had the plane hovering in midair for a good 5-7 minutes, with the stall horn going off the whole time (we looked like a helicopter frozen in space! weird!) so we were almost there, so he said "here let me do a few for you." So, he did a power off stall, simulating a landing approach. pulled back pulled back pulled back, horn, stall, and... well, basically nothing. We probably lost about 30 feet in that stall because he immediately recovered (which is the ideal response anyway) and the only scary feeling was how the wings started shaking just a bit as the last bit of air sticking to them tried to hang on. Ok, i thought, no problem. Then he did a power-on stall. I thought this would be worse because you were going into it at a much greater initial speed/and the forward thrust also would give you the opportunity to have the angle of attack much much higher.
Ok, part of that was true, it did seem like you could get the angle of attack higher (pointed more "up") but the power-on stall is even less intimidating. First, there are less steps in the maneuvre. second, all you really have to do is immediately recover from the stall and level off. if you just get a little speed (nose down a bit) you get lift and begin flying again.
So. Stalls. Well, I wish I had found this out a long time ago. A huge concern was lifted from my brain at that point, and I knew I'd be doing stalls soon myself.
---
As a matter of fact, I'd be doing them in the afternoon. Today I flew with Hank for the first time. This is the chief flight instructor at West Houston, the one flying since 1943 (as noted before). He's an extremely nice man, but has a decidedly different teaching style than Harvey. Harvey is much more laid back, but Hank reminded me of Rod Mochado's voice in the flight simulator (microsoft) flying lessons. Hank works with some very effective instant calling out of mistakes in altitude, heading, pitch, speed. This guy is sharp as a tack and probably knows the airplane better than it knows itself. We had a pretty good flight, though it was a lot more stressful for me than with Harvey simply because I did not really know what to expect.
We covered rectangular pattern tracking and turning about a point on the ground, then went up to try them out. The real problem I had here was a misunderstanding of which points and tracking lines we were using for the rectangle. If I were deciding on them myself and not having to communicate them to anyone, I think I'd do alright. Communication is extremely important - QUICK and accurate. If I say too may non-specific words, we've already past the desired point and still have no shared understanding. It's really important to adoping a uniform and precise vocabulary for cockpit communication. The turning around a point was actually better, though I overshot my path in general because I still was not very comfortable making continuous steep banked turns. I did maintain altitude quite well, though, once I got warmed up.
Hank did not like the way I did my turns very much. We did some control use practices where he would hold the ailerons stable and I would perform a turn using just the rudder, and vice versa. The key point he wanted me to learn here is to lead off on turns with the rudder and add appropriate aileron to keep it coordinated. In general, he wants me to learn to turn more with the rudder which introduces a banking motion (to which ailerons are added) rather than just doing a hard bank in the direction of desired flight. on the other hand, when he does his turns it is hard to tell what he is leading with because no matter how steep they are, he has them well coordinated.
Then he had me climb up a bit and pull back the airspeed to minimum controllable (riding the low end of the green arc). This is around 55 knots or so. The controls are much looser at that speed, and the pitch requires a lot of trim to keep the pressure required down to a comfortable level. He then had me start performing power off and power on stalls. These were actually very educational. First, they reinforced that there was nothing to be afraid of or even spooked about. They're very simple so long as you keep the nose straight at the top and don't spin the plane. Second, you have to REALLY GO OUT OF YOUR WAY to make the wings stall. You really have to pull HARD to get the speed down quickly enough to be noticeable, and then hold it there until you feel the light shudder on the wings and a little fall. Yes, it's ideal to stall about .5" over the runway on a perfect landing, but at that point you've already kept an eye on your airspeed and pitch to make it safe. The point being, it would be a really difficult thing to have an "accidental" stall. They don't happen accidentally. The pilot either forces it to happen as a maneuvre, or the pilot was not paying attention and ran out of airspeed (on an approach for example).
After 2 hours in the air, the plane was parked and tied down. (I did actually get credit for one landing today, though Hank was NOT happy about my letting it touch down so quickly. He also was not happy about ever seeing my right hand on the control stick! !)
Posted by Chris Mitchell at 05:00 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
November 26, 2004
First Day - First Hour
The weather held out and I was able to actually complete my first day including meeting my primary instructor, some ground discussion, and actual time in the air.
Time logged: 1 hr dual instruction daytime VFR.
Location: KIWS (West Houston)
Well, today was the day alright. I arrived around 9:40am for my 10am appointment, and met my instructor Harvey. He's only a year younger than I am, and has been flying for 10 years / instructing for 6. Super nice guy and very comfortable in the plane.
We preflighted the C172R we were going to use (I'll be doing this on my own from now on) and went back inside for a while. On the ground we talked primarily about the left turning tendencies (which I had just re-read about the night before) and then went out and started up the plane.
Immediate observations: this thing is way smaller once you're in it than it appears on the outside, and even smaller once you're off the ground. I was shocked that it started to feel that we were in a motorcycle sized vehicle zipping around the pattern. I was also somewhat surprised at how maneuverable it seemed - especially relative to any expectations I had... which leads to the first of this kind of thing: REALITY vs FlightSimulator.
Buckling in and starting up the plane was both identical to the C172 in flightsim and absolutely unlike flightsim. As we got in and I did the preflight checklist (checklists are very important, and key to overall safety) I knew where almost all the switches were based on my experience with MSFlightSim. A few things were in different places. However, there were some serious differences....
First, complete peripheral vision and available 360 degree view without a goofy hat switch. The upside to this is obvious, the "downside" is that the view out the left seat window can be pretty shocking. On shallow turns (10-20 degrees) it felt like I was looking straight down at the ground. I'd hate to see (or feel) what some of my high quality single monitor flightsim flying has been like in a real plane.
Second, even when I had it running through my home studio I never had the FS sound turned up to match the loudness of the real engine. I was a little surprised at how loud I had to talk to get the intercom to pick up. Not uncomfortable, just very lawnmower like... (amplified by the avgas and oil I got on my hands during preflight...)
I thought it was neat, however, that the panel (including the radio stack) was nearly identical to the FS version.
Ok, so now what procedures did I actually begin learning today.
1) Taxi'ing. Honestly this was the hardest thing I have done in a long time.... I have rudder pedals at home, but only now that I've used real pedals will I have an idea of how they're supposed to feel. Turning with the rudder alone is pretty rough unless there's some decent momentum already going... working the throttle constantly to maintain a fast walking pace while driving with your feet and having your instructor tell you to put your silly left hand under your leg because you keep trying to "drive" it like a car is scary and amusing... the brakes must be "squeezed" rather than stomped... If you do get the magic formula right, however, of throttle, rudder, differential braking the C172 can turn on a dime. I really did not expect it to be so agile. Unfortunately, I am not really that great yet at keeping on the taxi line. This will come in no time, though.
2) Take-offs. I did probably 4 takeoffs (after Harvey did the first) followed by exiting the runway, taxi'ing back to runway 15, centering on the line and repeating. This was my first time in a plane this small and it was both exhilirating and frightening when we first picked up off the ground (even under his control). It's one thing to see your position on the attitude indicator inside flightsim and say "oh ok i need to be pitched at around 13 degrees" and another thing to overcome your natural automobile driver's concern that not only does this make me feel like i'm falling backward but I CAN'T SEE OVER THE WINDSCREEN!... I'm pretty tall, at least for these aircraft, and I will even need to lower the seat next time to get full motion on the aielrons (they kept banging my knee).
My take offs got better as we'd return and I'd do it again (Harvey was flying the pattern and landing). The neat part, and very new, was how the left turning tendencies we'd just talked about were all conspiring just as they had been advertised. There's no secret here. I got used to keeping right rudder pressure, but I'm not quite able to keep just that right amount immediately yet. There was also some wind activity just about 20 feet about the treeline (the runway altitude is 111 feet, so probably around 75-100 ft)... It was pretty unusual feeling. I hate to say "Scary" you know, which in a way it was, but more like surprising. It was really juggling to remember to keep the rudder depressed, keep the wings balanced, and keep the attitude adjusted to 79 knots. The controls became extremely sensitive once aloft, another thing that I'll just need to acquire some handling experience in to get smoothly.
3) Beginning to learn confidence in the airplane and in my instructor, and finally in myself. This is not a 777. This really has a rough and ready feel to it, and there are a million things going on. Being in the air is not natural for us, and it is going to take some time getting used to the vertical accelerations (*cough* rollercoasters and I have a love hate relationship).. It will take time getting used to looking out and seeing things below me, tall buildings around me, and other flying craft (today we saw banner draggers flying around downtown to the east...). It is a new world up here that will take some serious internal adjustment. i've said the word serious about 50 times so far.
It was neat to see Harvey really actively making the plane go where he wanted to go. He's a very hands-off instructor, too, meaning that he'll let me make a lot of my own mistakes while making sure neither we nor the craft are in any actual danger. I'm going to have to get more carefully aggressive, especially on the throttle, and make sure to be maintaining "positive control"... It means literally that: not letting the thing get out from under you EVER.
What did I learn today? It's harder than it looks. This is a real case where good pilots make it look easy. On the other hand, some things were easier than in flight simulator. (Keeping it pitched to an airspeed was much easier than in FS).
It's also a great deal of fun. It was actually way better than I expected it could have been, even though it was kind of weird also. Today I flew a plane. Maybe I did not fly it very far or do much with it but take off and ascend, but nevertheless it was a really gratifying start to a long road. I felt like I was walking on air as I drove out of the airport.
Final verdict: To all you flightsimmers, especially the ones that are way better than I am (which doesn't take much), do yourself a favor and take one of the 50$ intro flights at your local airport FBO. It will really change how you feel about flight simming, and what flight simming is actually doing. And maybe what it is actually supposed to do. Anyone that can afford flight sim can afford to do this, even if just the one time. I am still feeling the sudden "whoosh" after rotation when the rear wheels came up and the runway bumps disappeared. It was really amazing, and the best part is I get to go back in 11 hours (God and weather permitting). So I'd better go read some more about taxi'ing and stalls.
Posted by Chris Mitchell at 10:37 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
November 25, 2004
Happy Thanksgiving
Well it is just after 10:00 central on Thanksgiving morning... more importantly, it is now just under 24 hours before things start up, and the weather looks great. Sometimes I think the forecasters are getting better sometimes.
Posted by Chris Mitchell at 10:12 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
November 24, 2004
The story so far...
Whereas the blog starts tonight, the story has actually been going on since the beginning of the month... This is a quick and dirty catchup.
Mon 11/8/2004 - approved for financing of the whole program.
Tue 11/9/2004 - receive Class 1 medical certificate / Student Pilot Certificate (ATP requires class 1 from the very beginning. there's no sense going so far into debt and trouble if you can't even pass the required medical exam to fly for an airline).
Wed 11/10/2004 - loan paperwork already comes in the mail with a SASE. All I have to do is sign it and return it. Things seem to be moving very efficiently. Naysayers would say it's all a loan company scheme, but hey I still get to fly, right?
Fri 11/12/2004 - receive "big ol box" of books (manuals, test preps, information...) from ATP, as well as 3 polo shirts and a snazzy black backpack with their logo emblazoned on the back. Even after 12 days, the amount of information that must be absorbed is intimidating. As someone used to doing heavy reading and memorization of small details, I'll be fine, but nevertheless it is an awful lot to learn in a really short amount of time - and this is primarily just the paperwork really for the FAA knowledge tests. There will be a lot more practical (and not previously published) information to learn and apply for the oral exams and checkrides. full list of "stuff" may be posted if I get around to it.
Mon 11/22/2004 - First day I show up at KIWS and there are massive tornado warnings coming up out of that area. The whole city is bombarded by a lot of rain for the next day days, so I don't get to fly (obviously). Meanwhile, the beltway was closed down due to a small aircraft that crashed on/around the south side. Yikes. Not a good day in general for flying, but I did get to hang out with the chief CFI at West Houston Airport. (West Houston Airport / KIWS is the FBO through which ATP has organized my PPL training. I have 55 hours with them in C172R's, and then once I'm done with the license, another 30 hours in ATP's planes before starting the career pilot program.) Hank has been flying since 1943 (!) starting as a CoPilot in B-24s during WW2. Quick mental math indicates that he's older than my grandparents, but man is he ever sharp. I'll be mainly flying with Harvey, but I have not met him yet.
Wed 11/24/2004 (today!) - This morning I logged into the airport instruction scheduler and started placing myself in as many open slots of 2-3 hours as I could find from here through the 4th - this got a really good response, actuallly, as Harvey then put me on the schedule for quite a few hours between this friday 11/26 and the end of the year.
So, basically, we start in earnest with Harvey on the 26th. In the meantime, I'm reading through Jeppesen's Private Pilot manual (Guided Flight Discovery) which is actually quite interesting, though in many ways another rehash of the FAA publications. Yet, it is that in a much more entertaining way. The pages are full color, illustrated with interesting historical tidbits or technology inserts. I think I am better off with something like this than just, for example, reading the Airplane Flying Handbook (though the core of the information will by necessity be rather identical)... Not quite a current generation MTV soundbite and quick scene change attention, but definitely atari 2600 speed.
(and also meanwhile I'm studying for the IFR/CFII exams using Gleim's red books. I'm impressed with the demo of their test prep software, and am considering registering the PPL and IR databases... the only problem is we still have that lease in Israel and we are rather... money-free...)
Posted by Chris Mitchell at 10:15 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Brief Intro to your Narrator
It would probably add a little depth to the description to have a little bit of background about your friend the writer.
Howdy folks,
My name is Chris Mitchell and I am 29 years old as of 1 week ago. I (finally) finished a rather extended undergraduate stint in May with a double major BA in Spanish / Christianity from Houston Baptist University. As I excel in languages, and particularly enjoy Biblical Hebrew, I applied to a graduate program that got me all excited in Jerusalem, Israel. I was accepted, and enrolled much to the chagrine of most of my family.
To make a long story short, after getting married and immediately (literally) moving to Jerusalem where I spent 4.5 months studying *modern* Hebrew and generally hanging out - we found out that we'll be expecting a child next year and it became exceedingly impractical to stay in Israel.
Something else impractical? A BA in Spanish/Christianity. My wife is planning on teaching in public school, but I just can't see myself doing that for the rest of my life. I was planning on being a Hebrew professor, but I am grossly underqualified to work anywhere academically sound. Some will say that there are not many jobs and not much money in professional aviation, to which I respond there has to be at least as much work as there is for Hebrew profs.
I've always wanted to fly, and after talking it over with my wife and family, I've decided to go through a semi-accelerated professional pilot course from *zero* hours through private pilot, instrument, multi, commercial, CFI/CFII.
A huge loan, and no small amount of risk, but I can't say I've been more excited in a long long time.
Why "semi-"accelerated ?? Well, because although there exist a lot of (particularly part 141) accelerated flight schools in some states, I do not live in one of those states. Of the schools I researched, I was most happy with the discussion I had with Airline Transport Professionals (http://www.atpflightschool.com/) ... One of the biggest selling points to me is that they have satellite bases around the country, at which (since I am not currently working) I can basically go through the program as quickly as I am able. For example, from PPL to the higher certs normally takes ~130 days if you went absolutely straight through (so let's say around 120-130 total according to their schedule). Their non-homebase programs (satellite) are advertised as 4 month for PPL and 10 month for the Career Pilot Program. That is just the high end of length though. I will be studying and flying full-time, and should be able to finish the whole program by about the time the baby is born (by no means in 14 months, currently I am shooting for 6-8 total which we shall adjust as time passes and we find out what the scheduling will be like.)
So, this blog will not only be good descriptions (I hope!) of what actually happens on each leg of a really compressed but complex piloting journey, it will also 1) discuss the realities of doing an "accelerated" version of an "at your own pace" program in a satellite location, doing the PPL portion at a FBO who works with ATP and 2) give some indication about what is the reality for someone who goes to no small expense in order to jump into the industry from out of nowhere.
Posted by Chris Mitchell at 09:59 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Welcome aboard...
Well, after looking around for pilot blogs to get a more "personal" idea of what I'm about to come up against, I decided to throw a blog of my own into the mix.
There was a great deal of value in reading things like http://www.myflightblog.com and the flight journals section at http://www.alioth.net/flying/ . Sure we can all read part 61 to know what is specifically required for certification, but it really is reassuring to read a "real" path taken by regular people and to folow them as they overcome the different obstacles along the way. The blogs indirectly demonstrate different teaching styles, and can give aspiring pilots inspiration on how to organize their time for solo practice leading up to checkrides.
The purpose of this weblog is simply to document not only my training hours (thus maintaining a remote backup of my regular log) but to describe what happens on a flight to flight, lesson to lesson, basis and most importantly WHAT I'VE LEARNED from those flights. The idea is to add my point of view and experience into an ever-increasing pool of flightlogs available on the web in order to compare and contrast learning experiences, as well as provide information to prospective pilots or just interested folks. Furthermore it may be of use to CFIs to see how other folks are learning.
I'll do my best to keep it current, and welcome feedback and comments.
(Currently, registered typekey users aren't able to login because TypeKey thinks I have not set it up correctly, when in truth I have... hopefully we will just avoid spam and I'll keep an eye on comments. If things get rowdy/spammy and TypeKey doesn't shape up, I'll just turn on comment moderation)
Posted by Chris Mitchell at 09:31 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack