I have not flown in a very long time. The last time I went up I had a poor flight experience. I hadn't flown in several months and my instructor wasn't very helpful while we were in the air. I understand why an instructor doesn't help while in the air, so both he and the student can asses the skills of student and areas on improvement can be identified and worked on, but after more than 30 minutes of this I believe it is time to stop and not allow the student to have a negative experience. The whole thing made me question if I was doing the right thing and if I should continue my flight lessons.
With all the complications and happenings that surround the birth of my third child and having to work a lot of weekends, I decided to put off flying until after the school semester started. School would put the whole house into a routine and the family would be in a very structured rhythm. This would create some normalcy and lead back to flying regularly. School has started, the routine is in place and normalcy is coming back and as it appears the stars will align and everything be OK, the car breaks!
And not the 'Oh, it is broken and I can get what I need from the parts store and have it fixed by Monday". It is the 'It may cost more than the car is worth to make it drive-able again' broke. So after spending hours researching the problem and fixes on the internet, I am working on fixing it. If all goes well, it should be fixed by this weekend.
I still need to take the FAA written exam, which I should be able to test locally, versus having to drive to Tallahassee to take the test. I need to study for that but between the birth, school (for the children), college (for me), work, and the car breaking, I can say I haven't spent the time I had hoped to on it.
R48
Monday, September 9, 2013
Thursday, February 28, 2013
Slow (as in Progress has been slow)
I haven't flown a lot in the past three months. This is partly because of
the holidays, my work schedule, illness and school. I am nearing the completion of my private
license and should get it before the end of March. I have to take 5 days of
mandatory vacation from work, so during that time off I will be finishing my
required hours and preparing for and taking the check ride.
I also need to take the FAA written exam but I have not been studying nearly as much as I should be for it. You need at least 80% to pass the written exam, but most things I have read and heard say you should have 90% or better.
I made a cross country flight and that went well. The next flight I have planned is a solo cross country flight to get the remaining solo time I need for my license. I think I would feel better about the check ride if I was flying on a regular basis, but my instructor says I have the skills needed to pass the check ride.
My most recent flight was at the beginning of January and it had been nearly three months since I had been flying before that. I flew with my instructor and stayed at the Tallahassee airport doing maneuvers. I flew really well for not flying in so long and after a few minutes the rust was gone and I was successfully performing most maneuvers. We practiced landing on slopes, which I have only done once before near the beginning of my flight training. It was kind of awkward at first but after some verbal review of what to do and a demonstration from my instructor, I was setting down and picking up from the slope.
One of the things I noticed during this flight was that while practicing auto-rotations, I didn't really freak-out when you lower the collective which causes the helicopter to descend towards the earth at over 1,500 feet per minute. I only really felt (slightly) panicked or unsure when it came time to stop the descent and begin the hover recovery. And since we were at the airport we were only about 500 feet AGL, so the auto-rotation from start to finish was about 25 seconds.
I tried to get a GPS track of my flight using my phone, but it kept loosing GPS signal and only recorded about 1/3 of the flight in bits and pieces. I am going to try a different GPS tracking app and place my phone in a different spot to see if I can get it to record better. If I can get a decent capture, I will share it.
R48
I also need to take the FAA written exam but I have not been studying nearly as much as I should be for it. You need at least 80% to pass the written exam, but most things I have read and heard say you should have 90% or better.
I made a cross country flight and that went well. The next flight I have planned is a solo cross country flight to get the remaining solo time I need for my license. I think I would feel better about the check ride if I was flying on a regular basis, but my instructor says I have the skills needed to pass the check ride.
My most recent flight was at the beginning of January and it had been nearly three months since I had been flying before that. I flew with my instructor and stayed at the Tallahassee airport doing maneuvers. I flew really well for not flying in so long and after a few minutes the rust was gone and I was successfully performing most maneuvers. We practiced landing on slopes, which I have only done once before near the beginning of my flight training. It was kind of awkward at first but after some verbal review of what to do and a demonstration from my instructor, I was setting down and picking up from the slope.
One of the things I noticed during this flight was that while practicing auto-rotations, I didn't really freak-out when you lower the collective which causes the helicopter to descend towards the earth at over 1,500 feet per minute. I only really felt (slightly) panicked or unsure when it came time to stop the descent and begin the hover recovery. And since we were at the airport we were only about 500 feet AGL, so the auto-rotation from start to finish was about 25 seconds.
I tried to get a GPS track of my flight using my phone, but it kept loosing GPS signal and only recorded about 1/3 of the flight in bits and pieces. I am going to try a different GPS tracking app and place my phone in a different spot to see if I can get it to record better. If I can get a decent capture, I will share it.
R48
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)