This week in ground school we had the second of three classes in meteorology. You think you know weather but until you start to look at through a pilot’s eyes you really have no idea of how important and complex it actually is.
Through how air moves (predictably) to the different types of clouds and what they mean to the dangers that weather holds for small aircraft, it’s a fascinating part of the studies. Unfortunately, I’m going to miss the final class next week as I’m off to Vancouver on business. I can make the class up later but I think it’s best to take all 3 in a row so I’ll jump out of the current schedule and pick it up again on a different night.
In the meantime, I’ve picked up a few books on the subject that I’ll read while I’m away.
If you’re interested in the subject, a good place to start is the Cloud Appreciation Society where you’ll find thousands of cloud pictures.
How long has it been since you studied for a test? For me, the time is measured in decades! So here I find myself on vacation on a wet rainy day studying for my PSTAR exam tonight.
I’ve gone through all 200 possible questions and looked up each answer in the Aeronautical Information Manual (which is for some reason known as the AIP) and the Canadian Aviation Regulations (CARS), even if I was sure I knew the answers. We’re allowed to write the exam tonight even though we haven’t completely covered some of the areas. Even with all the information at hand I managed to get a few wrong. Wording gets tricky at time.
A passing grade is 90% or over but the exam can be taken again if you’re a complete idiot and somehow manage to fail it the first time – or second, or third or………
How was St. Jacob’s? Meh. Weather on Tuesday wasn’t great with rain off and on all day. The outlet mall didn’t have much to offer and even Jan couldn’t manage to spend a lot at her favourite stores. Dinner in the evening at Benjamin’s was OK but their menu isn’t as adventurous as it used to be. Wednesday morning we hit all the little shops in the village but even that was a little disappointing. I managed to dig up a few old airline ads at an “antique” shop which I’ll start scanning and putting online after I get through tonight.
Speaking of tests, I passed my aviation medical on Tuesday morning!! The examiner, Dr. Thicke (who just happens to be the father of Alan Thicke) was a real hoot and this marks the first time I’ve ever had a fun visit to a doctor. I’m in pretty good shape for an old guy and nothing he saw precludes me from flying.
UPDATE: I passed the PSTAR!!
We’re just starting a week of vacation. Looks like it will be a busy one! Tomorrow morning (Tuesday), I go for my Class 3 medical which I need for my student pilot’s license and Thursday I’m writing my PSTAR exam.
In between, we’re off to one of our favourite spots – St. Jacob’s Ontario. We arrive Tuesday afternoon and it’s straight off to the outlet mall. Later in the evening we’re off to dinner at Benjamin’s in the centre of the village. Wednesday morning it’s more shopping and we’ll be back home in the afternoon so I can continue studying.
St. Jacob’s is a wonderful town for photography. I took the picture above a few years ago because how often do you run across a broom maker? The village is nestled in Mennonite country and, even though St. Jacob’s is very commercial, time slows down just a little to accommodate their lifestyle.
Week 4 of ground school. Focus was on engines and airframes. More and more information is coming fast and furious and I think my head is just about full. In two weeks, I’ll be writing my PSTAR exam which is a critical milestone for my license. Minimum pass rate is 90% so I’ve got some studying to do. Luckily, it comes when we’re on vacation so there will be some cram time available.
Just over a week to go before my medical. Again, a really critical step. No pass, no license.
This morning, spent nearly 1 1/2 hours in the air. Today’s training was on turns. Mild, medium and steep turns finished up by a collision avoidance turn. That one was fun! Cut the power, bank about 45 degrees to the right and dive 500 feet while turning 90 degrees. Scared the crap out of me when the instructor did it but was a real blast when I did it myself. Total flying hours are now 5.10.
Busy week in the Private Pilot License training.
Flight Instruction
Spent an hour in the air on Thursday morning. The day dawned rainy and overcast but it cleared up just a few minutes before we took off. Steve let me handle the entire taxi and takeoff which gave me a chance to really feel how the steering and rudder control works. In flight, I concentrated on the rudder and started to get good control. Just like driving a car, the secret is small corrections all the time. Once established in the training area, we worked on climbs and descents. Every airplane has optimum speeds, power setting and attitudes for different scenarios. I have to know everyone of them for the exams and the goal of this flight was for Steve to demonstrate, me to practice and try to get a feeling for each one. For those keeping count, that gets me up to 3.7 hours out of the minimum 45 required.
Ground School
Thursday evening was Class 3 in Ground School. Information about types of airspace, radio procedures and flying in different weather and altitude conditions. Lots more things to memorize.
Serious Fun
Installed Microsoft’s Flight Si
mulator X yesterday. Along with 747’s, floatplanes and fighters, they also have the Cessna 172 like I fly at the club. Amazingly realistic! The instruments are identical and the characteristics appear to be authentic. Only problem is, controlling the airplane using the keyboard is nothing like the real thing. A solution is at hand by purchasing and installing a controller that looks and acts like the control column in the Cessna. I’ll try and pick one up this week. It’s so easy to get engrossed with this program. I’ve already “flown” a number of circuits from Brampton Airport and I even accomplished a take-off from Downsview ending with a landing at Pearson International. Ok, that’s not really realistic because the chances of me landing at YYZ in anything but an emergency situation are really, really slim. Landing is where you really run into the limitations of keyboard control but I hope the new controller will take care of that.
Busy, busy, busy.
Week 2 of Ground School and the intensity is starting to build. This week we covered the flight instruments. The picture shows the console of the Cessna 172 like I’m flying now. The 6 most important instruments, called “The Six Pack” are directly in front of the control column and we went over what they are, how they work and all the errors they’re prone to display during normal operation.
A heck of a lot to know but we had a good instructor. I was looking forward to putting the new knowledge to work during my instruction flight yesterday but the morning broke with dense fog that made flying impossible. That’s 2 weeks out of five that I’ve been unable to get into the air. Trying again this Thursday morning.
I’m now up to 2.7 hours of actual flight time. That’s spread over 3 flights with my instructor who continues to be extremely patient while he pushes me through the training course.
Yesterday, we spent 1.3 hours aloft while he attempted to instill the concepts of level flight. Flying straight and level sounds easy but there are so many things that effect an aircraft in motion that my head was spinning by the end of the lesson. The idea is that the pilot has to learn to fly the airplane without relying too much on the instruments. If you’re staring at all the dials, you can’t keep a lookout for other aircraft and other things that you could hit and certainly ruin your day.
Our training area is just north of the Brampton Flying Club and starts at the Caledon gravel pits. Getting there, you have to observe minimum levels so you don’t piss off the residents and maximum levels so you don’t stray up into the area of the sky where the big boys fly as they approach Pearson International Airport. Cessna 172R + Boeing 767 = big piles of smoking debris all over the countryside.
I’m learning how to fix the horizon to a point on the windscreen to ensure that we fly without gaining or losing altitude. This allows me to spend more time scanning (which is done by dividing the windscreen into 6 imaginary quadrants that you scan by looking at each of them in quick succession). Pretty straightforward when you’re at cruising speed. Of course, everything changes when you change the power settings. Speed up and the nose pitches up and your horizon reference changes. Slow down and it changes once again. Turning has its own reference points and, of course, everything changes when you combine a turn with a change in altitude. I have to know how to maintain my altitude (or change thereof) and heading in all these situations and it all comes with an understanding of how the Cessna handles and hours of experience.
All aircraft have a magnetic compass and most have a heading indicator controlled by a gyroscope. In level flight, the magnetic compass is quite accurate and the heading indicator has to be manually set before take-off and every 15 minutes or so during flight. So why not just use the magnetic compass? When climbing, descending or turning (banking), this instrument becomes very unreliable. That’s when the heading indicator takes over. In a climb, the magnetic compass points to a more northerly heading than the actual direction of flight. When descending, it errs to the south. Corresponding errors are encountered when banking left or right. Sometimes the errors are huge.
My brain had turned to mush as we headed back to the aerodrome so I asked Steve to handle the landing to give me time to sort things out and concentrate on what he was doing and how the aircraft was responding as we did. Good thing. We were on final to Runway 33 when some Bozo (BTW, rest in peace Larry Harmon) decided he would take off at the same time. Steve calmly responded as we watched for the departing runway in time for us to continue the landing. I would have gone absolutely crazy so it was a really valuable lesson. Things happen quickly up there.
So only 42.3 hours (minimum) to go before I can qualify for a qualification flight. Next scheduled flight – next Saturday.
One session down, 14 to go. Started ground school this evening with the topic “Theory of Flight”. Not a whole lot that I didn’t already know and the instructor is one of those who reads PowerPoint slides to you. Thankfully I’ve got lots of manuals so I can study at my own pace and in much more depth than he was covering. Perhaps the instruction will get more intense as we progress through the other topics.
I thought I would be the oldest student in class but there were a few others with greying hair sprinkled in amongst the kids who all looked to young to drive, let alone fly.
Tomorrow, if the weather gods allow, I’ll try to get my second in-air instruction with another one on Saturday. Hopefully I’ll be able to keep my head on straight this time and actually learn something. I was so giddy (and scared) during my first flight that I don’t really remember a whole lot about what was actually happening. No doubt the instructor is actually going to start teaching me now that they’ve got me hooked.
So I’m off. A signature in my Pilot’s Training Record and three hours of ground school under my belt.
Yesterday was supposed to be my second flight in training for my pilot’s license. The instructor called me at 6am to say the weather conditions were too crummy so we had to cancel.
I’d been waiting all week for this and I’m incredibly disappointed that we couldn’t get up. Of course, the weather changed and the rest of the day was perfect.
Crap!
2300 feet above Georgetown Ontario in control(?) of a Cessna 172R, registration C-GGTJ.
The weather cleared enough for me to get my introductory flight at the Brampton Flying Club. My instructor, Steve Havlin, is a very brave man. I thought I might get a chance to handle the aircraft in level flight but Steve had other ideas. I taxied, I took off, I climbed, I turned and I cruised. It was the best 1/2 hour of my life and the most terrifying as well!
The taxi was the hardest part of the whole experience. Steering is accomplished by use of the rudder pedals and the brakes. You have to forget about everything you’ve learned while driving a car. I’m wildly turning the wheel which does nothing until you’re in the air. Instead you have to finesse the plane by using the pedals correctly. Of course, we looked like drunken sailors staggering back towards their ship but I finally started to get the hang of it. Take off was fairly straight forward – line it up, give it some power, watch the speed and at 65 knots pull back smoothly on the controls. I was flying!
There are so many things to concentrate on when flying. Altitude, angle, speed and don’t forget to keep an eye out for other aircraft. Turning and banking took a little work but it really wasn’t difficult. Keeping a steady altitude and level flight was difficult because the air was filled with thermals. I know it will come to me with practice but I felt like I was fighting the winds all the time. When Steve took over, it was like we were flying through calm air. Lots to learn.
I’m hooked!! Before I left the flying club, I’d signed up for ground school and picked up my kit.
And here’s the aircraft that put up with me.
