NOT Climbing (Ex 7) - Saturday, October 9, 2010
Due to sick kids, Oct 2 was cancelled and rebooked to Oct 9 -- Oct 9 arrived, a nice, clear sky -- perfect for flying... EXCEPT -- I have a major earache -- I must have caught what my kids had last week. Despite spending most of Friday in bed, I had not recovered by Sat morning. Soooo.... again no flying! Spent the morning on the ground with Lari instead, which actually wasn't so bad.
Without the pressure of having to get in a plane anytime soon, we took some time to clarify various questions I had amassed over the previous weeks. Specifically, Lari introduced me to a fabulous device called a slide calculator or flight computer (sometimes referred to as an E6B) -- VERY cool!!! I have just started playing with this "machine", but can see how very practical and incredible it is to calculate distance, speed, etc.
We also spent some time getting into weight and balance charts, discovering what they are for (to calc. centre of gravity, and to see whether in fact the weight and balance for a particularly loaded aircraft falls "within the envelope" of safety, i.e. can you take off and fly safely) and how to fill them out properly. My homework for next time is to complete one or two as though I were flying solo in a particular C150.
It was not a particularly exciting lesson from a flight perspective (since we didn't actually get into a plane), but it was extremely fulfilling in a whole host of other ways. I'm still feeling overwhelmed by the sheer volume of information, but I am also feeling more optimistic at being able to manage it over the long run. For the first time in a long time, I felt today as though I might actually be able to achieve my PPL... sometime.
Stay tuned for climbing (ex 7) coming up in late October (ears, clouds and God-willing!)
Without the pressure of having to get in a plane anytime soon, we took some time to clarify various questions I had amassed over the previous weeks. Specifically, Lari introduced me to a fabulous device called a slide calculator or flight computer (sometimes referred to as an E6B) -- VERY cool!!! I have just started playing with this "machine", but can see how very practical and incredible it is to calculate distance, speed, etc.
We also spent some time getting into weight and balance charts, discovering what they are for (to calc. centre of gravity, and to see whether in fact the weight and balance for a particularly loaded aircraft falls "within the envelope" of safety, i.e. can you take off and fly safely) and how to fill them out properly. My homework for next time is to complete one or two as though I were flying solo in a particular C150.
It was not a particularly exciting lesson from a flight perspective (since we didn't actually get into a plane), but it was extremely fulfilling in a whole host of other ways. I'm still feeling overwhelmed by the sheer volume of information, but I am also feeling more optimistic at being able to manage it over the long run. For the first time in a long time, I felt today as though I might actually be able to achieve my PPL... sometime.
Stay tuned for climbing (ex 7) coming up in late October (ears, clouds and God-willing!)