As I should have expected, we started the day with a review of the previous day. Pop Quiz: What does GRAB CARD stand for? I stumbled through it, missing a few. Thankfully, it is now more permanently anchored in my mind as I just went through it at the end of the session as well. For those that would like the review:
Generator (or Alternator)
Radios
Altimeter (adjustable for pressure)
Ball (inclinometer)
Clock (with a seconds indication)
Attitude Indicator
Rate of Turn Indicator
Directional Gyro
Other review items included how the Altimeter works. Remember the Aneroid Wafer made up of Beryllium and Copper being exposed to static pressure. Then, through the magical series of gears and linkages displays altitude. There were also the lovely Compass errors with their mnemonics of ANDS and UNOS as well.
The bulk of the lesson today was spent on weather. I feel that I did fairly well--I talk about weather a lot at work since my coworker is a meteorologist by training. The more I can understand the weather, the better decisions I can make regarding it.
There's the different sources of weather, but we mostly focused on the wealth of information to be gleaned from weather.gov. Outside of that, we also discussed In-Flight Weather Advisory Services--Flight Watch. I've only had occasion to use Flight Watch once. I was flying back from SE Texas when I noticed very dark clouds low and starting over the Red River. Basically, I found out about the Convective Sigmet in place and determined it best if I waited it out in Sulphur Springs, TX. Luckily, my boss at the time was understanding and allowed me to work at the center there for a couple days.
There was also some time to squeeze in some time looking at the Low En-Route Charts today. It seems that will be quite a bit of the focus tomorrow. I do have some homework on those--pretty much trying to understand what all the chart is telling me. It looks to me that there is quite a great deal of information packed into the charts, so there is much to learn regarding them.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Getting Some Training Done
I have finally gotten around to starting my Instrument training in earnest. Today was my first ground lesson over Skype. It was fairly introductory in nature, but we did get to some definite meat and potatoes as well.
We first covered what instruments are generally required for both VFR and IFR flight. While I couldn't readily recall the acrostics for VFR, I was quickly reminded of TOMATOES FLAMES and FLAPS for VFR Day and Night, respectively. For IFR, I was informed of the acrostic GRAB CARD.
From there, we delved into the Pitot-Static System, Gyroscopic Instruments, Instrument Scan, and Navigation Instruments. Since I have a 430W in the Cherokee, we spent some time going over functions other than the "Direct To" that most pilots fall into the habit of using. I certainly want to be a pilot that does more than simply follow the magical magenta line.
From instrumentation, we turned to Section 8 of the AIM; all of the human factors in flight starting with the acronym that all CAP flight crews should be familiar with: IM SAFE. The plan for tomorrow is to go over Weather and as such, I have some studying to do tonight. For this I must turn to the Aviation Weather Services Handbook.
I have managed to get some time in the air as of late as well. In fact, February was a very good month for my flying career. Out of the 4 flights I conducted, 3 were towards endorsements in my logbook. Specifically, I procured my Complex endorsement in a PA-28R-201 out of Oklahoma Aviation and my High Performance endorsement in a C-182 at the CAP Altus SAREX.
As expected, I did complete the Mission Scanner qualification at the Broken Arrow FTX. Now, with 178.1 hours PIC, I'm certainly gaining ground on Mission Pilot in CAP. In the interim, I hope to get more time in the 182s, and specifically hope to get into the Glass Cockpit 182s. Having the training necessary to fly the Glass Cockpits will make me much more versatile, and thereby valuable, pilot for CAP.
We first covered what instruments are generally required for both VFR and IFR flight. While I couldn't readily recall the acrostics for VFR, I was quickly reminded of TOMATOES FLAMES and FLAPS for VFR Day and Night, respectively. For IFR, I was informed of the acrostic GRAB CARD.
From there, we delved into the Pitot-Static System, Gyroscopic Instruments, Instrument Scan, and Navigation Instruments. Since I have a 430W in the Cherokee, we spent some time going over functions other than the "Direct To" that most pilots fall into the habit of using. I certainly want to be a pilot that does more than simply follow the magical magenta line.
From instrumentation, we turned to Section 8 of the AIM; all of the human factors in flight starting with the acronym that all CAP flight crews should be familiar with: IM SAFE. The plan for tomorrow is to go over Weather and as such, I have some studying to do tonight. For this I must turn to the Aviation Weather Services Handbook.
I have managed to get some time in the air as of late as well. In fact, February was a very good month for my flying career. Out of the 4 flights I conducted, 3 were towards endorsements in my logbook. Specifically, I procured my Complex endorsement in a PA-28R-201 out of Oklahoma Aviation and my High Performance endorsement in a C-182 at the CAP Altus SAREX.
As expected, I did complete the Mission Scanner qualification at the Broken Arrow FTX. Now, with 178.1 hours PIC, I'm certainly gaining ground on Mission Pilot in CAP. In the interim, I hope to get more time in the 182s, and specifically hope to get into the Glass Cockpit 182s. Having the training necessary to fly the Glass Cockpits will make me much more versatile, and thereby valuable, pilot for CAP.
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