Today I had a good flight with one of our DPEs again, Bill Corcoran. He signed my new temp certificate, this time with a commercial single engine land add-on. The oral was pretty short, during the flight we did the obligatory slow flight and stalls, eights on pylons, lazy eights (he then demonstrated his version, which he appropriately calls the "crazy eights"), chandelles, a short field landing and finally the dreaded power off 180. Got lucky on that last one, during the entire maneuver I thought I wasn't going to make the runway, but touched down right on the 1000' markers.
I got my private in a Katana (Diamond Da-20), so I've never flown a Cessna before. It took me about 8 hrs of flight time to get comfortable in the plane and proficient enough to do the commercial maneuvers. After flying the duchess for so long the cessna feels like a toy tossed about in the wind (you actually have to use the rudder!)
The instructor class continues. Not very exciting to be honest, since we are now flying less and less, while keeping our noses in books more and more. To break the boredom I want to drive to Sun'n'Fun this saturday, it's in Lakeland, about an hour drive. As far as I know, the two biggest air shows in the US are Oshkosh and Sun'n'Fun. Anyways, I'll try to post some pictures next week.
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Sunday, March 11, 2012
Day 161 ( 257.1 TT, 182.2 MET)
I'm going to stop posting my flight hours, I now think its a bit silly :) On friday I passed the multi-commercial checkride with Bill Corcoran. The oral was short and the flight consisted of a couple of simple maneuvers and single engine operations. He is a pretty nice guy and has a LOT of stories he likes to share with his students (he also has a giant collection of neck ties, if you come to aviator, you'll know what I'm talking about). I need to start working on my single-commercial rating, which is actually harder then the multi because of the additional maneuvers you have to perform (chandelles, lazy eights, power-off 180s). I did my private license in a Diamond Katana, so now I have to learn how to fly a Cessna from scratch.
I am now enrolled in the instructor class. Right now we are covering fundamentals of instruction which is basically psychology of learning, so its hard to stay awake in class. The class is about seven weeks long, so I need take off my flying cap and put on the thinking one.
Above are some pics of a flat we had in Pahokee (KPHK), so we spent five hours at the FBO watching Discovery channel while a plane was flown in from Ft. Pierce with a mechanic and tire. That same saturday, Missionary Flights International (they are based in Ft. Pierce) had an open house and gave rides in their DC-3s. Talked to the pilots afterwards and was shocked to find out that the approach and Vmc speeds for the DC-3 are the same as in the Dutchess, 85 and 65 knots respectively.
All of the planes MFI operates have had the turboprop conversion, as the newer engines are much more efficient then the originals.
Me in the cockpit of a DC-3. The flight deck is almost brand new. I'd love to fly for these guys, but all of the pilots are certified mechanics as well, just in case they break down in the middle of nowhere (they operate in the islands and parts of south america).
I am now enrolled in the instructor class. Right now we are covering fundamentals of instruction which is basically psychology of learning, so its hard to stay awake in class. The class is about seven weeks long, so I need take off my flying cap and put on the thinking one.
Above are some pics of a flat we had in Pahokee (KPHK), so we spent five hours at the FBO watching Discovery channel while a plane was flown in from Ft. Pierce with a mechanic and tire. That same saturday, Missionary Flights International (they are based in Ft. Pierce) had an open house and gave rides in their DC-3s. Talked to the pilots afterwards and was shocked to find out that the approach and Vmc speeds for the DC-3 are the same as in the Dutchess, 85 and 65 knots respectively.
All of the planes MFI operates have had the turboprop conversion, as the newer engines are much more efficient then the originals.
Me in the cockpit of a DC-3. The flight deck is almost brand new. I'd love to fly for these guys, but all of the pilots are certified mechanics as well, just in case they break down in the middle of nowhere (they operate in the islands and parts of south america).
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)