How I Hate Winter Weather

December, 2011
Pain Field
Ground lesson
1.2 hours

I scheduled my next lesson which unfortunate got canceled due to bad weather. There was however and always are things to go over. So it was a ground kind of day. Disappointed that I wasn’t going to be able to fly I sat and took notes while my CFI went over instrument flying because you need a set amount of time of instrument training before you get your private pilots. You know, in the case you get stuck in bad visibility conditions. Speaking of, in case you’re wondering I’m VFR which is visual flight rules, so I have to stay a certain distance away from the clouds, where as IFR is instrument flight rules, flying by your instruments without visual reference. After I’m done with my private pilots I’ll be working towards my instrument ratings. Which, you’ll hear all about once I start it.

So, back to sitting and taking notes. I remember I had to try extra hard to focus. Who wants to sit down and learn when you’re used to flying and learning? Not really much to report here, just which instruments to look at when doing straight and level/ descents/ turns. Then there was a discussion of the magnetos, and the go around procedures. He also went over the emergency landings, in an ABC way:

A: airspeed
B: best landing spot
C: checklist

Set myself up for the best glide speed, find a suitable landing spot (no roads, if it’s a field make sure to land with the rows not against) and fly over it using the traffic pattern (after I figure out where the wind is coming from so I can land into the wind), and do the emergency landing procedure on the checklist.

At this point I remember thinking about changing my flight instructor (not because he wasn’t doing a good job I just needed to stay focused). When in the plane I’m completely focused on the job at hand- flying the plane. But outside of it doing these boring ground lessons I had to force myself to listen to what my instructor was saying. This wasn’t one of my college courses where I could easily just daydream and pass effortlessly, here I needed to stay alert. This was all completely new to me, sure I was raised with my father’s love for planes but I was never told how the engine worked, or what the emergency procedure for landing a plane if the engine fails on you was. The thought of changing instructors was pushed out of my mind as I rationalized my feelings, and chose what was best for me. I also, began to notice how I fell into the student role more with each passing flight.

Total cost invested thus far: $971