Ground school is complete!

By: Amelia
On: 09/06/2007 08:44:59
In: Ground School
Comments: 3

After ten weeks of ground school at Western Air I am finally done! What's next?

The written exam!

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My last week of ground school!

By: Amelia
On: 08/21/2007 09:42:40
In: Ground School
Comments: 1

Ground school has flown by over the last ten weeks! I can't believe that it is time for the last 2 tests...

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The mysterious flight computer

By: Amelia
On: 08/07/2007 18:19:55
In: Ground School
Comments: 1

Joe spent most of Thursday night trying to explain how we can use our flight computers to calculate fuel needs, speeds and travel times. I have lots of respect for the person who crammed all that information into one little device- now I just need to figure out how to use it!

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Meteorology

By: Amelia
On: 07/17/2007 12:39:26
In: Ground School
Comments: 1

Now that we have completed our Stage 1 Ground School exam we are moving on to Meteorology. I love this section because of all the interesting cloud formations and weather conditions; that is not to say that I would like to fly in all of them...

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Stage 1 Exam

By: Amelia
On: 07/08/2007 20:16:01
In: Ground School
Comments: 0

Ground school is going well and we are already taking our Stage 1 Exam. Some of the most difficult aspects of class so far have been airspace and charts! Even so, Joe has a great way of explaining things so that everyone in the room understands.

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Ground School

By: Amelia
On: 06/18/2007 12:12:47
In: Ground School
Comments: 0

My first week of ground school was excellent! Not only have I learned invaluable information in the past week, but there are so many students in the class that I have had the chance to meet a group of very interesting people. Each person has a unique reason for getting involved in aviation and each person will add to the class in a different way.

In the past, I had been told that if you know how to read and study on your own that you will be able to master the material within a ground school program just fine. I did just that in college; I read at home and came to class prepared. Studying for flight training seems much different to me in that the material is absolutely crucial to becoming a safe pilot. In college, you can almost always go back and fix your mistakes- here you are taking your own life and sometimes the lives of others into your hands. Needless to say, I am so glad that I was encouraged by my instructor Pete to sign up for ground school.

So far we have covered Chapters 1 and 2 in the Jeppesen student pilot manual. On Tuesday night we went over terminology and acronyms- two highly important aspects of aviation. If you don't know what the letters stand for, you certainly wont make it very far! This class was a good refresher for me and I felt like I left the class more prepared for my time in the aircraft than I did before class. We also had a chance to meet each other and learn a bit about our backgrounds and at least for this class we all fit in the training room... the second class was not so lucky!

There were so many students at ground school on Thursday night that we had to bring in extra tables. Usually this would drive me crazy in that the smaller the class size, the better attention you usually get... but this was great! To see all these people devoting their night to learning about aviation was very impressive. It looks like this week we may need to move to the great room.

What I loved about the Thursday night class was that we got to learn about the engine. I had read the chapter on engine systems, but this class answered a lot of questions that I had about how and why things work under the cowling. We went outside and looked at an engine after we had gone over slides in the classroom. This hands on approach really put things in perspective and it felt great to leave with a better understanding. As someone who has never really cared about what engine is in her car... I have a greater appreciation for what the engine in the Cirrus SR-22 does and how it accomplishes what it does.

I am very much looking forward to this week's ground school classes. With the new job at 9 News, I have not flown in 2 weeks! Ground school is great because it is keeping my mind on the airplane even though I have not physically flown in the Cirrus recently. As soon as I get settled in and back on a usual schedule with work I feel that this ground training is going to serve me well in the plane.

Thanks for reading!

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The plane is starting to feel like home.

By: Amelia
On: 06/03/2007 19:20:24
In: Flying
Comments: 1

I got some excellent news about work this week! I am now the 9 News helicopter reporter along with being the traffic reporter for 850 KOA. While this is a fantastic career move it means that flight training was put on hold for 7 days, and for someone with a goal in mind, that is a very long time! Now that it is Sunday afternoon and I am looking forward to this weeks training, a great Richard Bach quote came to mind... "The more I want to get something done, the less I call it work." With this in mind, I intend to call my time in the helicopter as well as my time in the Cirrus fun, because they both certainly are!