Category: Flight Training

It’s been a long time coming, but I finally started my upset recovery training. That sounds highly advanced, and technical, but basically, we just go up and throw the plane around for an hour.

Today was my first of 4(maybe 5) flights that I will do. We do the flights in a Zlin 242 aerobatic plane. I don’t know much other than- 200hp, fuel injected, constant speed prop. Glass canopy top, with visibility like you could never dream of. It’s truly an amazing machine, and I’m dreading going back to my put-put training Warrior!

So we got up to about seven thousand feet, and started with some chandelles and lazy eights. Which are basic commercial maneuvers, and we start with them to get a feel for how the airplane flies. It has a stick, as opposed to a conventional yoke, so it’s a little different, but it’s very intuitive. Makes you wonder why the yoke was ever invented. You want to go a direction? Push the stick there, and there you go.

So after getting familiar with the airplane, we start with wing overs. Basically a wing over is a recover from a nose high attitude, and low airspeed. In light aircraft, you can just push the stick forward, and nose down to level flight. However- in larger, faster airplanes, if you do that, you can subject the airframe, and it’s occupants to negative G’s. Which could damage the airframe, or harm your occupants. In this example you’re trying to recover from nose high with low airspeed. You simply bank over and the loss of vertical lift will cause the nose to lower, and airspeed to rise.

In this case though, we did it a little exaggerated. Basically we pitched for straight up, banked over, and leveled off. Pretty straight forward, and basic.

After that, we did a loop. Now you may be asking yourself. What good is doing a loop for my training? Who cares, it was FUN. Ok, but really. It is an example of how to recover from inverted flight, or pitch down dives. We just wrap it all up in a loop, and do both at once.

We then moved into spins. The mother of all maneuvers. Well, at least for me. I’m not really scared of the idea of spinning. At least until today I wasn’t.

Basically, a spin is when a stalled, un-coordinated airplane enters an auto rotation. The concept of a spin is very heavy in aerodynamic theory. For the easiest explanation- the airplane stops generating lift, and due to un-coordination, will begin to auto rotate. It just starts spiraling. Most specifically, to the ground.

We started the maneuver at or below 85 KIAS. Full back pressure on the elevator, and full rudder in any direction. Almost instantly, the plane jumps up, and rolls onto it’s ‘back’. At this point if you look straight out, you see the ground spinning by you. What is the hardest part? To get out of this pickle, you have to push forward! That’s right. You’re spinning towards the ground, the last thing you want to do is get there faster right? Well, wrong. To get the wings to start generating lift again, you have to put forward pressure on the stick. This will get airflow over the rudder again, at which point you apply full opposite rudder to stop the spin. Then level the airplane.

The first one the instructor completed, while I followed on the controls. The second one I did, while he followed. So my first spin ever. How did it go? Bad.

I pulled back, put in full rudder, and the plane did its thing. Rolled over, and started spinning. I looked down at the ground, and I think I heard him say ‘Rudder’. I kicked the rudder. We stopped spinning. I didn’t stop putting in the rudder. He took over, and leveled us off. I was freaked just a little!

What just happened? Then he spoke some Chinese for a minute, and I gather I did something wrong. Holding the rudder too long will just aggravate the spin, and sometimes will spin the airplane in the opposite direction. Oh, ok. I think my problem was I was staring at the ground, and wasn’t too comfortable with that feeling.

We did a few more, and I got more comfortable with it. It seemed just as soon as we had taken off, we were on the ground and chocking the plane.

I’m excited for more of these flights, and I have already learned so much. Today I learned what could possibly save my life someday, or the lives of my passengers. That’s training worth paying for!

Only a few flights left, and then I’m finished with this phase of training. After this, I go on to multi engine training.

I’m currently waiting to do my spin training flights, and multi engine ground school. I have 2 cross country flights left, and a few dual flights.

Today I got my official certificate in the mail! Very exciting to see the real deal. I guess I don’t get to keep it for very long though. Soon as I get my multi private, I get another temp, and they take away my current one.

The weather has been pretty much perfect lately. There have been a few days that it was bad, but other than that- perfect. Clear skies, 70 degrees, calm wind.

I know, I know. It’s been way too long. It seems the gaps between updates has been getting longer. It’s not exactly by choice, I’m just so busy lately.

Right now I’m in the latter part of step two. This is the phase of training where I build my x-country required time for commercial, and build night proficiency, as well as single engine commercial maneuvers. There is a step two stage check, but not for any FAA rating, just a progress check with Flight Safety.

I only have about 10 flights left in step two, and then I will be going into the Seminole, which is the twin engine. I’m pretty excited about that, except for the cost! Goes from $100 an hour, to $300! Yikes! However, I hear the Seminole is tons of fun to fly.

I have in the mean time finished CRM(It’s called ‘Error and Risk Management’ but everyone calls it CRM), and Zlin ground school.

CRM exposes you to a lot of NTSB incident and accident reports. They show you how some could be avoided, and some you have to adapt to the situation. There is no page in the instruction book about what to do when the roof flies off.

The CRM class was very informative about common mistakes, and the instructor had a lot of personal tips and tricks to stay safe in the air. I think the class was only three of four days long, but there is another segment of the class later on in the training. I enjoyed the class, and it changed the way I fly, in some ways.

The Zlin ground school was in preparation for my spin training. It was about a three hour brief on the maneuvers you will perform in the Zlin, as well as some advanced aerodynamics of a stall, and spin.

There are four flights in the Zlin, each one hour long. I haven’t yet had one, but I’m super excited to get to go. Can’t wait to do some spins, and loops.

Flight Safety has been building a new maintenance hanger to replace the one that was damaged(destroyed) by the hurricanes last year. They have the building up, and have started framing the interior. Today I noticed they were attaching the hanger door. They have told us that it should be finished by March.

Also- they flight line building has been undergoing remodeling as of late, and I think that is set to be finished in April. Hopefully it is done soon, because right now we have to brief in trailers, and it’s not the greatest environment. Flight Safety has done they’re best to make it the best possible, but a trailer is a trailer.

In other news, they have installed wireless internet access on campus. I haven’t tried it out, but I know a few people that are currently using it, and I haven’t heard any complaints. Even though they claim it’s ‘Free’, they raised our rent in the dormitories a few months ago. The .50 cent raise per day, affected all on campus housing, to the best of my knowledge.

I think that covers most of what has been happening lately. I will try my best to keep this site more updated.

It has been an inordinate amount of time since my last entry. For that I apologize.

The holidays have left me in a daze of sorts. I went home for a few weeks to visit family, and friends. It was really great to see my parents again, and have dinner somewhere other than Taco Bell, or crappy canned food.

I came home to a very cold Florida. No, I don’t mean 50s cold, I mean 30s cold. Almost as cold, if not colder than home. Idaho. Think about that statement. Anyway, after the initial shock, I got my sweatshirt and jeans out of my suitcase, and wore them. Wasn’t exactly expecting that, but whatever.

Going back to work, really slapped me in the face. After a few weeks of hanging out with my friends, and not working, it really sucked getting up at 5 am to go to work.

I got back in Florida on the 3rd, and I haven’t flown since I’ve been back. I’m feeling a tiny bit apathetic about it. I’m not really sure why.

I start Zlin ground school tomorrow, as well as Crew/Cockpit Resource Management. I’m excited for that, and hopefully I can get motivated again. I’m just in a rut right now. I feel like I’m on the outside looking in.

Anyway, I will try to take lots of pictures of my Zlin flights, and keep the site updated about my progress. I know a lot of prospective students look to this for a kind of ‘in the trenches’ view, and I apologize for not being around lately.

Today I flew to Venice, which is located on the west coast of Florida. It was my first destination to the west coast. It was a really smooth, and clear day, so the flight was perfect. Got to the field, had lunch, and left. Got to see some great coastal scenery, and then the rest was pretty boring crossing the state. Not much in the middle of nowhere, just rows of orange trees, and swamps.