First, on this Memorial day I want to honor those that have given their lives so that I had the freedom to fly today!
Been slow going around here due to giving finals and completing the year end stuff. I should finally have some sim content within the next couple days
1.0 Cessna 172- Student that is looking to get back into GA as a sport pilot decided to go for the more traditional steam gauged Skyhawk over the Skycatcher. As he was expecting, it made him much more comfortable and confident which is always important.
.8 Pa-28- This was much more eventful! Lesson 2 with a private pilot student. We were working on getting comfortable with controlling the aircraft, configuration/speed changes, and slow flight. There was enough time to do just a couple more maneuvers but then I started smelling a weird odor and thought I been "I've been down this road before..." (that story later).
I asked her if she was smelling it too, and she said yes so I headed back towards the airport since it was that weird smell of avionics getting hot, but luckily no smoke. I shut down the avionics master and then the main master to troubleshoot. The smell seemed to get slightly better. I turned back on first the battery side of the main master, then the alternator side, then the avionics and that all seemed ok, By now we were just about to enter the pattern so I tried to get one quick transmission even though it is an uncontrolled field. I got maybe two words in before the avionics shut down. I turned back off the now mushy switch/breaker avionics master switch.
During all this I when the main master was on the intercom still worked so I was able to tell the student what was happening. She later mentioned I was pretty nonchalant about the whole thing, and for the most part there was no reason to not be since we were going back into an uncontrolled field. I used it as a learning experience to help to show that the plane does fine if the electrical system isn't working (in day VFR at least!). While it was not that big of deal, I can't say I didn't get a little worked up on the inside just for the reason of heading it off before it may have caused a cabin fire. In retrospect for that reason, it would have probably been better not to attempt to make the transmission coming back in and just left the avionics master off. We are hoping it is just the avionics switch/breaker, but we will see.
I've pointed out for a long time that those silver switches with numbers on the end in newer Cessnas are actually switch/breakers and one of them may be off not because you forgot to turn on that light, etc., it is because it was overloaded. Now it looks like I've lived that in a Piper.
Monday, May 30, 2016
Tuesday, May 24, 2016
CFI Renewed
Went into the FSDO (local FAA office) yesterday to renew my CFI again. This time despite the instructions with the renewal course and what I did my last renewal, they did not want my 8710 paper application. So they had me fill a digital one out on electronic ICARA system quickly. It didn't surprise me they wanted it done that way, just suprised me the renewal course is still recommending the paper one to go with into the FSDO.
Like all my other renewals, I used American Flyer's FIRC program. I initially went with them due to a relatively low cost and the free lifetime renewals. 7 renewals in, I would say I have got my money's worth out of that choice! I've also seen their program evolve over the years. I would recommend it, but that's also without having a chance to really compare it to other programs.
Like all my other renewals, I used American Flyer's FIRC program. I initially went with them due to a relatively low cost and the free lifetime renewals. 7 renewals in, I would say I have got my money's worth out of that choice! I've also seen their program evolve over the years. I would recommend it, but that's also without having a chance to really compare it to other programs.
Tuesday Log
.7 C-162 Flew with a great lady that is interested in possibly returning to flying after a good number of years. It was a pleasure to meet her, but unfortunately due to the glass cockpit and other issues, it may not be the plane for her. Thought I had the landing down and was going to be a sweet full stall and then it plunked in. I was just that foot too high in the flare probably due to seeing so many 172 sight pictures, LOL.
Monday, May 23, 2016
Weekend Log
Since it is a bLOG, I'm going to post up simplified flight logs mostly to fill in some extra thoughts that you don't put into the log book.
Friday:
1.5 Cessna 150- holds with instrument student. While we make a bigger deal out of it in training than in real instrument, a student doing well done holds is satisfying.
Saturday:
1.0 Cessna 162- with a new sport pilot student. I almost canceled due to wind, still being new to the Skycatcher.
Glad I didn't since student did well and the winds died down some to where it was a decent landing that helped my confidence. Probably do a post on my thoughts of the 162 as I get some more time it.
.9 Pa-28- first lesson with a new private student, been awhile since I flew a low wing and missed how Cherokees land. Not saying they land better or not than Cessnas, I'm mostly wing position agnostic. Just kind of pleasing to feel the little differences again.
Sunday:
1.0 Cessna 162- new sport pilot student doing slow flight and stalls
.5 Cessna 162- discovery flight, fun as usual
.6 Cessna 162- student returning to aviation to hopefully get a sport pilot maybe more if medical reform passes. He does really have the passion and I'm glad to help rekindle the flame. I'm a supporter of medical reform, but it alone won't save General Aviation.
1.5 Cessna 150 with instrument student. Intro to approaches with a missed approach to hold, lots of fun!
The plan and me
So here's the basic about me and what this blog will mostly focus on post. Basically, I'll be writing about my life as a career flight instructor and near life long flight simulator enthusiast.
My name is Matt and live in the Indianapolis, IN area. I'm married and have 2 elementary age daughters and an infant son. My family is the most important thing in my life so I mention them now because I'm sure I will be mentioning them from time to time as I post. I've always enjoyed aviation, and while I'm only certificated to fly airplanes, I've also flown gliders, hot air balloons, and have skydived.
I have been flying since my parents paid for some lessons in 1998 and soloed that summer. I finished my private pilot certificate in 2000 when I went to college to major in aviation. I earned my commercial in Spring of 2001 and Flight Instructor and Instrument Instructor in 2002. I knew pretty early into my CFI training if I could make a career as an instructor work, it would be a good fit for me. 14 years later, I'm still making it work; it isn't always easy though.
My profesional life now is mostly as a dual-credit aviation high school teacher for my college alma mater. I feel very lucky to have this opportunity to introduce aviation to these students, but since it is classroom instruction, my flight time gets limited depending on what else is going on in my life. Lately though, I've been able to fly more by mostly doing freelance/independent contractor instructor flights.
On the simulation side, I can't exactly pin down when I started but it was in elementary school with a family friend's Atari ST. My earliest sims with the ST were MicroProse's F-19, Gunship, and F-15 Strike Eagle II, so probably around 1990. We later bought our first family computer, a 486SX that I spent many hours in Falcon 3.0 with side flights with Aces of the Pacific/Over Europe, among others. I learned to make some pretty awesome boot disks! My first system I bought with my own money was a eMachines 366mhz Celeron to better run Falcon 4.0. That was my last "box computer" as well. While there has been other sims that I dabbled in, Falcon has always been my favorite.
Most of the sim posts here will probably relate to Falcon specifically and combat sims generally, but that doesn't mean I won't make occasional Microsoft Flight Sim, Prepar3D, X-Plane, etc. posts. I have also been a generic home cockpit builder for a long time, which when I wrote for Computer Pilot magazine around 2005, most of my articles there related to that. I imagine that many here will too. My cockpit philosophy has always been inexpensive and something that is geared towards the F-16 but not 100% accurate.
One thing you probably won't see out of me is a active YouTube channel for reviews and such. I have started yelling at the screen of many YouTube reviews for taking up too much time and not having enough detail. There are channels out there that can definitely do that, but that probably wouldn't be me. I've always felt articles were more efficient for me.
So that's me and you can expect little bit of everything relating to my real life flying and experiences, aviation in general, and flight simulation. Thanks for reading!
My name is Matt and live in the Indianapolis, IN area. I'm married and have 2 elementary age daughters and an infant son. My family is the most important thing in my life so I mention them now because I'm sure I will be mentioning them from time to time as I post. I've always enjoyed aviation, and while I'm only certificated to fly airplanes, I've also flown gliders, hot air balloons, and have skydived.
I have been flying since my parents paid for some lessons in 1998 and soloed that summer. I finished my private pilot certificate in 2000 when I went to college to major in aviation. I earned my commercial in Spring of 2001 and Flight Instructor and Instrument Instructor in 2002. I knew pretty early into my CFI training if I could make a career as an instructor work, it would be a good fit for me. 14 years later, I'm still making it work; it isn't always easy though.
My profesional life now is mostly as a dual-credit aviation high school teacher for my college alma mater. I feel very lucky to have this opportunity to introduce aviation to these students, but since it is classroom instruction, my flight time gets limited depending on what else is going on in my life. Lately though, I've been able to fly more by mostly doing freelance/independent contractor instructor flights.
On the simulation side, I can't exactly pin down when I started but it was in elementary school with a family friend's Atari ST. My earliest sims with the ST were MicroProse's F-19, Gunship, and F-15 Strike Eagle II, so probably around 1990. We later bought our first family computer, a 486SX that I spent many hours in Falcon 3.0 with side flights with Aces of the Pacific/Over Europe, among others. I learned to make some pretty awesome boot disks! My first system I bought with my own money was a eMachines 366mhz Celeron to better run Falcon 4.0. That was my last "box computer" as well. While there has been other sims that I dabbled in, Falcon has always been my favorite.
Most of the sim posts here will probably relate to Falcon specifically and combat sims generally, but that doesn't mean I won't make occasional Microsoft Flight Sim, Prepar3D, X-Plane, etc. posts. I have also been a generic home cockpit builder for a long time, which when I wrote for Computer Pilot magazine around 2005, most of my articles there related to that. I imagine that many here will too. My cockpit philosophy has always been inexpensive and something that is geared towards the F-16 but not 100% accurate.
One thing you probably won't see out of me is a active YouTube channel for reviews and such. I have started yelling at the screen of many YouTube reviews for taking up too much time and not having enough detail. There are channels out there that can definitely do that, but that probably wouldn't be me. I've always felt articles were more efficient for me.
So that's me and you can expect little bit of everything relating to my real life flying and experiences, aviation in general, and flight simulation. Thanks for reading!
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)