Learning to Fly

Over this past weekend, I had a lot of time to reflect and go over the large amount of information that has been thrown at me during these past few weeks, so I spent a lot of time on both Saturday and Sunday doing that. Today, we did a bit of ground schooling to go over what we would be practicing today, and headed up. All that we did today was practice the traffic pattern for landing, which is in my opinion the hardest part of flying that I have experienced thus far. We took off and landed about 5 times today, and will be doing much more tomorrow, as I am practicing the same exact thing at that time. My takeoffs are steadily improving and so is my confidence while performing them. My landings are getting there, however they continue to be quite difficult, and I definitely wouldn't feel super comfortable doing them without the guidance of my instructor. Can't wait to keep practicing tomorrow. Hours over the weekend: 2 1/2 each day Hours at concord aviation: 3 Hours at home goin

    This second week learning how to fly planes for Senior Project has continued to be an extremely memorable and fun experience. As mentioned in last week's reflection, the sheer amount of information that has been thrown at Ben, Henry and myself is very large, so studying this information and preparing for the next day in the air has been occupying a large amount of our time during the day. I can speak for all three of us when I say that we have been throughly enjoying learning how to fly these aircraft, as well as interacting with the amazing instructors at the concord aviation center.     Thus far in our project, we have been educated on a multitude of topics spanning from basic aerodynamics, reading weather in the sky, learning about the many instruments in the aircraft's interior and, of course, learning how to actually pilot the aircraft. The planes that we are piloting are not very large, which makes the wind and other weather conditions affect us while in the air far m

 Today was more of the same, however the winds were not quite as nice as yesterday. We again worked on some power on and power off stalls, and practiced the recoveries for those. Additionally, we practiced the flight pattern for landing the plane a couple of times, however today this was made much more difficult with the wind. I am also notably improving on my familiarity with the area around the airport, which is helping me to find my way back each day without the help of my instructor. Overall, I feel that I am becoming far more comfortable in the aircraft each day that I enter it, and I am excited to see what next week brings. Time at concord aviation today: 3 hours Time at home working: 2 in the am and 2 in the pm Total Time today: 7 hours Total project hours: 56

 Today was great day both in the air and on the ground. The weather was far more favorable than yesterday with much more favorable winds, and there wasn't a single cloud in the sky. With the help of my instructor, we went over and practiced how to recover from different types of stalls, and we went over emergency situations such as the engine cutting out mid flight and practiced the recovery for such scenarios. Additionally, we practiced the flight pattern for landing three separate times, giving me a lot of additional practice with my takeoffs and landings. On the ground today, I kept going over the geography of the area as well as the different aspects of the map so that I can be better suited to navigate myself without the help of an instructor. Time at Concord Aviation: 3 hours Time at home working: 2 in the morning and 2 at night Total time today: 7 hours Total project time: 49 hours

 Unfortunately, the winds were gusting to up to 33 knots today, so flying was not in the cards for any of us. Instead, we did ground schooling for two hours, where we reviewed some old stuff that we'd gone over previously, and introduced some new things. The main focus of today's session was on reading the maps that are used to mark airspaces, airports, restricted areas and obstacles all throughout US airspace. Though it didn't look like it at first glance, these maps are surprisingly easy to read. After looking over this material, I was informed that soon I will have to perform a "cross country" flight using just this physical, paper map, so I will definitely need to get more accustomed to my surroundings in concord airspace. Overall, it was good day and I am excited to fly tomorrow. Total hours at Concord Aviation: 3 Total hours going over material at home: 2 in the morning, 3 in the afternoon Total for the day: 7 Project total: 42

Today was a really good day up in the air. Unfortunately, the Cessna plane that I have become somewhat used to flying was out of commission, so I was fortunate enough to be able to use a Piper Cherokee plane. This plane flew significantly more stable I thought, and my takeoff was far smoother than the last few days. In the air we practiced more turns at a 45 degree bank, turning around a point, and practiced the radio calls and flight patterns for landing a few times. Each day I feel that I am getting more and more comfortable with the interior of the aircraft, which I feel I demonstrated quite well today. Tomorrow the plan is to practice stalls and keep working on the maneuvers that I've been practicing up until this point. Hopefully the wind wont be too strong. Total Hours Today: 7 Studying Radio calls for landing pattern + other ground stuff: 8:30am - 10:30am Time at Concord Aviation:  10:00am - 1:00pm Study at home: 4:30 - 6:30 Total Hours: 35