Snakes on a blog!

Yesterday I finished flying with the student who was having trouble landing. We started the day with him taking the final exam for the course. He did quite well on it, but it took much longer than I was planning.

For the second part of the course I like to combine lessons to help get the student done quicker so they can move on with their lives. I’m not sure the Navy is aware how much of a commitment learning to fly at such a quick pace can be. The students need to balance flying 3-5 times a week on top of all their other classes and other Navy commitments. I did it for my 5 and 1/2 years in college (no, not a typo) and I know how much more stress it can add to your life. That is why I try to get this done as quick as possible.

Our last flight was combining lesson 14 and lesson 15. Lesson 14 is a cross country with a diversion somewhere along the route. Once we arrive at the other airport, we do a few landings to make sure the student is on his game that day. I get out and the student does his second solo for the course. We started out on a cross country to somewhere in Delaware, and soon into the flight I had him divert to Easton, MD. His landings there weren’t bad. They weren’t perfect, but they were certainly safe, so I had no problem hopping out of the airplane and letting him go on his own.

Before I started instructing, I thought I would be a nervous wreck when my students were flying solo. It actually turns out to be quite the opposite. I absolutely will not sign off a student to solo unless I know they are ready. So instead of being nervous, there’s a great feeling of accomplishment as you see your student accelerate down the runway. Even more so when you see them make that first landing. I remember how excited I was when I did my first few solos, and its nice to know that I am partly responsible for them being able to experience the same thing.

As great as it is to watch them take off and land on their own, the most pride I felt is when I saw my student go around. I tell all my students that under no circumstances should they continue to land if they aren’t going to touch down within the first 1/3rd of the runway. On his first approach to the runway, he was a bit high. He probably could have touched down at the very end of the first 1/3rd, but it was music to my ears to hear the engine spin up again, watch him accelerate the airplane and do a flawless go around. This is such a big deal because anyone can learn to physically manipulate the controls of the airplane. But what leads to most mishaps in aviation is a lack of judgment.  Seeing that he is developing good judgment this early in his career tells me that he will do very well further on down the road.

After we finished the solo, he came taxiing back to the ramp with a big smile on his face. He got out and stretched for a while and we went into the airport building. Things are getting pretty hot and humid around here nowadays, so any time you’re close to the ground things get pretty warm inside the plane. Any chance to take a break and get in an air conditioned building, you take it.

We climbed back in the airplane and headed off to complete lesson 15. This involved a cross country flight from Easton (ESN) to Wilmington, DE (ILG), to Georgetown, DE (GED), and back to Bay Bridge (W29).

The cross country was pretty routine. We climbed up to a higher altitude where the air would be a little bit cooler. As usual, the people working in the tower at ILG were very friendly and helpful. We decided to get out and stretch at GED. We went in the terminal to cool down and found they have quite a nice facility. Inside are both a restaurant and…get this…a bar. They must know pilots all too well over there. Hopefully it only gets used AFTER  a flight, and not before and inbetween. After we started the engine, I spotted a fellow Jetphotos.net and Jetcareers.com forum member about to push his airplane into its hangar. Unfortunately I didn’t have the time to shut down and go talk to him, but maybe next time.

To complete the course, the student needs to have 24 flight hours. When we took off from GED, we realized that we were going to come up about 45 minutes short. Before we entered the Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) that surrounds the DC/Baltimore area, we decided to stop and work on a few maneuvers to burn off the clock. The whole flight back from GED I was wondering if we were going to need to get some gas in order to finish the 4 hours. I decided to err on the side of caution and head back into W29 to fill up. After filling up I calculated that we still had about 6 gal. in there, which is 1 hour of fuel in our plane, but always better to be safe. We only needed to burn about 15 minutes more so we would have had more than enough to meet FAA required fuel reserves. I’d still make the same decision again because I’d rather be slightly inconvenienced than risk breaking the rules or worse. 15 minutes was just enough time to depart the ADIZ, turn around and come back.

I’ve finished 7 or so students in the Navy program now. Each time it is nice to see how relieved the student is when they finish the course. Its neat to know that in a few years, my students will be done flight training down in Pensacola and will be flying something exciting for the Navy.
My next flight was at 5:30. This was with a brand new Navy student who was just starting the course. Most of the time was spent introducing him to the syllabus, and teaching him how to do a preflight inspection of the airplane. The flight itself is pretty dull. To be able to do more advanced maneuvers later in the course, its very important that they get the basics down. The entire flight was spent doing basic maneuvers like turns, climbs, descents, and changes in airspeed. If the student understands these well enough, the rest of the course will be easy because every maneuver is simply a combination of all of the above. As an instructor these flights aren’t my favorite. Its difficult to not get frustrated if they are having trouble with something that seems so simple to you. But it is important to remember that I was the exact same way (probably worse) on my first flight.

I had my second flight with this student today doing more of the same and he’s doing much better than most students on these lessons. There is one thing I do like about these first few lessons. Its pretty much the last time I’ll get to land the airplane with this student. From now on the only time I get to touch the controls is when I’m demonstrating something or he tries to kill us. That’s OK though, I still love my job.

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