Thursday, December 15, 2005

17.9 hours

Teaching student is by far one of the most difficult things I have ever had to do. Specifically teaching my current student to land is even harder. My student has about 18 hours now, and was handed down to me from another guy who left the school. I have been working with him trying to figure out what bad habits he has, and how on earth I am going to break those habits. Let’s see, where should I start?

1) On the takeoff roll, he is reluctant to add full power right away. I watch him eat up half of the runway using partial power before he adds max power. This is fine on a 5000 foot runway, but makes me nervous if we go somewhere shorter. He also doesn’t believe in centerlines like I do. He has a tendency to veer off the runway centerline on the takeoff roll. I have to at times add right rudder to keep us aligned……
2) On the climb out he is good, except that he is a bit absent minded and flustered, and has a tendency to miss his xwind altitude. We turn our xwind at 900 ft msl…..and all too often I have to remind him. His xwind turn is pretty good. But when he turns his downwind he blows through his altitude (1200 msl) and doesn’t configure the aircraft like he should. Can be a bit frustrating.
3) Once we sort out the airplane on the downwind, the fun is just starting. Our base turn is a diving high speed affair. A little scary. It usually takes some coaching from me to sort out the issues on base and final but he usually recovers alright.
4) The last part of the puzzle is the landing flare. Or rather lack there of. He feels as though he needs to land on all three wheels……I do not concur. Those of you who know how to land know that it is customary to land on the main wheels and let the nose wheel fall…this is done through the use of backpressure on the yoke/elevator. Initially he will start to flare normally. Then he will either put in too much backpressure---in which case we balloon 20 feet in the air, run out of airspeed, and drop like a rock. Or, he lets out the backpressure and we drop like a rock and land on all three wheels at once. Not a real healthy thing for the airplane.

Anyways, I just wanted to share some experiences I have had in the pattern the last couple of weeks. Ill keep you updated.

Tuesday, December 13, 2005

Finally Makin Money

So, Again I apologize for the long gap in posts. Ive been keeping very busy on the airways and in the traffic pattern. I took two of my college friends down to VT for the Boston College game. It was a 745 game on a Thurs night, so i took a half day from work and was wheels up by 2 pm. We landed at BCB in the PA28R-200 Arrow right in front of N1VA---the governors jet. We went downtown for some food and to relive old times. The game was awesome but really cold. We won of course in what was one of teh best games of the year from a hokie fans perspective. We ended up walking back the 2 miles to the airport but it was alright...it warmed us up. An IFR departure into the cold black sky and up to 7000 I went. with temps hovering around freezing at that altitude i was on the lookout for ice. Sure enough like clockwork we began to pick up ice. So back down i went and out of the clouds and ice. the rest of the ride home was uneventful to say the least.. Just another night on the airways.

So, I have my first student since passing my CFI. Pete is a hand-me-down from another instructor who has since left the flight school. He has about 15 hours under his belt and is working on his private rating. Hes motivated and makes my job easier in that regard...but he has some stuff to work on. Nonetheless...this has been a tremendous challenge......I will let you know when he solos.