As the title suggests, I'm currently in the process of getting my commercial pilot's license. In the second half of '09 I did a course in aeronautics at TAFE (the Australian equivalent of a community college or polytechnic) and I will be going back this year to increase my qualifications there. But today the real fun began, my first flying lesson.
It was supposed to be on Monday, but all I did was fill out a heap of paperwork. So I went to [URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jandakot_Airport"]Jandakot[/URL], my local airfield where my flying school is. I was waiting a little while for my instructor to arrive, and it turns out she's quite the butterface (Nice arse particularly).
Today's lesson was the effects of the various controls- the ailerons, elevator and rudder as well as the secondary controls (flaps, throttle and trim). We began with the briefing however because of my work at TAFE, and the fact that I'm a bit of a physics and aviation geek anyway, I already knew it all.
The briefing over, we headed out to the aeroplane I would be learning in, an Eagle 150. The Eagle isn't your typical trainer, it has a canard-like second set of wings just ahead of the cockpit which has a set of flaps, and the main wing behind the cockpit at the top of the fuselage (the body of the aeroplane). Instead of a control column for each person there's a stick in the centre. After getting some fuel and doing the pre-flight check, we were off!
[IMG]http://www.skywriter.com.au/images/eagle150_main.jpg[/IMG]
The Eagle 150.
After taking off and climbing, it was over to me. The first order of business was to establish some visual reference points. to maintain straight-and-level flight my instructor got the plane flying straight and level, and then had me look to see what the picture was out of the front of the cockpit. To keep the plane level you need to keep the horizon at a certain point relative to the cockpit; to keep it straight you pick out a a landmark in front of you and make sure it stays there.
It was at this point which my instructor reminded me of a fact which I first learned a couple of years ago when I first tried my hand at flying- You barely look at the instruments. This flies in the face (no pun intended) of everything I had 'learned' in Flight Simulator. During sim flights you sort of have to keep your eyes glued to the instruments, and the lack of varying pressure on the controls and G forces make it pretty unrealistic.
Next was a practical demonstration of the primary and secondary effects of the controls. The Elevator, rudder and ailerons control pitch, yaw and roll respectively. However the story doesn't end there. As you can imagine point your nose toward terra firma will make you speed up, and the opposite is also true. But moving the rudder and aileron make the plane do things you don't necessarily want. Deflecting the ailerons will make the plane yaw in the opposite direction to which you roll, this is because the wing that goes up is producing more lift and therefore more drag then the wing that goes down. Similarly, yawing the plane will also make it roll in the same direction, because the wing that moves forward is going faster and therefore producing more lift then, the other wing.
[IMG]http://members.iinet.net.au/%7Ebdove/images/General_Flying/JandakotWA.jpeg[/IMG]
Jandakot Airport.
Then it was on to the effects of extending and retracting the flaps, the effects of speed on how the stick and pedals feel (this was a lot more obvious then I thought it would be) and finally trim (taking aerodynamic load of the controls so you don't tire yourself trying to keep them where you want them).
We landed, refueled, and debriefed. I was up for 40 minutes. Normally a lesson lasts around an hour, so I guess I'm doing alright? She gave the flying notes for the aeroplane (sort of like a mini manual) and some stuff to get for next time.
And that was my first flying lesson! I figure there are at least a few of you who found this interesting so I plan on keeping this as a blog of sorts as I get my license.
will you fly to my house
and bring beer
well chill
then go flying B)
Judging by your avatar, I am guessing your training will be short lived.
Informative.
Remember not to fly over the Bass Strait!
I didn't know TAFE could get you anything past working at Macdonald's.
Seriously though, that is awesome, i have a friend who is really dedicated to becoming a pilot for the air-force. Best of luck, Mate!
Do a barrel roll.
Cool. get a better hair cut.
[QUOTE=Monkeytracks;19462008]Cool. get a better hair cut.[/QUOTE]
How do you even know what my hair looks like now?
[QUOTE=SBD;19462044]How do you even know what my hair looks like now?[/QUOTE]
He doesn't, he's just trying to look cool.
[QUOTE=Moby-;19462062]He doesn't, he's just trying to look cool.[/QUOTE]
1st photo. Look in the cockpit.
Be careful, my friend got pulled over with an open bottle of wine in the passenger compartment - his VFR license was taken away.
Cool wings bro.
I really want to get some flying lessons. But I think I'm too poor for that :(
[QUOTE=johnlukeg;19462174]Be careful, my friend got pulled over with an open bottle of wine in the passenger compartment - his VFR license was taken away.[/QUOTE]
It's funny how inconsistent CASA is. You need more forms of ID to get a learner driver's license then CASA asks for.
You're a fagget and I hope you crash.
-Lerm out
[highlight](User was banned for this post ("Flaming, banned earlier today for same thing." - SteveUK))[/highlight]
[QUOTE=HarryLerman;19462280]You're a fagget and I hope you crash.
-Lerm out[/QUOTE]
I love you too, buddy.
Anyhoo, I know photos actually taken by me would be better for this, but seeing as I'm just starting out I don't think I should start taking happy snaps just yet. But we'll see.
[QUOTE=iownuall;19461635]Judging by your avatar, I am guessing your training will be short lived.[/QUOTE]
This, and...
[QUOTE=K1ngo64;19461978]Do a barrel roll.[/QUOTE]
That.
how much is it costing you?
I thought this was going to be about some idiot who jumped off a cliff with a pair of wings
Nice plane yo. Is it expensive?
Australian man.
My father can fly a small plane. I remember flying it when I was small. It's not hard to simply fly (except ofcourse taking care of all the little things), but it looks damn hard to land and takeoff.
That's allways when I crash when playing Flight Simulator games. I hope it doesn't go so bad for you.
You should change your name to Maverick.
[QUOTE=booster;19464242]You should change your name to Maverick.[/QUOTE]
or White Baron.
Oo you live near Jandakot? I live about 20 minutes south from there.
