Blog Post 3 -New Private Pilot?

I recieved my first new private student, and after we introduce ourselves some of the items i would cover would be:
  -going over the operating procedures for westminster such as showing up on time to a lesson, meaning greater than 30min early
  -dressing properly for each lesson regarding weather and season
  - knowing before-hand whats to come before each lesson
  -being prepared and studying/memorizing all available infromation for the next lesson such as speeds, maneuvering procedures, ground knowledge, required reading, etc.
  -contact me 24hrs in advance of a cancellation
  -knowing your flight schedule in regards to no-showing
  -reading the pilot reads, emails, and FIF's
  -I would also involve, when the student would like to be completed by so we can have the same goal. 

Blog Post 2 -a new flight instructor??

Before i did ground or flight instruction with this new student, i'd first look in his/her folder and see recent flight(s) they conducted. Lessons that weren't passed and needed to be redone or touched-up could be seen. also from the ground knowledge standpoint, i'd see recent time they met and what they went over. Once i met with the student and got to meet them, i'd go into detail about previous knowledge. I'd be asking them questions they should have learned in the past and focus and go into more depth about areas they were weak on. Another method would be to ask their last instructor and get an idea on what the student was struggling with or needed help on. I could get good insight by doing this so its an easy transition. I could also ask the instructor stuff they havent gone over yet and material that needs still to be presented. With all this infromation, i can get a good understanding about the student and what's to come.

Blog Post 1 -breaking the plateau

  My student after the third lessson is still not understanding landings by the method i'm teaching them. I feel i should tell my supervisor but not yet, i feel this plateau is fixable but its going to requier a lot more attention from both parties, instructor and student. I think it's the actual method that i need to change, and teach my student in a different approach. there are many things that can be changed but i'll try each one and see which one works to break his/her plateau. one large thing it depends on is what is bothering the student. they're could be a variety of problems with the student which could be difficult to pinpoint. another lesson with teaching the student different ways of landing might be needed, but the way which are taught must be differernt than the privious ways, but it all depends on what the student is haveing trouble with. -possibly flare? airspeed? height above touchdown? the approach? centerline?
  Another method i would give to the student if that last method of teaching didnt work is go up with another instructor to get a different outlook. recieving someone elses feedback or teaching method could solve the problem of landing. but if either way doesnt work, I would then send him up with a supervisor.

Blog Post 4 -Visualization Article

Visualization... humm... i've seen this before. I've seen it when i got a 1 on my commercial manuvers when i did them better than my instructor. (not to brag of course.) but i know for a fact some of my students will be great pilots automatically, and i will strive to make them all better than i am. I want to see them surpass me so i someday can give them a 1 on their manuvers. one way i will tell them to study or improve is to visualize. visualize their manuvers by chair flying. -we all have done it, so pass it on.

Every landing is like a fingerprint, no two are alike. every landing is a different new situation that one has to perfect. visualizing a perfect approach or seeing an approach that needs to be corrected are all skills aquired by doing. flying and flying once again gives you a great picture on how an approach should look. Its something based on timing, keen flight skills, thinking ahead, and visioning. recognize a poor approach and correcting for it is an art. -an art i want to teach students

Every pilot thinks their the best, and every pilot loves to talk about their stories, but what really does make a good captain? what makes him ready for his future career, ha, his stories? possibly... but one thing that makes a great future captain is paying attention to his required training and putting it into skills or real scenarios. listing to others talk or communicate is a great example to learn. I use to go to my local FBO every day and listen to pilots talk in the lounge, and i'd converse with them. -and that was the most i've EVER learned. -hearing another's opinion or situation.

Blog Post 3 -Assessment Article

  Formative assessment is critique during a lesson so one can improve on it to try and accomplish a goal while summative assessment is an evaluation at the end of the learning unit or lesson program. Summative is judgements about the learners effectieveness or a final examination to see how one did.
  Criterion is entended to determine wheater or not a learner has achieved a set level of competence where an evaluation might be required. A norm is based on how well a learner has mastered the material compared to other learners/students. its compared to the class norm. Self referenced are used when the student has a personal learning goal and success is based on the students own opinion.
  Self directed learners are for sophisticated learners who can feel, think, review themselves in an integrated theoretical system. they feel there is no single final solution and will accept feedback on how successful they think they did on their work.

Blog Post 2 -Selecting Methods

  A few ways i'd use role playing for my student, is having him practice chair flying as a skit with his eyes closed in front of me. Or another perfect way is to put his headset on and give me readbacks to practice inflight communication skills. its basically for him to perform a certain skill using cognitive domain. They should act in front of the instructor to gain knowledge on a specific subject. There are four methods of instructional methods in teaching students. to start out, the Instructional-centered method is primarly responsible for conveying info to the students by demonstration, lecture, and questioning. The next method is Interactive, where learning is facilitated by involvement, cooperation, and construction of knowledge through dialogue. There are different types like class discussions, groups, peer teaching, and group projects. Another method is Individual learning, where one learns on small individual steps. It uses modularized instruction, indipendent projects, and computerized skills. This leads us into the next method, Expiermental learning. It takes place in situations where students are involved in performing tasks by experiencing or doing. This includes role playing, simulations, games, drills, or labratory methods. Depending on the student and also the instructor, chooses what kind of meathod to use. Or also the type of lesson that will be taught.

  The paper asks to discuss the learning difficulty with adults and how it'll affect my teaching. Well, i was lucky enough to fly at an early age, and i will say that becuase my brain was still developing, i was able to learn extremely quickly and effectivly. I have never thaken in so much infromation so quickly in my entire life and enjoyed it more than ever. now that i'm 6 years older my brain process has slowed and is more developed. I dont take in the infromation like i use to. I think i enjoyed it so much more back then, and i think that applies to everyone in the same boat as me. Its a lot easier to teach a younger student that an older one.

Blog Post 1 -Construct vs positivist

Epistomology is a word philosiphors use to describe the meaning of knowledge, and how its aquired. It focuses on analizing the truth or final beliefs. Its more of a word that pertains to the theory of thought and how its aquired. one type, positivist deals with set in stone facts or 'known' infromation and is something that is discovered or learned. there is a lot of infromation out there, but we just have to find it. on the opposite end, constructivist, believe in qualitative research or learning through privious known experiences to devolope an understanding. its an external process to learn the facts. and if i had to identify any of them, i'd say a positivist because i learn and gather infromation by known facts without reaching too deep into them. i see/view info and gather it from there. but sometimes the reasearch and privious experiences prove a great way to learn which is why constructivist is smart. If i had to take a couple facts from this article i'd say that everyone is different. no one learns the same way. everyone has a different way of approaching infromation and distilling it in their memory. being a positivist or constructivist can take either sides of learning, but which ever is most useful for the student is fine. neither one is a wrong way to learn or gain knowledge, as long as the student takes in the proper infromation and understands it, its fine.

Post #6 What do i think?? well, i think a lot...

One thing that i never really took that far into consideration that we learned in class was the conventional vs counter rotating props and the extreme effect on each. there is such a difference between the two, and i'm glad i'm flying a plane that is counter rotating. knowing the extreme effects of each, advantages, and disatvantages is very helpful. the one thing i would like to add is that i wish we learned a lot more about turbine engines, not just props. -we always learn certain things in the plane that helps prepare us for the future, so why not learn it on the ground?? One thing that i loved was when we went out to the Seminole at the hanger, because at that point i havent flown it, so it was great insight. It was very beneficial seeing where everything is and getting a better understanding of how it works by seeing it in person. Another thing that i liked was how short the class is. it didnt drag on and on, it was very direct, to the point, lesson by lesson days. The class wasnt scatterd or jumbled around, it was in sync with identifiable sections. Julie, you did a wonderful job teaching it and i enjoy hearing your stories and getting real insight of real world twin flying. Probably the only thing that was kinda a downer was the workload. at times, there was quite a bit of homework stacked up, and most of my time consisted of multi. -but i understand why since the class is just over a month long.
The stuff we learned linked really well to my ground instruction, because it flew by and i knew my stuff when my instructor asked. i felt confident, and feel confident flying the twin and other twins alike and being able to describe them. The second thing that i learned that was vitally important was engine out ops and emergencies. we went into great depth about it which is great for real life scenarios. i never would have imagined how important it is to go over an engine out proc prior to the flight with given WX conditions. I feel safer as well.

Post #4 'one thing leads to another' -rock song by The Fixx

Just the first sentence is funny but true: It's an unfortunate aviation paradox that a strong desire to reach a destination sometimes means never getting there. We look at this flight like a bunch of poor situations kept happening one after another, but yet, this kind of stuff happens everyday worldwide, its just a matter of assessing the situation correctly, priortizing, and thinking safety. These pilots unfortunately chose poor decisions and the wrong course of action. The very sad part of this whole event is the fact that Rifle, the alternate ariport was clear below 12000 with light winds. Now i cant imagine the pressure of unhappy clients not being able to make the expesive dinner party because of a trip to the alternate. -And the only person to blame is you, the PIC. but i gess thats sometimes whats needed. And what's more important? the lives of the passangers or getting to a dinner. On top of everything else, they were illegal in terms of not making the airport on time for noise abatementcy, executing an approach that was illegal because circling was NA at night and it wasn't day, not only that, the weather minimums were already bad and deteriorating, and 2 CL-600's went around prior to the crash. The pilot should have expected to divert or plan for a go-around, not to land at Aspen, and that's what i think his downfall was. He expected to land, when you have to plan for the worst, not the best. Plus, they only carried enough fuel for one shot on the approach then enough to Rifle. I feel that was a poor decision, because the more fuel the better. In my eyes, safety was not the concern, and was in the back of their minds. Hearing the two jets prior to them go around was a sinking feeling to the pilots when its something that should be taken calmly. This accident definately could have been prevented, especially because they followed a road to the right which they they thought would lead them to the runway. The poor ADM, judgement and failure of co-pilot backup is what lead to this to happen.

SLC2.TCH Departure Climb Gradient??

First off these are the Weather Conditions i used for Wednesday@10:40am:
OAT@4227: 19
OAT@7800: 14
OAT@8300: 13
Weight: 3650
Wind: LTVB

Secondly, these are the Seminole Calculations i used for Wednesday@10:40am:
Climb Performance One Engine Operating Gear Up:
@4227: 50'/min
Climb Performance Both Engines Operating Gear Up:
@4227: 1000'/min
@7800: 750'/min
@8300: 625'/min

For departing runway 17 it states: minimum climb of 260' per NM to 6000. then with minimum climb of 400' per NM to 8300. (depending direction)

-YES we can do this departure with both engines operating because we meet the climb gradient minimums, but NOT on one engine.


For departing runway 35 it states: minimum climb of 260' per NM to 7800. then with minimum climb of 260' per NM to 7800, ATC climb of 340' per NMto 7500. (depending direction)

-YES we can do this departure with both engines operating because we meet the climb gradient minimums, but NOT on one engine.

SPIFR

Haha! I have .7 actual and all has been with an instructor... so you expect me to fly single pilot IFR in IMC conditions?!? F-no. Single Pilot IFR is one of the most challanging things any pilot can do, and i will completely agree with that. The position i'm in right now, i would have to say NO, i wouldnt fly IFR with just myself on board. One main reason is that i have never done SPIFR before, therefore i have a lack of expierence in that catagory. Even if i may feel safe or confident in my instrument ability, I won't put myself in a situation i don't want to be in. Getting my instrument rating like all (including Westminster College) students we train for that single pilot situation, but are we really ready?? We always train with that instructor there next to us, even if he/she just sits there and watches, but we always know in our right minds that 'that' instructor can always take over, or help out. What happens if we got ourselves in a situation where we hoped that instructor was sitting there. Perhaps workload increased on an IMC approach, or 1 or 2 instrument failure, or any other circumstance where we needed that "other" pilot to help out. Quite frankly, i don't want to be there, i would rather wait till i have someone onboard because you can't expect the inevitable or destiny. If you care about safety and know your limits/abilities you will have that second person. This article made me realize how much tasks and objectives there are for just one pilot, and if you add bad weather, an instrument malfunction, increased radio comm, distractions, fixations, fatigue, physical condition, and anyting else that might effect you as a single pilot. I know i'm not ready to be there, although someday i will be, haha probably when i have more than .7 actual time :)

Cessna 310 W/B problem IS a problem...

This problem is making me upset, i cant find the airplane weight, i can't find the airplane moment, and the arms are no where to be found. And there are so many seats and only 5 people. -where the hell do they go, and the cargo?!? not only that, its a 70 page doc. for something that should only take maybe 3 pages.

Wet Sump??

A wet sump is an oil management lubercation design for a 4 stoke engine. It's a 'wet' sump design because it uses a built in reservior for the oil. The oil lubercates the engine by gravity and is collected at the base with a pan, then is pumped back to the top of the engine. This design is usually used under high G's because of the usage of gravity.

Blog Post #2

First off, a short circut is different than an open circut because the electricty is flowing on a different path than the one intended. the current is trying to find the easiest pathway to its source. This can create damage, start a fire, and now the aircraft is unairworthy.
I thought this article was interesting in the fact that it had a generic 'shut down' procedure no matter what aircraft one was flying, and it made sense too. the point of the article is really to act immediately in an orderly manner. for instance, it states: stay calm, contact ATC, look for tripped circut breakers/turn off components, activate fire extingusher, and then prepare to land which is basically troubleshooting and finding where the problem is. Now, the Seminole POH states turn off master as first item while the article tells you to turn it on and see if that is the source so you can monitor the effects. The seminole basically states to turn ALL electrical equip off and eliminate anything and so does the article, except it states if you have time to troubleshoot you should, but priority is getting the plane on the ground. If i have a lot of altitude and have an electircal malfunction in the future, i have time to troubleshoot in which i shall with the master switch, but basically my priority is getting the plane down on the ground safely because my life is more important than the plane's. I will declare an emegency, turn all equip off, and activate the fire extinguisher. but hopefully this never happens in the future...

Blog Post #1

The majority of aircraft in general aviation are single engine aircraft, but the rest of aviation (about 87%) consists of multiengine aircraft. If i'm going to proceed and press further within this industry i'm at least going to need to know how to fly and gain hours in a twin engine aircraft. I hope in this class that i not only learn about twin piston aircraft, but turbine and jet engine aircraft alike. Not only that, but the systems they share in order to operate. I hope to expand on the topic and learn more in depth (than the commercial level) about the pressurization, gear, oxygen, electrical, and fuel systems. -because evey airplane is different, and i'll only fly the seminole once. Maybe not even twin aircraft, but 2 or more engines such as the 747 or C-17. I expect to learn why some multi aircraft have anhedrial and dihedrial standing wings with engines mounted on top or bottom, and its benefits. I expect to expand my knowledge in the catagory not just on the seminole, but all planes alike. I want to be able to see a Challenger CL-600 or a BAE-146-Avro and know something about them, especially the design characteristics, and aerodynamic benefits. I want to know why some planes are designed the way they are. perhaps a MD-80 vs an A321, something that carry's a similar amount of passangers.