This was my official final week for classes! Even though my semester ends next week, all my assignments and projects ended this week. All I have next week are exams.

This week in engines, we looked at turbine engine inspection and maintenance. These topics include the start sequence and items to monitor while starting up. In addition, improper starts or starts with errors was covered. What kind of indication signifies a certain start and what to do in order to fix these issues was also covered. It seems a little premptive to be going over turbine engine start procedures but the overall coverage was very interesting and helpful to learn for my future career.

In instrument ground, IFR planning was covered again. I was required to plan several IFR flight plans and include the calculations for the course, time, and fuel as well as alternate planning. Again, very similar to VFR planning and a lot easier now that I have technology.

On another note, I recently began flying on a virtual airline. This is a community that uses flight simulators to simulate real day to day procedures at an airline. I am currently with Delta Virtual and have so far learned the starting and fms programming procedures for the 737 and 777. In addition, I have learned alot about the dispatching of commercial flights from the virtual dispatcher. Talking to ATC in a commercial context is also different to me but I have still learned a lot. Overall, its very serious despite being virtual but definitley a fun and knowlegeable intro experience for pilots wanting to fly commercially.

With school starting around the corner and with it the college admissions process, I’ve found that GlobalAir.com has a list of flight schools and universities (but without the #1 flight school, Purdue 😠). https://www.globalair.com/directories/Flight-Schools-Recurrent-Trng-39.html

Only one week left in the semester!

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I was able to fly again this week! On Thursday, my friend, Chris, and I rented a cessna and flew to Falcon Field (KFFC) in Peachtree City. We wanted to fly over the city along our route but we weren’t cleared into the Bravo. On our way there we detoured around KATL and the city. Fortunately for us, on the way back we went the opposite direction to avoid the Bravo but also have the city in our relative flight path. We were also kind of hoping to get vectored through the VFR corridor directly over KATL but we weren’t able to. We still got a birds eye view of the city at night and it was amazing!

Nothing else this week tops that but I also learned some important concepts in my engines and instrument ground classes. In engines, we learned about fire suppression systems in jets and engine cockpit instruments. It was interesting to understand these crucial parts of flight and safety. In instrument ground, we learned about IFR flight planning. It was very similar to VFR flight planning besides filing and alternate and determining wether or not our route van be flown given weather conditions.

Overall a very good week and one of the last. Sad to not have flown again this year in a cirrus. Hopefully I will be able to in the summer

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This week was definitely not as good as last week but still alot was learned. In my engines class, we went over turbine ignition systems, jet fuel, and the lubrication and cooling systems inside of jets. Once again, not as intriguing as last weeks discussion of parts of turbine engines. Despite this, I learned alot about why we use different fuel for different types of aircraft and the charicteristics of each. The ignition system was also very fascinating on how jet fuel is ignited to create thrust. The lubrication system wasn’t as cool as the others but still interesting in jet aircraft. In my instrument class, this week was focused on weather. A lot of the material was review for me as the same topics are taught by flight instructors for the commercial course. Airmets, sigmets, convective sigmets, and other weather reports were went over. In addition, weather theory was taught. This includes the atmosphere, pressure, temperature, clouds, wind, etc. The causes and charicteristics of each topic was taught in depth. This weather theory was especially interesting. Once again, a lot of it was review but all topics were tuaght more in depth this time. Quarantine still isn’t too fun and I’m still not sure when it will end but GlobalAir.com’s home page has several news stories pertaining to covid-19 and aviation. https://www.globalair.com/ .

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Despite being not allowed to fly for Purdue at all this semester, I was still able to fly this week was definitely a plus. On Tuesday, I went over more arrival plates for my instrument class. We went over several arrival plates for many different airports. I also went over sections of jet engines in my engines class. I learned about the cold and hot sections of jet engines. We also discussed different parts of these systems including compressors, combustors, inlet section, blades, etc. It was pretty enlightening to finally learn how jet engines work compared to basic prop engines. On Thursday, I learned more about enroute charts and the navaids used for IFR flight. On Saturday, I was able to fly with my friend from highschool in a 172 at my home airport. It was so weird being back in the Cessna. My friend flies cessnas at Auburn so I let him do the first leg to get the feel for the speeds and controls. We landed at KMLJ. Here’s the GlobalAir.com info for it. https://www.globalair.com/airport/baldwin-county-regional-kmlj.aspx. I flew the leg back and it all started to come back to me. My landing was pretty bad but the cessna floats so much compared to the Cirrus. Otherwise the flight was really fun. It was good to get back into the air and continue to get hours despite it not being in a cirrus.

Overall, a very good week. i’m so glad I was able to get back into the air after not having flown for what seems like an eternity.

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Given the recent Covid-19 Pandemic, my flying for the semester has officially been cancelled. I will no longer be able to fly this semester or complete my flight course. In addition, airports all over the world are affected by the virus. GlobalAir.com’s homepage has many stories documenting the airport unemployment and closures. https://www.globalair.com/

I never would’ve thought that my first year in college and in the flight program would end like this. Due to this change in my studies, I will continue this blog but instead of writing about my flight training, I will talk about my other aviation studies and what I learn throughout the week. Currently I am taking Instrument Ground and Aviation powerplants so I will mostly write about those classes or other aviation topics I want to touch on.

For this week, my engines course had a test so no new material to talk about. My instrument course went over approaches and departures. The approaches class was more of a review since we’ve been covering Jepp charts and approach plates for a week or 2 now. Learning how to read Jepp charts has been very interesting to me. Given that these are the charts that will fill my future career, my desire to learn about them has been constant throughout my flight training as a whole. Finally learning to read them has been eye opening. In addition, this week we looked at departure charts. Not too dissimilar to approach plates just conveying different information.

Overall, a terrible week for flying (as the rest of my semester will remain) but a good week for my aviation knowledge despite online classes being terrible.

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This week, once again, was pretty dissapointing in terms of flying (can you see a theme for this semester?). I was able to fly once on Friday due to bad weather throughout the beginning of the week. Despite only one actual flight, I began my simulator course this week. On Monday, my instructor and I used the cirrus simulator to practice some emergency procedures. We practiced engine outs at different altitudes in different terrains. We also practiced some other emergency scenarios such as bird strike, micro burst, wing falling off, bad fuel, etc. Overall, good to see the best plan of action for each potential emergency. Also on Monday, my sim instructor and I discussed the course’s objectives and some basic attitude flying fundamentals such as the instruments and the right scans. On Wednesday, once again my normal instructor and I used the sim to practice some more emergency procedures. My sim instructor and I also did a discussion lesson on the G1000 and how to use it for ifr planning including the IFR planning pages. On Friday, my instructor and I went up and did some more commercial maneuvers as well as under the hood instrument flying. We practiced constant airspeed climbs and descents, climbing and descending circles, etc. Also Friday, my sim instructor and I did our first sim lesson where we practiced basic attitude flying in IMC conditions. We did very similar things to my flight block but in actual IMC. It was definitely different flying in IMC but not as bad as I expected.

I got a lot of work in this weekend despite being able to fly that much. I also was alerted that my school is online only for the rest of the semester for corona virus. On a related note, GlobalAir.coms ‘s home page shows some news regarding the NBAA cancelling events due to Corona Virus. https://www.globalair.com/ . I’m not sure what this means for flying but at the least I can’t fly for the next 3 weeks due to spring break + 2 weeks of quarantine. Depending on the spread of this virus, I might’ve flown for the last time in the cirrus this week. For some context, Purdue is receiving a new Piper Archer fleet next semester to replace the Cirruses.

This week, I wasn’t able to fly at all. I had 4 slots scheduled for the week but weather and plane availability cancelled all of them. On Monday, early mornign wind shear foced me to cancel. On Wednesday, planes were sparse due to stage checks, check rides, and cross countries so I wasn’t able to get a plane despite good weather. Instead, my instructor and I decided to use the Piper Archer simulator and do some practice procedures. I got to fly in really cool locations such as hawaii, michigan, and madagascar. We practiced some emergency procedures such as engine out. We also practiced approaches into different airports. It was unfortunate that we weren’t able to get a plane but it was cool to use the simulator for the first time. Some of my landings were rough due to the different speeds in the archer compared to the Cirrus. Luckily, this blog post from GlobalAir.com goes over dealing with and recovering from a bad landing. https://blog.globalair.com/post/2020/03/01/counteracting-a-bad-landing .

Friday was also cancelled due to low level windshear. My final slot on sunday was looking perfect in terms of weather until an hour before my slot where the wind jumped to gusting over 26 knots which is way out of purdue limits. Hopefully I can fly alot more next week to make up for the lack in flight hours this week.

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This week I was only able to fly twice. On Monday, my flight was cancelled due to weather. My wednesday flight was also cancelled due to bad weather. Fortunately, I got priority for my slot on Friday since I was planning to do an XC to KBEH. The flight went great until the return leg. As I returned, a pretty denze haze and low cloud bases came in. I felt fine flying in it as I felt safe but I was worried that Purdue minimums would be violated as I’m not allowed to fly cross countries in ceilings lower than 2500. Fortunately, the ceiling was at 2600 with a scattered layer at 2000. The 3 mile visibility in the haze was not idela though. Otherwise, the cross country went great. I was even able to see the chicago skyline across lake michigan from BEH. I also used GlobalAir.com for some of the airport info when planning the XC. https://www.globalair.com/airport/southwest-michigan-regional-beh.aspx

On Saturday, I was able to get an extra slot and did a commercial maneuvers lesson. Once again, I worked on landings, slow flight, stalls, lazy eights, eights on pylons, steep turns, and turns around a point. All went well and I definitely see improvement in several of the maneuvers.

Overall not a bad flying week. The XC to Benton Harbor really helped with the amount of hours I have. Hopefully I will be able to do another XC this week to get more hours.

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This week was some what of a catch-up week for me. Since weather in the beginning of the course was pretty terrible, I have been slightly behind in total hours. In addition to being behind, getting a plane outside of your normal slot is extremely difficult which makes it hard to catch back up. Fortunately, I lucked out this week, being able to fly 4 times. On Monday, weather was too bad to fly so I had to cancel. Wednesday was beautiful, however I didn’t get a plane – At first. Iwas told there were none left so my instructor and I settled for a discussion on satellite based GPS systems. Fortunately for us, a cross country got back early so we were able to get a plane. I flew that lesson solo and practiced slow flight, stalls, and some more commercial maneuvers. On Friday, weather was once again beautiful so my instructor and I practiced some instrument maneuevers. We did a lot of timed turns, constant speed climbs and descents, and I was introduced to the lateral S maneuver for the first time. Overall, a good flight and further proof of why instrument training is way more fun. Today (Sunday), I was able to fly twice despite being low on the list. For both slots, I worked on commercial maneuvers, landings, slow flight, and stalls. Both lessons were very good for helping me to catch up. Flying this week was definitely above average as flying 4 times in a week is essentially unheard of. Also this week, I began using and logging an electronic logbook. I wasn’t eager to start, knowing how many flights I would have to log but I knew it would only get worse as I waited. This logbook on GlobalAir.com is a great tool to keep track of your hours even if you happen to lose your logbook. https://www.globalair.com/logbook/newaircraft.aspx?count=0

Thanks for reading!