Observation Flight

I flew on Tuesday, October 12.  I flew with Emilee Williams and Dave Axenty.  The starting tach time was 2919.2 and the ending time was 2920.9.  It was pretty interesting to sit in the backseat and observe Emilee’s flight.  I definitely learned a lot of stuff from watching her.  One of the things I learned was to keep a better eye on my altitude during steep turns.  Steep turns are definitely one of the toughest parts of multi-engine flying, and she did pretty well with them.  If she got off of her altitude at all, she immediately corrected for it.  This is something that I need to learn from, and it could definitely help me to follow her example.  Another thing that I learned from watching Emilee’s flight was to watch the trends during the base and final portions of the traffic pattern.  She did a good job of watching the trends on base, but on final she would get a little off.  And if you get a little off in the Seminole, it is really difficult to get back to where you want to.  I flew right after the observation flight, so it was really convenient.  I was able to take all of the lessons that I learned on the flight and apply them to myself.  Unfortunately, I didn’t quite apply them to my flight.  During the first 90 degrees of my steep turn I lost almost 100 feet, so I wasn’t really watching my altitude close enough.  I was able to do a little better watching my trends than I did watching my altitudes.  I made sure to observe the trends on base and final, and corrected for it. I think that riding along on a flight really helped me to observe some things that I can improve upon.  If I can apply these lessons on my flights, then I believe that I will definitely improve my flying.

My Reflection

I think that the two most important things that I learned from class were the Seminole systems and the emergency procedures for the Seminole.  Learning the Seminole systems was important because I had just started to fly the Seminole at the time, and I needed to learn about all of the systems.  I know that the End of Course and check ride also emphasize systems, so it is good to have a base of knowledge for that.  Learning the emergency procedures was also important for the same reason.  Right when we had to memorize the emergency worksheet for class, I started to do engine out maneuvers.  I also know that a lot of the EOC and check ride involve maneuvering with an engine out, so it was good to learn the emergency procedures at an early stage.  I really liked that the class didn't try to stretch out an entire semester.  It was definitely long enough so that I was able to learn everything I needed to, but it didn't try to fill in time with things that are unimportant.  I didn't really like that the class was at 8:00am.  I don't mind doing things in the morning so that the afternoon is open, but 8:00am is very early.  At times I would find myself fighting to focus on class, which wasn't exactly helpful for me.  It was beneficial to see the animations of how the systems work, and be able to interact with them.  We could go over the systems as many times as were necessary, which helped me learn them better.  I feel kind of neutral about blogging.  It did help me reflect about certain things, but I'm not sure that it advanced my learning.  Without blogging I feel that I would have learned just as much, but the blogging did help me reinforce some things.