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.