One of my best and most difficult professors at Columbia was a very smart Greek fellow named Thanasis Tsantilas. He was famous for saying things like "You see, that's trivial right?" Before the age of Powerpoint class was presented using chalk and board. There were nine panes arranged in a three by three grid. Columns were raised and lowered like large windows. He'd begin writing a proof or algorithm starting in the upper left hand corner then proceed down and across. So you had to try and understand what he was saying while simultaneously writing it down correctly. It was quite common for him to get back to the first pane, after filling all nine, and have the class erupt in a mass groan as most were still trying furiously to copy down the wisdom he was about to erase. The notes I took from his classes served as a very solid foundation for my understanding of things like computational efficiency, optimization and runtime complexity. The textbooks were often almost completely irrelevant.
So too is my flying with Shane. He gave me some very simple analog instruction last week, drawing by hand a diagram of the air traffic pattern for Charlottesville airport. I've looked at it. It makes sense. Little did I know I was in for a bit of a flashback yesterday. This stuff has to more than just make sense. It has to become second nature.
It had been a while since I'd flown. I wouldn't exactly say that I was nervous but I was a bit out of practice in terms of what to expect, the natural rythm of learning, and still feeling out a new instructor. Even though Shane explained that we'd be "flying the pattern" it somehow didn't sink in right away. I guess I thought we'd be flying the pattern after doing my normal round of turns, banks and the same stuff I've been practicing for months. It's amazing how you can be paying direct attention to someone and not really get what they're telling you. Then again I might just need some ADHD medication.
We took off, as usual. Then before I knew it, he was telling me to bank, turn, and prepare to land. What he had said earlier suddenly sank in rapidly. We were going to practice flying the pattern from start to finish ... over and over. So we spent both my lessons yesterday and today doing precisely that. It was a very different experience. Things happen much more quickly and landing for me at this point really isn't trivial.
The "pattern" is basically a rectangle consisting of takeoff (upwind), a left turn (crosswind), another left turn paralell to the runway (downwind), still another left turn (base) and then a final left to the runway (final approach). There are specific adjustments that need to be made to speed, pitch, flaps and various other factors at each stage. We flew it over and over. Today, we didn't even return to the runway start but just performed several "touch and gos" taking off again immediately after landing. Fun stuff.
Part of my pre-flight inspection involves looking at the number of hours the engine has been running and checking if it's due for a 100 hour overhaul. Well, my trusty little Cessna 172 hit that mark exactly yesterday. So she'll be in the shop for a while. I had to upgrade to the newer, more powerful 172 SP. I've flown it once before. It's much more pane for sure and one that I'm not completely used to, yet.
Time to step up. Today's lesson was challenging in and of itself. But it was made even moreso by practicing in a plane with both more power as well as slightly different control and instrument locations. I think I may stick with this plane, however, since I eventually would like to get a high performance certification. But I also think there's a virtue in learning on a slightly more difficult instrument. In this case, it forces me to take assertive control of the aircraft. You really have to tell it precisely what to do and it will do it, for better or worse. Shane has been saying this repeatedly. Intentional deliberate action is a large part of what flying is about, assuming of course you're implementing the correct action for the given situation. Paradoxically, the art is sometimes also about acknowledging the very limits of control. But for the most part one does well to act with authority, I mean real authority that is built upon the solid foundation of practice, knowledge, and wisdom.
One thing I'm really starting to love about flying is that it is completely and utterly devoid of bullshit. Sometimes it seems as though so many aspects of my world are quite literally completely full of it. Flying continues to provide more refreshing, positive, yet seemingly minimalist philosophical benefits for me.
Shane doesn't pull any punches and I think that's a good thing. So when he says in a slight Irish accent, "What the hell are you banking so much for?" I take it as the appropriate reminder to buck up. When coming in for final approach the plane is moving very slowly and has full flaps engaged. I still have this tendency to bank a bit much in turns, which can be quite dangerous when flying slowly with full flaps. There isn't a huge margin for error when landing and the stakes are higher. So I'd go so far as to say a slap in the back of the head can even be warranted if you really start to screw up.
Here's a video of one loop around the pattern from takeoff to landing, about six minutes. The landing gives you a sense of how delicate the operation is. The plane doesn't automatically stay level to the ground as you approach. In fact, mother nature seems to enjoy tossing the occasional crosswind gust just as you're about to land. You also get to hear the sound of the screaming stall warning which used to crack me up months ago.
So too is my flying with Shane. He gave me some very simple analog instruction last week, drawing by hand a diagram of the air traffic pattern for Charlottesville airport. I've looked at it. It makes sense. Little did I know I was in for a bit of a flashback yesterday. This stuff has to more than just make sense. It has to become second nature.
It had been a while since I'd flown. I wouldn't exactly say that I was nervous but I was a bit out of practice in terms of what to expect, the natural rythm of learning, and still feeling out a new instructor. Even though Shane explained that we'd be "flying the pattern" it somehow didn't sink in right away. I guess I thought we'd be flying the pattern after doing my normal round of turns, banks and the same stuff I've been practicing for months. It's amazing how you can be paying direct attention to someone and not really get what they're telling you. Then again I might just need some ADHD medication.
We took off, as usual. Then before I knew it, he was telling me to bank, turn, and prepare to land. What he had said earlier suddenly sank in rapidly. We were going to practice flying the pattern from start to finish ... over and over. So we spent both my lessons yesterday and today doing precisely that. It was a very different experience. Things happen much more quickly and landing for me at this point really isn't trivial.
The "pattern" is basically a rectangle consisting of takeoff (upwind), a left turn (crosswind), another left turn paralell to the runway (downwind), still another left turn (base) and then a final left to the runway (final approach). There are specific adjustments that need to be made to speed, pitch, flaps and various other factors at each stage. We flew it over and over. Today, we didn't even return to the runway start but just performed several "touch and gos" taking off again immediately after landing. Fun stuff.
Part of my pre-flight inspection involves looking at the number of hours the engine has been running and checking if it's due for a 100 hour overhaul. Well, my trusty little Cessna 172 hit that mark exactly yesterday. So she'll be in the shop for a while. I had to upgrade to the newer, more powerful 172 SP. I've flown it once before. It's much more pane for sure and one that I'm not completely used to, yet.
Time to step up. Today's lesson was challenging in and of itself. But it was made even moreso by practicing in a plane with both more power as well as slightly different control and instrument locations. I think I may stick with this plane, however, since I eventually would like to get a high performance certification. But I also think there's a virtue in learning on a slightly more difficult instrument. In this case, it forces me to take assertive control of the aircraft. You really have to tell it precisely what to do and it will do it, for better or worse. Shane has been saying this repeatedly. Intentional deliberate action is a large part of what flying is about, assuming of course you're implementing the correct action for the given situation. Paradoxically, the art is sometimes also about acknowledging the very limits of control. But for the most part one does well to act with authority, I mean real authority that is built upon the solid foundation of practice, knowledge, and wisdom.
One thing I'm really starting to love about flying is that it is completely and utterly devoid of bullshit. Sometimes it seems as though so many aspects of my world are quite literally completely full of it. Flying continues to provide more refreshing, positive, yet seemingly minimalist philosophical benefits for me.
Shane doesn't pull any punches and I think that's a good thing. So when he says in a slight Irish accent, "What the hell are you banking so much for?" I take it as the appropriate reminder to buck up. When coming in for final approach the plane is moving very slowly and has full flaps engaged. I still have this tendency to bank a bit much in turns, which can be quite dangerous when flying slowly with full flaps. There isn't a huge margin for error when landing and the stakes are higher. So I'd go so far as to say a slap in the back of the head can even be warranted if you really start to screw up.
Here's a video of one loop around the pattern from takeoff to landing, about six minutes. The landing gives you a sense of how delicate the operation is. The plane doesn't automatically stay level to the ground as you approach. In fact, mother nature seems to enjoy tossing the occasional crosswind gust just as you're about to land. You also get to hear the sound of the screaming stall warning which used to crack me up months ago.
There's still a tremendous amount of information I have to learn and real world technique I need to practice. Flying twice in one week definitely helps the learning curve. But I'm also thankful to have good instructors who are forcing me to get things right, and consistently do so without having to think. I don't think that's an easy thing to teach let alone etch permanently in both mind and reflex. As the pilot of flight 1549 who landed in the Hudson river last week clearly demonstrated, getting it right can mean the difference between life and death.
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