Two more flights and the check ride is on the Horizon

This week I presented one ground brief on high altitude operations and flew a couple of flights. Both flights went well and I started playing the role of CFI again for the first part of the flights. I hadn't instructed in a while and I was suprised how smooth it went and how much I've improved since the early dual flights. It's a big help having taught a manuever/concept in the classroom before teaching it in the air.

The second half of my flights were just maneuver proficiency and my lazy eights and chandelles are starting to get more consistent. I actually nailed a lazy eight on my first attempt (but the subsequent attempts dropped off in quality). So still some more refinement required. Another interesting excercise was a lesson in teaching slips. The excercise starts with having a student apply full rudder in one direction and then keeping wings level with opposite aileron. Then repeat in the other direction, then back and forth until the direction change is smooth. The next excercise is to "draw" a square with the nose by using full rudder/opposite aileron/elevator to draw a square in the sky. Once the square is mastered, try a circle or diamond. Then continuing with the slip exercises, doing a side and forward slip while mainting a constant airspeed and ground track.

We talked about setting a date for the checkride and I'm in the process of estimating what amount of study time I'll need to be ready for the oral part of the exam. There are approximately 70+ subjects as outlined in the PTS and I'm thinking I'll need four weeks or so to prepare.

Training Update

Two more flights in the logbook (#19 and #20) and one flight was spent mostly on lazy 8's and the second flight was 100% pattern work doing power off 180's, short field landings, no flap landings, etc. Also presented a ground brief on airspace.

I spent most of the weekend creating outlines for the PTS task areas that I don't yet have ground briefs for. This at least gives me some bullet points to talk about if I'm asked to present something during the oral exam and I don't have an an actual brief written. My plan is to have a brief for all the PTS tasks, but some of them like pre-flight and taxiing are self explanatory. All in all I have 62 docs written (either full briefs or outlines).

A Productive Training Week

I had the last week off from work so my plan was to dedicate 3-4 hours per day for flight training. Whether I was doing actual training or studying/preparing ground briefs I was able to stick to that goal. This week consisted of three flights, two ground sessions, taking the CFI written exam and a bunch of hours in the library. The flying is coming together and I'm getting close to getting lazy 8's down. The performance of the other maneuvers are pretty good with refinement needed here and there.

The next few weeks of training will focus on refining the maneuvers to a commercial level and getting my ground teaching skills/knowledge up to a level where I can pass the practical exam.

It seems like I've been training for the CFI certificate for a long time but looking back at my logbook, I've gotten a lot accomplished since August. Here's a breakdown:

18 flights (including spin training) - 25.5 hours
35 ground briefs written and presented
FOI/CFI written exams passed
Countless hours in the library

Nothing But Snow

It's been snowing off and on since December 15th and I'd say we've had at least two feet of snow in the Snoqualmie area over that time. There was a break in the snow this morning, so I was able to get a training flight in. Today's flight was all about practicing commercial maneuvers. After my instructor dug out the plane (from the snow) and we had it de-iced, we headed East for some steep turns, stalls, lazy 8's, 8's on pylons, and chandelles. Still a little week on lazy 8's, but they are improving. About an hour into the flight, the afternoon snow started to fall and we headed back to KBFI for some short field landings and power off 180 degree accuracy landings. Only one runway was open (the other was covered in snow), so during each downwind leg we had to do a 360 degree turn for wake turbulence spacing for each jet that was departing between our landings.

After the flight we had a ground session discussing what the areas of emphasis will be for the practical exam. The local FSDO had sent out a letter listing some of the common failure reasons and indicated that the failure rate was abnormally high. So, more to learn (or memorize) over the next few weeks.

Ground Briefs Completed

Presented my last two ground briefs this week. Finished up with the 172RG hydraulic system and airworthiness/documents. That's 24 ground briefs given. I still need to re-visit a few and make some updates and present a couple of the weaker ones as I get closer to the check ride.

I had flights planned for today and tomorrow but the first winter storm has arrived and that pretty much nixes any flying since there is nothing but rain/snow in the forecast for the next three days. I'm going to take the remaining days until Christmas to get my CFI written out of the way and then do some intensive training starting after Christmas since I have 11 days off from work.

80% of CFI Training Completed

My CFI training is coming together and am getting closer to setting a date for the check ride. There are a few new things still to cover and some refinement required for some of the manuevers, but completion is on the horizon. Chandelles and lazy eights are taking a little longer to master than I'd like but they'll eventually be standards.

This week consisted of two training flights and a ground brief. New for these flights was learning to demonstrate accelerated maneuver stalls, secondary stalls, trim tab stalls, and crossed-control stalls. Getting exeperience in these types of stalls exposes the CFI to more forms of inadvertant flight situations that a student can put you in. The interesting thing is that when demonstrating these stalls (or any stall) is that you can put yourself and the airplane in an inadvertant situation. This was just the case when I did my first trim tab stall, and as the airplane approached the stall, there was a little bit of yaw present and with a high pitch attitude, the airplane flipped over and entered the first stage of a spin.

I found myself pointing straight down and starting to rotate. It was interesting how my previous training helped me instinctively recognize the spin and recover (though a little shocked). So the take away is to make sure that you stall gracefully when demonstrating stalls.

For the ground brief this week, we went over log book endorsements and started looking at airworthiness requirements.

Fog

I had planned to get out in the 182 today, but the fog just wouldn't go away. The entire Puget Sound was blanketed by fog the whole day.

KRNT 301453Z 00000KT 2SM BR OVC002 12/11
KRNT 301753Z 35003KT 1/2SM FG BKN001 11/11
KRNT 302253Z 30007KT 4SM BR OVC003

(For the non-pilots, the above numbers are from a weather reporting machine and 2SM BR OVC002 means that the visibility is 2 statute miles with mist and the ceiling is 200 feet.)