Can't wait to go plane watching again soon... now that I have a radio, will be fun to actually hear the control tower directing what I see in the sky above!
Out walking the dog just after dusk this evening, and noticed the lights of incoming traffic to Pearson in the sky. Much more prominant in the dark, as the lights of the plane are what stands out before the stars come out... particularly interesting to observe apparent "near collisions" and realise that the planes travelling in opposite directions really are at different altitudes, hehe.
Can't wait to go plane watching again soon... now that I have a radio, will be fun to actually hear the control tower directing what I see in the sky above!
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At a job interview yesterday afternoon, a principal asked me what my greatest professional learning experience had been this past year. I immediately thought of learning to fly. Quite apart from my reflections on practice inspired by my often
"Begin with the end in mind" suggests Steven Covey, Leadership Guru and Author of the popular 7 Habits books. So, I did. I decided, when starting to fly, that I would have my student permit by spring, and my PPL by the end of the summer.
Of course, once I actually started flying, and realised how truly awful I was at this new venture, I wondered if I should modify my expectations slightly. But, all is A fellow pilot sent me a link today to a "tips" site for pilots. Not sure yet if it is any good, but it is free to sign up, and the tips come only once a week in short, manageable snippets. Today, for example, I learned that "unable" is a critical word for all pilots to be able and willing to use with ATC -- check it out: www.pilotworkshop.com
Since I spend so much time in the circuit these days, I am increasingly aware of landings in a variety of settings.
Again this morning I marvelled at the "soft field" (water) landing performed by a lone swan on the lake outside my apartment building... unperturbed by my interested beagle, said swan was totally focussed on her performance: Speed a little higher than "normal", tail slightly low, she came in on the water, waiting, waiting, waiting untill she was fully slowed down before lowering the front part of her body onto the "field". Of particular interest to me was her use of "flaps"; I noticed she rotated her wings so that the flaps came down right at the very end, to really slow her down dramatically as she touched down. Amazing, how these pilots of nature have complete control over their aircraft! I remember the first several times I flew with Lari, my primary instructor. I was always so mesmerized with his skill at landing the plane. So smooth, so confident, so perfect in every wind condition.
And now I am landing the plane. Not well, but landing it. Somehow it doesn't |
Welcome to Vera's Flight Brain...Here I will attempt -- hopefully not in vain -- to share my connections to previous knowledge. Or I might share a few random thoughts loosely connected to flying, too, as well as any useful resources I may stumble across in my studies.
AuthorVera C. Teschow is a certified teacher and mother of twin boys Alex and Simon. In addition to documenting her flying lessons, she also blogs about babies, teaching and life in general. Categories
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