May 26 - Diversions
Today we began diversions, a subsection of Ex 23, Navigation.
Learning how to make on-the-fly (pun intended!) changes to one’s flight plan is fairly critical, as weather or other reasons could force you to change where you had planned to land originally.
I found the ground brief for this exercise a bit nebulous, but it all came together for me when we flew it. My instructor basically narrated the procedure while I did it, and wow, was it ever challenging to manage the load!
Trim becomes particularly important so that you are not chasing the altimeter around while you are supposed to be looking outside and also inside at your chart. (This was especially challenging yesterday, as it was a bit bumpy out over the practice area.) Memory for numbers needs to be in good working order, too, as you have to measure distance and estimate time at checkpoints and so on. It was tricky enough to do this in an area I am familiar with… I can only imagine flying in unfamiliar airspace and dealing with all the load! Will definitely need some consolidation with this exercise.
On the way back to CYTZ, we talked again about controlling descent with power rather than flaps after the initial 10 or 20 degrees, as it is a more subtle control, and better allows the pilot to manage the plane in the final stages.
Learning how to make on-the-fly (pun intended!) changes to one’s flight plan is fairly critical, as weather or other reasons could force you to change where you had planned to land originally.
I found the ground brief for this exercise a bit nebulous, but it all came together for me when we flew it. My instructor basically narrated the procedure while I did it, and wow, was it ever challenging to manage the load!
Trim becomes particularly important so that you are not chasing the altimeter around while you are supposed to be looking outside and also inside at your chart. (This was especially challenging yesterday, as it was a bit bumpy out over the practice area.) Memory for numbers needs to be in good working order, too, as you have to measure distance and estimate time at checkpoints and so on. It was tricky enough to do this in an area I am familiar with… I can only imagine flying in unfamiliar airspace and dealing with all the load! Will definitely need some consolidation with this exercise.
On the way back to CYTZ, we talked again about controlling descent with power rather than flaps after the initial 10 or 20 degrees, as it is a more subtle control, and better allows the pilot to manage the plane in the final stages.