Quick thoughts on Ground School

Hi all,

Currently I am two weeks into four weeks of ground school. Hopefully the following gives you some idea of what it's like:


The Class - LGCV 1 2010
There are only four other students - I was expecting many more.  Either very few people knew about the program or there weren't very many places in the program to begin with.  Whatever the cause, the lack of students is good for me; it makes for a less formal classroom situation, where there is time to address everybody's questions.
What's more, all of the other students seem quite friendly and reasonable.  The lecturers have been good, too - in addition to the course material, they relate many of their more interesting flying experiences, which only serves to get me even more psyched to fly!

Time
For these first four weeks, there are four hours of lectures, three days a week.  This schedule slackens when the flying begins - down to two hours of lectures, twice a week.  Home study is probably at least twelve hours a week. This is just a guess - I spent most of the last two months studying in order to avoid having to study so much right now.  I still spend about five hours each week revising and continuing to study ahead...when the schedule changes in a couple of weeks I will plunge back into deep study.

Difficulty
My early study has prepared me well for the lectures - I am finding them a useful for revision, and for picking up extra detail that wasn't revealed in the textbooks.  I can see that the course could be overwhelming without having done all of that study, so I recommend getting into the books far in advance of starting a course like this!

The material itself is quite straightforward and practical...I think my early studies in physics have helped me tie together many of the aerodynamics and meteorology concepts. If it wasn't for this, I would probably have the feeling of trying to remember a bunch of details, which is harder on the mind than just applying known concepts to new situations.  I definitely get that feeling from studying air law! Navigation, loading and performance so far are all nice and logical, and what I've read about human factors is interesting enough to be memorable.

Still, looking at the stack of textbooks next to this desk, I am reminded of the information that remains to be crammed into my skull.  These four weeks of ground school cover only a minute fraction of what is required at the end of the course...I will have to work hard to maintain a good lead on the lectures and have time to process all of the new ideas.

Hope this helps! I will return to this topic once the first four weeks have finished and the lectures begin to accompany flight training!

Further costs!

Hi all,

More costs in getting started in this program have emerged - this post is the second of what will no doubt become a series of updates on the price tag of the Graduate Diploma in Aviation. 

Owners Manual & Checklists for Cessna 172S: $25.00

These are very necessary reading for the prospective pilot - it is a good idea to know about the aircraft you are going to be flying! Additionally, in order to get an endorsement on the aircraft type, you have to complete a questionnaire (issued by CASA) about the aircraft, which pretty much forces you to read the manual. It would have been nice to have the option to purchase them; I was handed them with the words, "we'll bill you later," softly spoken. Still, I probably would have bought them anyway - these booklets constitute good reading for anybody interested in the sort of stuff contained within.

Pilot logbook: $22.95

This is one of those necessary things - it becomes a legal document and record of all hours flown.  We were warned not to get 'the cheapest one' as it doesn't have the right layout.  The one I chose was the same one I saw our lecturer holding - the thinner ATC logbook.  I found it at downunderpilotshop.com.au for the above price.

VTC and VNC: $18.40

I haven't purchased these yet - charts covering the area around Adelaide at two different scales.  The VTC of Adelaide/Melbourne and VNC-8 are the ones required: these can be found at Airservices Australia and various other places.  A subscription is available if purchasing through Airservices, but the shipping is about $10 on top of the basic price; downunderpilotshop has free shipping but the charts cost an extra dollar apiece.

License Wallet:  $34.95

This is a nice way of keeping the Pilot License and Medical Certificates in one easily accessible and safe place.  The only one I could find is a leather job produced by Airservices Australia - it may last a long time so I am happy to fork out just this once - well, when I have some money again at least. 

 

Flight Computer: $25.00

This is a circular slide-rule kind of doohickey that is very useful for typical flight planning calculations.  It can be used to convert units, calculate Calibrated Air Speed (CAS) to True Air Speed (TAS), work out wind corrections, density altitudes and much more.  The only calculation so far that it can do that I haven't been able to do by hand is conversion between CAS & TAS for a given density altitude...the flight computer is about as fast for the other calculations. I think if I had one of these, I would end up checking by hand - or calculating by hand and checking using the computer.  I may get one just for this extra reassurance.  There are numerous online versions that perform the same calculations - look for online E-6B and CR-3 calculators.

The extra wad of cash required to cover all of this is around the $130 mark, bringing the total so far to approximately $2030!

Still, there is no cheap way to fly; I'd have to front with most of these costs if I were learning privately anyway.  At least I won't have to immediately pay for the lessons when the flying begins in two weeks!

About aerofoils and lift production

While I'm at this activity of posting links, here are a couple that clear up some misconceptions about lift production by aerofoils:

• Aerofoil misconceptions at amasci.com: This leads to several articles about lift production, and about how the most common story about how wings work is seriously flawed.  Very entertaining and enlightening stuff! Also be sure to check out some of the many other articles at this site, you are bound to learn something interesting!

• Workings of aerofoils at See How It Flies: This is but one chapter of a no-nonsense online book about flight, by John S. Denker.  Excellent diagrams, examples and technical explanations...but nowhere near as ranty as the link above.

Enjoy!