Ground School

First official day of ground school. Was excited this morning, but was also very, very jealous looking up at the clear, blue sky, wishing I was up there instead. Bambi said that if maybe we got through everything, then maybe we could do some pattern work.

Mostly we worked on the weight and balance sheet and how to fill one out. The plane has a center of gravity and the weight of it after adding fuel, people, bags, etc affects that. The weight and balance sheet just makes sure we don't go over maximum weight.

Then we went over the principles of flight... Wasn't as excited about all of this. I learned about this before my intro flight. Went over gravity, lift, thrust and drag. Covered Angle of Attack (AoA) and how that comes into play with stalls. We finished 20 minutes ahead of time, but not enough for a flight. Pooh. :(   Oh well, good news is that we managed to squeeze in one for tomorrow. Hope the weather cooperates.

She dragged out her HUGE CFI book so we could look at diagrams and stuff. I'm not kidding when I say this book was a monster. Looked like one of the antique family Bibles or something...  She had to make it for her CFI training. Then she looks at me and asks if I've ever considered being a CFI. I laughed and admitted that I hadn't at first, but am warming to the idea. Mostly how I could get paid for flying and could give the gift of flight to someone else. It's still a long ways away, in any case.

In other news, she thinks I'll be ready to solo and take my written exam the first week of October. Bought myself a test prep book and the plan is to do a section per day and practice the online quizzes (which I've already been doing and have been getting pretty good at!)

I went to an itty-bitty air show over the weekend. Helicopters only, but hey, I take what I can get... :)
Ran into an organization I've been looking at for a little while. Finally got to talk to someone in person about it. If I volunteer, I get to fly in their planes, learn new skills and use my piloting skills to help people. Whatever you want to learn, they are willing to teach you if you are willing to help out. You can help out with their PR and promotions or help out with the young kids, teaching them about aviation or you can learn first-aid skills and help out in the case of an emergency. I've been trying to think of a way to combine aviation and medical stuffs. I just may have found it. Oh yeah, and I get to wear a nifty 'lil flight suit, too.