Lesson 2

Straight and level.

In my sim at home I've challenged myself to fly straight and level many times with a variety of aircraft, using an exterior visual reference point and riding the throttle, elevators and trim. I've felt confident doing it and can achieve nice level flight this way. However I'm already starting to feel the huge differences between doing something in a home simulator and a real life flight environment.

Firstly, as I mentioned before, the feeling of a real aircraft is a substantial difference between the two. The feeling of the controls, the movement of the Skipper bouncing around and consequent little corrections with the yoke, and especially the view outside make it a whole different game.

I went into this lesson knowing that I needed to get used to looking outside rather than in. Various sources will tell you that a VFR (Visual Flight Rules) pilot should be looking outside the cockpit 80% or 90% of the time. In a simulator at home this isn't very useful, because although the environmental model can seem really real, its nothing compared to the visual cues afforded in real life flight. In X-Plane, its very easy and at times more reliable to focus on the instruments (vertical speed indicator, directional gyro, altimeter and airspeed indicator) to maintain straight and level flight than on a point in the outside world. This is contrary to what you need to learn in VFR training, and I plan on pushing myself to get out of this mindset. So far it's going ok, as the visual cues in the real sky, as well as the feelings from control imputs and the movement of the aircraft itself prove far more effective than sitting on a seat at home (obviously).

The main lesson learned from today was through the physical movement of my body needed to manipulate controls. You can read as many checklists and descriptions of control adjustments as you want, and I've become pretty good at starting and setting up sim craft for various aspects of flight, but in real life you also have to teach your arms and hands to move to and adjust things as needed.

As a side note, I don't want to end up writing to much about the comparisons between home simulation and real world flight, so to put things in another perspective I'll talk about the books I've been going through.

Firstly I read and re-read the Bob Tait BAK textbook, and have been re-reading it and testing myself on the little quizzes over and over. I've found this book to be a great way to learn about the basics of flight. Since then I've had my hands on the Aviation Theory Centre Student Pilot Kit. It contains a logbook, a detailed book about radio communication, a step-by-step flying manual in line with your training for each lesson that you can review, and a BAK theory book. I've been working through the BAK book for about a week, and I've found it a great second opinion on the theory covered in the Bob Tait edition, but it goes into a little more detail. I think it's been a good step from the Bob Tait, which is more to the point about basic knowledge, whereas the Aviation Theory Centre BAK book is much more detailed on what I've already read about. I think if I read the Aviation Theory Centre book first I would have been slightly overwhelmed.

Anyway, after a thorough briefing, during today's lesson I was able to flick a few switches and start the engine, as well as get more of a feel for taxiing ('a little more right pedal' ' perhaps not so much brake' from my trusty instructor). Once in the training area my instructor set up a climb, and nominated various altitudes at which I was to level off to straight and level flight. I think I did ok, in the process getting a feel for the pitch and trim, and also being able to have a go manipulating the throttle to achieve desired RPM and airspeed. After a few of these we did similar exercises on the descent, only it was a little trickier having to start the pitch and throttle adjustments 50ft before the nominated altitude due the downwards inertia, but I got it to settle well a couple of times. I also practiced leveling off after lowering and raising the flaps, which allowed me to get used to the control of the Skipper's electric flap system, which has a little switch that pops out when adjusted and subsequently has to be popped back in when the desired deflection is achieved.

As I said, the main thing I learned today was physically manipulating the controls, getting used to more than just the yoke. I'm looking forward to getting used to these movements, and eventually being able to manipulate the Skipper naturally.

Also, it was another beautiful day to be up in the air. As we walked back through the hangar my instructor said 'well, you've had your fix for the week', which made me all the more excited for next week.