Finally everyone of prom 6B passed the pre-navigation check and so we're doing our last phase on the archer: the navigation phase. Not all the flights of this phase are navigation flights (god thanks!), but the majority are. You might wonder: what's so different then? Preparation! First finding your way through the VFR charts of Arizona, calculating distance, magnetic track, altitudes, ... and the day of the flight itself you have to calculate the magnetic headings (track corrected for the wind), true air speed & power setting (depends on temperature), ground speed, times, estimated fuel burnoff, ... and last but not least file a flight plan. Hell of a job if you have the early morning flight (take off at 6:30AM). Luckily the sun rises a bit later so the take off times are also delayed with 15 minutes :p. And of course you have to keep track of time, routing, ... during flight. But it's nice! If everything goes well (availability of archers & no cancellations due to wind / bad weather) we should finish this phase within 3 weeks. Last mission will be the navigation check and afterwards we'll start on the DA-40. But that's still future music ... .
This weekend the wind finnaly changed of direction (westerly instead of easterly) which gave us a nice opportunity to go spotting on a hill not far away from Phoenix Sky Harbour Intl.! The result? check it out:
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| AZ - spotting |
What else can I say ... oh yes, "finally" prom 5 can go back home (the 2 last students will go back on Tuesday). Not that we wanted them away, on the contrary. But they spend more than 7 months (7,5 I believe) here in Arizona, instead of the "usual" 6-7 months. Problems with instructors and the DA-42's kept them here for 1,5 month extra. The 2 last ones will have tomorrow their CPL check. I hope they'll do fine back in Belgium!
Well, that's all folks! Cya!
