The Life of a CTC Wings Cadet Pilot: First Week of Flying

Goodyear is one of the best 'instagram
opportunity' areas that you'll ever visit.
Shown by my instagram account being flooded
with photos of Goodyear

So now we've completed our first week of briefings (ground school #2) we've finally been let loose into Rainbow Valley in the DA40.

Our first few flights have been really straight forward. Straight and level flight, effects of controls yada yada yada. Obviously you need the basics before you can move onto other more exotic lessons; a learn to walk before you can run kinda thing.

Having said that, this was the perfect opportunity to take baby steps in a new aircraft type, and not to sell the DA40 too hard, but it's absolutely, unequivocally, thoroughly fantastic. State of the art G1000 glass cockpit, soft and comfortable leather seats and an unhindered panoramic view from your seat make this aircraft a dream to fly, despite the best efforts of Rainbow Valley and its constant thermals and up draughts. And lets take a moment to thanks the human who put the air con in these aircraft. You are a true hero.

The DA40NG ready for departure.

Now, on to the lessons...

My first lesson involved recognising the 'datum attitude' and correcting it when the aircraft deviates from it and then stabilising the aircraft using the trim, all the while keeping a thorough lookout.

Over the next two lessons, we slowly started to commit our pre-flight checks to memory. This entails a thorough examination of the airframe to check for damage, especially to the leading edges of the wing, vertical stabiliser and the prop, a testing of the aircraft electrics and the control surfaces. Oh and a handy tip, when you're testing the lights, don't stare too closely at the Strobes, because it will immediately incinerate your retinas.

So lesson number 2. It was basically an extension from lesson one, and this time we developed upon our understanding of the controls. This was achieved by adding in the uses of secondary flight controls such as the flaps as well as the effect of different power settings on the aircraft's attitude.

It started as the last one did, with a standard departure towards Rainbow Valley.
We practiced engine note recognition, where you try to get used to the particular engine note purely from the noise the engine is making.

The DA40 interior, with the Garmin G1000

Our remaining 2 flights had the objectives on maintaining straight and level flight, in different scenarios, such as if the aircraft has deviated from the datum attitude, if the power has been changed from the original
setting or the configuration of the aircraft has changed, so if we have take off or landing flaps selected. However, you need to maintain a good lookout, the Rainbow Valley area is quite busy with other aircraft and it also has an abundance of birds. So to make sure you don't smash a Turkey Vulture to pieces or heaven forbid the other way around, you need to make sure you keep a really good lookout. A process that CTC teaches you from day 1.

So after just a week of flying, we've managed to cover the bare basics of flying, as well as nailing down the preflight checks and passenger safety briefs. We've been briefed for our next series of flights, climbing, descending and turning.