Thursday, September 07, 2006

Back to school

Hi all ... well the mechanical school has been running now for just over 2 weeks and I'm eventually getting used to getting up at 5.30 in the morning. We have 23 in the class with people mainly from the US but also 1 from Canada, 1 from Germany and of course me ... representing good old 'Northern Iron like'. So far we have already had 3 exams and the pace is pretty fierce (hence the delay in an update), and thankfully I've done pretty well so far and seem to be holding my own. In class we are studying things like math & physics, aircraft ground handling and basic electricity. There is a lot of information but nothing drastically new so far, so that's good. We also do a lot of practical work like drilling out rivets on old wings, poking and prodding engines, and learning some fun dangerous stuff like how to hand prop airplanes. Below is a picture of me starting a training plane (called stubby as it's small and has no wings ... don't worry we never try to fly it, but if we have 2 running it would be great for drag races).

So in the background to the mechanical school, I'm still trying to fly. I really haven't done too much recently due to bad weather, a busy workload at school. I have a few options in the pipeline to help build up some time for cheap or perhaps even free, so as time for completing the commercial license is not an issue I've decided to slow down the training and see what I can pick up naturally. The flying is working out pretty expensive so I really need to explore any areas that will save some money.

In saying that, I did go flying today and had such a great time. There were thunderstorms all around and I had to do a bit of dodging on my way back in from the training area, but it was really great to see lightening from the air as all the thunderstorm cells developed around me. Today was a good practical lesson on weather observation & communication with air traffic control ... great stuff.

Anyway ... thanks to all for your support. I'll keep you posted as the progress continues. Talk soon ... Nev

Posted by Nevin Urey at 03:43:39 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |