Ground School - Done

Well, ground school is finally complete. Since my last post, my airline ground school class received an exhaustive explanation of the aircraft systems of the DHC-6 Twin Otter. Let me preface this by saying, aircraft systems is not, and has never been, my strong point. I can fly relatively well, but until this week, when it came to explaining the in’s and out’s of a turbine engine, I’d have a better chance hitting an ace on #7 at Pebble Beach in a rain storm.

VS.

Compared to the first week of ground school, this week was a bit heavy on the eyes. Don’t get me wrong, it’s important to understand how your plane works, but looking at an engine schematic for hours on end causes me to reach the ever dreaded “plateau of learning.” Plus, who wouldn’t get sleepy right after lunch if they were watching a 1970’s era video on the workings of aircraft radar?

But, low and behold, on the final day of ground school, I scored an “A” on my systems 100 question written test. I guess the 300 note cards I made to study actually helped some. In addition, the ground school students seems to be interacting well, and in this intense learning environment, you couldn’t ask for anything better. Each person in ground school brings their own experiences and methods for learning, and sitting near some 2500-hour pilots is a great resource for me, and others. During the systems portion of ground school, we covered the following systems in great detail:

Electrical System
Hydraulic System
Fuel System
Turbine Engine
Pneumatic System
Fire Suppression System
De-ice System
Radar System
Propeller System

The bad news is that I don’t have to be back to Scenic for two weeks. The captains are going to go through their simulator sessions before the first officers, so I’ve got to wait till they are done. The good news is that I’ve got some time to study the required emergency procedure checklists in anticipation of my simulator time.

Thanks for your support.

Nick