Day 3 of simulators is over and done with, only 2 more days to go! I can't believe it has gone by so quickly. Yesterday was more normal stuff, takeoffs, landings, approaches and the like. We also introduced some emergency situations like electrical problems, engine problems, and fires. Engine fires are fun, because it means that by the end of the procedure, you've shut down the engine that is on fire. The aircraft is perfectly capable of performing on one engine, but it requires alot of control input on the part of the pilot to keep the airplane straight because now you have one engine producing alot of power and one engine producing no power which creates quite a large yawing motion toward the dead engine. We also did some single engine landings and approaches which are kinda fun, but as you keep looking at all your instruments and don't let the airplane take you for a ride, it turns out fine. After sims Jason and I had a few hours before we had to brief in the afternoon, so I came back to the room not feeling all that tired. I turned on the TV, sat in a chair and woke up 2 hours later! Guess I was. After our briefing with our instructor and the other group, Jason, Hugh, Chris and I went to go grab some grub at the airport terminal. The terminal itself is really cool, cause it still looks like it did back in the 50's. Very old school art deco kinda place. We ate at this cafe on the second floor which overlooked the airfield, and watched airplanes takeoff and land as we ate. We came back to the hotel, studied for awhile and then was in bed by 10:30.
Today the big thing we practiced were V1 cuts. To describe: V1 is the speed when we're taking off that we're committed to taking off, even if we're still on the ground. So if we're barreling down the runway and have an engine failure past V1, we keep going, and don't abort the takeoff. They were kinda intimidating at first, cause these can get really ugly if you don't do them right. (You basically careen off the runway at a high rate of speed.) We never did go off the runway, and after a few of them I was feeling pretty good. In fact, I wanted to keep doing more, even though it was Jason's turn. We did some more emergencies today, and those went well too. Our instructor says we're doing very well and he fully expects us all to do very well. Tonight is just a little more studying, making sure I get all my callouts done correctly. Days have no meaning anymore, I didn't even know today was Saturday until someone told me it was today. Eh, whatever. Anyway, I can't believe I've already been at this for a month and a half. Time flies. Gonna try to get to bed by 11 tonight, so I'm ready for tomorrow!
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