As I mentioned briefly in my last post, this week has seen us make a start on our second mammoth-sized subject of module 1; General Navigation. We've had 3 days of GNav ground school so far this week covering numerous topic areas, most of which involving our other new friend; the CRP-5! This clever piece of kit allows me to do a multitude of things, such as calculate wind speed and direction, and convert between different units of measurement and speed. Following this was an introduction to latitude and longitude, and how we can find the distance between locations on the earth using a number of different formulae; (Convergency= Change in Longitude (Degrees) x sine mean latitude) being my favourite..
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| The magic calculator, A.K.A Pooleys CRP-5 Flight Computer |
On Thursday morning we made a start on our 4th and final topic of Module 1; Human Performance and Limitations. Although there have been vast safety improvements in commercial aviation over the years, pilot error is still to blame for over 70% of accidents, so learning our physical and mental limitations is key to understanding how accidents involving human factors can be avoided in the future. On Friday afternoon, we were fortunate enough to be given a presentation on spatial disorientation by Dr Rollin Stott. A rather fun way of showing spatial disorientation in action was getting us to wear a pair of glasses that reverse your horizontal vision, making it seem like you've had a few too many pints down the pub!
It's crazy to think that we've been here nearly a month already, as we will soon no longer be the babies of CTC! CP136 have their APD next week, so if I'm around I'll try and say hi when they arrive on Friday. Although the workload is still very high, relieving stress is key to staying on track throughout the 6 months I'm here, so I did manage to have a rare night out on Saturday and subsequent BBQ with some of the guys at our house on Sunday evening as well, before it all starts again on Monday morning.
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