Final Blog for Multi Engine

During this class I learned a lot about the Seminole systems that in turn helped me understand the systems of the Archer and Arrow. I really learned about the heating system, electrical systems, and a lot about emergency procedures. The other thing that I learned was about aeronautical decision making as it relates to commercial operations. It got me into a new mindset about decision making and the factors that will affect my decision making in a crew environment and passengers. I liked the fact that the class used more of a guided discussion as opposed to lecture method. I thought that we could have done a couple more simulator flights with the engine failures. I thought it was very beneficial with simulator flights and the discussion of emergency procedures that prepared us well for the actual flights in the multi engine. I thought blogging was an experience to share our ideas and get the responses from the class. I think that it defiantly was an experience to share my ideas and get input from other students who saw things in ways I did not see.

Seminole Observation Flight

I observed Devin Conley and Mike Digrazia on Devin’s first multi in Piper Seminole N978WC on September 13th 2011 in the 3:30pm flight block. I was wondering how the performance would be affected with me flying in the back. Mike told me that he was surprised by how well it performed even though it was a warmer day.
I noticed that while airborne flying was exactly the same. We did a couple maneuvers and stalls and the procedures resembled that of the single engine almost exactly but now there was a second engine. Mike mentioned in the pre flight discussion that heavier braking would be required and when we are out in the airplane I could definitely noticed a way in which the airplane taxied as well as the unobstructed view that exists when a propeller is not spinning right in front of you. During landing It was weird being able to see so much of the runway even from the backseat because I did approximately 12 observations during my CFI Ground School class and CFI internship. I also noticed during the landing attitude the need for power to successfully hold the nose up. I know in class we discussed the importance of maintaining airspeed to land the Seminole on the spot but it was very evident during my observation when were already within Commercial PTS even though it was his first flight in the aircraft.
Mike demonstrated a engine shutdown of the left engine on the flight and I timed how long it took from shutdown to restart and it took approximately 2 minutes. But in that time we only descended approximately 800-1000ft in altitude. It seemed like a took much longer for the descend than compared to a single. If someone was proficient with their checklists those extra seconds good help with making a good decision versus a bad one. Something that I found interesting was the attention required to keep the propellers synchronized. It would produce a distinct sound that was very evident in the cabin.
I was not sure what to think of the Seminole after talking about its performance class but after the observation I am very excited about getting to start flying the twin and feel comfortable

Aspen Accident

I think the main contributing factor to the accident was the approach and how it should not have been conducted at night. The article listed the pressure of clients in charter operations but both the pilots had exposure to this prior to the incident and most likely knew how to handle it. They picked a alternate in Rifle, CO which had clear weather and skies. I also feel the fact that they shot the approach at night in full IMC on a non precision approach contributed to the accident. The error chain occurred when they decided to shoot the approach that close to night,  the pilots mistakenly had spotted the runway to the right when it was on the left, using full spoilers even though it is not recommended in the POH, and not reacting to the Ground Proximity Warning System.
What would I do differently if I was in the situation? In their position I do not think I would have continued the approach after hearing the second challenger go missed approach. I am not saying that you can just rely on what others are doing for decisions but the fact of that with it being night and I have never shot the approach into there at night would lead me to follow suit on going missed.            

The question is asked how I would deal with a passenger if my job was on the line. Is the job worth dying for? To be honest I am not sure I can think of single job worth that. If you are PIC then you are PIC and the passenger has to listen. But you will be alive in the end. A passenger is not PIC and when you let them make PIC decisions it is risky road. There is a reason they hire the pilot to fly the plane.

Single Pilot IFR

Single pilot IFR. Sounds pretty scary and draws images of one pilot alone in the clouds overburdened with a thousand things to do in a plane that probably shouldn’t be used in perfect weather let alone solely by reference to the instruments. After reading this I think what we are getting at here is how comfortable you are flying IFR while in IMC by ourselves. We are asked if we would consider flying single pilot IFR. Personally, it would depend on the conditions. A flight that involves an enroute portion through the clouds would be different than a flight that a departure under IMC, IMC along the whole route, and finally a approach to minimums. Personally, at my current experience level flying the enroute part of the flight in IMC and part of the approach IMC would be within my minimums. A flight that would had IMC from departure through approach would be no-go decision right at my current experience level. One of the tips I took from the article was to rehearse the flight with expected alternates and emergencies. Currently when going IFR I have my alternates and I have seen the approach plate and I know the procedures for an emergency. Rehearsing specifically for the flight is important so you catch snags on the ground rather than in flight. Obviously one can’t rehearse a 6hr flight out completely but you prepare for the departure, approach, flying to the alternate, and how to approach an emergency that develops along your route.

In-Flight Electrical Fires Response

A short circuit occurs when the electricity is flowing along a different path than the one that it was intended to follow so our safety features such as circuit breakers and fuses cannot stop it. The short circuit will be particularly difficult to stop unless we shut the electrical system down because it will continue to flow.
The procedure in the Seminole follows along with what the article was getting at. The article was indicating the idea that just pulling a circuit breaker is not a through response because damage can still be occurring. The Seminole checklists calls for the electrical system to be shut down by turning off the battery master, alternator, all electrical switches, radio master switch, it then says to close the vents, and turn the cabin heat off. All of this is designed to make it possible to safely land the aircraft because continuing flight would be unsafe because now the aircraft is no longer airworthy.
The way I thought about electrical failures was that they were an emergency but not on the level of an engine failure but not as mundane as a alternator inoperative light. But my perception of electrical fires is that they are a much more serious emergency than I thought and when I handle one in the future it will be with different mindset and assertiveness to end the fire as soon as possible.

Expectations for Multi Engine

Well I would like to learn more about the operational considerations of multi engine operations, difference in aerodynamics, aircraft systems, and correlation of single engine knowledge to multi engine knowledge. I would like learn about the different structures that are more common on multi engine aircraft like wing tanks, synchronization, feathering, and the heating system.
As far as blogging is concerned I expect to use it to help demonstrate my understanding of material and establish a Internet presence since society is becoming more web based. My experience in blogging comes from writing and posting blogs for my Certified Flight Instructor Ground School class.

Expectations

The first lesson I would want to let my private pilot student know what I expect them to do and what they can expect me to do. Things I would expect the student to do are: be ready for their lesson at the time we are scheduled to meet that way we can make the most of that period of instruction and not waste instructional time waiting for the student to get ready, give me some warning they are going to cancel and not waiting until the last second, and study material outside of the instructional time and to come up with questions on their own for me about things that peaked their interest.

Things the student can expect from me are: returning phone calls or emails within 24hrs of receiving them, making time to meet outside of our regular meeting blocks if the student desires, making arrangements with another CFI if I will be out of town, and will give the student a suitable heads up if I cannot meet and will reschedule promptly. These are the things I would cover with a student on a first lesson making these things clear will help keep the environment professional and responsive. I would also ask the student if there are other things they think should be in here that are not.

New Student

If I picked up a new student from another flight instructor things in the student’s folder I would want to look for our what areas they have covered and if there were any notes on how the student performed. I would like to look at previous stage checks if applicable to see what areas they had had trouble with. I would ask the student’s previous instructor what they thought the students strong and weak areas were. I would ask if there was any areas that they had been rushed to teach on and had not been able cover as in depth as they had wanted to. I would ask the instructor how the student has reacted to previous stressful situations. Things I would ask the student would include what they believed what they thought were the strongest areas and weakest areas. I would ask what they wanted to do as far an aviation career and what areas were they interested in. Then I will select questions from those areas of operations in the practical test standards to see what they really knew. I would prepare different ground simulations to test the student’s ground knowledge. I would want to use oral quizzing to see how well the previous instructor’s training was, see what the student has retained, and help the student stimulate thought to see where they were in their training.

Struggling with the Landing

First I want to make sure my student is aware of their performance on landings. If they they are satisfied with that performance I will want to motivate them to strive to get better not only on their landings but on the other aspects of flying. Next I would look to see if there was a psychological barrier that was preventing them from accomplishing landings, for example they were scared of breaking the airplane. After that I would try using the low approach method to help them get comfortable with controlling the aircraft near the ground. I would also try and take them on days where no one is out there to practice that way they know no one is judging them. I would send them with another instructor who might word something different to the point where it clicks in their mind.  I think after the third flight I would inform my supervisor that my student was struggling with their landings.
After about 8 hrs of training beyond when I informed my supervisor, then I would talk to them about how much they would be willing to spend on their aviation training and how it might be a huge hurdle to get over their landing issues. I would them make them spend two days thinking about it before they made a decision so they were calmed down and not rushing to a decision.

Visualization, Mastering the Landing, & Training Future Captains

The visualization article had a good description on using mental practicing to mast maneuvers. I can use this article to help students with mental images to perfect flying maneuvers. I remember when I was working towards my black belt my instructor told me to do mental visualization and he used an example of a study which he said was real. The study involved college students taking 50 free throw shots. They were divided into three groups. One group practiced every day, the next group didn’t even think about basketball, and the last group only thought about the shots in their mind. There was a month period between taking a initial results to the next month where they did it again. The study showed the students who practiced improved greatly, the students who thought about it improved greatly also, and the others did not improve. I can think of using this specifically on emergency procedures because the student is familiar enough they know where the switches are and can visualize flipping certain switches.

What I think I can use from the landing article is the use of steps in teaching the student the building blocks of the landing. Obviously they have learned how to keep straight and level, how to turn, and climb and descend if they are at this point in their training. I want to allow the student to learn about each step of the landing process and then bring them together. The author discusses the instructor having control of power and the student doing slow flight above the runway. Also you can have the student fly final approach and conduct the level off until they have that down then proceed to let them flare. But I must be aware that it takes time to master the landing.

The article related to training future airline captains relates to the attitude a CFI should carry and what attitude they should ask of their students. I will use this to help my students understand that every time they step into the aircraft they should be professional especially during training because of primacy. I am not saying they shouldn’t have fun but they need to use their checklists, use proper radio calls, and use proper communication in the cockpit. But in the same breath it is a training flight and they should be ready to ask questions bluntly if they do not understand a particular subject.

Assessments

When talking about the difference between formative and summative  assessments it is best to go straight to the the root words in each, formation and summary. Formative assessments are the teacher forming what they are teaching students by what they have found. When climbing a rock wall as you move up the wall before each step you test to make sure that is held on tight enough to support you and if it is not you pick a new rock to climb next on. This is the same as formative assessment where teachers ask students questions throughout the course to determine whether their teaching methods are working or whether they need to put more emphasis in certain areas. An example for a flight instructor might be an instructor just shows how to change between frequencies on the radio on the Garmin 430 but does not allow the student to do so, later the instructor is asking the student to put in a frequency and the student is unsure how, then the instructor reteaches it properly. A summative assessment, similar to a summary is at the end of a course of training. This is best represented by the FAA Practical Test or End of Courses.
Criterion-referenced assessments have to deal with a learner gaining a objectively measured set of competence. This is a student performing to the Practical Test Standards for a new rating. Norm-referenced assessments is measured against others that are in the same class. A good example of this would be a class on Aviation Law where there is no set rule of what cases need to be analyzed, what types of law should be examined, and for how long. Self-referenced assessments deals with the learner learning for personal reasons with no objective or being able to compare to other students. An area in aviation this might be seen is in numerous workshops about ADM where participants are there for their own reasons and it  would be unpractical to use objective standards or compare everyone to each other.
Self-directed learners can incorporate thoughts and feelings, think across theoretical systems, and address problems where a solution is not just hard to fine but may be one of many solutions. They will see their teachers as colleagues other than authorities, and will want to be actively engaged in their learning and assessment activities. They prefer self-referenced assessments as opposed to criterion or norm referenced. An example I have had recently is with my flight instructor when I go flying. He will ask me to come with specific detailed goals that I would like to accomplish during a flight and he will add input on how I can work on that and then after my lesson we have a thorough review about the maneuvers and why I messed up with me providing most of the input and if I miss something we needed to cover he asks about it.

Selecting Methods and Charateristics of Adult Learners

I think role playing can be used on a flight where the instructor is trying to demonstrate to the student about Crew Resource Management (CRM). Crew Resource Management is using team management principles in the flight deck such as workload management, situational awareness, communication, the role of the captain, and crew member coordination (PHAK16-2). A good place to use this would be in a commercial student’s cross country phase with the instructor. The student would play the role of captain and the instructor would be the first officer and would have a preflight discussion with instructor about CRM. The student would be  asked to do more tasks and would then start delegating tasks to the instructor.Afterwards the instructor would talk to the student about what task could have been delegated and were not or if more communication was needed.

The four categories are instructor centered, interactive, individualized, and experiential. Instructor centered is exactly how it sounds where the instructor uses a positivist viewpoint to give knowledge through lecture, questioning, and demonstration. This category works well for larger classes where lots of information needs to be covered. Instructor centered usually focuses on the lower levels of learning. The interactive category has more of a constructivist outlook and suits smaller classes and where the focus will be on the higher levels of learning. Students share knowledge through class discussion, discussion groups, peer teaching, and group projects. Individualized is the third category and is very much based on the pace the student sets and can take more time from the instructor then other methods but the format is flexible and gets the student actively involved in the learning approach. This category fits into a constructivist approach as well. The final category is experiential which uses clinical , such as nurses, laboratory, role playing, simulations/games, and drill. Drill focuses on repetition and lower levels of learning where the other parts of experiential category fit a higher level of learning.

Discussion groups would be useful in talking about flight planning. The execution would start with the instructor giving a departure airport and arrival airport and then include another limiting factor such as altitude and then let the students choose the routes and justify why their group chose the way they did.

What method the instructor uses is based on what knowledge the students have in a subject area or whether the information being covered would best be represented by a specific method. For example when talking to a class about FARs role playing would not be as effective as delivering a prepared lecture because of the amount of FARs and the time it would take using other methods.

Demographics that tend to affect adult learners are age, gender, and language and background. Age gives some insight not only on how somebody looks but could possibly let you know about experiences they might have had or their viewpoint on certain topics.  One example of this could be and older student might not be as familiar with technology in the classroom and expect the teacher to avoid using it while someone younger would welcome it. Men and women are different, not just physically but also in the way that each generally tends to develop women value relationships and responsibilities, empathy, and interdependence (p.31). Men generally on the other hand do not and so it is important that as the instructor that you do not alienate any students with language or imagery. Another demographic that affects adult learners is language and background such as if they have a strong understanding of the language, whether living conditions permit them to safely study, or what they value can all have an effect on the adult learner.

Adults tend to be more goal oriented seeking the immediate benefit of the knowledge they are attaining and are there by choice. Adults also have more life experiences, educational backgrounds, and physical requirements. When teaching an adult I would make sure that I can show how each lesson is directly tied to what they are trying accomplish and try use some of their life experiences to help them better understand what I am trying to teach.

Modality and Another Look at Positivism

From reading the Jeppesen textbook I feel that auditory modality suits me well because I have noticed in my flight training I like to try and explain in my own words what my instructor has taught me and that I learn really well on my own or with only one other person. I also tend to remember things that people tell me that they themselves may not remember telling me.But I defiantly am kinesthetic when I am solo in the plane where I remember what I did in other similar situations and applying that to the current situation I am in.

Two points I found in the article that  I will apply in my teaching are modality to content and that memories are stored as meaning. When I talk about modality to content it is that depending on what it is you are teaching you should use the best modality to best convey the information to the student. For example a lesson on unusual attitude recoveries would benefit from the kinesthetic experience from inside the airplane where as a lesson on storm movement in the northern hemisphere would benefit from a visual representation such as a animation or charts showing movement over time. The other point that memories are stored as meaning is important I believe because if the meaning of lesson is not conveyed properly then the student will not retain the proper information. One example might be when demonstrating to your students cross controlled stalls and if you do a spin and do not treat it like a big deal then what meaning will the student remember? That the cross controlled stall is a cool trick they can show their friends or that the cross controlled stall could happen if you overshoot the runway centerline and then use opposite aileron and rudder while applying back elevator pressure leading to a spin 500 feet above the ground or lower.

Another thought on positivism in aviation. Positivism definitely has its place in aviation education because there are certain things that are concrete facts like that without gas your plane’s engine will not continue to run. A positivists view could help to explain the facts that a pilot needs to know so they can use them to help create experiences. An example would be the weight and balance. The math is the same and the numbers for the arms don’t change and a positivist could go through and teach about weight and balance but a positivist view only gets base knowledge that is needed to develop true understanding. That student who learned weight and balance still needs to know where to add weight and fuel or how much to take or even passenger loading. One experience I had with this was at St. George in 2010 I was going on an instrument flight with another student to Cedar City  and on the weight and balance I noticed if I flew second would be out of CG limits but if I flew first we would be fine.

Epistemology

Epistemology is an investigation to determine what knowledge is and how humans can gain knowledge. Epistemology attempts to answer these questions and in education where one is teaching it can render an important philosophical foundation for the teacher to pass on knowledge to a student.

            Primarily there are two ways knowledge is viewed. One view is that of a positivist. Positivists believe that knowledge is something that is discovered and is transferred from someone who had expertise in that area to a student. For a positivist knowledge is factual and is discovered through the experiential method, which after findings are verified a positivist believes they have knowledge. In positivist perspective knowledge and information are the same thing. On the other hand is a constructivist epistemology where a human assigns meaning to a combination of facts and artifacts. Knowledge is pieced together by humans from what they collect from the world around them and assigns meaning to what has been found.

The main difference between constructivist teachers and positivists ones is that a constructivist teacher creates a situation that allows a student to develop their own understanding as opposed to the positivist teacher who possessing the knowledge simply gives information to the student usually through a lecture. The other difference is the view of what knowledge is whether it is tangible as with positivists or whether it is more intangible in the case of the constructivist. Another difference is the amount of participation between students in a positivist setting, where a teacher talks about information and tells the student what is means, and a constructivist environment where the student is expected to come to their own understanding which forces the student to become more engaged in the topic.

I personally indentify with constructivist epistemology more because the focus is on students deriving the knowledge for themselves rather than relying solely on others to be the providers on knowledge. When I was in martial arts I would teach different techniques to a wide range of people of various ages and skill level. We taught some techniques that were already designed but the reason was so that students would eventually use the basics (like different punches or kicks) to make their own techniques, which was demonstrated in a game called monkey in the barrel. We set out a mat and every person got a chance to stand in the middle then every person would one at a time would attack the one in the middle who would defend against it. One could tell when someone had finally come to some sort of understanding how what they did affected the opponent’s body.  I identify more with constructivism because I think that knowledge is something each student comes up with on their own and doesn’t always have to be the same.