5th flight - No joy.

That's one of the things I've "always" hated about preflight inspections.
No matter how thorough I thought I was, I always felt there was something
I'd missed. It's a learning process, Kevin, there will be things that slip
by you. For now, that's what the instructor is for. Later, whether they're
an instructor or not, it's always helpful to have a second set of eyes
looking things over.

On thing's for certain, you won't miss "that" little drop of oil again! ;-)

Fly Safe,
Steve R.


"The OTHER Kevin in San Diego" skiddz *AT* adelphia *DOT* net wrote in
message ...
Closer inspection shows a small drop forming on the underside of the
tail boom. I felt pretty damned stupid for not catching that one, but
learned one more thing to look for when I'm preflighting the ship.
I'm really annoyed with myself because I run my hands over the
tailboom twice as I'm preflighting to check for secure mounting bolts,
dings and missing rivets.. I bet my hand wasn't half an inch from
that drop more than once and I still missed it.

AND'''always check the gearbox's sight glasses cuz when it stops
leaking...it's empty

Hey Kevin,
Your write-ups are excellent, and I have enjoyed reading them all. I
probably wish I were in your shoes, learning to fly and all that, but I'll
get there one day!
I think you should keep all your text, and print it as reading material for
your students when you're a CFI. It will give them bags of enthusiasm, and
make them feel a little bit more normal when they have minor concerns.
Hope all goes well.

Joe Landy (scale model heli pilot with time on Twin squirrel, Lama, Jet
Ranger, Gazelle, Custom Supercobra!)
Peterborough
UK.

p.s no oil in my gearboxes, just nylon gears, or greased metal gears!




"The OTHER Kevin in San Diego" skiddz *AT* adelphia *DOT* net wrote in
message ...
On Sat, 21 Aug 2004 04:37:28 GMT, "Bob"
wrote:

AND'''always check the gearbox's sight glasses cuz when it stops
leaking...it's empty

Plenty of oil in the TR gearbox, just some of it didn't like being in
there that much..

Kevin,

What a wonderful idea! I have no doubt that your notes for "teaching" the
material will seriously outweigh everything else for no other reason than
the differences in the students that you'll have to contend with.

I'm a private pilot, airplane SEL/MEL (~500 hrs), and a long time RC
helicopter pilot (22 years). I've also got about 7 hours of duel in
helicopters. I never got as far along in my rotorcraft training as you have
but it's given me enough insight to "really" appreciate the comments you've
made concerning your experience. I can't imagine that your students
wouldn't get a big kick out of reading your insights on the learning process
as you've experienced it. I would think that handing them the text right
before they go for their check ride would offer a much needed chuckle! :-)

Fly Safe,
Steve R.


"The OTHER Kevin in San Diego" skiddz *AT* adelphia *DOT* net wrote in
message ...

They're all printed and stuffed into a folder. I'm going to make them
part of my flight syllabus when I become an instructor. I think at
this point I have more notes on how I'd teach the material versus how
I'm learning it.

The other Kevin said:

Someday I hope to be one of those guys
with thousands of hours and dozens of "oh ****" moments to share.

I sincerely hope you make it to the thousands of hours mark, but with any luck
you will have very few of the "oh ****" moments.

Most of my moments seem to be of my own making and own stupidity!

Most of my moments came from a self-induced pressure to go out and get the job
done. Pilots as a group are very goal oriented. Sometimes it is very hard to
change a plan once you have set it in motion. In flight instruction you learn
the aircraft and the regs, but getting out in the "real world" you will find a
whole new set of pressures, and have to figure out ways of dealing with them.

Remember, it is always better to be on the ground wishing you were in the air,
then to be in the air wishing you were on the ground.

Jim