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supersoldier71

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  • Birthday July 18

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  1. Precisely. Humans can attend to a great many things at once, but can only focus on one thing at a time. Training and practice can allow us to perform even complex tasks autonomously while focusing on something else. I'm a musician, and it required a lot of reps to be able to sing expressively and play at the same time. I had to be able to play autonomously, that is, my hands had to "know" what to do so I could focus on singing on time and on pitch. Which I still mess up from time to time, I'm not a great singer. As this applies to flying it took two lessons before I could maintain straight and level flight (which is kind of a fiction anyway) and talk on a radio. Before I had ankle surgery, the coordination required to guide a 172 with my feet and talk on the radio--or answer my CFI's questions--eluded me. Fortunately our brains are designed to accommodate these types of things, moving them from effortful--like babies learning to walk--to autonomous.
  2. As a private pilot-in-training, I can say that I've gotten behind in a 172. Without delving into the esoterica of learning theory, what I've found is that the remedy is only partially achieved in the air. The rest is produced by thorough review and analysis of what was done in the air. What went right? What went wrong and why? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
  3. Because I'm still on Active Duty for another 8 months, I have access to perhaps the best physical therapy in the DoD. Special Operations has its advantages. I'm in PT 5 times a week, I'm able to run for short periods on the anti-gravity treadmill. The fine motor skills are still crap though. We're doing electro-stimulation to re-learn how to fire the muscles above the graft, and with that, the control will come. I'd convinced myself that the shoulder could wait, but my Dr. of PT told me that waiting increased the likelihood that I'd need a replacement, and I do NOT need those problems. Also, even though I'll still have access to the same medical care as Active Duty Soldiers (retirees vs veterans), I won't have access to the PT facility 5 times a week, or essentially, as often as they are open for business. I've got adult kids, grandkids, an active wife and a love of flying. Timetable is altered, but I'll get this sorted and back in the air, training. Frustrating is all.
  4. Let's see: tore 2 of the 3 peroneal tendons, brevis and longus, cartilage damage and an avulsion fracture, so there were bone chips and other debris in the joint. Gravity and time are inevitable, and I'm a now-46-year-old paratrooper. I'm also an about-to-be-retired Special Operations paratrooper, so there's that. Lastly, I need to have a shoulder reconstructed. I've delayed it long enough that I risk permanent loss of range of motion, so I'm going to have to further delay my flight training, which bums me out.
  5. 10 weeks ago I had to have my ankle reconstructed That was four days after surgery when I got a hard cast. When the cast came off four weeks ago. Rehab has been going quickly if painfully, and I'm working to get my strength, control and range of motion back. Obviously I haven't flown since the week before the surgery. Very much looking forward to getting back in the air. Between "Stick an Rudder" (& my other training stuff) and Controller/Trade a Plane, I'm getting pretty antsy :-) Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
  6. "...straight and level..." as a psychological concept that derives much of its meaning from atmospheric conditions and expectations (like happiness) is a very useful way to think about the processes involved with achieving it.
  7. Third lesson on Saturday, and no, I will not be posting every time I fly, but this was particularly cool for me because I managed to do some things well that had previously escaped me, such as consistent straight and level flight!! I benefited from relatively calm air at 1200'-1800'AGL so because of the relative serenity, I managed to stay ahead of the bumps and such. This was also my first attempt at flying with the IFR glasses, and that wasn't near as difficult as I'd imagined, no doubt aided by the docile air. So I was able to execute level, ascending and descending right and left, 180 degree turns, on time and on heading, arriving at the target altitude...most of the time. Yeah, I still have a lot of room for improvement. Oh, and any cockiness I was feeling (none) about being able to land was eliminated by trying and failing to line up for landing with a cross wind. There are some very tall trees at the approach to runway 35 at 2GC, and I totally fixated on the freaking trees instead of the runway numbers, and messed the whole approach up. "...Unnatural...." is how I feel about steep turns. Not a fan. I also improved my taxiing by decreasing the throttle to just enough to keep the plane moving: much MUCH easier to not bend a plane this way. Slow is smooth and smooth is fast, or so the guys who taught me Close Quarters Marksmanship told me. The most pleasing aspect of the process, however, is that I had enough attention left over while piloting the plane to enjoy piloting the plane! WOOOHOOOOO!!!!! I mentioned in my previous post that the first lesson was enjoyable--sort of--but if I'm candid, there was a part of me that thought that maybe I'd bitten off more than I could chew. The second lesson was more enjoyable, but that was tempered by my utter incompetence and a few almost-very-bad-incidents on the ground. This lesson, was enjoyable almost from start to finish (steep turns notwithstanding), and again, the processes required for straight and level are more autonomous, allowing me to enjoy the sensations--and the view!!!
  8. My CFI--God bless 'im-- laughed at me because I was so much better in the air than on the ground. I will sort that out. In complete candor, the first lesson was cool and exciting and exhausting, but it was SO overwhelming that I wasn't exactly looking forward to the rest of the process, however, I also know that sample size matters, and the first time I took the helm of a US Navy warship, somewhere between working the helm and lee helm ("throttle"), I got way, way WAY off course. The first time I jumped out of an aircraft in flight, I didn't enjoy that sensation much either. The first time I played live music in front of an audience didn't feel great. So the second lesson was great in several ways, but the single most important one, at least pertaining to carrying the process through to completion (which is really just the beginning of a lifelong learning process), is that I enjoyed it. I had fun. And I had just enough improvement from the first lesson to tell me that it will be very difficult, but not impossible. Thank you all for your encouragement and experiences! It's good to know that I'm not the only one who is/was humbled by the process.
  9. Renting a C172 at Cape Fear Aviation. I do however look forward to flying farther, faster. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
  10. Last Saturday I had my second lesson, and the drinking from a firehose sensation was definitely more manageable than the first lesson. To a point. Somehow, working the radios while flying the plane was impossible for me. The lesson began with my CFI informing me that the winds on the ground at our home airport were challenging, but if we flew down to Lumberton, the winds were almost directly up and down the runway, so off we went. Straight and level flight was easier, level turns were easier as was setting the trim, now that I've established that the plane doesn't fall out of the sky when I momentarily shift my attention here or there. During the first lesson, I would fixate on one task or gauge, obviously to the detriment of everything else, and so I was actively working to keep my eyes nimble and my attention, agile. For the most part, I was successful, but increased repetitions will make this more autonomous and less "effortful". I'd anticipated that landing the plane was going to be very very difficult, in particular, lining up on the runway for the approach turning off the base leg. I've been reading a lot of training materials and this was a significant negative performance issue, but on this particular day (with the winds and the runway aligned), it wasn't that difficult. Also, while the runway at 2GC is really narrow, KLBT is very very wide, so I'm not going to get too cocky about a one-time success. Another point of performance that I need to improve and rapidly is aircraft control on the ground. I'm garbage. I need less power and a better perception of the proper amount of brake force. Overall, my takeaway from the session is that piloting an aircraft is difficult, but far from impossible, and that's has me enthusiastic about what I'll learn next lesson, which, would have been this weekend, but social obligations, family (and two torn ligaments in my right foot which are REALLY AGITATED right now) have forced me to flex to the right on the calendar.
  11. I'm nowhere close to finishing my PPL (barely started!) but my mission and budget are essentially the same, so this thread interests me greatly.
  12. Didn't take it as a knock at all my friend, just took it as solid information from someone who knows more than I do about this topic. Your math does indeed indicate that other than a Mite, we'd be G2G whichever model we end up with; the only issue with the J and the budget, and it is relatively minor is that because we have a fixed monthly aviation budget, we'd have to save longer for a larger--perhaps much larger--down payment to bring the monthly note back to where we want it to be. This is not a deal breaker, just a factor in the equation. Now had you suggested on Ovation.... All models, C through J are attractive options compared to the other makes and models on my shopping list because with my budget projections, we can still keep it in the air 10-12 hours per month with $5.50 avgas, whereas some of the thirstier examples would limit hours, which would limit usefulness, which throws the entire equation out of whack.
  13. Hi Bob, The budget has a little flex in it and the J is a good option, but what concerned me about Js was that they seemed to have less useful load as compared to even E, which is down compared to Cs and Fs. My mission is a little funny in that we need to be able to haul two people from Fayetteville, NC to Nashville, TN (2GC to KJWN: 457 statute miles), OR three people (my sister in law has been incredibly supportive, and is ready to go halfsies on avgas) from Augusta, GA to Nashville, 340 miles. The Fayetteville to Nashville leg being the longest we project, the Augusta to anyplace leg being the heaviest. Marcus
  14. Funny you should mention that, because it was the folks over that the Piper Forum who warned me away from Comanches! Don't get me wrong, I love the Comanche's measurables, and I think they're fine looking planes to boot, but the folks on the Piper forum made it seem as if I'd have to travel to Mars to find parts and Jupiter to find someone who knew how to install them.
  15. Well about a billion years ago (in the 70s!) a US Army colonel borrowed his concepts for special operations from your boys at Hereford, so I can live with that. Mostly it's the center of the US Army universe because if you're airborne qualified, it's almost impossible to achieve escape velocity from Fort Bragg. You might leave (maybe) but you WILL come back.
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