Just an earth-bound misfit, I
I died.
Sort of.
First day in the DASH-8 Q400 flight simulator. After doing an engine start, and going over different systems, I jumped into the captains seat and flew off out of YYZ (Toronto) for a leasurely flight around Lake Ontario. I did well on take off, although I forgot that we stear with our feet in a plane, but once we were airborne, and I figured out how to fly, it got a bit easier. I only over-sped the plane twice, and mangaed to keep the aircraft about where it was supposed to be and got to where I was supposed to go. Even managed to line up for landing...well, the auto pilot did, but I had to set the course, and program the Flight Management system to do this.
The landing though...not pretty. Being the first time flying, I predicted an ugly touch-down and I was right. Drove that plane straight into the ground. She handles like a dump truck at low speeds, and I flared way too late. I think that if I had kept the airspeed up, and not had so much flap, I might have had a better chance.
The scary thing is, we didn't have the motion on. But with the video moving so realistically, I felt like we where in motion.
So, tomorrow my partner Jim gets to fly. He has had a pilots license before, so this will be very interesting to see if you can put it down in one piece.
I will try and get a couple of pictures in the cockpit tomorrow to put on Flickr. Maybe I will get our instructor to take a couple for me while we are flying.
And I might be able to come down again later this week to play again. One of the other guys on the course doesn't have a partner to work with, so I am gonna try and get a few more hours of time in the right seat.
More tomorrow!
Sort of.
First day in the DASH-8 Q400 flight simulator. After doing an engine start, and going over different systems, I jumped into the captains seat and flew off out of YYZ (Toronto) for a leasurely flight around Lake Ontario. I did well on take off, although I forgot that we stear with our feet in a plane, but once we were airborne, and I figured out how to fly, it got a bit easier. I only over-sped the plane twice, and mangaed to keep the aircraft about where it was supposed to be and got to where I was supposed to go. Even managed to line up for landing...well, the auto pilot did, but I had to set the course, and program the Flight Management system to do this.
The landing though...not pretty. Being the first time flying, I predicted an ugly touch-down and I was right. Drove that plane straight into the ground. She handles like a dump truck at low speeds, and I flared way too late. I think that if I had kept the airspeed up, and not had so much flap, I might have had a better chance.
The scary thing is, we didn't have the motion on. But with the video moving so realistically, I felt like we where in motion.
So, tomorrow my partner Jim gets to fly. He has had a pilots license before, so this will be very interesting to see if you can put it down in one piece.
I will try and get a couple of pictures in the cockpit tomorrow to put on Flickr. Maybe I will get our instructor to take a couple for me while we are flying.
And I might be able to come down again later this week to play again. One of the other guys on the course doesn't have a partner to work with, so I am gonna try and get a few more hours of time in the right seat.
More tomorrow!
posted by Travelcedric at 11:50
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