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Week two reflection

Over the past week, I embarked on an exhilarating journey of self-discovery and personal growth as I delved deeper into my second week of flying lessons. As the wind kissed my face and the aircraft gracefully soared through the sky, I found myself immersed in a world of endless possibilities and newfound confidence. In this blog post, I will reflect on the thrilling experiences, invaluable lessons, and remarkable milestones I encountered during this remarkable week of aviation exploration. Over the course of this journey, I felt like one thing I did well was master the basics. The first week was very intense and very difficult for me, but I felt this week I took a far greater step in my progression and became far more comfortable in the aircraft. By the end of the week, I was feeling very confident in all my maneuvers and even got to take off. The rush of the first take-off was such an amazing feeling. One thing I regret about this week is the fact that there were so many cancellations

Day 12 - may 23rd

 Today I was not able to go flying because I had to attend to matters regarding my physical condition and plans for next year. I went to Burke Mountain Academy, where I will be PGing next year, and did a physical evaluation for my ACL injury. We started by measuring how girthy my quads were and noticed I only had at the largest point a 1.5 cm disparity, so that was pretty good. Then we did a Y-balance testing exercise and moved into dynamometer testing. We measured the % asymmetry in my quads, glutes, and hamstrings, and then moved into some force plate testing with jumping and isometric squats to further the analysis of my assymetries. I also got to meet with the coaches and attended a Zoom with the whole team in the afternoon. I enjoyed getting to know so many more people in the community I'll be in next year. Then I came back to Proctor for the meeting. My total hours are still 75.5.

Day 11 may 22nd

 What's up blog, today was my best day up in the sky so far. I began the day with easy studying for about two hours and then headed to the airport for my final flying day. I'll explain why I'm not flying tomorrow in my next blog. When I got to the airport, my instructor Adam informed me that we would try to do as many takeoffs and landings as possible within our timeframe. We only had a two-hour session so we did not have much time. This was worsened by the fact that we only discovered the fact that our headphone jacks and radio were not working. We had to transition to another plane and redo the preflight process, but once we got moving I did another takeoff which went decently. We stayed in the traffic pattern three times before landing and calling it a session. It was my first time landing so I was happy to develop that skill. My total for today was 4 hours and my project total is 75.5.

Day 10 May 19th

 Hi blog,  Today was another good day flying. I started it off studying for about 3 hours in the morning and then went to the airfield. It was too windy for me to take off by myself which was too bad. I did the preflight as usual and taxied to the runway as usual. Then, once we were in the air we practiced some maneuvers and slow flight, practicing putting ourselves in the position to land. Then, we did some cool instrument flying where I essentially put on a blindfold but could just see the instruments, and had to fly only looking at the instruments. This was a bit scary, but I did a pretty good job and was happy about it. Then, we went over lake sunapee which was beautiful, and then I headed back and got us into the position to land but didn’t do it myself because of the adverse wind conditions. I went to the gym at proctor and then studied for two more hours and called it a day. Hopefully I will be able to take off and land on Monday. Today was 7 hours and my project total is 71.5.

Day 9 May 18

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 Hi blog, Today was an awesome day in the sky. Before flying, I studied for 3 hours about takeoffs and made sure I was ready to go for the session. Then, when I got to the airport I did the preflight as usual and we taxied to the runway with ease. It was my chance at my first take off, and I did a pretty good job. I kept the plane straight down the runway and I was supieses at how easily it just lifted right off the ground. It was such a great feeling and such as rush. Then we flew over to Portsmouth and got a beautiful view of the ocean which was really cool. Then I went home and studied for 3 more hours which was great. All in all a good day. 8 hours of work today and project total of 63.5.

Day 8 - May 17th

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 What’s up blog, I studied for 3 hours this morning and then went to the airport. Today was very windy so we couldn’t go flying. So instead, we did some ground work planning a cross country flight from concord to rutland. We did lots of math and calculations and unit conversions to determine what waypoints we would fly to at what headings, our wind correction angles, calculating our ideal speeds, flight time, fuel consumption, locations of top of descent and top of climb, and more. This was a very intense process but I enjoyed it. I noticed many similarities between this and the navigational skills I learned on ocean classroom. Afterwards, I practiced more of these math skills for 3 more hours. My total hours today was 8 and my project total is 55.5 Here’s a pic of some of what I did today. 

Day 7 - May

 Hi blog, Today was an awesome day flying. I had a great time. In the morning, I got up and had a nice study block because I had a later flying session, so I got a nice 3 hours of studying in. I worked on some more of the charts as well as reading more about stalls and emergency circumstances. Then, when I got to the airport, I did the preflight all by myself and we didn’t hesitate to get up in the air. I taxied to the runway and did a pretty decent job taxiing, so I was happy with that. Once we got in the air we practiced emergency engine failure simulation, and I had to take the engine to full idle, find a place to land, and come within 1000 feet of landing there before brining in more power and climbing again. After, we worked on some turns around a fixed point on the ground which I found challenging because it was hard to understand how to adjust my bank angle to account for the wind in my turns. I also practiced some S turns over a power line which I enjoyed. After, I came home, s