Back to School

Well, I don't have much excitement to pass along. I can pretty much sum it up that I'm back in the classroom.

This past week has been nothing but academics. Academics are synonymous with books and numbers. I'm developing a new vocabulary. Trunnions, bearings, hanger assemblies, fairings, gate valves, solenoids, cams, driveshafts, and tachometers are tossed around in most of my conversation.

I'm not doing any flying yet - not until I memorize a bunch of obscure numbers about the different systems on the aircraft...oil pressure limits, when do certain valves open and close, how much weight can you carry...the list goes on and on.

Even more of a mind boggler is figuring out how the engine produces power. I won't even try to explain it to you. The picture of the 1400 horsepower turboshaft engine above speaks for itself.

Any pilot knows that there are certain situations in which he must be able to react quickly if he intends on living through the experience. In other words, he must be able to recognize that something is going wrong, diagnose what is wrong with his aircraft, and then react appropriately. These actions become even more important when you are low to the ground - a place where helicopters spend most of their time. So not only are we learning a bunch of numbers, but how to react to a bunch of "oh - sh**" scenarios.

Fortunately, our instructors make up for the lack of excitement during the day. Most of them flew in Vietnam. One instructor has been flying over 50 years! That's twice my age. These guys know the Huey like they know the back of their hand. They know my questions before I can ask them - seriously. It sure beats learning from slides on a computer.