Delta Connection Academy

Commercial Ground School 2

I was so busy during Commercial Ground School that I neglected my blogging! Much of ground school was a review, but there was new information to learn – including Vmc Factors & emergency checklists among others. One of the biggest favors you can do for yourself is memorize/learn those checklists before your first lesson. Go into the FRASCA (simulator) or sit in front of the posters and go through the checklists until you know them verbatim. If you can get a classmate to do this with you it will be more beneficial for both of you. I say to learn them because they are easier to remember & make more sense when you know why you’re doing the checklist items in that specific order. My ground school lasted just over three weeks. The time you spend will depend on the instructor and how well everyone understands the material. If you are an AOPA member, you can log on to their website and listen to/read tutorials and take quizzes over many different subjects. These are so useful, in fact, that my instructor used these as a teaching aide in class. If you aren’t a member, ask your instructor if he/she will let you use his/her account.

Commercial Ground School

I began Commercial Ground School with 3 other students this past Monday. We started the first few classes talking about crew resource management (CRM) and reviewed a few accidents that were caused because of the lack of CRM. There are a ton of these on YouTube. Some of the accidents we reviewed were: Aero Peru 603, Air Florida – Palm 60, Flying Tiger 66, Eastern 401, and others. We will begin flight lessons on Monday – in the simulator & the Piper Seminole (PA-44). Since I have had some difficulty in the past, I plan to do lots of back-seating. 10 hours are required, and it’s best to complete them in the beginning, while becoming familiar with a new aircraft & when learning lots of new information.

Commercial Ground School

Commercial Ground School

Paperwork

As you finish a course, there is official paperwork which must be completed before being submitted for end of course. As great as my instructor is, he does not fill these out everyday and they have to be exact. Any errors made on these forms could delay receiving your license from the FAA. We tried a few times to meet to fill out the forms, until I finally asked someone else for help. Instead of being upset that Michael couldn’t help me, I found someone who could. When he came back from his flight, I had the form filled out correctly and was ready to move on. No more time was being wasted. If this happens to you at any stage of your training, find someone who can help you. If an instructor is unsure of something, that’s what they do – find another person who can explain it better or consult a book for the answer. There’s no reason you shouldn’t do the same. Some smart person once said “If you’re not part of the solution, you could be part of the problem. Don’t whine about problems, do what you can to solve it!