Still ploughing along

Not a huge amount to describe since the last post. We have now finished Principles of Flight or PoF (if you google PoF you get something rather different) which is, for me, the most challenging topic we've done. Lots and lots of variables and a great many things that are easily confused. The basics of how an aeroplane stays in the sky and what kinds of drag are present etc are not too tricky. The difficulty comes with things like stability and the seemingly endless number of things that can be varied with a propeller. So often, your instinct is completely the opposite of the actual answer. 

Anyway, from that nightmare, we entered the world of meteorology, which for me has been the most interesting so far. It's great to see how it all works and for once it isn't actually too tricky. It's fairly logical and there aren't too many annoying facts to learn. My favourite bit has been clouds - have always liked them. Not sure why. Here's a selection of the 'best':

that should say Castellanus (i.e. like castle ramparts)

Cirrus

Mammatus (guess what that comes from)

Nacreous

Noctilucent

So that's clouds. Plenty of other stuff too but those have been the most striking. This week we look at instruments which covers not only the basic flight instruments (altimeter, airspeed indicator etc.) but also how to use some of the more complex systems that are employed in jet aircraft. Should be fun!