Tomorrow I will go flying again and we are actually going to fly up to Peachtree City. It is not a long flight, but I will be flying copilot with my dad, so I will still get to learn a few things. I am also finally going to start helping with building the plane. Peachtree City is also where I will be flying in the RV-7 and learning aerobatics.

Today we finally went flying for the first time since 20% Time started! I learned the pre-flight inspection, in which you would look all around the plane for problems and test everything to make sure it's working right. When we were flying, I learned how to use the trim to adjust the pitch of the plane so it you can fly level without having to constantly adjust it. I also learned how to use the rudder pedals to taxi to the runway. Another simple and basic skill I learned was a bank. A useful skill I learned was a stall and stall recovery. However, the fun part was experiencing 0 G's, or being weightless. Overall, it was a fun day and I learned a lot just in an hour or two.

Math and Science in Aviation

Tomorrow I will finally be flying for the first time for the project. This past week, I learned a lot about math and science in aviation. I will still be learning a lot more math and science throughout the project, but for now I will share what I have learned so far. 

Finding Slope and Climb/Descent: I learned that you can find the slope and rate of descent or climb of an aircraft. 

Scenario: A plane is descending 300 feet per mile at a speed of 120 mph. The plane has to reach a certain altitude to be able to start the final descent. 

1) The goal is to convert ft/mi to ft/min, so first we plug in 300 ft per mile. The slope of the descent is 3 degrees. (1 degree=100 ft/mi)

2) Now we put 300 ft/120 mph to begin converting. To start, divide 120 (speed) by 60 (minutes in an hour).

3) Next, we put 2 mi/1 min since 120 divided by 60 is 2. Then we multiply the top number by number of feet the plane descends every mile (300)

4) Finally, we figure out that the plane descends 600 feet every minute. 

This skill is important in aviation because if the plane in that scenario only had ten minutes to descend an unknown number of feet for whatever reason, you could figure out that the pilot has to descend 6,000 feet in that time span of ten minutes. (600 ft/1 min x 10 min=6,000 feet/10 min) 

Flying Starts Next Week!

It is week two of 20% time, and I had planned on starting learning the pre-flight inspection and the basic controls and instruments in the plane this past week. Unfortunately, the weather conditions were not good and we did not have enough time to get out to the airport before it got dark. However, all of the GoPro mounts that I ordered for the project came in except for one that is coming next week, so I am ready to start filming as soon as we get out to the airfield. I am also excited to start the building process of the plane. Over the past weeks, I have learned about the forces that act on an aircraft as well as the plane principal axes. I also learned about the parts of an aircraft that help it fly (flaps, elevators, ailerons, etc.) So now I am hoping to get flying this coming week and to start learning!