Andrew Collins

TRAINING CONSOLE

Andrew Collins
FTN: 
Medical:

Ground School App: Sporty’s 
Syllabus:  Private Pilot

 

TRAINING NOTES LOG:

 

09/02/2025

Great flight today, covered pretty much all of it!  Great call on the go-arounds, here’s just a couple line items:

  • steep turns much better
  • continue to work on talking through EVERYTHING
  • make sure you set your HEADING bug and ALTITUDE bug for EVERYTHING
  • still need to verbalize steps through maneuvers a bit more, make sure you are doing the pre maneuver steps or at least offering every single time (any maneuver, so you don’t forget
  • i noticed you didn’t have an airport diagram open this last flight, make sure you have one either printed on your knee board or on your iPad and open while and before taxiing.  You will be required to brief your taxi and mention any hotspots if there are any… usually not a concern, but it will be if you’re taking off runway 35 or 31
  • keep studying ground knowledge!  Work on saying and talking through everything!  Even on preflight, say the items out loud, touch the things you’re saying out loud, and be very clear that you’re doing them and what you’re doing

08/25/2025

Should have a checkride date beginning to mid October!  W/ Reed Schotanus.

Our flight today was good:

  • had some trouble starting up NIOSA.  Perhaps…. Full prime, quickly to RICH.  Will try next flight!
  • work on perfecting the takeoff brief:
    • set heading for runway (magnetic from plate)
    • what kind of takeoff it’s going to be
    • what we do if we lose an engine
  • don’t forget to check the autopilot in the RUNUP, you MUST do this if it’s operable even if you don’t use it (but you will have to on your checkride if it works)
  • overall great work on landings at Bulverde
  • need a little more practice perfecting the forward slip:  still have to land -0/+400 of your touchdown point
  • nice going around a couple of times, do it if you’re going to be long as well
  • remeber to switch to the practice frequency, and don’t forget your pre-maneuver!  Frequency to West and East is typically 122.8 for our area
  • PRE MANEUVER (do this before EVERY maneuver, or at least ask!  This is a horrible and easy way to fail a checkride):
    • 1.  Clearing turns
    • 2.  Fuel BOTH, Mix SET, lights ON, seatbelts ON
    • 3.  Radio call / announce intentions
  • steep turns ok, just watch keeping the bank — if you’re shallow you’ll climb, if you overbank you’ll get fast and descend
  • turns around a point:  initial was steep, I think we discussed this throughly but keep it mellow.  Manage and focus on control, in general you should be able to see your point even with your wings banked.  Distance should be maybe .7-1 NM away distance.  BUG the entry heading, but you did a great job of entering on the downwind.  Also, watch the GPS for your AGL altitude for starting

NEXT FLIGHT:

  • starting NIOSA easier
  • S Turns
  • work on everything
  • go to the East & Lockhart

08/18/2025

Catch up notes.  Overall, great work.  I can tell that you fly the plane well.  A couple things:

  • navlog was good
  • biggest thing, you need to verbalize everything.  Call out what you’re doing and why, especially manuevers
  • same on takeoff:  “power set, instruments green, airspeed alive….. rotate” — all these things NEED TO BE VERBALIZED
  • aside from verbalization, you are 90% of the way there
  • don’t force landings, aiming points getting better.  MAKE THIS VERY CLEAR when in the downwind — I should not be guessing or surprised, neither should your DPE
  • don’t land flat — keep the nose up. If you’re going to be long, or short, GO-AROUND
  • be a little more assertive about making the go-around calls
  • review weather theory in the Aviation Weather Handbook and PHAK (pilots handbook of aeronautical knowledge), as well as weather products… use ForeFlight Imagery to help go through this as well
    • we covered PIREPS
    • review airmets, sigmets, convective sigmets
    • synopsis charts, millibars 
    • review ISA and lapse rates
  • make sure you’re reading TAFs and METARs every day in the RAW format so that you develop that skill and familiarity

08/11/2025

Follow thru on previous notes, we spend this flight going over the details, including:

  • all performance takeoffs and landings
  • steep turns
  • stalls
  • VOR/GPS and hood time (BAIF/basic attitude instrument flying)
  • unusual attitudes

Major takeaways, overall great job on applying new techniques to the flying with the landings.  Great job finding awareness of distances, ACS standards, and aimining points as well as touchdown zones:

  • do NOT push the nose down.  Go around if you have to, but don’t force it down.  If you do bounce or porpoise, go around.  The negative stability of the plane gets worse instead of better and is highly likely to lead to an accident or incident.  This is probably the biggest thing I saw that needs to be corrected
  • go around are free!  — if you’re going to be short, go around
  • if you’re going to be long, go around!
  • ….
  • remember the before landing checklist, nice work on applying this
  • talk through everything that you do, from takeoff to landing, talk through it
  • talk through stalls and callout the indications
  • Make sure to use the altitude and heading bugs.  For flying, for maneuvers, for anything.  Keeps a clean cockpit, and ensures that you have proof of the standard you’re trying to maintain.
  • don’t forget frequency — when you leave San Marcos airspace, what frequency should we be on?  (Let’s chat about this in the next ground!)
  • Download the IFD Trainer App from the App Store for practice with the GPS unit.  The app has the exact models for what we have in all of our planes.  We can talk about this in the next ground

 

08/10/2025

This note covers both our last ground, and the last flight.  Our last ground was largely an extended debrief covering the flight, which was sort of a mock-checkride style.

Overall, your skill flying the plane and doing what you need to do is good/correct.  We need to focus on applying your skill in the right ways.  Here are the main points:

  • need to verbalize more when flying and running through procedures.
    • ”centerline, power set, eng instruments green, airspeed alive, 55 and rotate, etc” during takeoff
    • don’t skip passenger brief or before takeoff/emergency briefing
    • vocalize “white arc, flaps - - -“ any time adding flaps
    • verbalize “horn, buffet, stall” when each of these things become true during stalls
    • carry through similar habits on all maneuvers and flights
  • verbalize and use proper crosswind taxi inputs on flight controls
  • enter ground reference maneuvers on the downwind, and set headings
  • always use heading and altitude bugs, and maintain them.  If you’re off, call it out and get back, don’t change the bug.
  • be familiar with ACS standards for all maneuvers, and especially landings
  • we discussed short field / soft field / forward slip —- landings and takeoffs, and what they are and why they are.  We will work on these next flight
  • be familiar with emergency flows for both engine fire and off-field landings, review in POH/checklists
  • ABCDE checklist
  • the 5 C’s for lost procedures
  • flight service, activating flight plans, and diversions (THATFAR)
  • be sure to enter maneuvers (steep turns, etc) on airspeed and below Va

NEXT LESSONS:

  • landings
  • steep turns
  • emergencies
  • unusual attitudes / VOR and hood
  • compass turns
  • light gun signals

GROUND:

  • airplane systems
  • weather products (ie.  airmets, sigmets, GFA, PIREPs, FB)
  • XC planning, including ICAO codes (and D-VFR)
  • ICEFLAGS
  • scuba diving, hypoxia
  • GPS and WAAS/SBAS

08/04/2025

    Intro meeting, nice to meet you.  You’ve been chasing the PPL checkride for a bit and we will get you there!  Got half through the content for mock checkride, taking a bit more time as we also reviewed your written test results and Quick Look at your logbook.  Overall, your ground knowledge is pretty strong and certainly very close to checkride, with a few areas to strengthen that we identified today.

    A few points I would spend some time on:

    • Va maneuvering speed and calculation
    • pressure altitude and density altitude
    • service bulletins (see Training Resources page) or CLICK HERE
    • AD’s and types (research this a bit)
    • TCDS/STC
    • Part 43 and Form 337’s
    • knowing the regs for inspections, and who can perform a Annual inspection versus a 100 hour inspection (91.409, 91.171, 91.411, 91.413, 91.217)
    • atomatoflames reg is 91.205
    • medicals and durations, refresh 61.23
    • deferring inop equipment 91.213
    • EL/KOEL/MEL and where the EL is in the POH/W&B
    • external data plate and where it is
    • durations of ‘Radio Licenses’ for pilot and plane
    • ISA and ICAO, standard atmosphere in imperial and metric
    • lapse rates
    • I recommend having some familiarity with the major reg numbers so you are able to research and find them easily/quickly on checkride if necessary.  Flash cards are my personal recommendation but whatever works for you.

    …. Left off on weather theory.

    Please fill out the W&B and Performance sheet for our flight on Saturday.  We will also plan on having you prepare a NavLog for your next ground review and we will end up flying a few points and performing a diversion as well (not this next flight, the one thereafter)