Monday, October 20, 2014

Suck, squeeze, blow, go. How does the magic happen?

I've got some time off this month, and the house stuff is (finally!!) winding down, so in preparation for getting my engine next year I've escaped for a week to attend a Rotax Service and Maintenance course at Rotech Flight Safety in Vernon, BC.

Beautiful drive up there from Bellingham to Vernon. Hope to fly it sometime. About 6 hours to drive, bet OspRey could do it faster.







Tea, camera, highlighter, note pad. Back to school, Giuliana even packed me a lunch.



Small class size ensures attention. This is something I miss at the airline, our ground schools are now taught via CBTs, which are good for repeating things you're not certain of, or making your own schedule. But you lose the interaction of bouncing questions off the instructor, or hearing someone else explain something better than you understand it. More than once today another student struggled with the same problem I was having, and listening to them I was able to grasp it better. Hopefully I returned the favor with something they struggled with. 



 Hands-on learning is encouraged, there are several engines and lots of parts to look at and play with.

 



Can't say enough about the instructor, Mike. It's easy to know how something works. To teach it, that's a whole 'nother skill.



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