Sim session with a difference!

Hi!
It's time for a short break (another one from LOTS of "short breaks") from studying Air Law. I have a progress test next Wednesday so I have to prepare for it. Anyway, some news about this week...

The greatest thing which happened this week was a simulator session we had on Wednesday. No it wasn't an FNPT-II simulator session. It was a demo session in the B737NG simulator! And there's one word to describe it... COOL!! It was part of the Instrumentation course and the aim was to see how some stuff in the cockpit is used during a typical flight. The flight was from Brussels to Ostend and then back to Brussels. I was in the First Officer's seat but most of the flight was performed by the autopilot. During the flight we saw stuff like, the Traffic Alert & Collision Avoidance System (TCAS), the Ground Proximity Warning System (GPWS), use of the autpilot and different flight modes, as well as different sounds of warnings which you could get in the cockpit, like stall warning, overspeed etc. At Ostend, we did a touch & go with autoland and then we headed back to Brussels. As we approached Brussels, I was told to try and land the plane manually. This was em... cool... but it was the first time with a 737 in hand! But, there's always the first time, and... it was quite good. I always say I can't wait to be flying the real thing! Overall, this was another great experience. Below is a picture after we landed in Brussels. In a few months time, I hope I'll be able to take the same photo with a slight difference; sitting in an A320 and having the 3 stripes on my shoulder and flying for real!

On Thursday I had the 5th. mission of FNPT-II. It was similar to mission 4; precision approaches, but this time I had to do more things by myself. I also performed a blind take-off, with very low visibility. During the mission, I performed the usual air excercises. I also had to fly a bit on the standby compass which is quite difficult. The approach and landing were quite good and I was quite satisfied with my performance. After the mission was over, some time was still left so the instructor told me to take-off again and to expect an engine failure. He told me roughly what has to be done. After taking off, the left engine failed but with some hard struggle on the rudder, I was able to keep the aircraft flying. I didn't land the plane again but it was good to get an idea of what an engine failure feels like.

I think that's just about it for this week. There's not much else to say... oh yes maybe, we have some few days of sunshine here in Belgium!! I would like to know how long it will last!! Eh I miss sunny Malta!!! Now, back to studying Air Law...

Till next time!!