SOLO !!!

I knew it was due some time soon, yet fully unexpected I got to fly solo!

I had not flown in 4 weeks, and in my opinion it was only then that I had shown true proficiency in circuittry. And because the weather looked marginally at first, we were going to use this lesson to practice circuits again in all their variants. That is to say: normal landings, but also flapless, and glide-ins from 1000ft. I had expected this lesson to be all about speed control, and the next one focussed on forced landings. Maybe my first solo would be the lesson after that, or even after that one. Probably in December or so. But no! It was this lesson already! :)

Piet leaving the plane...

Human Performance and Limitations

Every aviation incident has Human Factors as at least one of their root causes. So a lot of research has been put in that subject over the last few decades. Human Performance on the one side, but espacially the limitations. Man was not meant to fly, so we are taking man out of their natural environment, yet still expect them to perform above and beyond what is expected "on the ground". One of those limitations is the amount of information that can be processed. It has been demonstrated that the human brain, when overloaded with information, goes into "survival mode", where only the information that is perceived as essential for survival is processed, and the remainder is "parked" in short term memory, only to be collected again after the essential information pool is processed. Short Term memory has a limited shelf life, so it is well possible that information that is not perceived as essential, is not processed at all.
Now this is all well and understandable, but how does that affect me, the (student) pilot? Surely this will be applicable in a crisis situation, but even then ... I know what to do when things go wrong, so it won't happen to me, right?. Well, I can tell you this: you're WRONG!!!

JAR-FCL RTF / EASA ATO, and the consequences for my PPL Training

Just to throw out some more abbreviations here, I wrote another article on the changing legislation in the world of aviation. More specifically: the world of Flight Crew Licensing. I'm hoping to shed some light on the matter, for the benefit of those that have recently started their PPL training, or are about to start that training (like myself). It all started with a discussion on the legislation concerning training organisations, and the licensing of those organisations, and on what the consequences for students would be. Especially the transition from the "old" regime to the "new" regime, and in how far the "old" education would be recognised end fully creditable towards the "new" education. Lots of that discussion is based on the personal interpretation of the applicable legislation, so there's a certain uncertaincy in the arguments used. Therefore, I decided to ask the executive institute for the Netherlands (the "competent authority"), IL&T (Inspectie Leefomgeving en Transport)