Today is a good day. Finally done with Straight and Level flight with our Chief Flying Instructor, Capt. Zeenudin or Capt. Zeenu, of Capt. Zee as some other instructors might call him. Some cadets might call it 'not-so-very-fortunate' to be assigned under him because of his strict-ness and his 'perfectionist' ways of being a pilot. But I think its a blessing and a privilege to fly with him. This is my second time flying with him only, but already I'm learning to develop good piloting habits. Only in my second flight with him, I learned how to maintain a cool head before proceeding into a pre-flight checklist and how to do the necessary paper work checks.
Today's flight was on straight and level and we flew around the Coastal Areas of Bachok, Kelantan. It was slightly windy, and visibility was not at its best, but lucky for me, Capt. Zeenu had no problem teaching. We were still able to make a rough picture of the horizon and carry out the practice. Throughout the flight, everything went smooth. I was the only one having the problem in memorizing ONE
thing . The meaning of 'P', in the abbreviation 'ALP'. For Straight and Level flights, one has to
A- Attitude of Aircraft (making sure attitude is straight and wings are level with the horizon, selecting a reference point as a guidance to fly straight and besides that checking the sufficiency of fuel , temperature and pressure of fuel.)
L- Lookout. ( make sure left of aircraft is clear, make sure front right of aircraft is clear, make sure right of aircraft is clear, and all around aircraft path is clear.)
P- Performance.( make sure aircraft is level at the height we want and at the same time the vertical speed indicator is 0 [to make sure aircraft is not climbing or descending], maintaining heading , and making sure ball is centered [under the turn and slip indicator , there's a ball that shows whether the aircraft is in balance flight or not.] )
In order to practice this, Capt. Zeenu would put the aircraft into a 'not-a-straight-and-level-flight' position, and I as the pilot have to do the corrections to make it straight and level. To fly it back to straight and level is a piece of cake, or as some others say 2 piece of cake, BUT, it is the procedures and saying out the procedures and maintaining them at the same time is 'not-so-easy'. I had a tough time remembering what did the P stand for. I kept thinking it was airmanship for some reason. As Capt. Zeenu see me having difficulties in remembering what that P stand for, he did this....
This is not a randomly selected photo from Google,
this is my arm. And on my arm, is written the word PERFORMANCE
by Capt. Zeenu himself. And yes, it was written while I was flying and when I
was in control of the aircraft. Instantly, This word gets sticked into my head from then on.
(picture slightly dark due to attempt on emphasizing on the words written on arm)
And so we proceeded to carry out the lesson on how does power affect an aircraft's attitude, and throughout the practice, Capt. Zeenu even pointed to me a Rainbow (was slightly raining at certain areas) just below our aircraft. A beautiful sight indeed. Just a pity no pictures can be taken as I was busy flying. We continued on for 1hour 20 mins.
Whatever people said about Capt. Zeenu might be true, being strict and all, but I CAN ASSURE ALL CADETS WHO WANT TO BE GOOD AND TO BE CALLING THEMSELVES WORTHY PILOTS, CAPTAIN ZEENUDIN IS THE FLIGHT INSTRUCTOR YOU GUYS SHOULD FLY WITH!
'... know your stuff well' - Captain Zeenudin
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