I'm finally done! Yay! I have officially covered the entire FAA Private Pilot's textbook for 2012. My sponsor also got me my own E6B and plotter. An E6B is basically a trip computer for flight planning and enroute issues. It can compute any question that you might have about wind, ground speed, weather, timing, etc with the click of a few buttons. The cool thing is that my sponsor actually helped design Sporty's Pilot Shop's first electronic E6B when he was a weekend flight instructor about twenty years ago. Back then they were about the size of a laptop, now just the size of a typical calculator. Even before that, they had manual E6B's that you could use the different spinning parts to determine the answers to your questions about a flight. My plotter is designed to work with sectional charts (maps for airplanes) to calculate headings, courses and distances. The main difference between a heading and a course is that your course is the straight line from takeoff to landing and the heading is what you are doing at that moment, typically the course adjusted for wind. I also received my own pilot's logbook where I can record all of my flight time and record all of my endorsements from flight instructors.
Speaking of endorsements, I received my first endorsement from my flight instructor to take the FAA Private Pilot's Aeronautical Knowledge Exam. I am currently scheduled to take it on Friday at the Burke Lakefront Airport. In order to receive my endorsement, I had to take a full length practice exam at home, which I completed in 35 minutes (you get 2.5 hours) and received an 80% without even using my E6B. My instructor was extremely proud and signed me off to take the exam! I am glad to be on track to solo by Wednesday, May 30. Today I finally received a phone call from the third doctor I called to get my 3rd Class Medical certificate, and I have an appointment for next Thursday. If all goes well, I should have no problem receiving my Student Pilot Certificate.
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