Blog Post #3 - My First Training Flight at WMU!

Welcome back! This week was a very exciting week for me and my career at Western Michigan University! My first training flight was scheduled for September 20th, but unfortunately the weather had different plans. After delaying the flight for a few hours, we decided to go ahead and cancel the flight with the forecast not looking very good. We rescheduled this flight for the following Thursday, and that was the day I completed my first training flight at Western.

The flight consisted of a normal takeoff out of KBTL, and practicing maneuvers such as slow flight and steep turns in Westerns practice area. We then came back to KBTL and landed on runway 23R, which was a different landing then what I was anticipating. The Cirrus aircraft tends to balloon when coming into ground effect, which was more aggressive than what I was expecting. We taxied back to Westerns ramp and debriefed the flight. Overall it was a very successful first training flight, and I accomplished all of the goals I had for myself in this first flight.

During my Private Pilots License training, I flew the Cessna 150 which in my opinion is one of the most maneuverable aircraft there is. The ground effect was very minimal in the Cessna 150 compared to the Cirrus SR20. With the completion of my first flight at WMU, the preparation for my second flight began. I will keep you updated with the rest of my flight training throughout this blog! Thanks for reading about my first flight at WMU!