Spins, Midterms, and Recordings

Hello again everyone! I’m back with another update about my flight training, college academics, and music. Since my last update, I have flown two more times. I was not able to fly much recently was because both my instructor and I had to quarantine because of Covid. Even though we both tested negative, we were not allowed to go back to the airport for fourteen days after our initial exposure. In my first lesson after quarantine, I worked on takeoff and landing out of Portage County Airport, which is about 12 miles from Kent’s airport. Then in my second lesson, I had the privilege of doing spin training. The first time my instructor demonstrated a spin, my stomach just dropped because I had no idea what it would really be like even though I had watched videos and imagined it beforehand, it is a completely different experience up in the plane. There is no way to predict what it will actually feel like. But as I did more and more spins, they became very fun and I hope I can do more training like this in the future. They are a lot easier to recover from than I had previously imagined. I hope to log more flight hours and learn more skills in the upcoming weeks as I get closer to my first solo flight! 

As midterms wrap up, I am proud of my academic success so far this year. I have A’s in all of my classes, though I am especially proud of my A in my Flight Theory class. About every 3 weeks we take a block exam that covers about 6-8 chapters in the Pilots Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge. For each exam, we have to score above 70%, because the flight theory course is mandated by the FAA. If we don’t reach this score above 70% the first try, we get another attempt.  If we don’t score 70% on the second attempt, then you have to retake the entire course. I am proud to say I have scored 93% on both of the block exams I have taken so far which was well above average for both of the tests.

At Kent, I participate in their marching band and their wind ensemble, which is their top concert band. The MACC conference is resuming football at the beginning of November, so I will finally be able to perform with the marching band. In the meantime, the marching band has recorded some songs that I will link below. For wind ensemble, since we are unable to meet as a large group, I am in a brass quintet, and we will be recording a song on Thursday which should be posted on Kent State School Of Music Facebook (I think). Even though college definitely isn’t what anyone expected right now, I am still making the most of it and I am having a great time so far!