So this is me
My name is Markus Andersson. I'm a 34 year old dreamer that have realized that life is too short for not fulfilling these dreams. One of my dreams is to learn to maneauver a helicopter so that I can fly whenever and wherever I want. I will here share my thoughts and reflections and hopefully I can inspire you to fulfill your dreams.
I just love the web! Today I found a perfect summary of the ATPL theory course, thank you Rob Groothuis for that piece of paper! Well structured, divided in each subject. For those of you that are interested to take part of it, just click the link above (links to the pdf document) and you’ll save some time when preparing the exams.
Thanks Rob!
After a busy month with bad conscience about not finalizing the theory I’m finally done! Spent the last two evenings going through the AGN (Aircraft General Knowledge) part of the book “1000 questions” and then went to the flight theory school this afternoon. I didn’t knew what to expect when I started the exam since I’ve heard from many of my classmates that this was the most tricky test to pass. 35 minutes and 20 questions later I looked into the computer screen with a big smile, “PASSED” it said!
COM (Communication): QT (PASSED) LFV (PASSED)
HP (Human Performance): QT (PASSED) LFV (PASSED)
AL (Air Law): QT (PASSED) LFV (PASSED)
OP (Operational Procedures): QT (PASSED) LFV (PASSED)
AGN (Aircraft General Knowledge): QT (PASSED) LFV (PASSED)
FPP (Flight Planning & Performance): QT (PASSED) LFV (PASSED)
PF (Principles of Flight): QT (PASSED) LFV (PASSED)
MET (Meteorology): QT (PASSED) LFV (PASSED)
NAV (Navigation): QT (PASSED) LFV (PASSED)
So, here I am, done with all the theory tests, waiting for an examination date. Need to call my instructor for some fresh up flying lessons, feels like ages since I was up there in my “bubble”!
Next step, examination and then we’ll see what happens…maybe I’ll continue with the Commercial Pilot Licence course that starts early summer 2009, why stop half the way?
Now I’ll get a plastic bag and put all my books in there for a while….nice!
No flying today because of bad weather conditions. Instead we decided to do the technical course that you have to do before examination. We went through the R22 Operating Manual, discussed the various parts of the R22, followed by a test that I passed, nice!
Had lunch at Bromma airport, followed by a visit in the Bromma Control Tower. Nice to meet the guys that you talk to on the radio and see what they do.
Still haven’t decided how to do with the CPL theory that starts in november…hmmm.
I pray for better weather next week!
FPP (Flight Planning and Performance) - 95 %
AGN (Air craft General Knowledge) - 85 %
That means that I have passed all the 9 qualifying tests at school, great! Tomorrow I’ll write 4 of them for LFV. If, if if I pass them I have 3 more before I’m totally done with the theory.
Status right now:
Accumulated flight time: 10 hours
COM: QT (PASSED) LFV (PASSED)
HP: QT (PASSED) LFV (PASSED)
AL: QT (PASSED) LFV (NOT DONE)
OP: QT (PASSED) LFV (NOT DONE)
AGN: QT (PASSED) LFV (NOT DONE)
FPP: QT (PASSED) LFV (NOT DONE)
PF: QT (PASSED) LFV (NOT DONE)
MET: QT (PASSED) LFV (NOT DONE)
NAV: QT (PASSED) LFV (NOT DONE)
Now it’s time to chill for the rest of the day!
Tuesday night and only two more days before the last exams at school. so the schedule looks like this:
YES I know! I should have started my studies earlier than this, but don’t you remember how you did back in the days in school???
I’ll really try to close this theory part ASAP so that I can focus on the fun part, TO FLY. I still have about 35-40 hours left before I can feel the smell of my certificate.
Back to work…
On Friday, we started the PPL (H) Bridge course. Three weekends where we´ll cover the topics:
We are about 20 people in the group from all parts of Sweden and I don’t really know how many of us that will continue with the commercial licence CPL (H) in november. Don”t ask me, I haven’t decided yet but as soon as i get up in the air again I guess I have 
There are rumors saying that there are plans of starting a CPL “light” course covering more or less the same amount of information than in the regular CPL course, but in 200 hours instead of in 700 hours, can someone explain to me how this will work (probably no one)? I’ll follow up on this issue later on…
Today we had 6 hours of Aerodynamics talking about different forces and theories of flying an helicopter, airfoils, drag, translational lift, Bernoulli’s Principle, Newton’s third law, Angle of attack, Gyroscopic Precession, semirigid rotors, autorotation, torque, Ground effect, transverse flow effect, dissymmetry of lift, flapping.
Now it starts to get really interesting, need to dig a bit deeper into the subject! What I also need now is some sleep, good night!
Today I’ll explain how the “Airspeed indicator” works.
The airspeed indicator displays the speed of the helicopter through the air by comparing ram air pressure from the pitot tube with static air pressure from the static port—the greater the differential, the greater the speed. The instrument displays the result of this pressure differential as indicated airspeed (IAS). Manufacturers use this speed as the basis for determining helicopter performance, and it may be displayed in knots, miles per hour, or both. When an indicated airspeed is given for a particular situation, you normally use that speed without making a correction for altitude or temperature.
The reason no correction is needed is that an airspeed indicator and aircraft performance are affected equally by changes in air density. An indicated airspeed always yields the same performance because the indicator has, in fact, compensated for the change in the environment.
(Source: Rotocraft Flying handbook)