A Letter from an SO to his Loved One

Hello there! It's been a while since we've last saw each other. We're still in our pre-soloing stage that we are not allowed to go out on passes. I miss the way we get excited at the end of the day knowing that we'll see each other and have dinner together. Here, we don't even have enough time to enjoy our breakfast, lunch and dinner because we are not yet privileged to use bikes going to and from our quarters and the stagehouse. But it's okay... we enjoy the company of everyone while we're at it.

Love, live at the stagehouse is a mix of sugar and spice, of bitter and sweet memories. Our day starts at dawn before sunrise and ends way after the sun sets in the afternoon. Imagine that, it is still dark when we enter the stagehouse, and when we leave it, it's already dark! That's why I miss those times when we were walking together, hands holding each other under the sun. I miss the sun, love. and you know, before entering the Flying School, I loved looking at the stars at night. But now, all the stars I'm seeing are those stars generated from every offense we do here... big or small (one star amounts to ten pesos).

But not all things at the station is bad. Here, we learn how to fly planes. That's a reward in itself already. We read lots of books about aviation, aircraft systems and other interesting things. I just wish that they don't expect us to be like computers. We cannot process and recall that much information in one sitting.

I am looking forward to us seeing each other

Slow Flight

In our flight training, there is a maneuver we call "Slow Flight" wherein the airplane, known for its speed, travels through the air below its required cruising air speed limitations. To discuss this in technical terms would not only be boring, but it will be disinteresting and alien to the common ear.

However, I could explain this so-called Slow Flight maneuver in simpler terms.

Normally, the airplane, while flying maintains a straight and level "attitude" (meaning it is travelling horizontally through the air), with a corresponding "power" setting which pushes the plane forward. When you change the attitude or the power setting of the airplane, naturally it cannot maintain its straight path. Either it will ascend or descend, depending on where it's nose is pointing.

But in slow flight, adjusting your pitch attitude in the right position (which is pitching up), even if the power setting is below the required settings, the airplane can still maintain a straight and level flight.

Come to think of it... with the right "attitude", coupled with the right "power" setting, you can still perform feats beyond your limitations. Walking head high (like the high pitch up of the airplane) eventhough you're walking slow will still get you there.

As they always say... ATTITUDE + POWER = PERFORMANCE

My First Flight

Who would think that a once happy-go-lucky guy like me can be here right now, learning how to fly planes? I wouldn't think of myself as like that neither. But here I am, wearing a white undershirt soaked in my own perspiration, under a blue flying suit still without patches (patches of the flying unit are placed after you have had your first solo flight), still feeling shocked about the fact that my flight didn't turned out the way I had expected it, but also feeling excited about what's in store for me as a pilot.

I am a mountaineer, also a scuba diver. By that, I can say to myself that I've already conquered land and sea... and I'm on my first steps in conquering the skies! It feels good to be up there, like experiencing the freedom of the birds. And I think everyone deserves a taste of the air up there.

*My first flight is for my polar bear :)