New knowledge incoming!

Good afternoon my aeronautics enthusiast,

It’s been already two weeks and a half since we started the course, and I must say that I’m very happy turning back to the classes. I’m having a lot of fun with my colleagues and classes, from my point of view, are getting more interesting than last year.

The first year was a little more boring as the topics we were talking were very general. I mean, that for example we studied some modules such as aerodynamics or electricity that were about basic knowledge or fundamentals. That doesn’t mean that they weren’t important as you need a basic knowledge for understanding all the modules for this second year.

This year is more focused on the airplane itself; we are studying some modules such as the Module 11: Systems of the Aircraft or Module 7: Maintenance Practises. These modules are constantly talking about how all the systems work on the airplane and all the procedures to take care when you are working on maintenance. For me these are very interesting modules, and I would like to explain you some things that we are studying right now in these modules.

On the Module 11, now we are learning how the hydraulics systems of the aircraft work. You have the main tank of the hydraulic system which is called the reservoir and then you have the electrical and mechanical pumps. These pumps increase the pressure up to 3000-5000 psi depending on the airplane and as you can see this is a very high pressure. The hydraulic system is extremely important as it is used for controlling from the landing gear to the flight surfaces of the airplane. With the hydraulics you control all the ailerons, flaps, slats and the stabilizers and that’s why you have normally 3 independent systems of hydraulics in the plane. Imagine that you only have one system, and you have a hydraulic failure or loose during flight, that will cause the aircraft to be uncontrollable. Here you can see why the airplanes have redundant systems, to prevent that in case of failure or emergency you always have a backup.

Notwithstanding, talking about module 7 the last thing we saw was the weight and balance of the aircraft. Having the aircraft balanced it is very important as the manufacturer design the aircraft with some weight distribution specification. If the Centre of Gravity of the aircraft is not in the correct spot of the aircraft, this can cause the aircraft to be uncontrollable during flight or even cause some incidents when loading the aircraft. The uncorrect balance of the aircraft has cuased many fatal crashes during the history. There are many videos and photos on the internet of planes making a wheelie while being loaded. It is very important to always work according to the manual but most importantly to do things the correct way!

Nevertheless, let’s talk about something not related with classes. As for the moment we don’t have any programmed exams or lot of homework, after classes we still have some free time. I really like spending some of my free time at home listening to music or playing the electric guitar. I’m a fan of the 80’s music and I must confess that while I’m writing this vlog, I'm listening to some fancy Brian May  guitar solos on the Queen's songs!

Apart from playing the guitar and listening to music I really like playing some videogames on my computer or maybe hang out with my friends at night. The big shame is that I cannot be very late at home as I wake up always at 6:00 am to go to school. It’s sometimes a little bit hard to always wake up so early but all sacrifice has a reward, in this case obtaining my license to become a mechanic of planes.

Finally on my weekends, I love spending some time with my girlfriend as she has classes during the afternoon, and I cannot see her during all the week. When I finish classes, it is when she start hers and when she finishes the classes it is time for me to go to sleep, such a big mess! When I see her on the weekend, we usually take a walk around the town at night, we also like watching some movies and she always help me cooking. We do a fantastic team!

After all this amount of information, it is time to say goodbye and see you on my next vlog. As always, I hope that you enjoyed and learnt fantastic new things about myself and aviation.

See you soon!!