Tag Archives: Embry-Riddle

The usefulness of practicing emergencies

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4 weeks ago, I went up for a regular flight with my instructor to practice some basic attitude instrument (BAI) techniques. The sky’s were clear and it was a great day to go flying! One thing was different, a training manager (my instructor’s superior) came to observe my instructor on the flight to see how he teaches. Even though he was observing only my instructor, I felt an increase in pressure as I wanted to prove I was a good flight student and that my instructor had taught me well.

After checking my weight and balance (required for each flight to make sure the plane is not overloaded), we all got in and taxied out to the runway.  In the unit lesson, I had to demonstrate a short field take-off. I taxied out on the runway, held the brakes, went to full power, released the brakes, and took off!

Everything was normal until we reached a height of 400′ AGL (above ground level), which came pretty quickly after wheels up. At that moment, the left engine started to surge 10-20% in power. We heard multiple backfires and the aircraft yawed to the left. Tower even reported smoke coming out of our engine! Having practiced engine failures in previous flights, I knew what to do. However, when an actual emergency, or abnormality, occurs, the instructor usually takes over the controls to ensure proper communication and control. After we understood what was going on, I used the positive transfer of controls and handed control to my instructor. Following my pre-takeoff brief on emergency situations, I asked my instructor if he would like me to run any checklists or aid in anyway possible. We pulled the power back to 72% and  both engines were operating as normal. We decided to make a full stop and down the aircraft when we got back.

The educational experience from this abnormality was invaluable. I understood to stay calm during the entire ordeal and revert back to the outstanding training I have received, and continuing to receive, here at Embry-Riddle. Here is a picture of the plane I flew that had the problems.

Yay for Fall Semester!

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Oh my! School has already been in session for a month now!

I can’t believe it, time has been whizzing by! This semester I am taking only twelve credits, but it is certainly challenging. I have U.S. Foreign Policy with a new professor, Dr. Fields, he is great. The class is heavy with reading, but I enjoy it. Dr. Fields has been especially great at making each student in his class feel recognized by taking the time to get to know every person’s name and a little about them. It is things like that that make me really enjoy the fact that I attend a small school. I am also taking Business Law. I like this class a lot, though I already know many of the materials covered because I am considering law school after graduation and the course is very basic, but still helpful. My final class is the notorious….Chinese! I am still on the Chinese Track which I love, so I am taking Chinese five and six right now. The thing I like most about the Chinese Track is that I have the class every day and I am very familiar with my classmates so I am never hesitant to speak in front of the class, which is a must.

The most exciting thing of this semester for me is being a Resident Assistant (R.A.). It has been so much fun meeting all of my residents and helping them adjust to Riddle life, I have been really enjoying it.  Also this semester I am a Campus Academic Mentor (CAM) for the GSIS program. I sit in on the college success class that freshman are enrolled in and help new students with any questions that arise. That has also been fun because I have gotten to meet many of the new students.

I am excited for the rest of this semester, I can hardly believe midterms are only a couple weeks away.

Derby Days is over :( but we raised $3800!

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So Derby Days is totally over and we raised a total of $3800 for the John Huntsman Cancer Foundation. We had a nice closing with a nice formal dinner, a Copy Cat competition, and the girls got to do a small pageant. The week was really fun and every brother participated to the fullest. My favorite event, that I got to attend the lat part of it, was the catch-a-sig event on Wednesday night (I couldn’t go because I had the best final ever remember? lol). This event is where girls chase the brothers to try and catch the for points. The team that had the most points accumulated by the end of the week, won $100 towards their team. This year the winner was the Residence Hall Association. Congrats to all who participated. I know I had a great time especially as a judge. Can’t wait until I get to see one as an Alumni, next year.

Best Final Ever

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So I jut got home from a great final. Yes it’s late but worth it! We had a joint project between my capstone ATC class and the Electronic flight management (EFMS) class. The project was the EFMS class would fly the aircraft as the students in the Air traffic control lab controlled them. We where all hooked up via our very own Embry-Riddle Virtual Airspace (ERVA) so we all were in the same airspace (sort or like an xBox live sort of set up). So what I had to do as a controller was to control aircraft leaving and arriving into Albuquerque. It was stressful at times since you had to sequence the aircraft correctly so they wouldn’t hit each other or the ground. It was the best final I have ever taken. So much fun and the professor is soooo cool. His name is Brent Spencer and he used to work as an Air Traffic Controller for many years and always shares great stories with us while trying to teach us some good points all at the exact same time. It’s a very fun minor. Anyways, it’s late and I just thought I should share that knowledge with you all. TTYL!

Embry-Riddle Prescott~ Preview Day

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I cannot believe Preview Day has already passed by. I remember how stressed everyone was for the weeks leading up to this big day. All the staff members were working their tails off to get work done and to get things setup for Preview day. The students were working hard to get pamphlets put together and name tags organized. The school even bought us all pizza so we would not leave at lunch time. Everyone put in time to help make preview day run smoothly.

For me, it all started at 6am in the morning. I arrived on campus and went into the visitor’s center. I saw that Stacy needed help with breakfast, so I cut fruit and bagels and tried my best to help prepare the meal for the rest of the students and staff. We did not have any napkins or paper towels so I drove over to Fry’s, in the Embry-Riddle  Subaru, and picked up the few items. When I got back, there were SOOOO many employees in the conference room eating breakfast. I finally grabbed a plate and had to eat it quickly in order to make it to my morning shift.

I got to blow up balloons with a handful of people. I was super happy because one of my closest friends was with me, Liesl. And I also enjoyed our supervisors, Bobbie and Gini, since I work with them daily. The helium tank was fun, but tying the balloons was painful! My fingers got sore real quick. After we filled up a lot of balloons, we had to go throughout the campus and tie balloons up in special spots. Liesl and I were balloon buddies and got to work together. It was a blast. Most fun I had on a mandatory Riddle work day hands down. We tied balloons up everywhere!

Afterward, we helped set-up tables and more balloons in the Student Union, where all the clubs were going to be. This was also fun since I ended up starting my first trend ever this day! ERAU has these awesome airplane paper clips, and I got everyone to wear one either on their color or name tag. It was awesome! We all had a blast.

Then it was time for my afternoon shift. I was a driver. Unfortunately, I only got to drive a handful of times. It was pretty quite this semester when it came to tours. (We actually had almost 200 students and 500+ people attend Preview Day) After it hit 3PM Jason and I ran around and popped balloons and cut them down. We had some fun at the end of a long work day.

All in all, it was really long and hectic, but Preview Day was still worth it. We had fun and enjoyed ourselves, and we got to help new students feel welcomed. I would definitely do it again. :]

Derby Days Decathlon!

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So Today was the kick-off day for our yearly Sigma Chi Derby Days fundraising. This whole week, we will be trying to raise money for the John Huntsman Cancer foundation. We had our decathlon today which is an event where all of the teams of girls compete in events like the 3-leg race, wiffle golf, flag-football, dodgeball, and a relay race. It was a very fun event and a great way to start off the week. We have events going on all week so keep checking here to see an update! Hope you enjoy the pictures of the decathlon I’m posting.

Financial Aid: What a Blessing!

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Although I have found Embry-Riddle to be quite expensive, I have been blessed with scholarships and Financial Aid. I realized working hard and searching diligently for opportunities, has really paid off (literally). I was even fortunate enough to attend a luncheon last week with Brian Hoefig, the “focal” representative between Boeing and Embry-Riddle, because I was a recipient of a Boeing scholarship.

We got to learn about some of the new projects Boeing is working on and we also got to share our own dreams and aspirations. Mr. Hoefig also talked about internship opportunities and told me that I could talk to him during the career fair and possibly get a position there. It was a great opportunity to thank him for the scholarship and to get my foot in the door with a big company. Although business and flying are not my fortes anymore, he mentioned that there are international positions as well.

I have come to realize that nothing is impossible once you set your mind to getting enough tuition money. I have seen many prospective students give up their dreams to come to Embry-Riddle, when all you really need to do is work hard. You do not have to be the smartest and the best, (although it may be favored) you really just need to show determination and preservation. DO NOT GIVE UP! If Embry-Riddle is where you want to go, then all you need to do is put your heart into it. There are many scholarship and grant opportunities out there, you just need to search for them. There are military options, there are local scholarships, scholastic scholarships, and federal grants/scholarships and even loans if necessary. I, myself, do have to take out a few loans, but in all honesty, I feel that it is worth it. I love this school and the education I am getting. I know this is where I belong, and I will be able to pay back those loans soon after I graduate. If, for whatever reason, you cannot get enough aid, always consider different loan options, it may be worth it in the long run.

I was blessed with scholastic scholarships and local scholarships. I also got a lot of aid from FAFSA and only a little bit of loans. I worked really hard to get here, and it truly was worth every effort. I suggest putting a few hours of research aside every month to find scholarships, and sometimes you may be lucky enough to get a renewable scholarship, which makes everything much easier. Also, keep in mind once you finish a year of college, more scholarships are open to you because businesses are more willing to aid students who are truly serious about their education. There is also an Embry-Riddle application you can fill out once you start attending the school, this helps out a lot!

My advice is to never give up on your dreams and aspirations. Keep fighting and looking for the funds. It will all be worth it in the end, I promise! 🙂

Spring Break is over :(

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I cannot believe how fast that went. Brussels, Bruges, Amsterdam, Las Vegas, and now school…again. Not saying school is bad,  but it’s really hard to beat this European Adventure. I had a great time and got really close with the people I traveled with. Only 45 days left until I graduate and I can’t wait! All I got to do is finish my classes, and flight and then done!

I mentioned in my first sentence that I also went to Las Vegas this last week. It was a last minute thing and I went on a recruiting trip with the Admissions office. I left the next day after we got back from Europe and came back to Prescott yesterday. Doing this recruitment event, I got to meet families and accepted students and shared with them how fun, educative, and interesting our school is. Now I’m not going to recruit you reading this, well at least not yet :), but I just wanted to share how enthusiastic those students were. They reminded me of when I was deciding for schools and also of the experiences that I have lived here at ERAU. These experiences are so valuable to me and so important that it is going to be hard to graduate this Spring. I have learned s much and this school has shaped me so well as an individual, both as a student/employee and as a man. I owe so much to this school for what it has done to me. I really hope that the students that were at the reception saw how great Embry-Riddle is. This is the best decision I have done in my life so far, attending Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.

Amsterdam!

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We have been in Amsterdam since Monday night. My first impression is that it was not as great went I went to it last summer. The people do seem a little more apprehensive than before. Maybe it’s the cold. Either way, Amsterdam has been fun. We have gone to see the Van Gough Museum, Anne Frank’s house (where she hid during WWII), the Heineken Brewery, went shopping for the girls (the ones that went on the trip with us), and did some regular sight seeing ending with nights at the local bars and brew pubs meeting the locals. This is our last day here and I don’t want to go back, well maybe for the free refills but not anything else. Yes, free refills. Anywhere in Europe we went, if we wanted more of a drink, like soda or water, we had to pay more for it. Our guess was because they don’t have fountain drinks like we do but just the bottles. Either way, not having a free refill is really hard during meals especially when I drink a lot during meals.

A quick story before I go back out to see another museum in Amsterdam, when we went to the Heineken Brewery, the cashier that gave us our tickets to go in, he knew what Embry-Riddle was! Amazing right! halfway across the world and they know about ERAU. He knew because one of his friends went to the Florida campus, that’s when we told him that he should have attended the Prescott campus :). Funny how small this world is, someone all the way in Europe knowing about Embry-Riddle. Anyways, got to go! TTYL! Next time it will be states side though!

Flying from the right seat is weird

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I have had a 2 flights this past week. Since I am in the CFI flight course, I get to do all the flying from the right seat instead of the left (which is what I have been doing for the past 3.5 years). Naturally, it all looks weird to me; like driving a car from the passenger seat. I feel like I am flying a brand new aircraft and learning my private pilot certificate all over again. It has been very challenging and sometimes my performance is not the best, but nevertheless, it has been fun. 

The cool thing about it is that I am beginning to look at every single maneuver I have done in a very different way. I am learning to break down every maneuver step by step so I can teach it to my future students. In fact, I am learning how to do the maneuvers better myself since I am breaking them down so much. I have a great instructor that is always motivating me and showing me really cool pointers along the way. That is what I hope to become this summer, an ERAU flight instructor. My instructor is so motivating and so friendly and knowledgeable that I cannot wait to be the same with students of my own. Embry-Riddle looks like a place that I would love to work for, at least until I get my hours for the airlines. Until then, ERAU is what I am looking to do.