Tag Archives: flight

Eagle Cards…What are those??!!

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So today I have picked a rather interesting topic to discuss with y’all, I’m sure most of our readers have heard us mention an Eagle card at some point or another and your curious about what we are referring to. Well, the Eagle card is an ID card and somewhat of a Debit card. It can be used to gain access to the dining hall, recreation facilities, and to do your laundry or buy some extra food. As i mentioned earlier it is also a way for the university to confirm your identity as a student.

The typical Eagle Card looks like this:

 

As a debit card it can hold three types of funds, Eagle Dollars, Dining Dollars, and Flight Dollars.

Eagle Dollars is money that you put onto the card. They can be used for buying snacks (when your dining dollars run out), doing laundry, sending mail, and in the campus copy center. There are two ways to get money on your card, put on yourself via blackboard or visit the eagle card office and they will assist you in manually putting money onto te card.

Dining Dollars are awesome, you will come to love them. Basically, its money that your meal plan gives you to spend on items that the dining hall, simply to go, WOW, and the Scholars Cafe sell. It is additional to your meal plan and can be used for items that the dining services don’t usually serve to students but offers in there convenience sales stock. For example, you want some candy to eat while seeing a movie, you can use your dinning dollars to purchase some 🙂

Candy Anyone?

A note about these though: you are only given a certain amount each semester anything you spend above that limit comes straight from your own pocket!!

Flight Dollars are a fund that you can use at the Flight line, you have to put this money onto your card just like you would with Eagle Dollars. I’m not entirely sure about the other details of the Flight Dollars so if you have any questions go ask Jason or Maddie, my fellow bloggers and student fliers!!!

Thanks for reading 🙂

A New Way to Sell Seats on Commercial Airlines?

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Hello everyone today I thought Id talk about a rather interesting topic related to aviation, it is…drumroll please…..the use of attractive female flight attendants to increase ticket sales. If you would rather form your own opinion before reading mine then please feel free to check out the link below and read the story. If not please continue reading and I’ll outline the three major reasons I disagree with this new approach.

  1. Conformity and “Type Casting”
  2. Prevents qualified women from getting good jobs
  3. Attempts  to corner a market in a way that will not really affect demand

http://www.cnn.com/2013/03/20/travel/asia-flight-attendants/index.html?hpt=hp_c2

  1. The biggest issue that I have with this tactic is that it teaches women that beauty is more important than brains. In our modern society we have been actively combatting this mentality so why are we still trying to instill this notion in young women? This is definitely counterproductive as it limits women to roles that require little thought and will stunt their professional progress. Think of it this way, there are many actors in Hollywood right? How many actors do you now that have been “type cast” into specific roles (meaning they only play one type of character and we don’t get to see the full range of their talents). Almost every actor has been thrown into a skill set, take for instance Tom Cruise, he is very famous and everyone should know of him, he always plays the action man. Because of his early action film roles he has been stuck in action film acting for years, he deviates very little from this skill set and this limits the range of his talents as an actor. This is exactly what I mean in relation to women, a woman who is told to get the job she wants she must be pretty and good at serving people limits her possibilities by conforming to a role that she cannot fulfill happily. She might have other dreams to reach but, by telling her she is only good for being pretty and serving people she will slowly forget her dreams and become just that, a service girl for the rest of her life. She will never be happy and will always regret that she did not follow her wishes, so please do not force a job like this onto anyone, actors or women, it is not morally correct.
  2. Another situation arises in my mind that I am sure has been encountered before in the industry is that this approach to hiring prevents well qualified women who may not be as “pretty” as others from getting the job. Who is to judge whether a woman is pretty or not, we are all beautiful people in our own ways as there is more to beauty than pure outward looks. Beauty in definition encompasses one’s personality more so than it does outward appearance. Since beauty is such a difficult aspect to judge upon your first encounter with an individual why then would you attempt to hire on the basis of aesthetic qualities? It makes absolutely no sense, what ever happened to the good old resume and diploma? If you are qualified via experience and training to hold a job then you should be hired for it, this concept falls under the equal opportunity laws that are now being introduced into other countries besides America. Basically these laws state that every individual, no matter how they appear on the outside should be given equal consideration in the hiring process, and that the individual hired should be selected based on their qualifications to perform the job. So let’s follow the common sense way of hiring and stop baring good workers from their jobs!!!
  3. Finally, the demand for air travel will only increase with population growth so why is there a sudden need to earn more cash with this type of a hiring process. No matter what the average commuter will pick the lowest cost option for flying, they don’t really care too much about the in flight service. So by attempting to earn more money by hiring attractive female flight attendants corporations are only hurting themselves as they spend countless dollars trying to determine who the prettiest girl is and how they can make her even prettier. Not only that but, they spend even more money on advertisements like those mentioned in the article to depict attractive women, thinking that this will somehow increase their revenues? The simple economic rule is that the ticket buyer will pay only the cheapest price they can get and the airlines that offer these attractive flight attendants are not the cheapest in regards to tickets. So, again supply and demand states that their approach is not going to get them very far at all, in fact in may put them in the other direction…towards bankruptcy perhaps?

Only time will tell what the end result is I hope you enjoyed reading my opinion on this matter and again I encourage you to do your research and form your own. The link to the article is above, please check it out and let me know what you think.

Update on Flight Training experience and progress

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One of the greatest reputations Embry-Riddle has is our high quality flight training. As a flight student, I am training in state of the art aircraft and simulators to give me a competitive edge when it comes to applying for jobs with the airlines. I am glad I came to Embry-Riddle for flight training as the instructor’s take a hands on approach to helping you learn the various material and maneuvers required for the certificate or rating. As most flight instructor’s are former Embry-Riddle students, they are extremely knowledgeable, given their education. They can relate to you with flight training and with classes, since they have already gone through the Aeronautical Science degree program. I have enjoyed working with each instructor I have had throughout my flight training and have considered them friends as I have gotten to know them in my flight courses.

My instructor has prepared me well throughout this flight course to the point that I am ready to be tested on my knowledge and skills in the instrument rating flight course. After I submit the paperwork, I have 5 check activities to complete before I am an instrument rated pilot. The activities I have are an oral, a simulator, a flight, a final oral, and a final flight. I think that the oral is hands down, the most stressful check activity. You are questioned by a standards (or check) instructor on weather information, cross-country flight planning, aircraft systems related IFR operations, aircraft flight instruments and navigation equipment, ATC clearances, compliance with departure, en route, and arrival procedures and clearances, holding procedures, loss of communications and lastly pilot qualifications. This ordeal usually lasts about two hours. You are graded for each knowledge area on a scale of outstanding, good, marginal, unsatisfactory, and incomplete. I am definitely working hard to get all outstanding and good marks.

Personally, my favorite check activity is the flight. In this activity, I get to demonstrate to the check instructor that I can fly under instrument conditions and can land the aircraft safely after a successful instrument approach. I am pretty sure I will have to fly the VOR RWY 12 approach into Prescott and circle to land RWY 21L. Also, I will have to fly either the RNAV GPS RWY 12 approach and circle to land RWY 21L or the RNAV GPS RWY 21L straight in approach.

The VOR RWY 12 approach is probably the hardest approach we have here at Prescott. Depending on where you are coming from, you either arc, hold, or proceed straight inbound to the Drake (DRK) VOR. After passing the VOR, you are now on the final segment of the approach. This requires you to descend at about 1,000 ft/min as well as to check to make sure you are on course, make all the required callouts, bring the landing gear down, and prepare for landing. The most important part is to not descend below the minimums until you make the decision to land! If at any point you are unstable on the approach, you must execute the missed approach.

I am excited to almost be done with the instrument rating and to have received great flight training from one of Embry-Riddle’s exceptional flight instructors.

Clubs and Cross Countries!

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Almost done with the 3rd week of school, but it seems like forever since I packed up the car and drove to Riddle! Time flies when you’re having fun, right? (see what I did there? flying is fun!).

Anyways, tonight was the club fair! If you have an interest in a particular activity or like a particular object, there is most likely a club for that. From the sweater vest club to the skydiving club, Embry-Riddle Prescott has a club for you! One of my favorite clubs is the music club. I played the alto saxophone all throughout high school and wanted to continue in college, so I joined with the music club. There are 3 groups within the club: jazz, choir, and drumline. I am in the jazz and drumline groups because I am not the best of singers. Jazz is a pressure-off group of chill students who play on their free time; get together and have an awesome jam sesh! Like each group in the club we have performances on campus and in the community! So if you like to play an instrument or sing, or even want to learn how, you belong in the music club!

In every flight course, students are required to go on cross countries. For the non-flight students, a cross country is a long flight to an airport at least 50 NM straight line. For my flight course (multi private), I have to go at least 150 NM away. I am choosing to go to the John-Wayne Airport (SNA) in Santa Ana, CA! It’s really convenient since I live about 30min from SNA. I have my route all planned out and I am just waiting for this Saturday 9/17, to go; assuming the weather is good enough to fly in *fingers crossed*. I personally love cross countries because you get to fly somewhere new or somewhere where you want to go (just as long as its a Riddle-approved airport). If you are a flight student, you will be doing many of these in your years here. If you are not a flight student, take the opportunity to go as an observer to wherever the student is going! Observers can go on cross countries as long as the are a dual flight. However, as an observer (anyone, even flight students), you can go on a local flight to the practice area and see Prescott from the air! I encourage every Embry-Riddle student to go on at least one flight; and if you’re lucky, I could be your pilot!