We discussed approach plates this evening in ground school. What once seemed so mysterious was dissected and defined. Not only are there tons of abbreviations yet to learn (I don't know them all yet but you bet I'll make fun of them here), there are different kinds of approaches and various complications to watch out for.

We looked at a few very simple approaches (small town airports) based around VOR technology. In a nutshell, ya find your inbound radial and get on it (following procedures), fly over various points that signal an action (like descend), until you're close enough to see the airport and land.  I'm feeling inspired by the minutephysics series on YouTube (my choice of the month for pre-bedtime kid entertainment) and aim to create a fun (accurate) depiction of reading approach plates. Someday. maybe.

ok, I may end up being a loser like this character:

I digress- The whole journey from point A to B seems so straight forward in concept that I can't wait to try it out in the airplane, something called "shooting an approach". Monday morning I have a date with an airplane and good weather. Hopefully both will be in attendance.  :-)