thank you WX BRIEF

It is nice to have a briefer that provides feed-back for more efficient and clear processing of a flight plan rather than presenting a frustrated atttitude. At 7:30 in the morning, my brain is not necessarily fully engaged. It maybe understandable for student to forget to state that a pre-stored plan is on file and forget to to use UTC when discussing time (or specify the timezone used). However, this places a burden on the briefer to ask for clarification or make the determination. As a studious and humble pilot, I took the briefer's suggestions/requests seriously and, upon termination of the call, repeated back his suggestions followed by a gratuitous 'thank you'.

Today's flight rocked! We covered slow flight, standard rate turns (3 degrees per second) in slow flight, accelerated stalls, power-off stalls, slips, power-off best glide speed, engine failure on take-off, emergency landings, and go-arounds. The skills are coming together, making flying more enjoyable and less stressful.

Key "take aways":
* On a go-around, after applying power, close the carb heat to get every inch of power possible and then slowly lift the flaps once speed exceeds take-off speed. Do not let the nose balloon. If using 40 degrees of flaps, knock that down to 30 degrees immediately to reduce drag.
* It is embedded in my head, but always good to write down: when finding an ideal place to land in an a power-off emergency, do not pick a point moving away from you. It is simply not reachable. A reachable point is one that is moving towards you or one that is not moving at all.
* If landing on tree tops with passengers in the back seat, limit flaps to 20 degrees. When the wings crumple, the flaps could crush into the cabin, severely injuring the passengers.
* Accelerated stalls are most likely to occur when the nose is pointing down (relative wind is not perpendicular to the ground) as if landing or a quick drop in altitude. Pulling back to far on the yoke creates a stall condition. Almost all stall conditions result from too much back pressure.
* The most likely place for a stall is in pattern turning from base to final. Speed is slow (1.3 Vso) and the upper wing exceeds the angle of attack. I am speculating here, as I need to reread this, but the upper wing should drop. However, a slip can occur as the certifugal force is no longer balanced with the horizontal force (greater). The actions are to reduce the angle of the turn, increase the rate of the turn and ease up on the back pressure.

As I get closer to solo, I become less anxious or in rush to do so. I am sure it is different for other students. I am able to obtain more experience and go through more simulated emergencies at this point, since the basic skills are beginning to solidify. Every flight has increased value. In the beginning, I was more concerned about the time expenditure to solo because of the hourly cost and the general expectation to achieve that goal as early as possible. The first few lessons felt like big money wasters, as the skills seem to form VERY SLOWLY and the benefit seem so SMALL. Once skills coalesce, students accomplish more in each lesson and the perceived value increases dramatically.