Ground work

I've got the blues today. After flying for 2 days, I've been on the ground for 2 days and I miss it! Oh well... I used the time to start preparing for my FAA written exam. CFI gave me some homework, which was to read ch2 of the Gleim Private Pilot exam book: Aircraft Systems. I had a bit of learning to do in that section.

Last night I tried to practice some of the maneuvers on my flight simulator. It was very erratic. I have a typical joystick. It's ok for gaming sims of fast planes, but for accurate simming of a real plane like the C172, it sucks. As I moved it and twisted it (for rudder control) for smooth precision maneuvers the scene would shake around violently. I was really disappointed, because it would really be nice to practice everything I'm learning at home on my desktop away from my CFI at my leisure without aircraft & instructor rental, and then put it into practice in the air. So today I ordered a yoke & rudder from CH products. From the reviews I've read these 2 items make all the difference in the world. I will let you know how they turn out when they arrive next week.