AvTech Academy

Practice Exams

2012-03-02T16:49:00.002-08:00

Today, the Girls did their practice written exams in preparation towards their solo.

The Girls performed very well and got over 80% of the questions right.

Blog by Lydia

2012-03-01T12:38:00.002-08:00

My lesson in 9G-ZAF
When I started learning to fly, I was flying in the two seater tube and cloth plane, On the 25th of February 2012 I was sent into the two seater all metal plane, because in the tube and clothe plane, my arm was short and I couldn't get to the joystick with my right arm and I was unable to reach the instrument panel to turn the key and to switch on the mags, so I was moved into the metal plane and it is now perfect for me with the instruments panel because my right arm could reach the joystick, the throttle and other controls.
I had my lesson in the aircraft by registration Alpha Foxtrot. It was not easy to fly in, the controls were a little bit sensitive for me to handle so I needed to practice more on how to handle that in a much more co-ordinated manner with my arms and feet. I had been able to fly the aircraft in the directions I needed and need to practice straight and level in order to make things easier for me. I sat in the left seat and Jonathan sat in the right seat of the plane, we did some Touch and Gos, I was very happy for the time I was given in AF because I enjoyed flying her.

Tractor Repair reports

2012-02-29T01:56:00.002-08:00

Juliet and Emmanuella have written shop reports on their tractor repair work.

Emmanuella's report

Juliets Report

Hydraulic work

2012-02-26T11:48:00.000-08:00

Changing of the hydraulic pump

Date 22/02/2012
Time 08:00am
Location Hanger three
Materials Grease, Gasket, marker pen, O-ring, Washers and Bolts
Equipment 16mm Spanner, Ratchet and Robber Mallet
Roles

Zaen The instructor of the task.
Emmanuella The assistance in cleaning the hydraulic tank, watching and writing.
Juliet Taking photographs, cleaning and watching.
Lydia The assisting with bringing tools, cleaning of the differential hydraulic and some parts of the tractor.

Procedure: At the beginning of the work, Zaen talked about what we would be doing on the tractor concerning the hydraulic pump. The reason why the old hydraulic pump was being changed was that, the teeth of the Bering had chewed and no longer functioning as it should so it needed to be changed.

Working on a tractor is almost the same as working on an aircraft, something like this not everybody that has the interest for it, somebody like Zaen has the experience for fixing a tractor hydraulic pump and it would be very easy for him because he had the passion for it and he does not just have the knowledge for one thing but has it for most things and he has the interest for them.

The tractor was clean with a clean rag, after the cleaning, the chair was removed, bolts and nuts were also removed from the hydraulic pump, and we tried hard to raise the deferential up from the pump. The hydraulic oil was drain underneath the gear pump, the inside of the oil tank was clean after the oil has been drained. The inside was checked for debris and it was clean, we covered it for some days searching for a new Bering.

This is the old hydraulic pump and the Bering.

The groove of the tank where the gasket goes was greased and sealed with a gasket, it was covered with the deferential and afterwards the hydraulic oil went back into the tank.

The new hydraulic pump and the Bering were set back on the tractor and had been tighten with 16mm spanner.

Observation: We were happy when we finished with the work and the tractor went back into service.

Outcome: It was working perfectly.

Special day

2012-02-25T07:04:00.003-08:00

I took Emmanuella and Juliet flying this morning...

It was a very good weather for circuits and the two Girls did brilliantly.
They all know their checks, all procedures and everything on their finger tips.

When we got back, Lydia wanted to go flying too, but I said to her that she has to wait to fly in AF since she is a special case.
She was running out of patient and then she realised, is really true she going to fly in the very nice PLANE.The other Girls flew in the old baby of the field

She can operate the throttle, stick and even the flaps with NO problem. Well done Lydia.

Here is Lydia in the beautiful GIRL.

100 hour sevice

2012-02-24T13:37:00.000-08:00

When we do the 100 service, or any service, we do so according to a servicing checklist. At WAASPS there is a standard, generic form that has to be completed... here it is partly completed. It will be completed at the test flight.

The Girls doing a 100hr service

2012-02-23T03:18:00.005-08:00

So the Girls are going to be working on AE today.

They are going to be doing a hundred hour service and I will be bringing more details on that soon.

Stay with us...

they took the servicing seriously and everyone of them being very proactive in that workshop making things happen as they should be.

Engineering

2012-02-22T12:20:00.002-08:00

The girls today were involved with putting a new hydraulic pump on the Airfield tactor that was grounded about a month ago.

We are not far from making it work again.

CBT

2012-02-20T09:40:00.000-08:00

The ladies did more work with computer based training.

The lesson this week, is focusing human performance and limitations.

Story by Juliet K

2012-02-19T11:14:00.000-08:00

Morning came, with the beautiful sun rise from the east. People started to plan for the day. Students prepared for school. Drivers started their cars early for start of the day. Trusty said, I was getting ready for school when I heard a big sound which went bang! People were shouting and calling many names and crying.
These sounds were heard right in front of my house. She got herself decent and went out. She found out that a car had knocked down one of her father’s cows. The cow died on the spot but the driver was severely injured. The driver was brought out to a secure place and first aid was provided to him before taking him to the hospital for medical assistance. As the victim was being taking care of by the first Aiders, the rest of the people who came to help also made sure that, they inspected the car for injured parties and other things which are valuable to some of family involved. The police arrived and did some measurements as part of their investigation. They found out that, the driver was not wearing seat belt, he was driving at high speed and did not check if there were any obstacles or pedestrians on that side way. The police continued with their investigation and saw that, the driver was exceeding the speed limit of the road,120 km per hour on the street of the town was too much. The policemen went to the house of the driver to find out whether he was into drugs, alcohol or misunderstanding with the family before going out. It came to the notice of the policemen that, he had some upset with the family and so they believed that, the argument could be the cause of the bad incident. The policemen went away and Trusty went to school feeling very sad about what she saw.
When Ms Mercy saw her student Trusty sad, she approached her and asked what the problem was. Trusty narrated the story to Ms Mercy who was Trusty’s science teacher.
The madam told Trusty to have heart, and should always remember that, getting people distracted could cause an accident. Because the little mistake you do today could lead to a bigger accident tomorrow. The Science Teacher also said to Trusty that, she should always start her day in a happy mood. Things go wrong at homes, workplaces and other places when misunderstandings are not resolved. No matter how sick, how bad you feel or how cross you are, you should ever go to work or school with those bad expressions showing on your face. For instance, if you were to be in a company whereby your job is to receive visitors, do not say because you had a bad moment last night, you would not serve your customers and visitors well. When Trusty heard what the madam has said, she was lost for words and was surprised. Why was she surprised? Her mother has been telling her similar words anytime her mother was advising her.
Trusty’s mother was a flying doctor and she had been explaining to Trusty how accidents happen when it comes to flying. She made her daughter understood how safer it was to fly than to drive. But flying could be dangerous if safety measures are not put in place. For instance, when planning to fly, the runway to be used for take off and landing needs FODwalked (Foreign Object Debris walk). These are done because sometimes when you look at a runway in a distance, you will see that the tarmac or the grasses look neat but the moment you start to walk on it, you may be amazed at some of the things you may find on the runway. Some examples are; Dog, stones, eggs, cattle and human beings also crossing without permission from the authorities in charge of the field. FODwalk is done to get rid of all those things on the runway. Trusty’s mother also spoke to her about some of the checks she does on her aircraft. Again she does her flight plan as to where she would be flying to. She said that, she always communicates with the ATC at the particular airfield she would be starting her flying at. She is permitted to fly only VFR (Visual Flight Rules) because of that, she only flies into what she sees. Her weather condition is always taken into account. She did not only end there, but she continued to tell her daughter that, pilots plan their cross countries which is where they will be flying to. They do that, to enable them calculate how much fuel would be consumed, how long before getting to their destination.
Dr. Juliet Brown who was a flying doctor,who did a lot of mission flights to rural areas for humanitarian purposes. Knowing the great passion the woman had for humanitarian aviation, she wanted her daughter to have the same strong passion. Dr. Juliet Brown was pleading with her daughter because she was getting older and was losing the strength to work and wanted someone to replace her. She wanted someone who was ready to do humanitarian work. Fortunately enough, she was a flying instructor. She taught her daughter how to fly ultra light aircraft since those types were appropriate for the mission flying. She was trained on how to fly an aircraft by registration 9G-ZAF which was normally shortened as AF.
The reason for using these aircraft was that, it was good in doing STOL (short take and landings) operations. It was also good in doing bush landings. Furthermore, most of these deprived villages have short runways but with this kind of aircraft, and with an experienced qualified pilot, you can achieve STOL. One of the most important things was that, the aircraft was using Rotax 912UL engine. These type of engine burns 15 litres per hour. It can go as high as 10,000feet. It flies below that, because she was operating at VFR and passed 10,000feet, human begin to suffer from hypoxia. It ranges from 140 to 160 km per hour. AF was sprayed with red and white colour because these colours symbolised emergency or Red Cross. This was because the aircraft was purposely built for humanitarian purposes. Dr.Juliet Brown bought the plane for Trusty to help her fly to rural areas with health personnel to give the people in the villages’ basic health education. Many flights took place and guess what happened…
As Trusty was doing her pre-flight for her first solo, she noticed that one of the wires joining the oil pressure sensor gauges was torn. She went for a pair of wire stripper, she stripped the plastic insulator. She kept the copper wires neat to avoid electrocution. She reconnected them to have a working sensor gauge to avoid inadequate reading from the gauge. As Trusty did her checks, she asked for clearance from ATC, she took off and did several circuits. Finally she was cleared to land on runway 19. She has always kept in her mind about checking the runway for obstacles before landing. She turned on final, as she continue her approach and the plane was descending, she saw a cat run from nowhere crossing the runway to the other side of the field. Immediately, she added power and climbed out again. She finally did one circuit and landed safely. She did many more solos and did her written examination. Trusty passed her examination and had her license to fly. Since that time, Trusty took her mother’s position and did a lot of mission flight. Every flight made to rural areas, she made sure, she donates many things which cost more than $1,300.
All these dreams were achieved by hard work and the help of
some generous people. Trusty flew to many villages and
Changed lives one flight at a time.

Story by Emmanuella

2012-02-18T10:12:00.000-08:00

These are words Emmanuella chose.

Judith, Kpong, Joycelin, Kumasi, 500 cedis,Orange, Green, Banku, Rice, Brain, Leg, AF.

Once upon a time, there lived a girl called Judith. She lived in a town named Kpong. Judith lived closer to a friend of her’s by name Joycelin, who attended the same school with her in the township of Kpong.

One day, the two girls planed to have a tour to the Kpong Airfield facility and if possible to take a flight in one of their planes to Kumasi on excursion. When they got to the Airfield, they looked at all the different planes and decided to take their flight in one of the planes by registration 9G-ZAF to Kumasi air port. Before the girls got on board the Aircraft, the pilot asked them whether they have ever been on a small plane before organizing such an excursion by air.

Immediately they replied we had already make enquires some few months back before expediting the journey. When the flight was about to depart, the girls asked of the invoice for their flight to Kumasi and the pilot told them it will cost GH¢ 500 each way. During the flight, Joycelin told her friend that, she could see some body from the air in a bright orange and green dress.
After they got to their destination, the plane landed and the girls came out, and they were starving. At that moment, the girls rush to the near by appetizing restaurant at the Kumasi air port.
Due to much hunger, Joycelin had placed an order for an enormous banku with okro stew. So Judith said well since her friend has ordered her favourite then, she will like a plate of decorated jollof rice and grilled guinea fowl, also some rice pudding. After they had finished eating and continuing their adventure, it was time for them to be back home before night fall. When they were returning home, Judith approach the pilot to find out how one could achieve their dreams of becoming a pilot. The pilot answered her in chorus. If you want to be a pilot, you need to take your Maths, Science, English and Geography seriously and at least you should have completed senior high school. Judith said by the way my friend and I are studying pure Science. So when they got home, they started going to extra classes that will enable to learn more and to prepare them towards achieving their dreams since the Pilot enlightened them about the steps to be coming a Pilot. At the classes, they were taught about the human body which comprises of the brain and the leg. After they had finished their duties at home, in the evening, they went to a restaurant to have dinner and met the pilot - they told him what they were taught at the classes today. Based on that, the pilot said that it was very brilliant that the girls were already ahead of the game. Because, when you are taking flying lessons, there is a topic called human performance and limitation which talks about the human body too. These include the human brain and the leg as well. The girls were so vibrant and would appreciate to have more lessons on the human body. The next day at the class, the two girls were having a conversation with their teacher based on how essential the human body is when it comes to flying. Their teacher was itching to learn more about how the human body is related to flying. At this time, the girls were telling him what the pilot told them about the human body and how healthy one has be, before flying. Their teacher was so happy due to how intelligent his students are when it comes to learning and they are ready to find out more even outside the classroom in order to broaden their knowledge about new things in life.

He told them to keep up their enthusiasm and hard work because that will expose them to a bright future.

Here is the story by lydia

2012-02-16T06:46:00.000-08:00

Story by Lydia

It was a bright Friday morning; Ama would be travelling with her mother to a town called kar. The same day Ama was invited to a training center. She sensed to organise some navigational equipment because the training consist of flying. As they were going, Ama said could smell something peculiar. During this time, their driver was far asleep and collided with some other car and the driver of that Car was stunned immediately and some parts of the car also got broken and crumpled. The car caught fire and had a big explosion due to the build of pressure in the fuel line and the cylinder. It was an unexpected disaster because it destroyed many people s’ farm produce that they had for the whole year in order to feed their family. Ama was so lamented when she saw the car burnt. Now she had an idea about the sort of formula to use so as to get to her appointment on time. She decided to use a motor cycle since this will enable her to weave around the traffic with no hassle. She made it to the training centre at two minutes past her appointment time. When the car had the accident earlier, the driver was marooned to the very far end of a nearby forest. The training centre is the magnificent building in that community so everybody try to make the most out when ever they have an opportunity given to them just like the one given to Ama. After she had closed from the training centre, there is a water falls due north of the town and she decided to make an expedition to that place because she had heard that, the water falls has been in existence for so many centuries. Ama did one orbit around the water falls just to be able to see all the details around the falls since so many people make their own story about that particular falls. She stayed there and swam until the night when the moon and galaxies were out making sky shine like is daytime adding more interest to her adventure. She had a fantastic moment at the water falls. That was the most fan she had ever had in her entire life and she went away with a lot of happy memories and a lot of stories to tell to all her friends.

Supporting HIV Orphans and Vulnerable Children

2012-02-14T13:09:00.001-08:00

As today is celebrated as Valentines or Chocolate Day, in Ghana, the Manya Krobo Queen Mothers Association celebrates this day with loving and caring for the people that are dear to us. The MKQMA loves and cares for over 1000 orphans and vulnerable children through care in the community.

The AvTech Girls were invited to share their experience and give inspirational words to the school children from both lower and upper Manya District, so as for them to let them know that through hard work and determination, one could become successful in life.

They talked about what they do at the Academy including flying, building planes and maintaining the Aeroplanes.

Bags of Pasta were given to each child to take home for their family, to help with their feeding. Thanks go to DFP for their generous support to this aspect of the Medicine on the Move programme that AvTech participates in.

The school children were very inspired after the little speech from the Girls.

Our Girls are fantastic inspirational speakers – getting ready to change lives, one flight at a time as they train as Pilot/Engineer/Health Educators – the future leaders of Ghana’s health outreach programmes to rural areas, such as the ones these children come from.

Unusual day

2012-02-13T11:33:00.000-08:00

Today was not a straight-forward day, We cleaned the Generator,fetched 1000 litres of water for the plasters working on accommodation B3 and did some CBT (Computer Based Training)on HPL(Human Performance and Limitations).

Fire fighting

2012-02-12T06:03:00.000-08:00

I guess many people get through their everyday life with everything going according to the plan of the day.

Today we woke up with the intention of getting things set up for flying once the visibility improves and guess what happened, we had to go fight a bush fire near the runway, other manoeuvring areas and the accommodation site.

Every body got involved for about four hours non-stop, controlling and putting the fire out. The Girls coordinated the activity. It tells you that, nothing ever goes according to plan in this part of our world.

Very well done Girls and keep up all the good work that you are doing.You are all ambassadors of the young people of Ghana.

Story by Juliet

2012-02-11T13:09:00.000-08:00

A STORY BY JULIET KRUWA

In the 20th century, something happened on the planet earth. Some great men in those early days decided to build a machine which would be able to go into space. Because it was known that, there wasn’t any oxygen in space. They made up their minds to build an engine which could still operate in space without oxygen. They wanted the machine to be able to make an expedition into space without the space men putting much effort on controlling the rocket all times. The great men were trained as engineers on how to build rocket and rocket engine. They were specialised in both the manufacturing of the rocket and the rocket engine. Again, they went through massive training on how to make robots for going into space. They implemented many types of equipment for operating in space. They learned about the planets, their types, dangers and purposes of these planets in the space. Not only that, they learned about the atmosphere being a gaseous envelope surrounding a celestial body. The troposphere, stratosphere, mesosphere and thermosphere were included in their studies. They did not exclude pressure, density of air and temperature differences in the above weather conditions. They learned much about the forces of gravity. It was explained to them how the earth orbit around the sun and the galaxies were in different colours and billions in number. They shine all times but mostly seen in the night. There are a lot of magnificent objects in the space. Some of these magnificent objects are the moon, the stars and many more. Those great men did many studies which contained formula as to how to launch the rocket in the space. During the designing and manufacturing of the engine, a lot of thought went in as to what gas to used because oxygen is absent in space. They created something in the engine called the cylinder to help combustion. They came up with the system of operating the engine known as the cycle of the four stroke engine. They are: induction, compression, combustion and exhaust. The engine was going to operate on the above principle, that is fuel and gas would be sucked into the cylinder. The fuel and gas would be mixed and compressed, a spark would be created. The mixed fuel and gas would be burnt and create a big bang, which is the combustion. The hot gases would then come out from the nozzle as explosion in a fire-like form to shoot the rocket upward. Due to the pressure and velocity at which the hot gases would be coming out with, the same velocity would be used in shooting the rocket into space. This principle would be achieved by using the Newton’s Third Law of Motion, which said: to every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. But in the case of poor planning, if bad fuel is put in the fuel tank, the dirt could block the fuel line to the engine. In the same way, if water finds itself way in the fuel line, the water can block the fuel line by freezing. It is known that temperature decreases with altitude. They also learned that, people could be stunned from shocks and also suffer from hypoxia if there is no oxygen. This person could be recovered by providing 100% oxygen to the victim. One should make sure that, oxygen breather hoses are not crumpled to avoid shortage of oxygen. They were taught about what to do and what not to do. For instances, any peculiar smell in the rocket should not be smelt to avoid people being stunned. After all these teachings, something unpleasant happened; they experimented on the first rocket and guess what happened. The equipment performing the first experiment crashed and was marooned on an island. The crashed rocket caused a big disaster, the rocket exploded and there was an uncontrollable fire on the island. After the first incident, they built a new rocket and completed the installing of their navigational equipment; they also installed detectors to be able to sense any danger. All these instruments were installed to avoid the rocket again crashing and properties and people being lamented. All broken equipment was fixed to promote smooth launch of the rocket for the research. The rocket looked very fantastic from the first time it was launched.

Story by Emmanuella

2012-02-10T13:11:00.000-08:00

Here comes Nancy

Nancy is a girl who was so extremely good that she went to a training school in the evenings, after she had finished learning; she also listens to a story on the television before going to bed. One day, the students from Nancy’s school were going to take a flight to a country called Ghana. The students were told to be prepared for the weather in case of any decrease in pressure, because decrease in pressure means, there is a tendency of rain. Nancy was the only girl who prepared for the weather for the trip to Ghana. All of a sudden, there were a lot of planes and students who were gathered like a galaxy, who were also travelling on the same day. Whilst she was sitting in the plane, she decided to visit the washroom in the plane and smelt something peculiar. At that moment, she came out of the washroom and went to the cockpit and heard the air traffic control saying the first plane that took off to Nigeria had a Mayday. Fortunately, the plane managed to land at one of the airports. The engineer sensed that, there was something wrong with the engine. It was noticed that, the cylinder had a crack and got broken. The passengers got out and in few minutes the plane caught fire and there was a big explosion. The next plane also took off into a storm because not even one of their navigational devices were working. This was a very big disaster because they got missing on the way due to bad weather and poor visibility. The plane’s wings were caught in the storm, and got crumpled and was lamented. When the wing got crumpled, the fuel lines from the wings compromised the flow of fuel. Because the fuel line was in the wing and they had an engine failure. Because of all the accidents, the search and rescue team made an expedition to find out where they were. Before the research team got there, some of the victims were wounded and stunned. Based on these problems, a lot of formulas and checks were put in place before taking off. Pilots orbited around their plane to do their checks. Pilots who don’t do their check properly can be marooned. The pilot said it is not easy to maintain aircraft which are very magnificent. Finally the research team found the victims and they completed their mission by flying back home safely. But all the same, Nancy had a fantastic flight to her destination. After these formulas and checks, there were no accidents for about a century.

Story writing

2012-02-09T12:01:00.000-08:00

The Ladies still working on their stories concerning the selected words that have be given to them
The following are the WORDS

Formula
Fantastic
Galaxy
Century
Crumpled
Pressure
Cylinder
Training
Peculiar
Smelt
Completed
Stunned
Disaster
Marooned
Expedition
Orbit
Magnificent
Explosion
Fuel
Line
Lamented
Sensed
Broken
Navigational

We will be putting these stories up as soon as the Ladies finish with their write ups.

100hr service

2012-02-08T09:37:00.000-08:00

The Girls carried out a hundred hour service on the Rotax 912 on 9G-ZAA.

It is basically a general inspection with oil and spark plug change as well as inspection of the magnetic plug and carbs.

Then general inspection on the whole aircraft for damages,leakags etc.

We then cut the old oil filter for inspection of the mat.

She is over 1500hrs and going strong.

creative writing

2012-02-07T09:33:00.000-08:00

The have been given some selected vocabulary to do creative writing with

We need them ready to be able to stand in an interview room with confidence.

2012-02-06T03:17:00.000-08:00

Off day for the Girls so, they can get ready for a busy week ahead.

2012-02-05T10:30:00.000-08:00

The Girls did more RT today.

They just received their new Math English and Science teachers from the USA.

These teachers will be with us for two years.

Good news.

2012-02-04T09:21:00.000-08:00

We have been hoping for good visibility for girls to get some flying time.

The Girls did their refresher flight preparing them for circuit work.

They were all very happy after their flight. They are making good progress.

Comparisons...

2012-02-01T11:22:00.000-08:00

The girls were asked to write a short article about how Aviation relates to other aspects of life.

Here is what Juliet wrote;

FRESH AIR MATTER (ANC)
JULIET KURUWAA

Aviation is always about safety. The three major parts that makes flying complete are to Aviate, to Navigate and to Communicate. A pilot must always ensure that ANC is perfectly planned. Aviate is to fly the plane. Navigate is knowing your flight path (heading and direction) and Communicate is to keep in contact with the ATC and the other traffic in the air.

But in all, one of the problems related to all business organisations and other institution is about communication. Flying and sailing are brothers and sisters.

Imagine flying without communication in an aerodrome, where you have traffic on the ground and in air, there is an emergency on the ground that does not permit you to land. Again, what will happen to aircraft on final without communication? Considering two aircraft in the air. One on base leg at 80km/h and the other traffic rejoining long final at 120km/h. there is a possibility that if the base leg traffic does not have the long final traffic in sight or vice versa the two aircraft can crash.

The same thing applies to people who sail on a boat. When sailing to a different place without communication, you can be caught in bad weather like storm. It will be appropriate to communication to find out how the weather is like at the place, even if you don’t have equipment for reading the weather. By sailing into storm, the wind can change the direction of the boat. If any aircraft get lost in air, there can be a plane crashed when the fuel get finished or crash with other plane.

The same thing is applied to sailing on a boat. The fuel in the boat can get finish and can sink or the boat can turn upside down by the bad weather. But when we consider our work places, most of our customers stop trading with us because of the poor customer care services at our work places. Most of our businesses have financial problems because of communication; things go wrong because communication between management and workers are very poor. Remember always to Aviate, Navigate and Communicate. SAFETY IS NO ACCIDENT!.

Plane drawing

2012-01-31T12:01:00.002-08:00

We have been trying to come out with a simple way of teaching kids in the rural communities to draw planes as a form of motivation to them take interest in the new health education program.

The girls today, were working on simple design.

Safe flying

2012-01-29T12:12:00.000-08:00

The girls are still working on their articles and I am hoping to put them up soon.

They were in there today, in that tower, keeping eyes on the traffic, making safe calls that protect the lives of those pilots that rely on their Radio Telephony.

Flying

2012-01-28T09:17:00.000-08:00

It was another day of flying. The visibility is improving which means we will be making more holes in the air.

Article

2012-01-27T08:44:00.002-08:00

Many often, we read certain articles, novels, newspaper and many others ; But we sometimes forget to analyze how many new words we have come across just reading. The use of vocabulary in day to day life is such that, we can longer afford to not learn the meaning of new words. The girls today, have started reading the fresh air matters and realized how many words that new to them.

They started writing their own articles which will be going on the blog site soon.

Engineering

2012-01-26T11:46:00.000-08:00

As usual, today was a busy one for the Girls. The X-air falcon that we are working on is making everybody focus in the workshop; they were writing the list of to dos in order for the plane to be ready for the test flight.

During this stage of engineering, everybody is in there; checking and double checking to make sure the plane is to fly. We fueled up the plane to check for leaks and the fuel system passed first time.

Finished version

2012-01-25T11:29:00.000-08:00

The ladies today, finished their work on the bucket of the K2700.
All the drilled holes got riveted and all looking very professional.
This is their first project that involves using lot of new tools they have not used without any supervision and on a working MoM vehicle. I have to say, I believe that the AvTech Girls are making positive changes in their day-to-day development.

More design

2012-01-24T10:19:00.000-08:00

The girls today made a re-enforcement for the bucket of the K2700 since the existing one is falling apart. First of all, the Girls went through the following steps...

1. Measured the bucket and an appropriate length of steel

2. Cut the marked steel

3. Filed the cut piece with a flat file to remove all sparps

4. Found the mid-point and marked 10mm from each end

5. Marked at pitch 60

6. Drilled with 3mm drill-bit and deburr

7. Sand,de-greased and sprayed with black paint and leave to dry.

Rest day.

2012-01-23T08:20:00.000-08:00

Is the Girls off day today as they prepare for a busy week.

Fuelling up

2012-01-22T10:15:00.000-08:00

At the end of the flying today, the girls fuelled the planes ready for the week. We hope for clear skies and the opportunity to work on the bag drop methods for MoM.

Flying day

2012-01-21T12:43:00.000-08:00

The best visibility ever since December 15th, it was a busy one and the girls were in charge of radio telephony for the day. We hope the weather stays good so that, the girls could get some slot to fly.

Loving caring for your machine.

2012-01-20T09:55:00.000-08:00

I have been to many places and Workshops where their tools are all over the place, looking very dirty and no care for the tools; but when you come to the airfield at Kpong, everything is clean and in good order. The harmattan is so bad this year, making it impossible to keep anything clean for long, but the girls so love their planes and will not let.the planes get dirty .Today the visibility was around 4km, we all rushed into the hangers to wash and get the machines ready for action, when we finished with the washing, the girls said to each other about how nice their machines looked.they were all happy to be caring for what they love. Hope other people could learn from these lovely young ladies.

Practice makes perfect.

2012-01-19T07:35:00.000-08:00

Many people world wide refuse to do certain things in case they get it wrong but these days in Ghana, the girls in the Academy are changing that perception, due to more practice on how to draw and interpret 3D drawing. Today, the Girls spent more time on their design work for the cabin for the Tractor.

Designing a cabin for tractor.

2012-01-18T04:37:00.000-08:00

The girls project today is to design a cabin for our current Ford 3000 tractor so all girls are out with pencils, rulers, paper etc doing their drawing. They are thoroughly enjoying this project because according to them, they have never been given the opportunity to do real time learning.

Girls doing 3D drawing.

2012-01-17T08:42:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was the girls off day.
Today they are busily working on their 3D drawing, they were all given a full working plane to draw showing the front elevation, side elevation and the plan view

The Girls loving the use of Computers.

2012-01-15T01:21:00.000-08:00

The use of computers in the world that we live in now is very rampant,the girls are just beginning to understand why we are asking them all the time to present all their work reports on computers.
Last term, a company by name,Medion gave three laptop computers and three digital cameras to the AvTech Academy which really helped the girls with their computer skills,for every report they present,they take photographs to support the written reports and most often, because they are enjoying using the cameras, it helps boost their interests in using the computers because that allows them to upload images since they like the idea of pictures.Many thanks to Francis Norman and Medion LTD for their generosity, the girls are very grateful. We have six new students starting in September this year, we hope to be able to equip them with more computers that will enable them to do more computer work especially since all the flying theory is CBT(Computer Based Training) it means they have to be good with computer before the time comes.

Ground school

2012-01-14T06:40:00.000-08:00

Blessed are the people who have good visibility to fly, you need to be proud about the fact that you can fly. Since there was no flying at Kpong Airfield today, we decided to do ground school revision with everybody who shows up at the Airfield to fly. unfortunately,there were no outsiders so, the Girls got to do that which was very good for them because it gave them the chance to ask as many questions as possible which they will not otherwise ask in the presence of other people.
The chief flying instructor Jonathan Porter made the lesson very easy to learn and remember,on behave of the the Girls, a big thanks to WAASPS for the lessons today.

Cleanliness is key

2012-01-13T11:02:00.000-08:00

The girls told me today that, they would like to spend sometime in the workshop to identify some new tools that they are not yet familiar with. Examples are bigger torque wrench, long nosed pliers, oil filter removers and two air tool oilers , many thanks to Paul H for the oilers and the oil filter removers.

Drawing properly

2012-01-12T09:23:00.000-08:00

The girls learnt to make nets and exploring drawing three dimension from two dimension forms through the use of paper and CAD.

Arranging the Aircraft Stores

2012-01-11T10:54:00.000-08:00

Today, the girls and I started putting the Aircraft stores in order, which is arranging and sorting out the parts to make it easy finding parts during build. We all enjoyed the dirty work of the day and I was proud of the girls for the efforts they put into making that workshop a nice and comfortable working place.

Start of term Exams

2012-01-10T01:21:00.000-08:00

Another term has begun for the students in the Academy.
The girls started the day with FOD ( foreign object debris ) walk which is the most important thing at an Airfield like ours where flying lessons for the girls takes place, the girls after their walk on the runway had breakfast and sat in the class ready for the start of term Exams, all students as happy as the HAPPY birds that spend a lot of their time flying in formation with the aircraft at Kpong Airfield.

First flight of 2012

2012-01-08T06:06:00.000-08:00

My first flight this year was with a young lady of fourteen who in the air was not sure about how to express her feeling of excitement and every now and then will look into my face with her face filled with a beaming smile,she was on the controls for 80% of the flight , although the visibility was not the best ,we enjoyed every minute of it .We got back and the young lady turned to me and said " you have changed something in me " so l told her then, you need to help me change that of others one flight at a time.

New term

2012-01-08T02:20:00.001-08:00

In preparation towards the return of the AvTech students into the accommodation, have purchased two additional 90Ap batteries. These batteries will provide a further two hours of light per day with negligible additional diesel burn at the Genset. With 15-25% increases across the board, creative economical thinking is essential.

AvTech at the WAFRIC conference

2011-10-06T06:06:00.000-07:00

On the 30th of September 2011,the 3rd WAFRIC (Women Aviators in Africa) conference was held in Ghana to open the door for many African girls who want to be involved with Aviation. So the girls from the AvTech Academy were invited by the organizers of the conference to speak at the event .

The girls prepared for their first ever public presentation which they really worked hard towards in order to encourage other young ladies who are interested in getting involved with Aviation. At around 11:00am on Friday the 30th the students were called to give their presentation which basically expressed their passion for Aviation. Juliet Kuruwaa started by talking about how she got the chance to get to Kpong Airfield, where she got the opportunity to fly in a light Aircraft during the "Fly Me Day 2010". This experience changed her way of viewing things in the way that pilots see. So she went away thinking about how she can get much closer to planes and through her passion and determination she was invited by WAASPS to spend few weeks at the Airfield to learn more about how the planes fly. Through coming to the Airfield Juliet learned e.g. about the four forces of flight and many other things, which had also helped her to do so many things in her everyday life and especially in school . Because Juliet paid attention to everything that she was taught during her stay at the Airfield, she showed that she had the potential and was offered a place in the Academy where she is now learning to become a pilot and engineer.

Emmanuella Nyekodzi Mawunyo spoke about how she had an upset at home one day and decided to go in-search of a job that will keep her alive since there was no one she could go to for help. She saw a sign that indicated where the airfield was and decided to try her luck. When she got there and she explained to the people there, what her mission was and she got given a digging bar to start digging out stones from the runways. She did very well and worked hard so that one day she was given a trial flight by one the of the pilots at the field. She saw many amazing things that day, but one of which made her very sad, she saw many villages that did not have any road nor school. So she told herself: "I would like to learn to fly so that I can take planes to those deprived villages to encourage them to learn hard in school and if possible , give them a little flight of encouragement."

Emmanuella also said learning in the Academy is different to learning in a normal school, because they are given the chance to put their learning into real life practice, which helps them a lot as young people to remember what they have been taught .

Lydia Wetsi was the next one up. She talked about how she had been working at the market, selling cloth with her mother, when three people came into her shop looking for cloth to buy. When they asked her mother what happen to Lydia's arm, the touching story of an untreated insect bite, that had lead to the constriction of Lydia's whole right arm, made the people ask her mother to send her to the hospital to see if the doctor could do something about her arm and Lydia's mother gave her go ahead. After the hospital and the initial treatment, she was taken to Kpong Airfield and was shown around planes and told that they were built in Ghana .

Lydia said, she was given a flight one day and after that flight she was asked what she wanted to become in the future , she said she wanted to be a hairdresser when she grew up . She was told about the new school that was going to be started soon and was asked if she would like to be part of it. But she asked herself, who would pay her school fees. In the end, Lydia was lucky enough to be sponsored by some generous people to be able to attend the AvTech Academy .

July this year , Lydia was sent to Korlebu teaching hospital to have her surgery on her arm. After the surgery, she can now do her own take off and 90% of her own landing. We are hoping to send her next year for the surgery on her wrist, so that she can do her own flaps to improve her flying - because at the moment she flies without flaps.

On the Saturday, the 1st of October 2011, the girls went to an interaction section at the conference on how to bring many other girls to the industry since the young ones will soon be the leaders of Aviation.

The third day, the 2nd of October, the people from the conference all made a trip to our airfield where the AvTech girls come from, to see what they were doing . The whole group was shown around the field, some people received free trial flights, got to see some display work taking place and got a workshop session to demonstrate how the building of the planes are done by the girls. After all, the women present got free registration and the men all got 50% discount for their registration for flight lesson. In all, it was a successful event and big thanks goes to the organizers of the WAFRIC conference.

AvTech Academy

Practice Exams

Blog by Lydia

Tractor Repair reports

Hydraulic work

Special day

100 hour sevice

The Girls doing a 100hr service

Engineering

CBT

Story by Juliet K

Story by Emmanuella

More stories from the Girls

Here is the story by lydia

Supporting HIV Orphans and Vulnerable Children

Unusual day

Fire fighting

Story by Juliet

Story by Emmanuella

Story writing

100hr service

creative writing

Good news.

Comparisons...

Plane drawing

Safe flying

Flying

Article

Engineering

Finished version

More design

Rest day.

Fuelling up

Flying day

Loving caring for your machine.

Practice makes perfect.

Designing a cabin for tractor.

Girls doing 3D drawing.

The Girls loving the use of Computers.

Ground school

Cleanliness is key

Drawing properly

Arranging the Aircraft Stores

Start of term Exams

First flight of 2012

New term

AvTech at the WAFRIC conference