Sunday, May 31, 2009

First Movie

This is a video I made a couple years (my first and last to this point, lol). Next time I won't let it focus on the raindrops... And I'll edit out that skidding turn to downwind, lol.

Saturday, May 23, 2009

Instrument Progress One

Let's see... so far I have an instructor I really like. Our temperaments are a good match and she rides a pretty good line between telling me what to do and letting me make my own mistakes. I CAN get pretty confused... and she seems to enjoy saying "I don't know..." when I ask "where are we?" a little sadistically if the truth be told, lol.

She's not the anal checklist type, but IS very professional and so far seems more 'learn-by-doing' than lecture which suits me fine too.

My steep turns under the hood were so bad I made myself sick, but I got them semi-tamed finally. We only have a little over 6 simulated hours and our last flight was partial panel radial intercepts... which REALLY confused me, but I'll get it :-) It's hard to imagine that visualizing ones position relative to a NDB or VOR (now which side is that radial on exactly?) becomes intuitive but I'm sure it'll come. My MS Flight Simulator is a big help actually.

It's going slower, is harder and will end up costing more than I thought it would be, and I have to lay off a few weeks because of work, but I can still have it wrapped up this summer. I'm beginning to doubt I can finish the commercial this summer too, though.

I passed the written by studying with the Sportys DVD course and the online 'Study Buddy' to get the endorsement thinking it would save me money, but now I'm not so sure... I'm in a 141 program so I have to log 30 hours of ground time regardless. I also took the written a little too early I think - If I'd have waited longer more of it would makes sense. Oh well... it's out of the way at least.

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Home Security


I have a pretty good home security setup that records when motion is detected, notifies me, sends me the video and stores it off site.

Fortunately I haven't recorded any serious security threats... other than a bunch of these potential miscreants...




Saturday, May 16, 2009

If you HAVE to work...

...at least the commute shouldn't be too onerous!

I usually take a 737 to my workplace. So whenever I can I fly the 50 miles from home to the International airport to catch the jet to work. It isn't really any quicker than driving, and certainly not any less expensive, but it keeps me centered (God, I can't believe I just wrote THAT...lol). How about - it makes going to work a lot more palatable and gives me some nice decompression time on the way home?


I think this is cool, shows the taxi on the road (Lakeshore Dr) from Hood strip to my parking spot. It's not much shorter to land at Int'l because I have to taxi all around... and some of it is behind cargo 747's which gives me the willies. Gas is easier to get at the Strip and I usually see someone I know there, too.


My good Anch parking spot... a short walk up the ramp to the terminal. It turns out that Anchorage engine rebuilder Werner Reimers parks his 206 next to me. We had a long talk, he was real nice and I've always wanted to meet him because he built the engine in my plane (600 hrs ago?). I told him it runs great, doesn't leak and hasn't needed any jugs (knock on wood).


Buying gas is not the best part, but there's usually someone around, and this time I ran into the Texas Skyways guy that sells the 280Hp C-180 upgrades... He offered to give me one FREE if I write about my experiences... OK, not really. He DID offer to give me one for about 35 grand, lol.


Coming back I like to stop at Merrill and walk over to the Brewhouse to get my growler reloaded with my favorite (well, maybe 2nd favorite) beer, the IPA. It's 30 minutes each way, so I walk fast and figure the calories are a wash. :-)


This is a very nice private strip near Birchwood.


Home Sweet Home.


On the way home, I met the family at the library (no pavement near our house) so Hanna could demonstrate her new bike riding skills. She learned in two pushes and then another couple times holding her up to learn to get started by herself. No exaggeration - she's a natural. Of course straight and level soon bored her, so she began to weave wildly until she crashed... lol.


Saturday, May 9, 2009

Pass on Valdez '09

Jake and I were going to run down to the Valdez May Day Fly-in, but...

3000 BKN and rain. I'm not worried about getting there because Palmer is virtually CAVU, but the front is moving this way and by afternoon I suspect I'd have to go the long way around to get home... It looks like they're having fun, though. In the drizzle... lol