I received my official certificate from the FAA this week...it arrived and was on my desk chair waiting for me, along with the latest copy of AOPA Pilot, when I returned home from the week's business travel. Even though it was 2 in the morning, I tore into the envelope with giddiness, and stood there in the study, reading every cryptic word on it.
As government-issued cards go, it's a work of art. On the front is a color scene of the first powered flight at Kill Devil Hill, with portraits of the Wrights (Ohio boys like yours truly, I might add) on the back. The writing is super-imposed over the images. Since with all the prop time I'm paying for I can't afford to shop at Macy's anymore, I demoted the Macy's card to the (less accessible) inside pocket of my wallet, and gave the pilot certificate a prominent slot, right below my drivers license.
Hats off to the FAA for beating by two weeks the expected wait time for my certificate.
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Monday, September 13, 2010
From the video archives...KFHR
I finally got around to editing my video from my long solo cross-country flight, over a month ago, at the tail end of my private pilot training.
There was a lot of haze from forest fires on the evening I did the flight, so much of the video is uninteresting, to say the least.
But here is the video from my approach and landing at Friday Harbor Airport in the San Juan Islands. This is a place I plan to visit quite a lot now that I have the ticket...
Anyway, I have fond memories of this trip. I shut down at Friday Harbor for a bit, hoping to find Ernie's Cafe still open (alas, it was not). Ernie's is named for Ernest Gann, one of my favorite aviation authors, who wrote about his adventures as an early airline pilot (in the 1930s). Disappointed in the restaurant being closed for the day, but vowing to return, I left Friday Harbor and landed at Snohomish County (better known as Paine Field) near Everett, then back home via the eastside suburbs of Seattle (Bellevue, Kent, Auburn) and a transition through the McChord Air Force Base Class D. The challenge on the final leg was avoiding the Seattle Class Bravo airspace, which required flying at a low altitude to stay under the shelf.
During the taxi-back for departure at Paine, I saw the "Dream Lifter" taking a rest from hauling 787 parts around the world. What an awesome aircraft!
All in all, it was a terrific trip and is likely one I will repeat at some point...just for fun!
There was a lot of haze from forest fires on the evening I did the flight, so much of the video is uninteresting, to say the least.
But here is the video from my approach and landing at Friday Harbor Airport in the San Juan Islands. This is a place I plan to visit quite a lot now that I have the ticket...
Anyway, I have fond memories of this trip. I shut down at Friday Harbor for a bit, hoping to find Ernie's Cafe still open (alas, it was not). Ernie's is named for Ernest Gann, one of my favorite aviation authors, who wrote about his adventures as an early airline pilot (in the 1930s). Disappointed in the restaurant being closed for the day, but vowing to return, I left Friday Harbor and landed at Snohomish County (better known as Paine Field) near Everett, then back home via the eastside suburbs of Seattle (Bellevue, Kent, Auburn) and a transition through the McChord Air Force Base Class D. The challenge on the final leg was avoiding the Seattle Class Bravo airspace, which required flying at a low altitude to stay under the shelf.
During the taxi-back for departure at Paine, I saw the "Dream Lifter" taking a rest from hauling 787 parts around the world. What an awesome aircraft!
All in all, it was a terrific trip and is likely one I will repeat at some point...just for fun!
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Crosswinds, night flight, and admiring the best
I have plans to fly tomorrow night to stay sharp, just some landing practice at the home patch.
If I can get Joel to come along, and the winds cooperate, we may work on crosswind landings, and maybe after that do the night flight refresher that we never got around to at the end of my training.
But anyways, speaking of crosswind landings, this is just really, really impressive.
If I can get Joel to come along, and the winds cooperate, we may work on crosswind landings, and maybe after that do the night flight refresher that we never got around to at the end of my training.
But anyways, speaking of crosswind landings, this is just really, really impressive.
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Look Mom...
I had the honor and pleasure to take my Mom up for a flight today. She's visiting us in Olympia from my original hometown before school starts again, work travel spins up, and Deb takes on some new responsibilities at work.
It's a beautiful day here, just some high cirrus clouds and unlimited visibility. The winds did pick up while we were flying for 90 minutes...6 knots out of the north at takeoff, but 15 knots on landing, and just a bit gusty.
We took off and headed due west towards Hoquiam and the coast. I figured that as long as we were headed to the coast I may as well log a cross-country...so we did a touch-and-go landing at Ocean Shores, then headed south along the beach to Willapa Harbor, then direct back to Olympia from there.
1.6 on the Hobbs and Mom has a better sense of what flying is all about now. The air was generally smooth, until our descent into Olympia...the higher winds and some thermals tossed us around a little. I was generally happy with my flying. The landing at Ocean Shores was a little left-of-center, which on a 50 foot wide runway can be a big deal. But I kept it under control and right back on the centerline for the go.
The scenery was beautiful...flying the coastal beaches is really about the best sightseeing you can do.
I am very appreciative that my Mom was interested in flying with me, and she was a model passenger the whole way!
Flight track for Google Earth is here.
It's a beautiful day here, just some high cirrus clouds and unlimited visibility. The winds did pick up while we were flying for 90 minutes...6 knots out of the north at takeoff, but 15 knots on landing, and just a bit gusty.
We took off and headed due west towards Hoquiam and the coast. I figured that as long as we were headed to the coast I may as well log a cross-country...so we did a touch-and-go landing at Ocean Shores, then headed south along the beach to Willapa Harbor, then direct back to Olympia from there.
1.6 on the Hobbs and Mom has a better sense of what flying is all about now. The air was generally smooth, until our descent into Olympia...the higher winds and some thermals tossed us around a little. I was generally happy with my flying. The landing at Ocean Shores was a little left-of-center, which on a 50 foot wide runway can be a big deal. But I kept it under control and right back on the centerline for the go.
The scenery was beautiful...flying the coastal beaches is really about the best sightseeing you can do.
I am very appreciative that my Mom was interested in flying with me, and she was a model passenger the whole way!
Flight track for Google Earth is here.
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