Flying Out of the Blue

OOTBA Party Time

noreply@blogger.com (Cathy) — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 16:29:00 +0000

Another great party at Out of the Blue - this time just for the staff, and a couple of wander-in guests (you know who you are, Geoff!). We had lots of delicious food and a fair amount of tall tales flying around. Happy Holidays to all!!

noreply@blogger.com (Cathy) — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 18:54:00 +0000

Me and the girlz got started on the Holidays with a big Aviation Open House. We had delicious soups, yummy cookies, delightful music (thanks Paul Ninehouse!), and best of all, lots of friends to celebrate with.

Have I mentioned before that this is the best "job" in the world?

Goodbye old friend

noreply@blogger.com (Cathy) — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 18:18:00 +0000

I had very mixed feelings to see my old "warbird" Aeronca Champ dismantled and shipped off to Philly. This is the second aircraft I ever bought and the first I ever sold. How hard to let her go!

I had many fun hours flying this little slow bird. My favorite part was coming in too high - is it a problem? - and slipping her down to land. I loved prop starting her, and the simplicity of those six little round gauges on the panel. Nothing fancy, nothing fast, no flash. Just flying at its most basic level.

N83547 will always hold a special place in my life. Fly long and well, old girl!

Fall BBQ and Light Sport Day

noreply@blogger.com (Cathy) — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 14:25:00 +0000

We had an awesome day last Saturday, enjoying the gorgeous weather by flying our Remos all day without the doors. What a blast that is! You can fly that little bird low and slow, feeling a lot like a bird yourself. The more I know of that aircraft, the more I like it.

Another Pilot in the Family

noreply@blogger.com (Cathy) — Sun, 28 Aug 2011 18:26:00 +0000

Despite breaking his thumb several days earlier, my son Kennan successfully passed his private pilot checkride on Wednesday! After a lot of hard work, and with a full hand cast, he still managed to fly well enough to complete all the maneuvers. I couldn't be more proud of him! Now, he's off to college and a whole new set of challenges and adventures. But something tells me that aviation will always be a part of his life.

Summer is almost here . . . .

noreply@blogger.com (Cathy) — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 03:53:00 +0000

The sun is starting to shine in the Northwest and the flying season is getting busy! This Saturday is my favorite event of the year - our annual Poker Run, which involves aviation, gambling, winning prizes, eating king crab legs, and tellin' lies with flying friends. What could be better than that?

Pictures and stories of the day's exploits coming soon . . . .

Local Pilots Are Winners!

noreply@blogger.com (Cathy) — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 15:26:00 +0000

Winners from the International Women of Aviation week were just posted. Arlington won 2011 ‘Most Female-Pilot-Friendly Airport in the World’ - 1st runner up with 144 Girl-Flights in one day! An airport in MD was just ahead with 185 . . . if we had decent weather, we would have topped that! Woohoo!!
Anyway, that means KAWO pilots have access to a FREE live GPS training seminar. Check out the link above.

Some of our awesome pilots were winners too:
Marla Patterson: 2011 ‘Most Dedicated Female Flight Instructor in the World’ with 17 flights.
Casey Cowan: 2011 ‘Most Supportive Male Flight Instructor in the World’ with 23 flights.
Laith Barnhill: 2011 'Most Supportive Male Pilot in the World’ This earns Laith a ZULU watch from AOPA! Plus he won a $20 Gift Card - So you see, what comes around goes around - and Laith "went around" with 27 girls that day!

Other Pilot winners were:Mike Talley - $25 Gift card and LED flashlight; Lane Gormley - Wind-Tee T-shirt; Marla Patterson - Breaking Through The Clouds DVD; Jerry Sorensen - Penelope Pilot Book; OOTBA - $150 fuel card for most Remos flights

And this one is funny: Dick Smith - $150 toward his first Seaplane Lesson. Maybe you can fly your 180 on floats down for the lesson Dick . . . .

We also have many passenger prizes to be announced soon . . . .

And more awesome pictures of a fun day!

noreply@blogger.com (Cathy) — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 19:35:00 +0000

"Girls Fly Free" pictures

noreply@blogger.com (Cathy) — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 19:06:00 +0000

Flying it Forward!

noreply@blogger.com (Cathy) — Sun, 13 Mar 2011 14:57:00 +0000

Yesterday was a BIG day. A dozen pilots gathered at Out of the Blue to give free flights to girls of all ages, 5 to 105. On the way in, my car broke down - in the pouring rain - and I had to get a push and a jump from a taxi driver (thank you Mr. Taximan!). I arrived barely in time for the scheduled pilot briefing, but I managed to get them briefed, fed, coffeed up, and ready to go for the first passenger.

Dick and Todd were there with their 180s, Lane in his 182, Pete with the SR20, Laith, Jeanne, Casey, Jerry, Mike, Marla, and Tim with 172s, Teri in her PA-140, and Mike in the Remos. Between them all, we flew 152 girls in one day!

I know some businesses won't do a thing unless they've carefully calculated the return on investment. They probably make more money than I do. When my son asked me at the end of the day, "Was it worth it?" I had to acknowledge that I spent way more time and money on this than I'll probably recoup. It will be a long time before that grinning nine year old girl becomes a paying customer. Likewise, those pilots who spent all day and lots of dollars on fuel will get nothing in return. Except maybe one thing: the satisfaction of making a difference in someone's life. In a little way, I like to think that we made a difference yesterday. And that, is priceless.

"Now is the winter of our discontent, made glorious ...."

noreply@blogger.com (Cathy) — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 16:04:00 +0000

What is a Shakespeare quote doing on an aviation blog?

Well, it HAS been a long, dark winter here, wings too heavy to fly. We're ready to see it end. This winter has seen many changes, the hardest being the loss of my Chief Pilot who has been with me through thick and thin and ups and downs. Difficult as it is to say goodbye, I wish him the very best of blue skies ahead.

With the coming spring weather, we're ushering in new changes here at Out of the Blue. The newest addition to our line of events is our Girls fly Free Weekend. We're joining up with Women of Aviation Week to offer short free flights, on March 12th, to girls and women who have never flown in a small aircraft. I've coordinated helicopters and gliders and jets to join us to provide a great day to encourage girls to "give aviation a try." This is very near and dear to my heart and I am so excited about it!

The four males in my household argue that "girls just aren't interested in flying or adventure as much as guys." I think it is still very much a matter of role models - who do girls usually see behind the aircraft yoke and who do they see behind the kitchen stove? This is what they normalize. It's changing, but slowly!

And being an idealist, I keep trying to help change the world - one day at a time, one person at a time.

Affectionately, Cathy

5 Year Party

noreply@blogger.com (Cathy) — Sat, 08 Jan 2011 20:12:00 +0000

Had a great time last night celebrating our 5 years in business. Considering the economy and the state of general aviation right now and the fact that nearly everyone predicted my FBO would fail, I consider 5 years a success worth celebrating. I estimate about 150 people joined us for good beer from Skookum Brewery and good food from NASA Restaurant, and good music from local musicians Jimmy Culler, Jimmy Wright, Greg Murat, and Mike _.
I love keeping the business local and appreciate all those who help keep the local businesses alive, here at Out of the Blue Aviation and at the places mentioned above. If not for these local businesses, we'd all be living in a hellish world of box stores and chain restaurants, where every town looks the same, and nobody knows your name.

New Story/Old Story

noreply@blogger.com (Cathy) — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 15:43:00 +0000

Many people told me I should write about our cross country trip to bring the Tecnam home from Florida. I did write about it at the time, just never published it. Although it is now an "old" story, I think you'll enjoy it! (see page to the side).
I'd love to hear your feedback about it . . . . thanks!

4 new airplanes in one week

noreply@blogger.com (Cathy) — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 13:59:00 +0000

I got to fly 4 different airplanes this week - a Zlin 50, a Cessna 310, a Piper Saratoga, and an Aviat Husky, all new to me. I do have the most fun job in the world!

Allergic to Checkrides?

noreply@blogger.com (Cathy) — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 17:26:00 +0000

Well, I did it - passed the Commercial Checkride last week. It was a 6 hour ordeal: lengthy oral, flights in two different aircraft, low lying clouds to deal with so had to do maneuvers without usual ground reference points. I'm just glad to have it done (and by the end of September as promised - I'd like to think I just want to keep my word, but it is probably more like OCD . . . . )

The odd thing was that the minute I started doing the paper work for the license, I started sneezing and by the end of the ride, my nose was running and eyes watering. It took 24 hours for the sneezing symptoms to subside. I've never had allergies, but apparently I do now - to FAA checkrides!

How many pilots does it take to change a lightbulb?

noreply@blogger.com (Cathy) — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 16:19:00 +0000

Prior to yesterday's flight in John's P210, we discovered a nav light out. I got the tools and held the bits; Lucas took off the lens covers; Kennan got the bulb out; Ross held the umbrella for us in the pouring rain; Paul found the part; Mike went to retrieve the part; John screwed it all back together. Let's see, I think that makes 7 (plus a half dozen others who asked "how's it going?" as we were all going back and forth). Gotta Love Aviation!!

Commercial License

noreply@blogger.com (Cathy) — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 16:45:00 +0000

Working on those commercial maneuvers. Chandelles aren't too hard (did you know "chandelle" means candle in French? Anyone know how that got applied to a commercial aviation maneuver?) Eights on Pylons look manageable; Lazy Eights may need a little work though. Hope our summer weather isn't completely gone as I hope to get a lot more flying in in the next month!

Gotta love the US!

noreply@blogger.com (Cathy) — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 00:54:00 +0000

Had a great trip to Europe - lots of good food and great wine, but I really missed flying! Very few people there could even dream of flying as it is terribly inaccessible and expensive. We are blessed in the US with many local airports (every one of which should be protected!) and minimal fees and taxes as well as lower fuel costs (believe it or not). I am happy to be back in the Land of the Free!

New story, Old story

noreply@blogger.com (Cathy) — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 01:05:00 +0000

I posted the next installment (to the right) about going to buy our little Navy Champ. Many great memories and new ones being made every day. I'm starting to work on my commercial license and, once again, need to rely on the patience of my chief pilot, John Pierson, to get me through. Chandelles, Lazy Eights, and Steep Spirals - Fun! First, though, off to Europe for a couple of weeks.

Dude, its good to see some girls getting into the sport!

noreply@blogger.com (Cathy) — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 00:04:00 +0000

Went skydiving on Friday (third jump)and met a guy who was so excited to see a girl get into the sport (dude!) and even more so when he learned I was a pilot (dude!)and owned a flight school (DUDE!)It was fun!

View From the Ramp

noreply@blogger.com (Cathy) — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 01:08:00 +0000

So many people ask me about owning an FBO that I started writing it down. I tell the story in the adjacent pages, which I will post every week or so. They are stories of Out of the Blue - humor, suspense, adventure, the good, bad, and the ugly are all right there - starting with "HOW TO MAKE A MILLION IN AVIATION" about a crazy girl, who didn't know anything about airplanes, going and starting a flight school.

So many adventures, so little time

noreply@blogger.com (Cathy) — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 15:18:00 +0000

I had good intentions to post regularly here, but then Jenny went and had a baby (sheesh!) and I've been training new gals, and sometimes it feels like swimming upstream. But I'll admit, I do fit in some fun now and then . . . got to fly an Alpha Jet, and a Messerschmidt aerobatic helicopter, and a bit of aerobatics in different aircraft, so I can't complain. I've also been doing a lot of writing, the history of Out of the Blue so to speak. Lots of stories to tell. I plan on posting some of it here, so more coming soon . . . .

Part 141 approval

noreply@blogger.com (Cathy) — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 17:22:00 +0000

We finally received our part 141 approval, which I thought enabled us to train people with GI/VA money. But no, two steps forward and then a wall. There is a whole other VA approval process and I can't get their blessing unless I have an aircraft for Commercial training (retractable gear). So now, I'm working on getting a twin on line to meet all of our needs (Commercial, CFI, Multi,etc). Sometimes I wish I was an employee, "my day's done, see you tomorrow" rather than always being the one to have to figure out how to jump walls.

Awesome CFIs

noreply@blogger.com (Cathy) — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 05:10:00 +0000

Had a CFI meeting today. I figured these top aviators needed their own call signs, decided upon with laughter and general consensus: John-"Top Gun";Ron-"Ace";Mike-"Viper";Marla-"TomCat";Lucas-"Iceman";Casey-"Hollywood";Klaus-"Wolfman";Mike T-"Sundown";Jenny-"Jester" and me? "Whirlwind" Go figure . . . .
Love my job, and my awesome instructors!

Long Day

noreply@blogger.com (Cathy) — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 03:46:00 +0000

Another advantage of owning your own business - you only have to work 1/2 days (and YOU get to choose which 12 hours to work)Actually today was only an 8 hour day it just SEEMED like a 12 hour day, trying to finish taxes, and finish Part 141, and then the refrigerator dying didn't help. But lots of new customers and things are getting busy so Hurrah for Spring weather!