Mike’s Adventures

H.R. 822 The National Right to Carry Reciprocity Act

2011-12-29T10:27:00.001-08:00

H.R. 822 The National Right to Carry Reciprocity Act passed the House of Representatives by a commanding 272 to 154 margin on November 16,2011.
Now it is waiting on the Senate.

As the Majority Leader in the U.S. Senate Nevada Senator Harry Reid can put H.R. 822 the National Right to Carry Reciprocity Act on the floor for the vote.
If you support this Bill please contact him and ask him to do so.
Email form: http://reid.senate.gov/contact/index.cfm
Twitter: @SenatorReid
Phone: 202-224-3542

The NRA thinks the senate will pass it, and being an election year Obama won't Veto it.

The final form of the bill passed by the House can be found at Thomas.
http://thomas.loc.gov/home/thomas.php

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Copper State Fly-In Day 1

2011-10-21T15:29:00.000-07:00

We flew N779LK to the coper State Fly-In at Casa Grande airport KCGZ AZ. Here are some the pics we took on Thursday first day of the Fly-In

Flight from North Las Vegas Airport to Hoover Dam and back to KVGT

2010-09-20T15:51:00.000-07:00

Saturday 9-18-2010 we flew over Hoover Dam to take some pictures.

N9916T

KVGT

KSNVTV Channel 3 Interview - September 5, 2010

2010-09-06T21:11:00.000-07:00

"Beyond this historic Brown Gate" Airventure 2010

2010-08-06T05:10:00.000-07:00

OSH10-FRI.mp4

2010-08-02T10:17:00.000-07:00

Zenith Aircraft factory in Mexico MO Visit #2

2010-05-31T17:26:00.000-07:00

Elisabeth (my wife) and I went to Iowa for my daughters high school graduation. with our airline flight schedule we had a day to kill so we went up the road to Mexico MO to visit Zenith Aircraft. Elisabeth was bummed that she didn’t get to come with me the first time, and really hated that I had flown in the STOL CH750 demo plane (the plane we are building) and she had not. with her birthday days away I thought it would be a good treat for her to go up in the CH750.

I mounted a video camera in the cockpit, and had one in my had on the ground. SHe had her still camera.

Unfortunately the video camera in the plane vibrated to bad during powered on flight and I couldn't use any of the flight video except the landing.

The best part of the video is start-up to run-up as you get to hear the conversation of Elisabeth and Roger (Zenith pilot/support) with low time in the front seat it is a fun conversation.

Here is the video I put together of the entire flight from all 3 cameras.

Sorry I'm not a better camera man

Zenith Aircraft factory in Mexico MO

2010-05-07T15:55:00.000-07:00

On April 28th 2010 I toured the Zenith Aircraft factory in Mexico Missouri. They manufacture airplane kits to build Experimental (home built) airplanes.

On the way there I stopped in KC MO and had a tweetup with an Adam, who took me to a great BBQ place. "Oklahoma Joe's"

Roger has been working there 17 years, and was kind enough to take me up in one of their STOL models the CH750. Which is a great little handling short/soft field airplane.

Here is a slide show of the pics I took. If you click on it you can see the pics in full size on WebShots:

Zenith Aircraft Factory

Here are the videos I shot:

Sun N Fun 2010

2010-05-06T09:28:00.000-07:00

Elisabeth and I cashed in some frequent flyer points and did a last minute trip to LakeLand FL to attend "Sun N Fun" spring break for pilots.

We had a blast meeting people, watching the air show, checking out the airplanes and airplane paraphernalia. We even got to be guests on Sun N Fun Radio during Will & Dave’s live broadcast of their podcast “The Pilot's Flight PodLog”
http://pilotwill.libsyn.com/
You can listen to it here:
http://pilotwill.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=610076

Here are some of the pics we took:

SnF10

Here is some of the video with more to come:

Chuck's Kitfox

2010-03-29T14:50:00.000-07:00

I'm up in Montana this week for work, and Chuck from the Kitfox list was kind enough to let me into his hanger to crawl in and take pictures of his Kitfox series IV

Chucks KitFox

Mike’s Adventures: mCX gets a new Look

2010-03-27T19:05:00.000-07:00

Mike’s Adventures: mCX gets a new Look

mCX gets a new Look

2010-03-27T19:04:00.000-07:00

My Eflite Blade mCX is my indoor practice/trainer RC Heli. While she flys well I have never really liked her looks. Not much for the yellow long bow/sport RC look.

So with a few parts I upgraded her to a white mCX 300S.

Here are the before and after pics

RC Helicopter mCX demo video

2010-03-23T20:48:00.000-07:00

I made this quick video to show a friend how stable the E-Flite Blade mCX is.

Then I rotoscoped it just to see how it would look.

Flight from Las Vegas on Jet Blue

2010-03-04T16:57:00.000-08:00

Last December we took off from McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas to Long Beach Airport on Jet Blue for our Honeymoon cruise. I have flown out of KLAS countless times over the years and have taken several pictures of Las vegas from various airplanes however these from this flight are some of my favorite. I hope you enjoy them as well.

Mike

ASB Video Publish

2010-01-10T14:53:00.001-08:00

Video from iPhone

2009-12-20T17:44:00.001-08:00

How I finally got into flying

2009-11-08T11:18:00.000-08:00

Flying

Like a lot of pilots, I have been in love with airplanes as long as I can remember.

I’m pretty sure I get it from my father, who joined the army air corps in the early 40s to work on airplanes. He served 23 years, including tours in Europe during World War II and Korea during the Korean War. With all he must have done and seen, I think he was proudest of being part of the Berlin airlift, and then being a CAP member after he retired.

He ended up a master sergeant in the 90th Transit squadron and though he never became a pilot and he never lost his love for airplanes.
Our house had airplane pictures on the wall, and airplanes hanging from the ceiling. My father would buy models of planes he liked and then help my brothers and I build them to hang up with the rest.

Of the 5 boys in the family, my older brother by 10 years, Rickey and I are the only ones who kept a love of aviation through our teens and into adulthood. Rickey joined the Army and was a crew chief on UH1 Huey helicopters through the 70s. I think he was in the Army 6 years and was in 2 Helicopter crashes that I can recall. He took a ground school at the local college when he got home, but he never got his Private certificate.

Besides building plastic models with my father, I was building free flight and control line airplanes to fly, wishing I could afford RC. I started designing and flying my own as I approached my teen years. I thought I would grow up to be an aeronautical engineer. I even sent Cessna a letter when I was 14 expressing my interests in designing airplanes for them when I grew up, and my love for my favorite airplane at the time the Cessna Sky Master. They sent me a brochure for the Sky Master, which spent several years on my wall as decoration.

Growing up in Cheyenne Wyoming, home of the Daddy of them all Rodeo and F.E. Warren Air Force Base (Missile Ranch), I have seen the Thunderbirds perform so many times I’m not sure I can put an accurate count to it. I remember them flying T-38s, and the year of the tragic fatal crash in Cheyenne in 1977.

I used to watch the army guards Constellations take off/land and fly around Cheyenne. Later on they switched to C130s. What a great aircraft that is. I can’t count how many times I have toured one at an air show.

Anyway, as I went from teens to adulthood, life happened as they say. I never finished college and hadn’t ever flown an airplane. I continued to love airplanes, and there were always pictures and models hanging up in my homes over the years.
My first computer was an apple IIe, and all I ever did with it was fly an F-15 Strike Eagle flight sim on it. As I have gotten bigger and better computers over the years, I kept flying sims. I think I have owned almost every flight sim ever made for a PC, including most versions of MSFS. I have uncountable hours of PC sim time.

The morning of 9-11, I was on an airliner flying into Vegas. The days that followed were very strange with no aircraft in the sky. When they started flying again, I was back on an airliner for work, which is pretty much what I do today: fly to a different city almost every week for work.

Like lots of other Americans after 9-11, I felt the need to fight back, contribute in some way. So I joined the Civil Air Patrol, and was as active as I could be, attending all the meetings, and training I could. Unfortunately due to travel for work, and a divorce I went through, I had to quit CAP. They already have enough members that don’t have the time to give, and I didn’t want to be another one.

During my very short stint in CAP, I got the idea that I would somehow work out a way to get my Private pilot certificate, but could never justify the expense. Although I started to study flying more, seriously it never came together. In 2002 I joined the AOPA, and even though I didn’t get a private pilot certificate, I have kept my AOPA membership ever since.

Right after my divorce, I started jokingly telling my friends that when I retired I was going to sell everything buy a small sea plane move to Costa Rica to spend my retirement flying tourists around. I figured that my limited retirement fund would go further down there.

Through the last few years I have continued to fly my Sims (I have a pretty cool chair set up). I dabbled in RC aircraft even had a couple really cool RC helicopters that were a blast to fly in spite of the fact I never got very good at it.

Life went on I started my own business and have been working for myself for the past few years. I have made it a point to live life to the fullest, having adventures and fun. About 3 years ago, I met a woman of a like mind, and we go on adventures and a have a blast together. I married her August 15 2009.

About a year and a half ago, I was in Milwaukee for work and a friend of mine talked me into buying my first iPod, which led to him convincing me to try some podcasts. I’m not a big fan of talk radio, and I searched for listened to various pod cast, but none of them did anything for me until I stumbled upon the Student Pilot Flight PodLog. I enjoyed listening to Will learning to fly. Then I stumbled upon Uncontrolled Air Space, Airspeed, AOPA Never Again, Pilot's Flight PodLog (will pat his check ride)…. I was hooked on Aviation podcasts. I have a lot of time while traveling to listen to podcasts and within a few weeks I had the aviation bug worse than ever.

In June of 2008 I made the decision that it was like riding my Harley. You can’t justify the expense; you just do it because you want to and you enjoy it. So I started to do some research and came up with a plan.

Being out of town almost every week, and on a limited budget meant this was going to take some time.

I decided to take the sport pilot route on the way to private. It just seemed to make sense, and be a less expensive way to go.
Of the 3 GA airports near me, Boulder city, which is uncontrolled, seemed like the best as my way of thinking at the time was learn to fly first; then after I felt comfortable in the aircraft I would learn to deal with controlled airspace. I also started a diet, to lose some weight realizing that sport planes were small. My theory was that the less of me there was the more fuel I could carry.

I worked out a budget to start flying lessons in mid November, and then I started looking for instructors and sport planes.

The Sport Pilot certificate was mostly (maybe still) misunderstood here in Las Vegas. Almost everyone I talked with told me not to waste my time and just get the private. I decided I needed to meet more people in the local aviation community so I joined the EAA, and went to local EAA chapter 1300s meeting. Among the many people I met that night was Brian, who coincidently belonged to both local EAA chapters, and a flying club composed of some of the chapters' members. On his recommendation/invitation I went out to the hangar at KVGT (North Las Vegas airport) and met some of the guys from EAA chapter 163 and the flying club. They had the engine out of the club’s 1958 172 for overhaul.
Over the next few weeks I hung out at the airport (KVGT) as much as I could talking with the guys, and I made my decision to join EAA chapter 163.

I was considering joining their flying club. They have a cap on the number of members, but there was a membership available.
I was concerned about a 50 year old Cessna.

After interviewing about a half dozen CFIs, I decided that Greg in the flying club was the one I felt most comfortable with.

I started flying in mid-November out of KVGT a towered class D airport. I soloed January 31st 2009 http://mike-daniels.blogspot.com/2009/01/learning-to-fly-first-solo.html.

I joined the flying club and started flying the clubs 1958 172 in March. She may be old but she flies great. And costs less than half of what I was renting a plane from a flight school for.

I took my written exam in July, scored an 83.
After taking most of the summer off for budget reasons. I did my long Solo Cross Country 11-2-2009. KVGT-BTY-0L7-VGT. http://www.spotadventures.com/trip/view/?trip_id=180940

Now in November of 2009, I have 65 hours, have passed my written, and done my solo cross country. I have 2.3 hours of check ride polish (You need at least 3).

I’m very close to being ready for my FAA Practical test which includes an oral exam and a check flight with an FAA Designated examiner. With some more practice, and study I should be able to do this before the end of the year, schedule and weather permitting.

When I get my certificate I’m going to start flying to Southern California on a regular basis to visit my mother.
My wife (likes flying with me and my instructor) and I will fly to breakfast lunch, or some other adventure on a whim a couple times a month. Eventually we will own our own airplane…. I’m considering building one, a BD-4C. Belonging to the local EAA chapter, I have a wealth of knowledge, and experience at my disposable to help me with the task.

I plan to continue my education. I want instrument, commercial, and maybe CFI. I also want to add complex, high performance, and sea plane ratings.

I enjoy listening to podcasts; they help round out my education and keep me interested and enthused, providing knowledge and opinions from other pilots that I wouldn't have access to without them. All the input makes me a better rounded pilot.

Thanks to all the Podcasters. I do appreciate what you do. I especially want to thank, Will, Dave, Jack, Jeb, and Dave.

Thanks to my instructor Greg, and the helpful members of EAA 163. Special mention to Brian, TA, Randy, Less, Bob, …

And of course special thanks to my very supportive and loving wife Elisabeth, who said I can build an airplane but only as long as we have something to fly while it is being built.

Mike

Mike Daniels,
Twitter: Mike_Flys
Mytransponder: buells2t
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/buells2t
http://mike-daniels.blogspot.com
http://www.danielsperformance.com/backroad

Solo Cross Country

2009-11-01T20:20:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow I’m flying my Long Solo Cross Country. It is requirement I need before prepping for my FFA oral exam and check ride, to become a Private Pilot.

I’m leaving North Las Vegas airport (KVGT) at 8:30 am PST (16:30Z), and flying to Beatty NV (KBTY) for a landing then taking off and flying to Jean NV (0L7) for a landing, then taking off again and heading back to North Las Vegas airport (KVGT).

You can track me via my Spot GPS on the internet if you like:
http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0BjQYDoAOsdaVcLFdGltTy6iarQH2A1ay

Details
Plane: 1958 Cessna 172 N8959B
Total Trip
218 Nautical Miles
250.9 Statue Miles

With my short breaks at each landing it should take me about 3 hours.

Mike

Amelia (movie)

2009-10-25T07:53:00.001-07:00

RT @Mike_Flys: Amelia was great I think they did a good job.
A little hollywood license with a couple facts but we liked it and recomend seeing it.
-- Posted from my iPhone

GA Serves America

2009-10-02T08:18:00.000-07:00

From AOPA E-Pilot news letter

2009-09-18T07:33:00.001-07:00

USA Today slants coverage to favor airlines

By Chris Dancy

USA Today on Thursday published a slanted, one-sided front-page story designed to whip up negative sentiment against general aviation and to perpetuate public misconceptions about GA. NBC’s "Today" show did a companion story that also ran on the MSNBC cable news outlet which was equally as negative, although it was somewhat more balanced in its presentation.

“The story is completely devoid of journalistic balance and fails to acknowledge the millions of Americans who benefit from the nation's 5,200 general aviation airports every day,” said AOPA President Craig Fuller.

AOPA’s media relations staff learned of the story a week before it was published and had a lengthy conversation with the USA Today reporter, but was not included in the article.

The USA Today article focuses on spending at GA airports but provides absolutely no perspective. The article does not mention how much Airport Improvement Program (AIP) money is spent at air carrier airports, or that in a typical year, Congress allocates $3 for air carrier airport improvements to every $1 to be spent at GA airports.

The USA Today article and its companion Today Show piece both entice the audience to equate airline ticket tax income with airport expenditures. Neither story makes any effort to tell the audience that GA operators contribute to the same trust fund through fuel taxes that are five times higher than the airlines’, or that the fund also pays for the air traffic control system, of which the airlines are the primary beneficiary.

So what are the facts?

Let’s look at 2007, a fairly typical year for AIP funding.

The FAA distributed $3.34 billion in AIP funds to 2,610 airports.

341 primary airports—airports with more than 100,000 passenger boardings each year—received $2.1 billion in AIP funds. That’s an average of $6.17 million per airport.

48 commercial service airports—airports with between 2,500 and 100,000 passenger boardings—received $93 million, or an average of $1.94 million per airport.

139 GA reliever airports received $214 million, or an average of $1.54 million

982 GA airports received $617 million, or an average of $628,000.

Combined, the 389 airline airports divvied up $2,199,335,046, averaging $5.5 million per airport. The 1,121 GA airports shared $831,717,227, averaging $741,942.

An addition, $310 million was distributed through state block grant programs.

Local realities differ from national “perspective”

On the same day that the two stories ran nationally, a number of local news outlets did their own versions of the story and came to radically different conclusions.

“Officials defend role of small airports: Facilities open more areas to business world,” reported Nashville’s The Tennessean newspaper.

“Local airports say fed funds put to good use,” said the Greenville News of Greenville, S.C.

And, “Business taking off,” stated The Record of Stockton, Calif., simply.

Two years ago, when the Associated Press ran a similarly negative article on federal dollars going to GA airports, the same thing happened: local follow-up stories showed that the money was well spent and benefitted the communities.

“Having convenient access to small airports in communities around the country is as vital to our national transportation system as having highway off-ramps in small towns,” concluded Fuller. “To suggest that smaller airports are not needed is just like suggesting that we should have a road system that connects only the country’s 150 largest cities.

“The truth is that small airports do bring business, jobs, and services—including disaster relief, package delivery, firefighting capability, law enforcement, and emergency medical transportation—to thousands of communities nationwide every day. And that’s good for America.”

John Guedry

2009-09-14T12:54:00.001-07:00

Last night I was at a fund rasier for John Guedry. He is running for Nevada congressman.
I feel he has the common sense we need in office.

-- Posted from my iPhone

Rowdy Rooster Racing

2009-08-28T16:05:00.000-07:00

In Ely NV on our way to Bonneville Salt Flats with our race bike for a land speed record attempt

-- Post From My iPhone

Flying Across America

2009-08-27T09:02:00.001-07:00

http://www.flyingacrossamerica.com/

If you are a friend of general aviation then please help support this noble effort to raise awareness of how great GA is.

Thanks,

Mike

Today is the beginning

2009-08-15T06:18:00.000-07:00

Today is the day. I’m marring the woman I have more in common with than any woman I have ever known. A woman that loves to go on adventures with me. Riding the Harley, off roading in our jeep, flying in the Cessna, camping in death valley, or on the north rim of the grand canyon, shooting, or just going to the movies; she truly enjoys doing these things, and doing them with me. The woman who I enjoy spending time with more than any woman I have ever known. We have an amazing life together, I truly am blessed.

Today starts our next series of adventures, still doing the things we love together but doing them as husband and wife.

Elisabeth I love you and am looking forward to our continuing adventures.

Mike