Pilot in training

Eh?

2008-02-07T15:31:00.000-05:00

What are they thinking? Our cats would be flippin' annoying in a plane. I mean, it's hard to even drive a car with them loose, but during landing? I guess this kitty is an old pro... And it leaves me wondering if there's any rule about pets being strapped in during taxi, takeoff and landing.

Long time, no post!

2007-12-14T11:09:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone! We're still alive over here in Virginia's historic triangle, having survived nearly four months with the new baby!

It's been a topsy-turvy ride, but we may finally be leveling off! Husband has made a few posts documenting our son's first few flights since leaving the womb. I've been back-seating it for all of our flights, but hope to get time in the not-too-distant future to do some refresher flights with Husband and maybe an instructor, too. Trouble is, we've "only" got Cirruses (Cirri?) at our disposal now, and I don't really want to put these more expensive planes through my re-learning! Plus I'm not ready for a glass cockpit or having to manage a turbo...

Anyway, just a quick note to wish you all well! I hope you have a fantastic holiday!

And in parting, here's my adaptation of "Rock-a-bye baby" for our Little Big Man:
Fly away, Evan
in your airplane.
Ride on the wind
from sea to mountain.
Soar with the birds
and dance with the clouds,
then come home, land safely
back on the ground!

Rededication

2007-09-04T11:11:00.001-04:00

[Update: changed the address of the family blog.]

I've rededicated my other blog to the new baby and family, so I'll stop posting about him here unless it's aviation-related!

New baby :)

2007-08-25T13:07:00.000-04:00

[Updated: added a picture of Evan and his daddy.]

Baby Evan arrived at 5:32 pm on Thursday, August 23. We got home from the hospital a little bit ago.

He's super, a great big healthy heap of softness! 9 lbs, 12 oz, 22 inches.

TOMORROW!

2007-08-22T20:48:00.000-04:00

6:30 am tomorrow we'll be at the hospital, having labor induced.... Wish us luck!

Not such a big day...

2007-08-19T15:39:00.001-04:00

Today is our due date. No sign that he'll make his appearance today. Hopefully soon, though!

We went out to the airport today so Husband could show me the new turbo SR22 GTS we're almost part owners of... it's not so easy to get in and out of for a person of my condition ;) but it is a gorgeous machine!

Busting out...

2007-08-10T20:57:00.000-04:00

Sorry it's been a while since I've posted. I'm in the skies vicariously now only through Husband and the blogging pilot community! The baby is due in 9 days, and he's certainly ready! This video will remove any doubt...

Dorks

2007-07-21T16:42:00.000-04:00

So, how sad is it that this morning on our tour of the hospital and maternity unit that we both kinda perked up when they said there's wifi?

Tragedy and risk management

2007-07-16T22:18:00.000-04:00

[Update: Husband had his morning trip with John and got more details. No cartwheel, the right main snapped on touchdown and they skidded through the backyard. He tried to radio a mayday in to PHF (the nearest airport) but was too low at that point, but a nearby twin-engine guardian angel heard and circled overhead, communicating with PHF. Within 2 minutes of landing, rescue vehicles showed up at the scene. John's wife had to have a pin put in her foot, but otherwise it was just bruises and scratches. An FAA inspector confirmed that there was water in the fuel filter and that led to the engine failure; the trike runs on premium auto gas, and in VA auto fuel contains (up to) 10% ethanol which allows water to be held in suspension, so the preflight sump tests can't necessarily clear water from the fuel. John was up in the Cirrus today, and he and his wife still intend to take their post-Osh Kosh trip in the plane. Kudos for not being scared off!]

I have a strange bit of perspective to share: Today we spent ~6 hours on I-85 returning home from visiting family down south. On this trip, we heard that our good friend and flying buddy and (former) co-owner of 388, John, had an emergency landing over the weekend in his ultralight with his wife on board; the engine died over a river and though the nearest land was a populated area, he performed the oft-practiced emergency procedures, got down to someone's backyard (the trike luckily doesn't need much room!), and landed. Unfortunately, the landing gear snapped, and the trike cartwheeled. They're banged up, but ok. John thinks there was water in the fuel filter that cause the engine to die (Husband will get more info tomorrow morning when they fly together in the Cirrus). The ultralight is the motorcycle of airplanes, as far as structure and personal protection go (and boy is it a thrill to hang out there in one!)...

~8:30 am, maybe, we passed an automobile wreck (luckily it was in the southbound lanes and we were heading north) where really all we could make out was the charred remains of what looked like a tractor trailer and a car. I don't know what happened, but it was obviously bad and at least one person died.

Then tonight after our childbirth class, we got home to find our street blocked off with a variety of emergency vehicles. A house a few doors down burned, most likely the result of a lightning strike from the thunderstorms we had all afternoon. I was working from home earlier and ~5 pm was IM'ing with husband when an exceptionally loud and close thunderclap nearly scared me out of my seat, and completely freaked the dog out. I am willing to put money down that that was actually that house being struck, that that was what started the fire, though the afternoon's rain must have kept it in a smoldering state until after we left for class ~6:45.

In driving, we rely on our instincts and reflexes to avoid trouble. It mostly comes down to how alert we are and what our immediate options are, but driving is so commonplace that most drivers out there (me included!) are pretty complacent on the road. Heaven help us if something goes wrong or some other person impacts our situation. That wreck could just as easily have happened to US.

In our homes, we expect to be safe. We don't expect to be struck by lightning and have the house burn around us. When that fire starts, though, it's pretty much out of our hands. That could just as easily have been OUR house that got scorched.

In flying, we're taught to be in control at all times, taught how to scan the air and the instruments to maintain alertness and stay ahead of the aircraft. We're taught how the systems work and how to troubleshoot them. If all else fails, the emergency procedures are second nature and from most emergencies, they say, the plane's occupants walk away. Accidents, collisions, failures and so forth still happen, but I like these odds a lot better.

Kind of a lot to take in in such a short period of time. We'll see what other lessons the prego brain extracts during tonight's sleep...

[Off-topic] Parental controls

2007-07-10T12:58:00.000-04:00

Do your parents decide before you are born when you will die?

(from Quirkology): "In 1999, Nicholas Christenfeld and his colleagues from the University of California, San Diego, uncovered evidence suggesting that a person's initials might affect perhaps the most important aspect of their life - the moment of their death. Using a large, computerised database of death certificates, they identified people whose initials formed a positive-sounding word (such as A.C.E., H.U.G. and J.O.Y.), and those that had very negative connotations, like P.I.G., B.U.M. and D.I.E. Using factors such as race, year of death and socio-economic status as controls, the researchers discovered that men with positive initials lived approximately four and a half years longer than average, whereas those with negative initials died about three years early.

Women with positive initials lived an extra three years, although there was no detrimental effect for those with negative initials. Further analysis suggested that those with negative initials were especially likely to die from psychological causes, such as suicides and self-inflicted accidents."

First of all, "statistics" is such a fantastic tool that it's useless. I prefer to look at the world in terms of binary probabilities, especially for predictive scenarios (but then again, what else is the ultimate use of gathering statistics?): There's a 50% probability that I'll die earlier than people who would be in my peer group in that study (that is, I will or I won't). There's a 50% chance that I'll get a good night's rest tonight (I will or I won't). There's a 50% likelihood that that tree in the backyard will fall over this summer (it will or it won't). Life gets a little simpler, eh? :)

I'm not sure what to make of the death-by-initials correlation for me and for Husband -- my initials are nonsense, and his could go either way (but we'll focus on the positive possibility)!

How about you all?

Other perspectives on the wind damage...

2007-07-06T10:03:00.000-04:00

More pictures here and here from visitors to JGG around that time.

Short newspaper article here.

The storm also took out the neighboring winery.

A few entertaining minutes...

2007-07-04T21:05:00.000-04:00

Take a read here.

[Off topic - stretching future soccer guy]

2007-07-04T09:12:00.000-04:00

Three minutes of recent dancing belly footage, but mostly slow dancing on this one evening...

Boo hoo :(

2007-07-03T13:35:00.001-04:00

It's official: 388 is totaled. Husband just got off the phone with the adjustor.

You know, we had prepared ourselves for this, and in many ways it's kinda the best thing for the situation because of certain life changes going on for us (some of which you know, some that are still private); it eliminates the hassle of trying to sell off a quarter share of an old (but fantastically reliable) plane.

But I still have tears in my eyes as I write this. The first plane we could call our own. The plane I trained in. The ONLY plane I've ever flown. The plane that overlapped with our pregnancy with our first child. I will miss its loyalty, its beautiful outdatedness. Most of all, I will miss its smell. It smelled mechanic, old, grimy and musty. But that smell is tied to so many strong and mostly good memories, most of which are documented here and here. Maybe they'll let me keep a floormat or something, and in 60 years when I'm completely off my rocker, I'll pull it out of its space-baggie, take an enriching deep breath, absorb the smell, and recall through the haze of a failing brain in intricate detail to the (great-?) grandchildren about learning to fly, about traveling with Husband (who will also be there, equally nuts), about the opportunities and geographies that open up to a pilot.

Several of you have noted that this doesn't have to be the end of the line for 388, and you're right. We'll see how things unfold. It does have a feeling of finality to it, though.

Thanks

2007-07-01T11:20:00.000-04:00

Thanks, everyone, for the support/commiseration/advice...

We stopped by the airport again yesterday ~5 pm and 388 was still shiny-side down. The insurance guy is supposed to come out tomorrow (Monday), I think, and has given approval to flip the plane right-side up whenever the airport personnel want to do so. We're blocking at least one hangar and one taxi aisle for parking (there are alternate routes, just not as convenient), so I was surprised to see it still in place yesterday.

On top of being 33 weeks pregnant and sad about our first plane, I have pink eye for the first time ever and awoke this morning to ants in the kitchen! Such diversity in life's little challenges... When it rains, it pours, eh?

At least I have the love of a good man... :)

There's got to be a morning after...

2007-06-30T10:17:00.000-04:00

Updated: Added pictures.

We scoped things out this morning, and it is just so sad to see 388 helpless on its back.

The wings are a little rumpled, the empennage is not quite straight or solid, ...

Kevin, the mechanic, was out this morning and he figures the insurance adjustor will total it, saying the wings will have to be wholly replaced and that fixing the empennage is a labor-intensive (read: expensive) job. Who knows about water and other damage to the avionics or interior in general. And we just did the annual a week ago! It's a 1968 172 with a current estimated value of $30-34k, so it probably won't take a whole lot of estimated repairs to get to that amount.

John, an instructor who lives to fly and just a super guy, had his tail-dragger parked down a few spaces. His was upside-down also. Kevin explained to us that it didn't flip tail-over-head like ours did, but flipped wing-over-wing, over a neighboring plane, taking out one plane's tail and damaging another to come to its resting point. After snapping the tie-downs. Rumpled wings, shattered windscreen, twisted empennage, ...

(John's plane is the white and blue one on the far right. It had been parked on the other side of the orange 172. The orange plane and the gray-and-yellow one facing the hangars had their tails clipped by it. The plane on the left has some holes in its skin. The plane in the foreground is in much the same condition as ours; this guy restored the interior himself a few years ago, replacing seats, doing the leather upholstery and interior panel coverings himself. So sad.)

Charlie, one of the linemen, said that non-owners were being turned away from the airport today, and that at one point there were ~75 cars stacked up of people coming to gawk. Kevin said there was one resident plane out on the ramp not damaged (out of probably 20); it just so happens to be the one plane that has never, ever moved the entire time we've been associated with the airport. Perhaps it's fused to the pavement.

All of the flight school's single-engine planes were damaged; luckily their twin so far appears to be ok. The handful of planes in the transient parking on the other side of the terminal also seem to have survived.

No words

2007-06-29T22:41:00.000-04:00

There's just nothing to be said.

We'd had some storms tonight, and we got a call a little before 10 pm saying our plane had taken some damage. Yeah, I'll say. We'll go back in the morning to see what's to be seen or done. What we could tell in the dark is that the we have a destroyed tail tip, bent propeller, bent wing strut, damaged leading edge of one wing, fuel leaking (around fuel cap, so probably just coming out the vent), various antennae damaged or broken off, left-side door hinge ripped off... Oh, and the interior is soaking wet with 1/2 inch of water pooling at the "top" of the windscreen. And also the tie-downs were still connected to the plane.

As we drove off, the rain began to fall harder, thicker, and with hail.

AWOS appears to have stopped reporting a few hours ago. I guess it took some damage, too. They say four planes are upside-down (we saw two others near us, all high-wings), and several came loose and collided with neighboring planes.

A sad day at JGG.

New solo pilot

2007-06-21T14:55:00.000-04:00

If you have a sec today, stop on by flyaway's training blog to congratulate him on his first solo flight early this morning! He's back on track after having lost his instructor to the airlines, and he's training in the ADIZ, which to a country flier like me sounds like a nightmare! :)

Good job!

Gut feelings and random thoughts

2007-06-05T15:30:00.000-04:00

My feelings on flying are changing as my gut changes, I'm sorry to say...

I'm ~3/4 of the way through the pregnancy, and certain activities are becoming uncomfortable. Like bending to pick something up from the floor. Like sleeping. Like sitting.

Like spending hours upon hours in airport seats or airline seats.

Our 9-day trip to the Canadian Rockies was really a good trip. We hit Calgary, Banff, Lake Louise, Jasper, Edmonton, and points in-between. I'd have to say that Banff was my favorite; a gorgeous little mountain town in a valley on a river surrounded by lush green mountains capped with snow, a town that's big enough to have interesting eating options but small enough to not be overrun with tourist-y shops. (It does have its share...) I'd really like to go back there when I get my body back so's to take advantage of the vast scope of outdoor opportunities -- hiking, rafting, biking, horseback riding, etc.

But spending 8+ hours in planes plus another 3+ hours in airports (thank you, weather delays) -- one way -- had my back screaming for mercy, and resulted in this policy: no travel longer than ~2 hours after the second trimester!

Beyond that, however, are the physiology management concerns, and this applied also to our flight in the 172 down to Asheville a few weekends ago. Amniotic fluid is pretty important for the developing baby (understatement), and it's cumulative; the recommendation is to drink at least 8 glasses of water per day (in addition to whatever other fluids like coffee or juice might be part of the daily regimen), plus another glass for each 15 minutes of exercise, plus 4 additional glasses on hot days with outdoor activity. That's a lot of intake, and it creates a lot of output, and with a shrinking bladder capacity, frequent breaks are necessary.

I'm not typically a germophobe, but airliner bathrooms really gross me out, as they do most everyone I know. The 6-year-old boy in 15b surely doesn't have the best aim to begin with, so throw in a little turbulence and you've got a situation that's less than ideal for any subsequent passenger. Ick and shudder.

And in a 172, that's an expensive potty break.

So you see where I'm going here. Just bitching about the growing discomforts of flying whilst preggers. I'd guess that it's just as bad for driving nowadays, too, but haven't tested it. Discomforts of traveling.

On another note, United gets mixed reviews from this trip. Our layover was at Chicago O'Hare, and the landings there both on the trip out and coming back were really soft and smooth, so pats on the back for those pilots. On the ORD-YYC leg, they announced that ATC would be tuned in on channel 9 in the armrest audio. That was fun, listening to the busy stuff going on at ORD and the calls in transit. (Note to self: what is "metering?" Some kind of departure load-balancing service?) Sometime at cruise altitude, the captain came on and advised us that he'd be "giving a dissertation" if anyone wanted to listen in on channel 9. He was amusing and talked for probably 20 minutes or so about the FO's experience, his experience, the history of the Boeing 737 (such as we were on), fuel ferrying and consumption/performance trade-offs in a time of high prices, etc. He was pretty cool and sounded very friendly.

Other United issues, though, were unusual and unpolished to me. For instance, during the pre-taxi safety instructions, it appears to be United policy to turn the cabin speakers down way low and to select the crew member with the worst diction and recitation skills to do the announcement. The phrasing of the announcements was bad, too; they seem to have accepted the first draft. The one that seemed very odd to me was the prepare-for-landing announcement: stow carry-ons, tray tables and seat backs in their full upright and locked position, seat belts fastened, and "in the case of an emergency after landing, leave all carry-ons behind"... They had already emphasized that in the case of any emergency all carry-ons should be left behind, so why repeat it for landings? Do they have a history of landing problems? Are they just trying to give the aviophobes a little nudge in the last-minute freak-out direction?

Ok, enough blathering for now, back to work! I'll post a few pics from the trip soon, and promise to be more positive! End communication.

Word!

2007-06-04T12:19:00.001-04:00

Indeed!

Sleek, but suspicious

2007-05-11T10:40:00.000-04:00

I found one of these in the garage this morning. At least, I think it's one of these.

I was pulling out of the garage and saw it peeking its head out. I put the Jeep in park and bounded out to get a closer look -- snakes don't bother me in the least, and this guy looked pretty big and cool. But as I got closer, this new risk-minimizing reflex kicked in: Being preggers, how close is safe to a snake if I don't know whether its venomous? That was kind of a strange wall to hit.

Well, shoot, at least I had the camera in the car. I'll post one of my pictures later, but here's what the guy looks like. I'd estimate that it was between three and four feet long, but it's pretty hard to tell when you can't grab him and stretch him out! Husband thought from the pic I showed him on the camera that he was at least four feet. (Image from the Virginia Department of Game & Inland Fisheries.)

We have lots of lizards around the house, and occasionally they'll hang out in the garage. We've had the good fortune to find nests of baby snakes in the backyard when mulching, and just transplant them farther back in the woods off the back of the property. This is the first time I've seen a snake in the garage. And with a snake this big, I worry about the bunnies living under the porch, adjacent to the garage!

Ah ha ha ha

2007-05-10T14:07:00.000-04:00

One of the non-aviation blogs I really enjoy is Scott Adams' Dilbert Blog. His daily posts are always entertaining, even the political ones or the ones that fundamentally are just stupid.

I'd guess that by using today's post as a metric, we're uncool and all awesomeness must be questioned.

It's crummy anyway...

2007-05-03T11:14:00.000-04:00

We've been cursed/blessed with some stunningly gorgeous days here recently, and yet Husband and I haven't gotten up to fly. Now, we can't even get off the ground if we wanted to!

Her Royal Majesty and the President of the United States are gracing our lil' ol' town for the 400th anniversary celebration at Jamestown this weekend and next weekend. That gray circle around JGG -- our homebase -- is a TFR that lasts through tomorrow sometime and that covers pretty much all of Williamsburg (Colonial and contemporary), and the one just southwest of the airport is right over Jamestown Island. Overflying the island is standard procedure for entering right traffic for 13 down here, and frequently for left 31 traffic as well.

Luckily the weather is really crummy today (even if it does still qualify as VFR), so it's easy to not be mad about not being allowed to fly.

The Good, The Bad, and The (Plane) Weird

2007-04-28T14:16:00.000-04:00

The Good
In my brief time as a pilot, student and otherwise, I've had one flight that really comes to mind as "ideal." It could also be that whole temporal relevance thing -- It was one week ago today! [Read about it in more detail and see pictures here.]

It was a really great flight. The air was mostly smooth, the visibility was good, I had a good landing at a new airport, and everything went right. An easy, fun, peaceful VFR day flight.

The reason for the flight was ideal, too. To celebrate Husband's birthday, we were taking a day trip to a new destination for our first real $100 hamburger run. Good food, good flight conditions, good company, .... Could it get any better?

The Bad
So what's the opposite of that good day? Oh, dear, hands down -- the solo. I don't even want to rehash it to summarize.

The (Plane) Weird
I don't have much first-hand experience with weird things yet, so here are a few flying-related oddball items out there in internetland:
Old airplane designs
Strange aircraft designs, I'm especially confused by the Blohm und Voss BV 141.
Brave helicopter pilot
Airplane coffin

Well, that explains it...

2007-04-26T10:27:00.000-04:00

The Leesburg FSS had some problems last weekend.

When we went up the DelMarVa peninsula for Husband's birthday trip on Saturday, I had used the AOPA RTFP to file a VFR flight plan. At 10:14 am ET I called Leesburg Radio from ~2000' 2 nm north of JGG and opened the flight plan. When we got to GED, I called 1-800-WX-BRIEF to close it, and was on hold for 8 1/2 minutes.

It was the first time I had ever waited more than 2 rings for an answer. When that answer came, it was an automated (Lockheed) system instead of a person, also a first. Then the long hold time as I was assured that my call was important to them and that they were experiencing higher than usual call volume.

And I just figured the skies were crowded on such a gorgeous day!