Full Throttle

I am back from Oshkosh, one of the greatest adventures yet in my life thus far!! :)  I hope to have a write up on that, and Yorktown for that matter, posted in the near future.

For now, I had to mention just a few things that are in motion. If I ever thought that my fun would end after this summer, I was completely wrong!

Firstly, I learned so much at the air show and had a blast running around talking to people! I got to talk to a bunch of aerobatic pilots and bumped into one of my fav's while checking out his plane: Greg Koontz. Turns out he has an aerobatic school/bed & breakfast at his house in Alabama. IF I study really hard and get my license by November, I could be spending Thanksgiving being thankful for aerobatics! It's not free by any means, but still an amazing experience! Just means I have to start studying now and harder than I ever did before.

Want to know the strangest thing? I went back to look at pictures I took from my second airshow; my first time seeing him perform. Dated June 2011. My description underneath a picture of his plane read:

        "Greg Koontz's plane. Also flew in the show. Absolutely breath taking. If I ever become an aerobatic pilot, it'll be because of him. Have video of him too."

I only meant at the time that he might inspire me to do so in the future. Had no idea at the time how literal those words might become. If I succeed, then I will quite literally become an aerobatic pilot because of him.

Today at lunch, I tried to tackle calculating density altitude...without a whole lot of luck. But I've got to hang in there - this is one of the main things that propelled me to return to Atlanta. I did not  (and still do not) want to leave Oshkosh.

If that wasn't enough on my plate, once I recover financially, I plan to sign up for the Sparta 5k in the spring. Not really an aviation thing, but quite a big deal and will require lots and lots of training. It's another obstacle mud 5k... apparently one of the hardest.

And then tonight, I found out that one of the required courses (Officer Basic Course) I need for CAP will start Thursday night. I signed up awhile ago because I need it to pass my current level. The waiting list was long, so I put my name in awhile back and just waited. The second one, Squadron Leadership School, will have a session in October that I also need to sign up for.

So in the next few months, both money & time will be tight. If I drop off the face of the planet, that is why. I'd really like to make Oshkosh again next year, but in order to do all of these fantastic things, I need to budget like I've never budgeted before and study like I've never studied before. Then and only then will I reach heights that I've never reached before. :)

Pretty Merry Muffins Fight Cutely

Ugggh, I do not feel well. :/

My ears hurt and I cannot hear well, and my throat hurts on top of it. I just feel run down and achy. I've fallen into a Catch-22: I have no energy so I'm falling behind on the things I need to get done and can't focus enough on the things I need to get done, but if I push myself to get everything done in time, I may just become even sicker. Ugh!

I had a freak-out moment this morning...and I'm not writing what my bad thoughts were, as to not jinx myself. But I calmed down, reminded myself that it's only Tuesday and I still have plenty of time to recover. Engine may be out, but I have altitude on my side and have a little bit of time to see if I can get it restarted. No need to panic yet.

Just read online that garlic oil is good for killing bacteria related to sinus infections and ear pain. Huh. I was craving it like mad last night... Awesome how the body knows what it needs sometimes.

Ok, onwards and upwards! PMMFC - "Pretty Merry Muffins Fight Cutely"!! ;)

Home Stretch - 5 days and counting

Oshkosh is coming up pretty fast. Hard to believe it's this weekend. I'm busily getting everything together, and as always, it seems there's just not enough time.

I finally finished all of the weight and balance questions (all 50!) today at lunch. It's quite a good feeling to finally be done with those! I'm also glad that I feel much more confident about calculating them now, so I'm thankful for all those problems, but it was like wading through mud to get through all of them. One more chapter done!!! I'm almost THERE!!!! Onwards to density altitude!

Thought I was over my sinus infection and finished my antibiotics a few days ago, but my left ear has been hurting really bad tonight...which means another call to the doctor tomorrow. I hate earaches. :/
But I want to feel well on my trip

The cravings to go flying have gotten really bad lately, too. Was so bad the other day, I pretended I was doing touch & go's in my car. I miss it immensely, and it gets so that being up in a plane isn't enough anymore; I have to have my hands on the wheel.

I'm going to try and do a few more things before bed to get ready for this weekend and have an early night. Why does pain in your ear make you feel icky all over? Blah. :(

Stress!! 10 days and counting...

Stress doesn't even describe what I'm going through right now. Since Monday, time has flown by at warp speed. Now, don't get me wrong, I do want time to go fast because I cannot wait... but at the same time, I just have soo much that I need to do to get ready and to finish up at work before I leave that it's a bit stressful at the same time.

Stressful, yes, ... but gonna be worth it! :)  Just need to hold it together between now and then. I'm sooo tired! I stopped counting down because it was making the time go faster and then I was surprised to find out we were 10 days as of today. I've never done anything like this before and I'm a little nervous. There's sooo much planning involved! I had no idea just how much it took.

Had some last minute changes - looks like I'm driving up and renting a car. I thought about investing in a GPS, but my boss was nice enough to offer a spare one he had. On the plus side, I'll have enough room to bring my folding chair and have definite transport to Madison on Saturday. :)  Not sure if I'll feel much like driving 2 hours to Madison at that point, but I'll be THAT close!!! I can't miss it. But I know in any case, I'll be returning by early evening, I hear that a lot of planes will be landing at that point and how cool would it be to eat dinner while watching them land??

Just looked at the route on google maps and thought once again how I must be crazy. Normal people don't do things like this. Then again, ... normal people don't experience this kind of awesomeness either. ;)

Ok, back to work!

T-Minus 2 weeks and Counting...

My update about the USS Yorktown trip is coming along. I'm halfway through. Just don't have a lot of time these days and not a lot of time to update. Soon, I promise.

Oshkosh preparations are coming along nicely. Found a master list of events online while looking for a map and it even allowed me to same the events I wanted to attend in my own itinerary. I have all 6 days planned! My aerobatic plane pen pal suggested that I take it easy because people get burned out easy, and I took his advice for Monday. By Tuesday, I had double booked myself a few times. By Thursday, I had 8 different things I wanted to see at once (I have since narrowed it down to 4).

Merlin has it completely wrong about how air shows don't further one towards their goal of wanting to fly! I'm going to learn soooooooo much at this air show!! Classes on how to prepare for the check-ride, survival seminars, forums on how to get good landings and the dangers of hypoxia. Plus, discussions with REAL Tuskeegee Airmen and WASPs!!!! And Sean D. Tucker will be preforming there PLUS has a forum later in the week about aerobatic flying!!!!!!!!!! <3 <3 <3

On Tuesday, there's a forum with Dick Rutan, who flew the Voyager around the world without stopping and without refueling in 1986. It broke lots of records and no one has been able to break them since. That's sounds sooooo neat to hear him talk about that!!! But this is where my first scheduling conflict occurs. At the EXACT same time, there's ANOTHER forum about an F-4 pilot and MiG 21 pilot who were fighting one another in the sky during a war. The F-4 pilot shoots down the MiG 21. 20+ some years later, they meet again and become friends. They wrote a book together about their experiences and will be there talking about it (with the planes!!!!!), with book signing after. Why you schedule them at the same time, Airventure???

SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!! TWO WEEKS FROM TOMORROW!!!!!!!!! Two weeks from TODAY I get to see Madison where I was born! It just occurred to me today that this was like summer camp!!! heheheh Wheeeeeeeeeeee!!!

Another thing also occurred to me today. I've been wanting to do the Aviation Challenge in Huntsville and thought that maybe one day when I had oodles and oodles of money, I would because it costs about $500 to go. I'm going to easily exceed that for this trip... so why not? :)   Maybe that'll be my "summer camp" next year.

Oshkosh planning dinner meeting tomorrow night with two people I'm going up with. More packing, more cleaning, more studying. I've really got to focus at work this week - I'm overly excited and still need to somehow squeeze 3 weeks of work (plus moving the kiddies over to new dorms) into two weeks.

Btw, I have a pilot call sign now - Squee. No..that's actually my name: "Squee". Wasn't too crazy about it at first, but it's grown on me. I have a sign above my desk at work with a chibi Darth Vader eating chocolate chip cookies and says "Do not underestimate the power of the Squee". (Btw, I have a "Squee" t-shirt on its way and I'm totally wearing it to Oshkosh!)

Okay, upwards and onwards! I have a lot of work ahead of me in the next two weeks. I can't believe it's FINALLY here!!!!!!!! One year ago, I heard about Oshkosh for the first time. I had no idea there could be such a thing. I listened to the ATC communications at my desk at work with absolute raging jealousy and asked my boss for this time off a year in advance so I could go the following year (this year!). I had no idea how I would do it, as I've never done a trip like this before. All I knew was that asking for the time off was the first step. So step by step, I planned and I researched to make it all come together and now it is here. Perhaps one of the greatest adventures in my life thus far... and it's happening in TWO WEEKS!!!

"Nothing's difficult; everything's a challenge!
Through adversity to the stars,
from the last plane to the last bullet,
to the last minute, to the last man,
We fight! We Fight! We FIGHT!!!"

SAREX

Just came back from my first CAP SAREX (Search and Rescue Exercise)! This one was a fairly big deal because of the 100+ degree temperatures. We all know how (not) well I fair in excursions which involve flying all day, especially in hot temps. Not to mention, I didn't eat a real meal except for dinner all day. Result?

Total of 5 flights (including trips there and back and to pick up/drop off a person): Stayed adequetely hydrated, no migraines: managed to eat snacks throughout the day to keep my stomach satisfied and no sunburn. FTW!

I'll admit I've been concerned because I have yet to fair well during each exhausting activity involving CAP or all day air shows thus far. I worried about how I was going to survive 7 days at Oshkosh. Now I'm not going to get all cocky and think I'm immune now, but I think I definitely have a better handle on things.

As for the SAREX, I'm not sure how much I can disclose, but since we were running everything like it was an actual emergency, I'm going to practice by not saying very much about the mission part of it.

The bad: I sat around most of the morning and was bored out of my mind. It could have been more organized. To relieve my boredom, I bounce around and pestered people to help them. Finally, I got assigned on a flight, but it was only one. Aaaaaaand, they kept calling me "Cadet" during the flight. lol grrr.

The good: The crew I went with was with two new guys from another CAP group. We had a pretty good flight and they said I was "awesome"! Squee!!! I always like flying with new people. Apparently, I totally rawked as Mission Scanner because I called out all the times to them (we need to record times when we do things, like "engine start" and "wheels up"). A good mission flight crew will then transmit those to the communications team on the ground, which we didn't do completely. I call out the times to the Mission Observer, who is suppose to call the ground communications team and tell them. Also, I used the radios a bit and got to communicate with the mission base for the first time! Not to mention in that super-confident-in-charge type voice. I love that voice, wish I could summon it outside of a plane. As much as I like squeaking, I love that airplane radio voice. It still shocks me a little. I love the reaction I get from other people like, "Where the hell did that come from?". It's pretty cool actually.

Anyways, also - I may have gotten my pilot callsign!!! I'm keeping it secret for now to see just how well it fits... also, your CFI is suppose to give it to you... and I didn't get it from Merlin. I think it's PERFECT though! It's perfectly balanced between cutsey-feminine and a little bit badass at the same time. It ties in where I was born and also ties in an aspect of my personality when it comes to flying. lol One of my friends said my callsign should be "Squee".

Had dinner with Merlin tonight and he gave me a rare compliment. You have to understand, he doesn't give compliments AT ALL and usually, he is very very hard on me. Even if I do a good job, he's harping on me about the things I could have done better. Anyways, he told me he said I work harder than anyone else and that's why he gives me so much attention. I put in the effort, I write things down, I study, I ask questions and no one else does that. I do it because I love it. I crave flying more than anything else and going long stretches without it almost absolutely kills me. Would I much rather be in the air, soaring between the clouds than sitting at home with my head stuck in a book? You betcha, in a heartbeat. However, even though my heart and soul don't quite understand why I must remain grounded at this point in time, my head understands that I must learn all of this first and it will make me into a better pilot. And that's how I can push myself to continue watching the cheesy videos and press on through the textbooks.  His comment really shocked me because as I said, he's *always* harping on me about things I could have done better. Nothing I do or have done has ever seemed good enough. I think I mentioned about the time he said I needed to studying more and I burst into tears when I got home because I didn't know how I could possibly study anymore than I already was. Know what he said tonight? He said he was so hard on me because...ugh and I forget the exact phrasing he used because my brain is mush and I'm tired, but... because I'm bound for something great or because I'm much more capable than I think, something along those lines.

Anyways, so long day SAREXing. Been up since 0600 and am sweaty and nasty. I know I still need to update about the USS Yorktown and I will tomorrow, when I'm keeping my butt inside during 100+ degree temps again.

I need to lock down this confidence and assertiveness... and keep it there. As much as I like shocking people with it, I much prefer to be this way over the shy, baby-pilot Heather.

Edit: I think I forgot to mention quite possibly THE most important news of the day: I am officially a CAP Mission Scanner! But my work is only beginning - Upwards and onwards to Mission Observer next! ;)

25 days! :)

Tonight, I've officially started packing for Oshkosh. I've just gotten my tent, too, so later in the week when I can maybe sacrifice a little sleep, I'm going to "camp" in my living room with my dog. Have to make sure I know how to put together my tent before I go. ;)

Yorktown was awesome. Standby for an update and pictures maybe tomorrow (hopefully). Busily studying, getting ready for my next big aviation adventure and recovering from my last one. Also, SAREX (Search & Rescue Exercise) with CAP this Saturday. I finally get to have BDU's (Battle Dress  Uniform)!!!

That's all for now. Have to finish this chapter in the textbook tonight before bed. Up, up and AWAY!