My Oshkosh t-shirt and hat came in the mail todayyyyyyy!! The package also came with a free airplane calendar! Squee!! Next step, reserving my camping spot.
USS Yorktown - 2 weeks and 1 day from tomorrow!!!!!!!
Anyways - just studying tonight. Had a long day at work, so am too tired to go to ballet. I opened up the folder with my aviation study videos and let me tell you that it was disheartening to see more lessons on there. :( Merlin added more the other day, but I was almost done with what he gave me before, so it was a little sigh-worthy to see 11 more lessons added.
We had some agents come in from China today at work, so it was my job to ride in the bus with them to the airport. Don't have to ask me twice, lol! Actually my boss came to me and said "Heather, would you mind going to the airport..."
"YES!!!!!! Um.... why?"
He laughed, "You are supposed to find out why first and then agree, but I'd like someone to ride with the agents back to the airport just to talk with them". haha Have we met? You say "airport" and I say "YES!!".
Anyways, there weren't many approaches and departures while I was there. Although one giant jet flew over the bus though and was absolutely amazing. Also, at the airport, they had a mini display of old model warbirds. I got an A.D.D. moment and walked off to glance at them (AFTER the agents left. I'm not that bad...). My boss drove down to pick me up to take me back to school and laughed when I started wayward walking towards the models. He said we could stop for a moment to look at them. There was a beautiful model Cosair in there. I wonder what purpose the bend in their wings serves...?
I had a dream a few nights ago that I came upon my older self building an airplane in a garage or a hanger. She let me help her with the plane and was drilling me on things I was learning in my studies as we worked. I remember being disappointed that she wasn't building a biplane.
Merlin also pointed me towards a neat aviation comic, Chicken Wings, which is pretty funny. Let's just say I can relate to some of the things Chuck does... not too many mind you, as he's a hopeless pilot... but just his aviator attitude. In one, Chuck is asking other people at the airport to go with him to Oshkosh. The mechanic says he'll go if Chuck promises to act like an adult. The next frame shows Chuck asking someone else to go. haha That's sooo me! But I mean, really, what's the point of acting like an adult at an air show? That's no fun! Reminds me of a t-shirt I saw once: "No, I never stopped playing with airplanes".
Anyways, need to be off to study! Have to find more things to ask questions about, just in case tomorrow ends up being another "Heather gets to ask questions" night. ;)
Blue skies forever!
P.S. My name was in a CAP newsletter, under a listing of people who have recently passed the Yeager Exam. Dig it!
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
Cloud bursting!
So that helped alot, and then when I returned home, R2 had messaged me and said she saw my new pic on FB of me landing a plane and said I looked like a pro. That brought me up a bit more.
Btw, this is the picture in question:
*THIS* is what a perfect landing looks like! We were a little high at this point, as you can see the PAPI (little string of 4 lights off to the left of the runway) is 3 white and 1 red. It's okay because just after this picture was taken (Da Vinci managed to snap this pic), they turned to 2 white and 2 red, which is exactly where I wanted to be. Da Vinci also managed to get the instruments in there too and you can see the airspeed. I had to enlarge it to see the numbers better, but it's solidly on 80, which is exactly where I wanted to be! Fantastic picture! One of my new favorites!!
Anyways, THEN my aerobatic pilot pen-pal friend mentioned "flying" and "Atl" in the same sentence on FB! I felt that silly little cloud above my head go POOF! Pretty awesome. I've never had it disappear that quickly.
Later, Merlin called me to check up on me. I had sent him a message asking how to prevent getting so frustrated. I was torn between keeping silent and asking his advice. Could be wrong, but I don't think he tolerates weakness in others well and it's a pride thing on my end, so I didn't want to admit I had a problem. But on the other hand, maybe just maybe he knew about such frustrations and could help me handle it better next time. I really hate feeling so darn frustrated... and I'm sure people around me don't much care for it either. I get rather cranky to say the least. haha
So he called and wondered what on Earth I was so frustrated about. I told him about the 3 goals I had and said how it's unbelievably frustrating to be at where I was and have to go allllllll the way back to the beginning. He doesn't yet believe I was where I say I was, but he will; it'll come back, I know it will. He said my goals were good, but it was stupid not to tell him what they were ahead of time. I realized that before he had called. Maybe if I had told him, then he could have helped me to reach them. I kept them to myself because, again, a pride thing. I wanted to do this myself. "We're on the same side", he said.
I guess maybe I still have lingering trust issues because of Bambi and Tyson? I dunno... and in any case, I need to let all of that crap go. All of that took me much, much further down than I ever realized. I nearly let it destroy me and my dream. Considering aviation is easily the love of my life, I need to guard it more closely to my heart than that. I can never, ever let it go like that again, never ever. Or let someone else tear me down like that ever again.
But his talk helped. He said the instructor/student relationship was kind of like a psychiatrist/patient relationship. haha For sure, because I definitely lost my mind once I jumped down that aviation rabbit hole. Merlin pointed out that he was exactly where I am now. Which is true... to an extent, but circumstances are different a little. Although isn't that how it always is? Someone tells you that they know how you feel and you doubt it, thinking you are alone in your journey.
I asked if maybe I had too many goals, and he said yes and no. Yes, because I need to focus on one aspect and get it down cold. No, because it's good to have goals in mind each flight and mine weren't too lofty. (haha lofty goals - all pilots should have lofty goals)
No studying tonight because I had to clean up for the pet sitter. I think it went well, at least I hope it did. I can't believe the Yorktown trip is in 2 weeks and 3 days!!!!!!!! I'MSOEXCITED!!! I mentioned how some of the other CAP members were telling me that it's supposedly haunted, right? So I was popping around like a jackrabbit, telling Da Vinci all excitedly while Merlin was listening off at the side. He shakes his head and says that it's not really haunted; people just tell you that to get more visitors. Silly Merlin - he STILL doesn't understand why this trip is soooo exciting and important to me. He says it takes too much time away from my studying and my goal to become a pilot because it doesn't really contribute anything to it. True, but it's fun and it's an amazing experience!!
Also, I printed out a copy of the picture I posted above and posted it in my office. I tell the story behind the picture to everyone who comes in. It also neat because I get to teach them a little bit as I'm doing so. It's amazing how many people don't know about the PAPI system!!! (lol but then again... neither did I before all this craziness started) So I tell them about how the lights tell me if I'm too high, too low or whatever. Everyone thinks that's pretty cool. One of my co-workers said "So someone sits up in the tower and flashes different lights as you come down?". lol noooooo (although I thought that too at first). Then I was showing them the instruments and how I could tell from the picture about how high I was and what speed we were flying. One of my fellow teachers said "Wow, do you really have to watch all of those instruments?? I don't know how you do that, but I know I couldn't watch 3 at once!!". lol Noooo, try again, there's a lot more than 3. So I showed him a full picture online of the instruments in the DA-40 G1000 and it just blew his mind!
Anyways, I need to get to sleep soon. I bought my ticket for Oshkosh and I look at it about once per day, as though it was Charlie's golden ticket or something. I'm getting a hat and t-shirt too. Know the little kids that wearing superhero costumes around months after Halloween and refuse to take them off? Yeah... that's probably going to be me with the Oshkosh hat and t-shirt. lol And you think I'm kidding... ;)
Sunday, June 3, 2012
Rain cloud of frustration
I really need to work on controlling my adrenaline. After an attempt at calming myself down last night before bed and silently praying that I wouldn't wake up at 5:45, I woke up at 4:45 and 6:45 instead (which just might be worse).
Not only does such high adrenaline rushes mess with your sleep cycles, but also results in me either being over the moon with happiness after a flight or slipping down into a brooding cloud of frustration. I am happy to report that I'm only mildly in a bad mood after today's flight. Gonna have to go out and do something so that doesn't erupt into a worse mood.
It wasn't really a bad day at all. NONE of the days where I'm grumpy after a flight were really, truly bad flights. Mainly, I'm not where I want to be nor am where I used to be and that seems to frustrate me the most.
I had three secret goals before today's flight, which would hopefully result in a 4th if I managed to complete all of them: 1) Handle the radios. Didn't happen. 2) Control altitude better because I always have a problem drifting up or down - .5 because I did get better at it, but didn't maintain it perfectly 3) perfect landing - done! Textbook perfect anyways... not mythologically perfect.
The goal was to complete all three of those which would make Merlin exclaim "good job!" or "whoa, how did you do that?". Which he DID say "good job" on the landing...
Grr... writing about this is only making me more frustrated! If anything, it taught me that I need to review more... MUCH more. I'm already studying at maximum and I'm not sure how I could possibly study any more. One possibility I was looking into was studying more efficiently if I couldn't study more. Cuz I'll admit it - sometimes I run FB while studying or have A.D.D. moments where I pop between book reading, video watching and test taking. Maybe if I shut off FB completely and zoned in on one medium at a time, it would help.
One of the things I memorized before I left was the engine-out emergency procedure before I left:
A - airpeed, pitch nose up and glide at 70 kts
B - best field nearby to land in
C - checklist - PMMFC: fuel primer, magnetos, mixture, fuel selector and carb heat
D - declare emergency, 7700 on transponder
E - egress, prepare for crash landing
Didn't get to use it though. And stupid radios were hurting my ears with static and the other pilots in the area talking over one another (it screeches when they do that. Ow!)
Maybe I shouldn't have so many goals ahead of time, so if I don't reach them, then I won't be disappointed after... Maybe just be better than the last time up and have one goal? I don't know...
Anyways, like I said - it was a good day. We took off this morning and Da Vinci was with me. It was my first time flying with a friend, so I was a bit nervously excited. I went through the pre-flight with her (and realized after a few things I forgot - oops!), but Merlin had already completed the pre-flight before we arrived. It was pretty fun to show her things and point out stuff. Merlin had to correct me a little, but I think I did pretty well over all. We got into the plane and she flew first. I sat in the back and watched everything he did.
We landed at a non-towered airport (with rocking chairs out front), loved on a dog that was inside the FBO, talked to a few people briefly, saw the planes outside and went back. Then we headed back and I flew. The airport we landed at was up in the mountains, so we got to go pretty high altitude-wise and weather wasn't all that great, but since Merlin has an IFR rating, we were able to go. So both of those were pretty neat. We only went up once to 5,000ft when I was at the flight school.
The G1000 is just spastic though! I was in the DA20 so much that I still have the analog instruments imprinted in my head. When you ask me to name the 6 pack of instruments, I close my eyes and picture the DA-20. It's still a little disorienting in the DA-40 still. At least I did know them a little bit better than the first time, so that's good I guess.
We did try to see how far we could glide on the way back and we were at 6,500ft to start with, so we glided for a looooong time. Merlin was going to calculate it to see just how far it was. Just proves that if you are high enough up and your engine quits, that it's nothing to panic about and you can glide for quite awhile before needing to take action.
Was thinking of going out for a run to burn some of this bad mood off, but another spike in adrenaline just might amplify my grumpiness. I think I may opt for a nap instead. Naps cancel out bad moods, right?
Not only does such high adrenaline rushes mess with your sleep cycles, but also results in me either being over the moon with happiness after a flight or slipping down into a brooding cloud of frustration. I am happy to report that I'm only mildly in a bad mood after today's flight. Gonna have to go out and do something so that doesn't erupt into a worse mood.
It wasn't really a bad day at all. NONE of the days where I'm grumpy after a flight were really, truly bad flights. Mainly, I'm not where I want to be nor am where I used to be and that seems to frustrate me the most.
I had three secret goals before today's flight, which would hopefully result in a 4th if I managed to complete all of them: 1) Handle the radios. Didn't happen. 2) Control altitude better because I always have a problem drifting up or down - .5 because I did get better at it, but didn't maintain it perfectly 3) perfect landing - done! Textbook perfect anyways... not mythologically perfect.
The goal was to complete all three of those which would make Merlin exclaim "good job!" or "whoa, how did you do that?". Which he DID say "good job" on the landing...
Grr... writing about this is only making me more frustrated! If anything, it taught me that I need to review more... MUCH more. I'm already studying at maximum and I'm not sure how I could possibly study any more. One possibility I was looking into was studying more efficiently if I couldn't study more. Cuz I'll admit it - sometimes I run FB while studying or have A.D.D. moments where I pop between book reading, video watching and test taking. Maybe if I shut off FB completely and zoned in on one medium at a time, it would help.
One of the things I memorized before I left was the engine-out emergency procedure before I left:
A - airpeed, pitch nose up and glide at 70 kts
B - best field nearby to land in
C - checklist - PMMFC: fuel primer, magnetos, mixture, fuel selector and carb heat
D - declare emergency, 7700 on transponder
E - egress, prepare for crash landing
Didn't get to use it though. And stupid radios were hurting my ears with static and the other pilots in the area talking over one another (it screeches when they do that. Ow!)
Maybe I shouldn't have so many goals ahead of time, so if I don't reach them, then I won't be disappointed after... Maybe just be better than the last time up and have one goal? I don't know...
Anyways, like I said - it was a good day. We took off this morning and Da Vinci was with me. It was my first time flying with a friend, so I was a bit nervously excited. I went through the pre-flight with her (and realized after a few things I forgot - oops!), but Merlin had already completed the pre-flight before we arrived. It was pretty fun to show her things and point out stuff. Merlin had to correct me a little, but I think I did pretty well over all. We got into the plane and she flew first. I sat in the back and watched everything he did.
We landed at a non-towered airport (with rocking chairs out front), loved on a dog that was inside the FBO, talked to a few people briefly, saw the planes outside and went back. Then we headed back and I flew. The airport we landed at was up in the mountains, so we got to go pretty high altitude-wise and weather wasn't all that great, but since Merlin has an IFR rating, we were able to go. So both of those were pretty neat. We only went up once to 5,000ft when I was at the flight school.
The G1000 is just spastic though! I was in the DA20 so much that I still have the analog instruments imprinted in my head. When you ask me to name the 6 pack of instruments, I close my eyes and picture the DA-20. It's still a little disorienting in the DA-40 still. At least I did know them a little bit better than the first time, so that's good I guess.
We did try to see how far we could glide on the way back and we were at 6,500ft to start with, so we glided for a looooong time. Merlin was going to calculate it to see just how far it was. Just proves that if you are high enough up and your engine quits, that it's nothing to panic about and you can glide for quite awhile before needing to take action.
Was thinking of going out for a run to burn some of this bad mood off, but another spike in adrenaline just might amplify my grumpiness. I think I may opt for a nap instead. Naps cancel out bad moods, right?
Friday, June 1, 2012
The pilot tube
I studied over my lunch break today, as I often do. I was trying to hurry to finish the page I was on because my lunch was over and we had a meeting right after. So I sped up my reading, finished the page, couldn't understand what I had just read and went back to read it again. Now I was late for the meeting, so I shut my book, ran into my boss's office and plopped into a chair. Much to my surprise, I was the first one there. He looks over his computer at me and said "You've been sleeping on your break, haven't you?" (which I am known to do, but not this time... and oddly enough, I guess I have the same look from studying as I do after I just wake up? haha)
"Nope, I was studying!"
He always asks why I say that like it's an accomplishment that I was actually NOT sleeping and studying instead. (Because IT IS!)
"Prove it."
So I ran back, got my textbook and brought it to him, "See? Studying."
"Showing me a book doesn't prove you were studying", he says as he opens the book. "What instruments use static pressure?"
I paused and pictured the instruments in front of me. I know the two middle ones - attitude and magnetic heading, and the far left bottom one - turn coordinator, are powered by a gyro so it's the remaining three.
"Airspeed, altitude and vertical speed."
He nods. "What is the only instrument to use both the pilot tube and static pressure?"
I giggled. "First of all, it's PITOT tube! And it's airspeed." Although my moment of glory was short-lived when I mispronounced "barometric" a few moments later. My boss is into computers and thinks he's pretty smart, which he is... but he doesn't like anyone showing him up. Especially me, since I bounce around and act like a goon.
So next he asks, "What's standard barometric pressure?"
"29.92". Easy Peasy.
"What's it in millibars?"
BLANK. Oh crap. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot is that? "You'll need to know this if you want to fly in Europe".
No clue. It's 1013.2 millibars, btw. This was the point where I said "barometeric". LOL He laughed and gave me back the book.
----
Odd geeky fact: Did you know that the blood vessels in a bee's wing act as vortex generators and control lift and drag? Pretty cool...
Anyways, on the agenda for tonight:
1) Cleaning - pet sitter comes in 4 days (yikes!) because USS Yorktown trip is 3 weeks from TODAY!!!!
2) At least finish this section in my book that I was working on during lunch and answer some questions
3) Hope to get in some video watching, too. Merlin's giving me some more videos to watch tomorrow.
Flight with Da Vinci on Sunday!!!!!! WHEEEEEEEE!!! She FREAKED out with happiness when I told her!
"Nope, I was studying!"
He always asks why I say that like it's an accomplishment that I was actually NOT sleeping and studying instead. (Because IT IS!)
"Prove it."
So I ran back, got my textbook and brought it to him, "See? Studying."
"Showing me a book doesn't prove you were studying", he says as he opens the book. "What instruments use static pressure?"
I paused and pictured the instruments in front of me. I know the two middle ones - attitude and magnetic heading, and the far left bottom one - turn coordinator, are powered by a gyro so it's the remaining three.
"Airspeed, altitude and vertical speed."
He nods. "What is the only instrument to use both the pilot tube and static pressure?"
I giggled. "First of all, it's PITOT tube! And it's airspeed." Although my moment of glory was short-lived when I mispronounced "barometric" a few moments later. My boss is into computers and thinks he's pretty smart, which he is... but he doesn't like anyone showing him up. Especially me, since I bounce around and act like a goon.
So next he asks, "What's standard barometric pressure?"
"29.92". Easy Peasy.
"What's it in millibars?"
BLANK. Oh crap. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot is that? "You'll need to know this if you want to fly in Europe".
No clue. It's 1013.2 millibars, btw. This was the point where I said "barometeric". LOL He laughed and gave me back the book.
----
Odd geeky fact: Did you know that the blood vessels in a bee's wing act as vortex generators and control lift and drag? Pretty cool...
Anyways, on the agenda for tonight:
1) Cleaning - pet sitter comes in 4 days (yikes!) because USS Yorktown trip is 3 weeks from TODAY!!!!
2) At least finish this section in my book that I was working on during lunch and answer some questions
3) Hope to get in some video watching, too. Merlin's giving me some more videos to watch tomorrow.
Flight with Da Vinci on Sunday!!!!!! WHEEEEEEEE!!! She FREAKED out with happiness when I told her!
Thursday, May 31, 2012
Dandelion picking!!
So possible flight either tomorrow after work or this weekend!!! (Flight = dandelion picking) Just need to sign off on being able to use the radios and I'M DONE WITH SCANNER TRAINING!!!!!!! WHOOP, WHOOP!!!
I'm soo, soo very excited!! Studying continues to be addictive and all of my activities with CAP just continue to energize me. It has probably been the biggest single resource to help me in this whole journey. And I know I'm a total aviation geek (surprised? haha I am!), but I'm just so excited by all the field trips, uniforms, titles, having a network of piloty people to talk to, mission training, and aviation education.
Tonight we had another "let Heather ask questions" night because there were only 4 seniors there. I quite enjoy these types of meetings. :) Might actually end up spoiling me. haha Merlin said he liked my questions because they were "interesting" and "cool". Squee! - I'm cool. ...Or at least my questions are. haha
We were talking about Oshkosh and he said one of the funny guys in the videos I was watching gives talks there most years. My eyes went wide and I exclaimed, "REALLY???". Omg... would be soooo very AWESOME to see that... along with everything else. Just found out about some International Aerobatic pilots who will be preforming, as well as Sean D. Tucker, who I saw at my first air show (that I remember) at Dobbins and he's one of my favorite aerobatic pilots EVARRRRR. Annnnd, I got called an "airshow groupie" again, although I think Merlin toned it down to "you are such a fan!". hahaha I'm a total fangirl, especially about aviation. And let's face it, I'm a total groupie, too. I own it. It's okay - nothing to be ashamed about. Not like there's anything wrong with being an air show groupie and aviation fan girl. :P
So I'm babbling at the meeting of how I'm excited about the whole camping portion of Oshkosh as well, and how it'll be just nifty to live in a community of other people who love aviation too for a week!!! And Merlin's saying an iffy-type "Well...", but I ignore it and babble on happily about how I'm going to introduce myself to my neighbors and have even more people of whom to ask questions. Merlin and one of the guys we flew with once give a look like "whiskey tango foxtrot? oh sh!t, she just might be insane..." and Merlin laughs & says, "Well... not all people are as patient as I am". LOL
And, and, and USS Yorktown trip is 3 weeks from tomorrow!!!!!!! I'm rooming with a lady I met during my first CAP meeting and I'm so very, very excited!! haha I think I've said that about 3 times in this entry alone! They say the ship is haunted and there are apparently many, many boats you can tour during the day and many, many museums to scope out. I can't wait!!!
Hrmmm, what else? Cuz I KNOW there's more... Flying, Yorktown trip, Heather question meeting... Oshkosh... Huh, I think that might be it. I swore there was more... No studying tonight because I got home, wrote this and I'm a little tired. haha You'd never know it from the hyperness, but I am pretty tired.
Oh, I guess... we had a pizza party tonight at CAP. After the "Heather asks questions" meeting, I went over to have some pizza and got to talk to other people, which is cool. Oh yeah... and Merlin said I could be a 1st Lt. once I passed the written and could teach ground school. *yawwwn* I'm excited about that, I wanted to teach ground school in the first place. It will also help in solidifying all that info into my head.... Ok, I sleepies now... lol I think I just live-blogged an adrenaline crash. Zzzzzz.... planezzzz... hehehe
I'm soo, soo very excited!! Studying continues to be addictive and all of my activities with CAP just continue to energize me. It has probably been the biggest single resource to help me in this whole journey. And I know I'm a total aviation geek (surprised? haha I am!), but I'm just so excited by all the field trips, uniforms, titles, having a network of piloty people to talk to, mission training, and aviation education.
Tonight we had another "let Heather ask questions" night because there were only 4 seniors there. I quite enjoy these types of meetings. :) Might actually end up spoiling me. haha Merlin said he liked my questions because they were "interesting" and "cool". Squee! - I'm cool. ...Or at least my questions are. haha
We were talking about Oshkosh and he said one of the funny guys in the videos I was watching gives talks there most years. My eyes went wide and I exclaimed, "REALLY???". Omg... would be soooo very AWESOME to see that... along with everything else. Just found out about some International Aerobatic pilots who will be preforming, as well as Sean D. Tucker, who I saw at my first air show (that I remember) at Dobbins and he's one of my favorite aerobatic pilots EVARRRRR. Annnnd, I got called an "airshow groupie" again, although I think Merlin toned it down to "you are such a fan!". hahaha I'm a total fangirl, especially about aviation. And let's face it, I'm a total groupie, too. I own it. It's okay - nothing to be ashamed about. Not like there's anything wrong with being an air show groupie and aviation fan girl. :P
So I'm babbling at the meeting of how I'm excited about the whole camping portion of Oshkosh as well, and how it'll be just nifty to live in a community of other people who love aviation too for a week!!! And Merlin's saying an iffy-type "Well...", but I ignore it and babble on happily about how I'm going to introduce myself to my neighbors and have even more people of whom to ask questions. Merlin and one of the guys we flew with once give a look like "whiskey tango foxtrot? oh sh!t, she just might be insane..." and Merlin laughs & says, "Well... not all people are as patient as I am". LOL
And, and, and USS Yorktown trip is 3 weeks from tomorrow!!!!!!! I'm rooming with a lady I met during my first CAP meeting and I'm so very, very excited!! haha I think I've said that about 3 times in this entry alone! They say the ship is haunted and there are apparently many, many boats you can tour during the day and many, many museums to scope out. I can't wait!!!
Hrmmm, what else? Cuz I KNOW there's more... Flying, Yorktown trip, Heather question meeting... Oshkosh... Huh, I think that might be it. I swore there was more... No studying tonight because I got home, wrote this and I'm a little tired. haha You'd never know it from the hyperness, but I am pretty tired.
Oh, I guess... we had a pizza party tonight at CAP. After the "Heather asks questions" meeting, I went over to have some pizza and got to talk to other people, which is cool. Oh yeah... and Merlin said I could be a 1st Lt. once I passed the written and could teach ground school. *yawwwn* I'm excited about that, I wanted to teach ground school in the first place. It will also help in solidifying all that info into my head.... Ok, I sleepies now... lol I think I just live-blogged an adrenaline crash. Zzzzzz.... planezzzz... hehehe
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
"A take off excursion through the weeds"
Best quote ever:
"Staying in the center of the runway is an important key to good take offs. That way you have maximum room on either side to allow for wind gusts, blown tires and so on. It's also embarrassing when you have to pick the dandilions out of your landing gear after a take off excursion through the weeds."
No joke - I just heard this in the training video I was watching and just cracked up! I've listened to it three times already and it never gets less funny. The guy says it so seriously, too, like he's speaking from personal experience!! haha
Anyways... So, yes, more studying tonight. Hopefully finishing up the 7th lesson in the videos!! Although, now that I'm getting closer to the end, I have a sinking suspicion that there are more videos that Merlin didn't give me...
Hoping to do some more work in the textbook tonight, as well. Got a call at work today about the trip to USS Yorktown (squee)! We're leaving 3 wks from Friday at 1745 from Dobbins!!! I can't tell you how excited I am. :)
"Staying in the center of the runway is an important key to good take offs. That way you have maximum room on either side to allow for wind gusts, blown tires and so on. It's also embarrassing when you have to pick the dandilions out of your landing gear after a take off excursion through the weeds."
No joke - I just heard this in the training video I was watching and just cracked up! I've listened to it three times already and it never gets less funny. The guy says it so seriously, too, like he's speaking from personal experience!! haha
Anyways... So, yes, more studying tonight. Hopefully finishing up the 7th lesson in the videos!! Although, now that I'm getting closer to the end, I have a sinking suspicion that there are more videos that Merlin didn't give me...
Hoping to do some more work in the textbook tonight, as well. Got a call at work today about the trip to USS Yorktown (squee)! We're leaving 3 wks from Friday at 1745 from Dobbins!!! I can't tell you how excited I am. :)
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Happy Anniversary!
One year ago today, I took my very first flight lesson. It's kind of a bittersweet anniversary because although I am happy to celebrate this milestone, I had hoped to be much further along than I currently am. One year and still no solo, still no license.
My mom says this isn't a race and I've had a lot happen that was out of my control. It still stings a little though. Merlin would say I've got "get-there-itis" and need not rush things. I don't doubt I'll get there eventually. I just wish it was sooner, rather than later.
So one year ago today, huh...? Hard to believe I am where I am, considering this was only a "passing interest". haha My life's changed so much since then. I didn't know how much I loved aviation then... or at least I didn't think I did at the time. I think it was just the lack of confidence holding that back.
I remember being interested, but thinking I could walk away and be okay. I remember thinking I'd always look to the sky, wondering "what if?", but couldn't justify spending $10,000 on something I was only mildly interested in. I went home and either dreamt that night or the next of a tiny plane following behind me, playfully nudging me in the bottom like a dog would (no prop, thank god! haha) and saying "Come play with me, Heather, come play!". When I responded that I'd like to, but I was too scared, the plane laughed and said "Scared of what? I don't fall, I FLY!! Come play, Heather".
In the days that followed, I wasn't able to get it out of my brain. Aviation was the first thing I thought about when I woke up in the morning and the last thing I thought about before going to sleep at night. And apparently, it was even there in my dreams...
I kept saying I was undecided, but I started doing things to begin my aerospace education. Baloo, my first instructor, suggested I go visit other flight schools. I laughed, saying that I wasn't even sure that I wanted to do this yet. "Just in case", he said. So I sat down, thought up some questions and went. He and some others said I would have never gone if I wasn't sure. I went for my aviation medical exam, still saying "just in case". I honestly wasn't even sure if I'd pass it, considering my medical history. When I did, I was on top of the moon! I figured if I didn't pass, then that'd be a sign I shouldn't be doing this.
I went to sleep one night, asking out loud if I should really do this. A word appeared in one of my dreams that night and I held onto it until morning. As I started to wake up, the word bounced around in my head. At first I thought it was gibberish, but it persisted and I thought there must be a reason why it was sticking around. I kept repeating it. No, it wasn't gibberish - it was another language. Italian maybe? I was still waking up, but had more clarity. I KNEW I had heard this word before. The word intensified in my brain until I said it out loud. I finally woke up completely, confused by why this word was hanging around and had no clue to what it meant. Japanese! It was a Japanese word! And maybe it was sticking around because this was an answer to my question I had asked before I went to sleep. I ran to the computer to look it up. The first thing that popped up was "the favorite word of confident people". My heart leaped and I smiled, thinking this very well could be the answer I was looking for so desperately. I finally found the definition and sat in my chair, stunned.
My mom says this isn't a race and I've had a lot happen that was out of my control. It still stings a little though. Merlin would say I've got "get-there-itis" and need not rush things. I don't doubt I'll get there eventually. I just wish it was sooner, rather than later.
So one year ago today, huh...? Hard to believe I am where I am, considering this was only a "passing interest". haha My life's changed so much since then. I didn't know how much I loved aviation then... or at least I didn't think I did at the time. I think it was just the lack of confidence holding that back.
I remember being interested, but thinking I could walk away and be okay. I remember thinking I'd always look to the sky, wondering "what if?", but couldn't justify spending $10,000 on something I was only mildly interested in. I went home and either dreamt that night or the next of a tiny plane following behind me, playfully nudging me in the bottom like a dog would (no prop, thank god! haha) and saying "Come play with me, Heather, come play!". When I responded that I'd like to, but I was too scared, the plane laughed and said "Scared of what? I don't fall, I FLY!! Come play, Heather".
In the days that followed, I wasn't able to get it out of my brain. Aviation was the first thing I thought about when I woke up in the morning and the last thing I thought about before going to sleep at night. And apparently, it was even there in my dreams...
I kept saying I was undecided, but I started doing things to begin my aerospace education. Baloo, my first instructor, suggested I go visit other flight schools. I laughed, saying that I wasn't even sure that I wanted to do this yet. "Just in case", he said. So I sat down, thought up some questions and went. He and some others said I would have never gone if I wasn't sure. I went for my aviation medical exam, still saying "just in case". I honestly wasn't even sure if I'd pass it, considering my medical history. When I did, I was on top of the moon! I figured if I didn't pass, then that'd be a sign I shouldn't be doing this.
I went to sleep one night, asking out loud if I should really do this. A word appeared in one of my dreams that night and I held onto it until morning. As I started to wake up, the word bounced around in my head. At first I thought it was gibberish, but it persisted and I thought there must be a reason why it was sticking around. I kept repeating it. No, it wasn't gibberish - it was another language. Italian maybe? I was still waking up, but had more clarity. I KNEW I had heard this word before. The word intensified in my brain until I said it out loud. I finally woke up completely, confused by why this word was hanging around and had no clue to what it meant. Japanese! It was a Japanese word! And maybe it was sticking around because this was an answer to my question I had asked before I went to sleep. I ran to the computer to look it up. The first thing that popped up was "the favorite word of confident people". My heart leaped and I smiled, thinking this very well could be the answer I was looking for so desperately. I finally found the definition and sat in my chair, stunned.
"Mochiron - of course"
Aviation has caused something inside of me to wake up that I never knew existed before. It's almost magical. One friend told me that it makes every cell in my body come alive - and it does, it really does. My pilot buddies think I'm really unusual in my interest, and to this day, I still don't understand why it's so unusual. In fact, I think it's kind of unusual that they don't have the same enthusiasm.
It's still kind of odd to me about how drastically my life has changed in such a short time. One year ago, I was thinking: "Me? Fly a plane?? Maybe...". One year previously, it wasn't even on the radar and would have been closer to "There's no way I could ever fly a plane". Now my line of thinking is "Go flying? When???". It's so weird... yet at the same time, it's so weird to think there was a time where aviation didn't even have a place in my life.
Anyways, I could write about aviation all day. I guess in thinking back, I've realized that even though I'm not currently where I want to be, I have still come a long way. I guess that's still something worth celebrating. ;)
For now, I need to get back studying so I can go flying sooner rather than later. On the agenda for tonight: finishing up the lesson 6 videos! Also, I need to do a bit of cleaning for the pet sitter because the C-17/USS Yorktown trip is 3.5 weeks from tomorrow!!!
Regardless of where I'm supposed to be or not supposed to be, one year ago today I took a leap... and discovered I could fly. And that's all that matters. =^.^=
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