A Mighty Wind

It's funny. I like to think I do things sensibly and efficiently. And it was not too long ago that I thought that with gas prices and the ADIZ and new regs and many other challenges that we all face in general aviation I would sensibly prioritize. I would only fly when I really wanted to. The weather would have to be perfect. It would have to be a fun and useful trip. Why put up with hassles when it costs so much? Might as well stay out of the ADIZ too, unless there is something pretty darn fun in it for me. Let me digress a moment. You notice I mention the ADIZ instead of the SFRA. I'm gonna call it by the wrong name. I'm such a rebel. A real maverick. If you are offended that Christmas is the popular winter holiday celebrated in the US, and you don't want a Chrismas tree in public and you want me to call it a "Holiday Tree" then to you I say "Merry Christmas" and forever I say unto you Merry Christmas. If on the other hand you insist that the one true winter holiday is the celebration of the birth of Christ who was born of a virgin that a god sort of similar to Zeus somehow impregnated, well then to you I say "Happy Holiday" and I shall admire your holiday tree. and perhaps buy you a holiday gift. I'm sorry, geezer rants are for my other blog. Anyway, I was only going to fly on perfect days. I went up to Massey today. It was windy to say the least. Everyone knew it was going to be windy. We had been watching it for days. Even the Massey web site said they were going ahead with the party even in the wind reminding folks to drive in, but come. So by my own rule I should not have even considered going. This morning I woke up at six. I went to my bathroom as I do, alas, twice a night, or more. It's a good lookout. Second floor, and I can see my windsock. At six it was cloudy, barely daylight and pretty windy out of the west and swinging back and forth out of the north. I went back to bed and tried to sleep some more. But I was too excited. It was my anniversary and wife and I had had a wonderful date last night and I wanted to fly to Massey today. I did not sleep, but laid there listening to my dog Jaker snore. It's funny. I hate listening to people snore. My own damn snoring wakes me up. But Jaker's snoring is just soothing. I love it when he sleeps. Back to the bathroom at 8AM. Look out. It was snowing pretty hard! Snow sticking on the grass too. But no sticking on the concrete. I smelled coffee. Wife was up. I had some coffee and told her Massey was out because nothing kills visibility like snow. Twenty five minutes later the skies were blue! And it was blowing like crazy and the sock was standing out with the wind out of the north. So I checked the weather on the web and dinked around for an hour. At 10 AM it was completely overcast again. At noon I bundled up and went out and opened up the hangar with the wind swinging and banging the doors. I rolled out the airplane and re closed those rattly doors. I flew to Bay Bridge first and picked up my buddy, then on to Massey. Even though the ceiling was only about 3500 the viz was 50 miles or so. Quite beautiful. It was a little bumpy. And Massey has a north south runway and the wind was directly across but it wasn't too bad. They would usually get about 70 planes or so or more for a thing like this. There were maybe a dozen planes. Fools like us. But 122.9 was so nice and quiet! Every time I go to Massey the food spread is better and the museum has more neat stuff and more drywall has been hung, and more machines are in the machine shop and more airplane projects are going on. It's quite a place. It inspires me to try to fix up my hangar a bit and maybe display some of my old nick knacks. We pigged out and saw old friends and new. I just barely made it back here to Rosewind before pitch dark. I didn't bother with the hangar and it's doors in the still blowing wind. I tied down outside. Hurried up to the house as I had promised wife another dinner outing to cap off the weekend. It was "Jimmy's Grill" in Bridgeville, De. on the famous Rt. 13 retail corridor. It turns out I sort of wanted to fly when it was cold and nasty and windy and not crowded. It's contrary. Like saying ADIZ or Happy Winter Holiday. This coming Saturday- here at my place- a bon fire. I celebrate the Solstice. Politically correct or not, you are all invited. Gen Av. Informal. :::::+:::::

Electric Cool Aid Antique and Classic

We've all read about this guy "Bye". His goal is to retrofit a Gen Av. airplane with an electric motor. He picks the Cessna 172 for obvious reasons. Cessna built something like 43,000. of these aircraft. Every few years these airplanes need their engines overhauled anyway. Av gas is expensive. Electric motors aren't affected by altitude. We could think of dozens more good reasons for a conversion. It's surprising though, how many people don't think this is feasible. They are the same people who don't like the idea of electric cars. And I'm not talking about people who have a financial interest in the status quo, such as oil investors. I'm talking about folks who just don't like the idea because they didn't think of it. Or they're just conservative about new ideas. And here's the big anti-reason that I just love: they point out the drawbacks in the brand new prototype electric car. Such as cost. Or power. Or charging time. Or infrastructure. All the things that will vastly and quickly improve. They don't want this electric car. But ironically they don't want anyone else to have it! All this good electric stuff may not happen much in my lifetime, but I am enjoying it. I'm thinking lets say they get a decent kit going for the 172. Could it be that 10 years from now I could be putting a 200 HP electric motor in my CherOHkey? One friend told me the other day that he thought the old Mooneys would be a cool airframe for electric. I like sailplanes too. My dream sailplane is a self launcher (not a motor glider). Electric retro fits of self launching systems into conventional gliders. Will that be in my future? If you're one of the status quo, "it can't be done" guys I mentioned above, well flyin' is still fun, but you don't have as much to look forward to. Gen. Av. Informal :::::+:::::

Span Can Part 2

My Piper PA-28 140 is a spam can. Yes. In fact it, along with the 150 Cessna, is the quintessential spam can. Or you could say the "classic" spam can. Now we have an oxymoron of sorts. "Spam can" is certainly a derisive term. Yet "classic" is a complimentary term when we speak 0f airplanes and cars. The Hershey bar wing 140 Cherokees are actually becoming so old, that they are becoming cool. A lot of boomers, including me, had their first solo in a Cherokee. I know my airplane is slow and unsexy and vanilla boring. But it suits. I wound up using the tiny rear seats again last weekend. I gave 4 rides to the neighbor's grandkids. Used all four seats on all four rides. Then after that, wife and I went to refuel at CGE. And eat at the restaurant. We took a friend along. So again we used the tiny back seats. I know when I transition to light sport I will miss those back seats. I can't afford a sexy plane. But the 140 is great. My fantasy back yard Cherokee is this: A 180 Cherokee with a nice mid time engine. Hershey bar wing. But the large interior which comes around '72 to '75 before the taper wing. Leather. Tuned exhaust. A basic auto pilot. Decent avionics with dual GPS. 4 place intercom. A collision avoidance system. No wheel pants. State of the art wing tips with strobes, LED navs, and landing lights. New paint in the original factory style. That's it. Hey I wonder what it would cost? You buy a 50K 180 that has the big interior and the auto pilot. Put up another 20K for the TCAS and juice up the comms etc. Another 2K for the wing tips. Another 2K for the leather. Add 8K for the new paint. I forget how much the tuned exhaust is. 3K? So for 80 grand or so, there you are. Folks my dream plan is a SPAM CAN.

"in praise of old spam cans" by lane wallace

I can't afford subscriptions to all the aviation magazines. And even though I'm retired, I wouldn't have time to read them. I receive "AOPA Pilot", but don't always read it. There is so much new stuff going out and coming out. I'm pretty much lost anyway. A buddy sent me a recent "Flying" magazine. I guess I'm really out of touch. It had a 50th anniversary Beech Baron on the cover. So Beech still makes the Baron. I didn't read that article. What could a new Baron cost? A fifty year old design. Non- turbo. With a G 1000 glass panel. Costs about 1.32 million. Somebody is buying this plane. I can't imagine who. Another article in my free "Flying" mag. was about the "Carbon Cub". This plane complies with light sport. Great fun and great performance. Price $185K. I could talk all day about light sport and it's ironies. But I'm not going to. There was a little article in this "Flying" issue about "spam cans". Now this is something I know about. I, as you know, have a spam can. The author described a spam can as a single engine, fixed gear, aluminum, nose wheel airplane. That's a perfectly fine definition. But the first time I ever heard the term "Spam can" it was in reference to the NASA Mercury space capsules. The X-15 rocket plane was a spacecraft that a pilot flew and took off and landed in. The space "capsule" had an astronaut who had some controls, but mostly was along for the ride like the chimps and dogs who made the first flights. Many fly-ins have an infield for the "antiques and classics" and a far away long walk weed patch for the span cans to park in. The 150's and cherokees are not "real" airplanes. I think the author of the article was pulling our chain a bit when she said she was embarrassed to have to tell someone she owned a Grumman Cheetah. I bet she's not embarrassed at all. I'd be proud to own one of those. Remember the BD-5 and the James Bond BD-5 J? Jim Bede the designer and kit builder? Well the BD-1 was a popular homebuilt that became the Yankee, that morphed into the Grumman Cheetah. Call it a span can if you want. It started out as a radical part-fiberglass homebuilt ahead of it's time. My Piper Cherokee 140 is a true spam can. I'm not embarrassed and make no apologies. I'm 61 years old and I like having a fixed gear and a simple panel. I can park the plane outside too. Another thing. I just don't get the tail wheel thing. It's neat that a pilot knows how to fly tail wheel. That has to do with the pilot and his set of skills and knowledge. I operate off a grass strip and like grass roots flying. The nose wheel is simply easier and nicer to me. I used to park on the infield. But I'm a span can with a big smile and I carry my folding chair to the action. I need the exercise.

Nobody Flathats Anymore

I just read an article in the AOPA e brief about a pilot in New Jersey who toilet papered a school from his plane. It was a rival school to his son's school. He got toilet paper in the trees, on the grounds, the football field etc. Apparently, the rivals do TP each other every year. But not from planes. So GA Informal has got some things to say about this. This is fun for me to talk about. First of all, it sounds like the guy did his mission pretty well. He did a pretty good job of papering the school. When the cleanup was done, there was still paper up in the trees they could not get to. I like the event. I'm on this pilot's side. If I were a lawyer I would defend him pro bono. What he did was childish, sophomoric. He should have left it to the high school teens. If the high school teens did it, on the ground in the usual way, we would never have heard about it. But OH MY GOD IT WAS AN AIRPLANE!. Call the FAA. Call the NTSB. Call TSA. Arrest the pilot. Let's make a new regulation about flying an airplane within 1000 feet of a pep rally! I doubt it can be proven that this pilot did anything illegal. Was he actually below 1000' AGL? It's not illegal per se to drop an object from an airplane. Was he careless and reckless? He didn't hurt anyone or crash the plane. I'm not saying he should have done it. I'm saying anyone who goes after him has no life and is not a pilot and is a real chicken sh++. I'm a CFI so I guess if I defend this guy, I set a bad example for my students. But I don't have any students. If I did I would give them more credit than to think because some guy got away with a prank, they would do it too. Now for my experience with this kind of prank. Buzzing: My whole life I've been buzzing people, things. Pilots get killed doing this. No buzzing is a good general rule because if there is no buzzing, then of course no one will have an accident while buzzing. But everybody buzzes. If they say they don't, they lie. People get themselves killed buzzing because they take risks, or they don't pay attention to the airplane while they look at what/who they are buzzing. Or they don't leave a back-up plan if their engine quits at 200 ft. When I was a private pilot I did some buzzing and got away with it. Once my buddy and I skipped out of graduation practice in high school and flew a rented plane over the outdoor proceedings. We were "skipping" school. And we probably crossed the athletic field at about 500 ft. and racked it around kind of quick and got the heck out of there. We didn't push it into a buzz job. I was 17 yrs old. We never got caught or questioned. I used to buzz my old neighborhood at tree top level. When I look back at it now, I was just lucky I didn't kill myself. Toilet paper: Did a lot of this. A way lot. Not to paper somebody's yard though. What I used to do was take up a plane I had use of and about six rolls of TP. I would climb 4 or 5 thousand feet and toss out the paper. It unravels into a pretty good streamer if you throw it right. Then I would just circle around and cut the streamer as many times as I could before the streamer got to the ground. Sometimes my buddy would meet me with his plane, from a different airport. We would form up and screw around and climb and then throw out a roll. Then we would take turns cutting it up with our planes. It was a game of "chicken" because the last cut would be at the treetops. But the real danger in this game was keeping track of the other airplane so as not to mid air. We didn't do this game once or twice. We did it all the time. There was an abandoned airport we used to land at after a TP session. We would land and clean the TP off the struts, wheels, engine cowl, engine, etc. Then fly back to home field where the owner might be. Pranks: When I was a sophomore in college my friend and I had use of a 150. I had a cute girlfriend who was counseling at a summer camp up in Pa. We decided to fly up and beat up the place to impress her. Maybe. We flew across at about 1500 ft AGL to recon the place. Yes, they we all outside in the camp area. I decided to go for one straight pass real low instead of an airshow. I wanted this girl to know it was me. I came across this camp so low I had to pull up to clear the net on the tennis court. We dropped an object too. It was an undergarment belonging to her. The next day I talked on the phone with her and she said everyone was there and saw the buzz. She was embarrassed by the underwear, and in general it was a huge hit. We were invited to the big dance that Saturday as counselors could have a date. I was planning spending the night with this girl somehow and she had a friend for my friend. It was a girls' camp and strict about the boys leaving after the dance and lights out. When we got there everything was going well and the campers were telling us they saw the plane buzz the tennis courts. We were making out pretty well with these two counselors. But then this big old man who was the head of the camp got right in my face and asked me to come aside and talk to him. He was not friendly looking. He told me that at 10:30 when the dance was over my friend and I were getting in our car and leaving for Maryland. And we would not be coming back to the camp again. And he was going to have no trouble at all from us. And did I want to know why we wouldn't cause any trouble. And I said 'Yes sir." He showed me a slip of paper with the N number of the Cessna 150 and the name of a Pa. state police sgt. He said "just one call is all I have to make. Are we clear?" Dropping objects: TP of course. Rolls of crepe paper are better. Balloons, we did that too. One buddy used to fly over my strip on the way from Florida to the jumping off points for the north Atlantic. Bangor , Halifax, Presque Isle, etc. in ferry tanked singles and twins. Sometimes he'd paper my place with streamers made of the edges of old printer paper. The kind you could tear off. These would be scattered all over the place. I found little pieces for years. Once he dropped one of those Pepperidge Farm cookie bags with a cookie in it that was mostly intact, with a note. It came to rest on the centerline. Some fly- ins up to present day still drop flour bombs to a target on the ground. The guy who gets closest gets a prize. I dropped flour bombs at my place with just two planes here once because one of my friends asked if we could do it. I was in one plane and both planes cheated. Chasing down kites and ballons and RC airplanes: I've seen many a stray toy balloon, even in an airliner, but rarely chased one. Once in my M-10 I circled with some RC planes, but I kind of stayed above them and I was uneasy about it. They are hard to see and unpredictable. Back in the old College Park days my boss took out a kite just for fun in a J-3. The kite was vaporized. But the string got so wrapped around the crank that the seal had to be changed. I wish I could be the judge who decides what punishment the New Jersey TP pilot should get. I would make the guy clean up the toilet paper he dropped. That's it. GAI :::::+:::::

Recession Flying

I just read an interesting article about the decline of general aviation. It was about the "Wonder Bread Theory" of economics. What happens when workers produce more because of better tools yet are paid the same or even less. We all got cheap wonder bread a big factory "pumped out" in the 1950's and it did to the local bakery back then what China is doing to consumer electronics today. And what Wal Mart is doing to everything. And an income gap gets created and chokes the middle class. The amount of money to be spent on a hobby like flying isn't there today as it was in the 60's. The author says a schoolteacher could afford to fly back then, but not now. I couldn't really follow the author's logic through most of it. Some of the economic theory seemed a bit vague. But I liked the article anyway. If the gap between rich and poor is getting larger, that's probably not good. And it could be one reason for the decline of general aviation. If people are getting poorer and poorer in the U.S, and our economy is collapsing, we've got bigger problems to solve than how to fix it so guys can fly little airplanes. But I don't think it's just about economics. I read fifty or more comments from readers about the article. They didn't think it was all about economics either. Are student starts down mostly because of the high cost of lessons?. A lot of the comments I read were from pilots like me who remember back in the day I could rent a 172 for xx dollars. You could buy a cub for xxx dollars. My first lesson was x dollars and I had to walk ten miles through the snow. The cub was on skis. The wheel wasn't invented yet. All these hero stories of the great good ole days are fine. Save them for the campfire or the hangar party. It's hard to accurately compare the economics of the post war era civilian flying to that of today. Inflation is the biggest factor to adjust. The price of new and used airplanes, fuel, maintenance, instruction, compliance with regulations, inspections. These factors all inflate differently. It's complicated. It seems to me that flying has always been expensive. In the good ole days just as today, if you see an aircraft that is worth ten times your salary: somebody rich owns it. The owner may not be the person flying it. Owning an airplane has always been a rich man's game. Yes yes, the J-3 and the Ercoupe were supposed to put an airplane in every driveway. But airplanes have always been about the price of a single family home. I'm not trying to say that it's not more expensive now than ever... I'm not good at math. It is more expensive now. But not enough to kill gen av. I went to the wings and wheels at Georgetown, De. on Sat. It was great. I flew the CherOHkey in, with wife and wife's dad. There was a hundred beautiful classic cars. There were a bunch of war birds. Not one, but 2, B-25 bombers. And very, very few gen av. classics on display. And a low to medium turn out of fly-ins like me in your basic 2 or 4 seater single. I have no idea how the owning of something like these warbirds work. If you're not rich. If your not rich, then I say you can go up to a $100K airplane, and you have to be real dedicated to maintain it. And you can't be married, unless you're wife works and loves the airplane and you have no kids. I know guys who have these $100K airplanes like Stearmans and PT-23/19 Fairchilds, and they do it. But most of the warbirds cost way more than that. Are all these guys rich? Or is the owner off making money or playing golf and some young pilot is flying the thing to the fly-in. Maybe the guy's son. It's a rich man's game. I'm trying to come up with a formula. A way for a twenty something person.....or anybody, to start up and get a private license and fly around every weekend there is nice weather. I know guys who have all the ratings and they can't find a way to do it. Now I'm gonna say something you may not agree with. It's cheaper to go and get a regular license than to go light sport. If you do what I tell you. I'm not saying there is anything wrong with light sport. I'm not saying I don't like light sport. So here's what you do to set yourself up flying: (wait...a couple of caveats.....my list is not step by step really, just facts; and I am going to assume you really, really want to fly and have at least had a ride or two and know that you can basically operate a machine. If you can't master a stick shift car, or can't stand a roller coaster, or get through high school, or read a compass, you won't be able to fly) 1. buy a simple single engine airplane. Anyone can buy a plane. You don't need to be a pilot.I recommend a Cessna 150 or Cessna 152. Yesterday at GED, I saw a nice 150 with good numbers on airframe and engine and it looked like factory paint that was pretty and the guy was asking 18K for it. You will need to hire a mechanic to do a buyers inspection. Not the seller's mechanic. This is routine and most mechanics can do it. And you will be looking and learning too. There are books written about this. Read one. The internet has good stuff of course. 2. to do step one, you need to educate yourself on how to judge and buy an airplane. and you need help and consultation. that stuff is free. Don't get your advice from the guy selling you the plane. All this before- you- buy knowledge is good info. you need as a student pilot anyway. It's free ground school. 3. speaking of ground school, there are lots of them around. Most airports have them. It's not free. But it's a great way to meet other students and instructors and have something structured. It is not required. And it will not spoon feed you. You and you alone must do the book work. All the book work is basically free. Old books are fine for things like aerodynamics, and the controls. Newer books are needed for regulations which will change constantly. You can't study and learn too much or too often. Your study time is like free flying lessons. Write your questions down in a notebook. Almost all your questions will be answered as you go along. Get the current FAA Flight Training Handbook. This is the governments official way to fly, so make it your bible. Also read and own the book "Stick and Rudder" by.....(listen to this guy's name).....Wolfgang Langewiesche. 4. while I'm talking about bookwork... folks may keep mentioning the "written exam". Some folks think that all the book learning is just so you can take and pass the "written" My advice is learn all you can and don't think about the written until you have "soloed". The problem with the written is, it's only good for two years. It expires if you don't get your license within that time. If you take a formal ground school, then by all means, take the written with your class. They will prime you for it. And the exam costs, so you've probably paid for it up front. 5. Look for an instructor. You will own your own plane, so you need an instructor who is willing to "freelance". Explain up front that you have your own plane.Tip: almost all instructors are willing to freelance. Go to the most convenient or favorite airport and start your search there. First just try to talk to the instructors, or get a recommendation from a friend who flies etc. If you don't like an instructor when you meet him....go on to the next guy. If you're not sure, then buy an hour of ground school from the guy. If you think you really like the guy, then buy the shortest lesson in the airplane they will sell you. You want to learn to fly and learn whether this guy is an instructor you like. Keep looking and buying ground school lessons until you find the right man, or woman. The first lesson when you walk in the door is fine, on a pretty day. But don't waste it and the money on an instructor you can already tell that you don't like. Lessons are expensive. You're gonna work the system. Try to get an instructor who is a part timer, free lancer. You've got your own plane and schedule. So you want to hire him to meet your schedule. Not some flight school's. 6. you may want to hire the instructor before you buy the plane, so he can help you find it and inspect it. But you don't have to have him help you do that. Anyone can buy a plane. 7. When you take your first lesson, make sure you're not paying for just a "ride". If you just want a ride at first, that's fine. Buy a ride. But it will cost as much as a lesson. I'm trying to save you money here. On the first lesson you want to be in the left seat. The guy beside you is a certified instructor who will sign your log book for the flight. You should be the one operating the controls, not him. He already knows how to taxi for example. So you should be taxiing. Of course he'll be helping you. Some instructors will fly you around for hours and you'll never learn. If an instructor does that....get another guy. 8. After you get your plane, start looking for some partners. You want at least two. Do not get only one partner. A total of four guys is good too. If someone turns out to be all nuts and wants out of the partnership, than the others can just buy him out. 9. Let's run some numbers. You buy a Cessna 150 for 21K. Three partners, including you. Get an aircraft loan for 10K. Each partner puts up 4K cash. Each partner's monthly payment is $75. There's 1K left over for the first year's insurance. Form a corporation if you want. You can avoid state sales tax. Tie down at the local airfield will be 40 to 80 per month. Say $25 per partner. So each partner pays per month $75 loan payment, $25 tie down, $33. insurance, $150. annual inspection and thru year maintenance. So each partner pays $283 per month. to own and maintain 1/3 of the airplane. About $60. of that is equity per partner against the loan. 10. A hangar can be fun. They are not always available. But you can get on a waiting list if you have an airplane. You might get a hangar for $250. But you've already budgeted $75 for tie down so you'd only have to make up $175. So for an extra 60 per partner, the partnership could keep the plane high and dry and have a place to store tools and parts and have partnership meetings. Hang out. BBQ. You name it. Hangars are great. 11. Now those lessons. With the good instructor. Some numbers we call direct operating costs. Let's pay this great instructor $35 per hour. Remember, if he's truly freelancing, the school doesn't skim 5 or ten off the top for the "dual". That's win win for you and he. Let's say the C- 150 burns 6 gal. per hour of 100LL av. gas at $5. hr. that's $30 an hour for gas. The C-150's Continental Engine has a "time between overhaul" of 1800 hrs. I'm going to guess that overhaul might run 10K. Let's budget $5. per hour as an overhaul fund. We'll change the oil every 25 hours. If we do the oil changes ourselves, they'll run $50. So there's another $2. per hour. We might add 3 or4 qts between oil changes. Let's add another buck an hour for that. So our direct operating costs are $38 per hour solo. And $73. dual. 12. Now let's add that monthly stuff in so we can compare to a flight school. Insurance, tie down, annual inspection, etc. Let's say in the first 12 months of operation we fly 75 hours per partner. That's 6.25 hrs. per month. So $283 divided by 6.25 hrs. is $45.28. call it $45. So now it's $83 solo and $118 dual. And that includes the monthly loan payment. And all expenses. The only thing not factored in is the $4K each partner put up in the purchase of the plane. But that $4K is not gone at all. It comes back whenever the plane is sold. So these numbers compare well even to light sport. :::::+::::: 13. Let's see what it will cost you to get your license. Let's say you get your license at 60 hours and 9 months. Let's say 30 hrs. dual at $73 is 2K. And 30 hrs. solo at $38 is $1150. That's $3150 direct operating cost. Now $283 per month times 9 months is $2547. Lets add in $1000 for the medical, the written, the FAA checkride, books, and ground training. So we're at $6700. Not too shabby. As the number people throw around for a private nowadays is $10K. And I figure about 8K for a light sport license. Again, I didn't count the $4K you put down on the plane. But it's equity. And you just paid off 9 months of the five year loan and I did include that in your license. 14. The biggest reason to have your own plane is scheduling. At a flight school students are always trying to get a cross country, or an important lesson, or a check ride done, and if they or the flight school must cancel for any reason, then the reschedule is tough, because you start all over with a new date two more weeks or so down the road. If you own your own plane, you can go fly when the weather is good. When your instructor is free, etc. With your own plane, after you solo and get certain "sign offs" you can virtually fly your plane anytime you want just like a pilot with a private license, except you can not carry passengers. You can build your time up quick and have lot's of fun and get your private a lot easier. Some students fly solo for hundreds of hours in their own plane having fun and building up their confidence. :::::+::::: 14. Medical certificate. The medical exam certificate doubles as your student pilot's license. You take an exam from an FAA approved doc. It costs about $80. If you are under 40, it's good for three years. Otherwise 2 years. The medical certificate allows your instructor to sign you off for solo. And other sign offs. But you will officially be a student pilot on the day of your very first lesson. Your log book will be signed by your instructor and you will be a student pilot. You must have the medical to solo. You can solo and get a license without a medical if you take lessons under "light sport" rules. But the scheme I've been describing would be for "regular" rules. Everyone is going "light sport". I offer my "scheme" as a way to get a regular license without the light sport restrictions at a comparable or even lesser price. :::::+::::: Gen. Av. Informal

this last weekend

Last weekend I went to two fly-ins. That's nothing really, because lots of times I've been to two fly-ins in one day. And so have my friends. In fact, my fly-in in August was the same day as "Smoketown, Pa" which is a really nice fly-in. I had a few guys show up at my place who had come straight from Smoketown. Next summer I will not schedule the same day as Smoketown. I want to go to Smoketown. Anyway, I went to two fly-ins last weekend. Saturday was Essex Skypark. I can't explain why I like it so much. But I sure do like it. It's a wings and wheels. It's close in suburbs to Baltimore. It's riverside waterfront suburbs. Not fancy mcmansion suburbs. The airport is right next to Martin State, a big controlled field. And not far from BWI either. The airspace around Essex is insane, when you consider that you can fly in without talking to anyone. You can bypass the SFRA, the BWI ClassB, the Aberdeen 4001's, and the Martin State Tower. Even though the place is congested as hell, we just landed and they parked us and it was easy. There were not many ropes all around to block you from areas. There were not a lot of rules and people running around trying to supervise. The place is pretty small and it was full of planes and cars and it went along quite smoothly. My buddy was there in his Stearman. When he wanted to fuel up at the pumps, I was a bit worried because the crowd was pretty thick milling around the cars on the apron. I knew he couldn't see straight ahead and I was giving him a thumbs up from my side. But it was amazing how the car buffs and families and folks just calmly stayed back like they did this every day. And the car show rules are simple. "Look but don't touch". And that's exactly the same for airplanes. I registered my airplane, and I got a free t-shirt. I bought one for my buddy. He bought one for his friend. I knew a few of the fly-ins. The 310 Songbird. The 172. The RV-8. The Sky Arrow. I ate a burger. Looked at all the cars. Ate a hot dog. Looked at all the planes. We took off and headed home. My friend the professor had flown in while we were gone. So we had a campfire and grilled some steaks and tried to get to bed early for the next fly-in tomorrow. Alas, I stayed up till 1AM. So Sunday morning we are off to Wellesville, Pa to the Aeronca fly in. We got there too late for the breakfast send off. But we got to hang out a bit and see our friends. And the three different grass strips within that 4 mile area are all spectacular and sweet. And each deserves a story of it's own. From Wellesvile, we went to Frederick and had lunch. We were escorted by our friends to another great car show. Then we got back into the air. This time in a loose formation with our friends as we followed the 172 west out to a fine strip in West Virginia. We hung out there and were shown around. We flew loose formation back to FDK and parted company at 2500 feet as we continued east. Beautiful late summer sunset as downtown Baltimore glided by our right wing. We went around the SFRA and talked to no one. I shut my eyes for a while and dropped off quickly. My buddy flew so smoothly I didn't waken until we were on downwind. I dropped my buddy at Bay Bridge. We stopped by the gourmet gas station. I had a lovely, quiet, solo, dusk, flight back to Rosewind. It was a fine weekend and there are still one or two fly-ins left in the season. There's GED, OC, Campbell, and a few fly-outs. Happy Landings.

Summer of Dreams

Readers: it's been weeks since Ive posted. I was really busy putting on that fly-in a couple weeks ago. I worked so hard to get ready for it, that I ached. It was that good kind of ache. I'm not gonna talk about the fly-in now and how wonderfully successful it was. I need a whole post just for that. But it was all I wanted it to be and way more. I want to thank everyone who came and everyone who helped. My fly-in mentor Art, gave me some sage advice before the fly-in while I was starting to panic about being ready. He told me that I, LloydLou, had to be at my own fly-in and enjoy my own fly in and not just be working the whole time as a host. I took his advice and I had a wonderful time. And I was again reminded of the philosophy that I've mentioned before in these posts. That you have to "be here now". Or you miss it while your mind is sneaking ahead to the next event. Or maybe your mind is dwelling in the past about a woulda, shoulda coulda. Yesterday, wife and I took the CherOHkee down to Richmond to pick up her nine year old grand-nephew. Great flight down and back. On the way down we stopped for fuel at Cambridge which was fine except the restaurant there was closed. We had ourselves set for lunch. Not to be denied, we simply flew back north to Easton and had lunch there. Yes, airplanes do get you there faster, but not if you fly in the opposite direction just to eat. I like it when it's about flying around with no tight schedule. The week before, on the Sunday after the fly-in, we chased the Stearman down to Cambridge and joined it for lunch. Myself, wife, son, son's girlfriend. A great send off for our friends who had brought their beautiful biplane up north to our fly-in. So twice in a week I had utilized the back seats in the little 140 CherOHkey. They do come in handy for family fun. But alas, if I were to go under light sport, I would be limited to one passenger. It would just be too dangerous for me to carry more than one. Wouldn't it. Yesterday we went to Air and Space and Natural History on the Mall. We had great nephew with us and I saw the metro trains and the space capsules through his eyes. He taught me a few things. We had so much fun. I am rekindling the idea of getting vetted to fly into College Park. It would be so cool to take off here at home and fly into the double dreaded FRZ. Park and lock up the propeller.(not kidding). Then walk to the metro and go to downtown DC to the museums, restaurants, etc. Then back to the airplane in time to meet the curfew for take off and simply fly home. Near term, we are also talking about driving up to to Dover or Wilmington and taking Amtrak to NYC to see a show and one or 2 nights in a hotel. If we can get an animal/house sitter. We have no money to do this, but I'm thinkin maybe I should spend the retirement money while I still have enough health to use it. We're losing the money in the failing market anyway! Friday we flew the CherOHkey to GED (Georgetown, DE). I let great nephew fly from the right seat. On two boat cushions. He flew most of the way over and back. He felt me through on take offs and landings. His great aunt was in the back seat encouraging him. Today I gave him a brand new real Pilot's logbook with the two legs signed. Again I used those lovely little back seats in the 140. I turned 61 last month. I think this is the best summer I've ever had. I know I'm getting to be a ranting geezer. Too long in the tooth. And I stare way too long at young girls. And I lose patience with my geezer friends. Day after tomorrow I'm going to Alaska for a week to hang with some buddies. They are all younger than me. I hope they don't expect me to climb a mountain or something. I'm hoping to work on the guy's cabin half the day and sit around the fire the other half. At the museum Sunday I learned that gathering around the hearth is 800,000 years old. The human species that did that first is extinct now. When we homo sapiens did it it was old hat. No wonder we feel natural doing it. GAI ::::+::::

into the SFRA; on the edge of the FRZ

I flew the CherOHkee yesterday. Saturday. Finally, after I guess about a month. It's been pretty hot, and I havn't really had the budget to go out and convert fuel into noise as much as I would like. And I wasn't planning on flying really. Wife was going to DC in the car to visit her dad as usual. But with the weekend she was worried about bridge traffic. Bridge traffic has gotten worse year after year with every beach season. Not just Friday and Sunday and east or west, but both ways and all weekend. So wife was going on a Saturday day trip to DC. Son was also going to DC to visit a friend, but later in the day, and spending the night. He would take our other car, the "booberoo" ( see blog post entitled "Legacy") So wife says to me: "Why don't you fly son over to Freeway and he can take the car on to DC and we can fly home and I'll miss all the bridge traffic?" Now mind you, I used to be able to hear and comprehend pretty well. When I was in my....say...forties. And my ears perked up because I knew wife was talking about me having an excuse to fly. But all I could get out in response was a "say what?" So wife asked if the plane was ready and could it fly to" freeway" inside the DC no fly zone. I was saying that I was listening and tell me more, but I still didn't grasp the logistics. And flying little airplanes rarely improves logistics. She explained it two more times to me and I started smiling and calling her a genius, and son was now listening as she went through it a third time. I said: "OK, let me see if I got it. You take the Toyota to your dad's tomorrow like normal. But after that visit you simply drive to Freeway Airport. Son and I meet you there in the CherOHkee. Son takes the Toyota on to Northern Virginia for his get together. You and I get in the CherOHkee and come home, flying over the bridge traffic. And the booberoo stays home with the dogs. Right"? Wife says that I do indeed get it. Of course this means that I have to fly into the dreaded DC /Baltimore Class B/ ADIZ/SFRA/FRZ . But I'm actually kind of secretly excited about flying again and the challenge of filing those flight plans will be fun and the weather was forecast to be picture perfect. So Saturday went as planned. With a few additions. I took the airplane solo to CGE (cambridge) for fuel and had a nice bowl of chile. Then came home. Then son got ready for his date, and I filed my flight plans and then we headed out with full tanks. And also on the way home with wife, I suggested we stop in again at CGE for dinner since they were open till eight. She agreed and we had a beautiful sunset flight to CGE and a nice dinner and barely beat the dark back in here to Rosewind. Now the next GA event for me is the Fly-In HERE this coming Saturday. I'm hoping for good weather and have prayed to the Airmail Gods. So far, the weather is OK because tropical storm Colin has fizzled in Bermuda. See you this Saturday. GAI ... ::::+::::

"Skinny Girl"

The big day of truth arrived last Wednesday. The day for me to go to Annapolis and take my FAA Airman Medical exam. In the seven weeks leading up to the exam I had been amassing the required documents to satisfy the "special issuance" that is required if you have health issues that would be otherwise disqualifying. So my medical certificate is more a paper trail, then a Doc giving me a physical. It's way too complicated for one blog post. With light sport flying in an airplane under 1320 lbs gross, you don't need a medical certificate. Just your pilot's license and your driver's license. There is one big "catch" to light sport. You can not fly under those rules if you have been "denied" an FAA Medical Certificate. The irony of it all is this: Joe Bloe who has just learned to fly under light sport rules has never had and never will have an Airman Medical Certificate. So he's always good to go. But LloydLou who has flown 23K hours, but flunks a medical, is grounded for life, even in the light sport category! They trust a guy who may have a half dozen undiagnosed health problems (like diabetes) and is a brand new pilot. But they will not trust LloydLou to fly with his driver's license even though he's been in the FAA system his whole life and monitored all of his health problems and continues to do so. Basically, I'm being prohibited from flying under light sport rules because I am a pilot. If I were not a pilot, all would be fine. It sounds odd, but that's the "catch 22" that I am in. So if I want to fly under light sport rules for the rest of my life, I must quit "regular" flying while I still have a medical and can let it "expire". So I must be FAA healthy when I quit flying. But why quit when you are still healthy? It's like the guy who won't fix his leaking roof because it's raining. "Well, why don't you fix it while it isn't raining?" ....... "It don't leak then." Here's a little list of some (not all) of the things that went wrong in the seven weeks before my medical: 1. my cardiologist was leaving his position so I was starting up with a new guy. 2. my insurance had changed due to a merger which had caused some problems with the cardio visits and for weeks even after the insurance was all straightened out I was told I "have no insurance". 3. the new cardiologist didn't work out, and that set me back 3 weeks. 4. I had to be mindful of "time" on the calender because due to the special issuance I could not have the medical exam after July 31st or I must start all over with everything. A minimum of 4 months being grounded. 5. even after the cardio part was done there was a major typo in the letter I needed, so I drove a 100 mile round trip just to expedite that repair. 6. My family Doc gave me a lab slip for the tests I needed. But not without warning me that we might have to up my medication. I tried to explain to him that I couldn't change my medication, or I would have to start all over with the special issuance. He implied that he could write the letter I need if I promise to come in on three month intervals instead of once a year. 7. At the Lab Corp in Easton on June 30, I get my blood drawn. When I leave, after I get out to the car I remember I wanted my own copy of the lab results, as is my right under federal law. So I go back in and the stone faced overworked lady tells me "No, you can't have it because you have to tell us before the test that you want your own copy" My voice is cracking from frustration and rage and I whisper, "but I was just in here 90 seconds ago don't you remember me?" No. It's too late. The form must be signed before the test. 8. When I go back to my family Doc I find out that he has a dislocated artificial hip and must go into the hospital. He can neither see me nor write me a letter in the 10 days or so I have left. 9. When I contact a friend and mentor who can help me get a new letter from an amazingly qualified M.D. I find that that Doctor is in Tahiti. 10. I go to Accurate Optical in Easton where I've had my required eye check for the last 3 years. I make an appointment. The soonest available is in ten days. Fine. I make the appointment. Fearing trouble, I get out my insurance card and explain that my insurance has been changed. The receptionist tells me that they will call me one day before my appointment and if there is any insurance problem they will let me know then. I ask if they could check the insurance today or tomorrow instead of nine days from now. She said no. This is the only way they do it. Sure enough, they call me the day before my appointment and tell me they don't take my new insurance. Ten days lost. I went to their competitor and started over. 11. Even if I get a new 3rd class medical, it's only good for one year, not two. This again, is due to the special issuance. There were many other problems like these listed. Some bigger, some smaller. Some I can't share. Some that are too complicated to explain here. So last Wednesday arrived. I passed the medical! While in Annapolis I celebrated by having lunch with my friend "Click". When he had to run, I looked up my good buddy Steve and his pal Reno and hung out at his dry dock and chatted while he painted on the hull of his sailboat. A really pretty night on the river. I drove home at a reasonable hour and went to bed too excited to sleep. Because I had discovered a new favorite drink for diabetics called "skinny girl". And I was going to the Regatta time trials in Cambridge with wife in the morning, and I had passed my FAA 3rd Class Airman Medical. ....GAI... ::::+::::

I'm typing and I should be outdoors- what a geek

It's July 4th. Wait, I'm saying that wrong. It's 4th of July. I'm thinking of going down to Campbell for Soup on Sunday. The forecast calls for a very hot day though. I'm typing in a cool dark room. My plane is out and ready. It's out because I never did put it away, from it's last flight. It's last flight was three days ago when I went over to the cropduster's place in Delaware. I refueled at Ridgely. I ran into a guy there who has a private strip just a few miles north of me. We had never met. But we had a lot in common. Both retired. Both with grass strips on Md's mid shore. Both with CherOHkeys. Both with fences and horses. Both needing fuel at Ridgely. We invited each other to "fly in sometime". When I say I have an airstrip and fences and horses it makes me sound rich. I am rich in many many ways. And damn thankful too. But I have debt, not money. So one reason I may not go to Campbell today is simply that I don't want to spend the fuel money I don't have. Especially if it will be a little too hot to enjoy. I've been soul searching about giving up my 3rd class medical and going light sport. As you see from a previous post. One thing that makes it all less painful, is that I simply don't have enough money to enjoy flying an airplane all over the place. I'd love to have a little twin like a Comanche or a 310 and fly it once a week to places like Connecticut, Ashville, Knoxville, Campbell, Caldwell, Lakeland, Oshkosh, Hagerstown. Or a retractable single. But even if I could continue to get 3rd class medicals, I wouldn't be able to afford to do that kind of flying. It's too bad I can't fly the Cherokee like a light sport. It's a simple little airplane that keeps me out of trouble. And a few years back I spent $11,000 on upgrading the radios, and that was just for the basics. Whoever would buy it from me ain't gonna give me jack squat for that 11K upgrade. That's why I want to sell 009 to my nephew. At least he'll get a good deal on a good airplane. When I was at ESN the other day they were doing Yak formation training and war bird fly in stuff. A very big day. A very big deal. T 28's, T-6's, Yaks, etc. It was real hot on the ramp. The guys who were there were all in flight suits and they were working hard. Ramping up those planes. Too much work for me. It was fun to watch. The big radials smoking and loping and belching. The loud fast fly-bys. It's great. But even if I had the hundreds of thousands it takes to play in that game, I wouldn't do it. I'm too lazy. I'll just watch like I did last Saturday. Then go get in my little PA-28 (or Champ?) and go home. I think my bigger point here is that you can't have everything. And when you reach 60 like I have, you don't even want everything. Maybe it's cognitive dissidence (see earlier post) but I think when I go light sport, I won't miss a thing. Of course it's natural to want what you can't have. 4th of July.......OK here's what I'm gonna do: Leave the plane out and ready...... paint a cabinet and a fence, mow something, go swimming, and take the wife out to dinner . PS..... readers.....party here this Saturday..... and Aug 14th fly in. GAI ::::+::::

Airplanes and Airstreams

I went to another fly-in this last Saturday. It was called "Airplanes and Airstreams". This is like a wings and wheels, but you've got old and new travel trailers and they're all the "Airstream" brand. There was about 7 of those and maybe 12 or so airplanes on the ground at one time with some coming and going. It was way too hot for me and I stayed in the shade as much as I could. I saw some Horn Point guys. Some Light Sport guys. It was a kind of hazy day, and some said we would get T-storms but they never came. I went over to ESN afterwards because there was a Yak/Formation training event going on. And I had heard they had cars there too. But it was all over when I got there. And the restaurant was closed. And the hanger that has the rich guy and all his toys was closed up tight. I was hoping he might still be having an open house and maybe free food! The guys got a Spitfire. He's got a P-40. An L-39 Chek Jet, and the list goes on. Corvettes too. I don't know him, or his name, but I've been in that hangar and it's pretty cool. Before I sign off. I want to tell you about my flight over to the Airstreams event. I was so hot preflighting my plane and had the door and window open, but it would not cool off inside. How could it. It was in the nineties. I taxi out and the prop blast helps, but it's warm air. After takeoff I climbed to 8 thousand feet and got above the clouds. For a 40 mile flight. It felt good though. It was 49 degrees. I circled around and let the skin of 009 cold soak a little and I put myself over the vor radial and distance from SBY. Then I circled down and the clouds gave me a big hole and at 5 thousand I was below the clouds and back in the haze. I didn't have GPS coordinates, but the radial/dme had me right over it. It was easy to spot once I saw those travel trailers. I made a low pass and hot dogged around to land. Taxied up the XW runway to the end of the line and swung the plane around to park, shut down and push back. Pushed back into the bean field. The beans were about 8 in. tall. I climbed down into those beans, which looked good, considering the sere weather. And I walked through them around the wing and onto the turf taxiway. That's my kind of fly-in. GAI ::::+::::

Changes and Mixed Blessings

I'm really thinking about letting my medical expire next month. And then carrying on flying light sport and gliders. So I'd wind up getting rid of the CherOH kee. Which would be too bad. But I have a buyer for the CherOH kee. My nephew George. He'd rather buy it 2 years down the road, but I may be ready to sell sooner than that. So what kind of LSA should I get? I'm thinking of an aeronca 7AC. A Champ. Or maybe a 7FC Tri Champ. Remember those? The Tri may not be light sport. Some had 3 seats, and were too heavy.I can let my medical lapse and fly light sport without it. As long as I havn't been denied a medical. With my two special issuances involved, the FAA might need more info about something. A glitch. The AME, who is giving me the medical is not supposed to let me walk away from a medical I have begun by turning in the application. This light sport don't-need-medical is a tricky little slope if you are like me and are getting older and already have some challanges. The bottom line seems to be that eventually I will lose my medical. If I am denied the medical, then I can't fly under light sport rules because of the denial. And if I pass the medical which requires lots of work on my part gathering paperwork and tests from from different sources over six weeks, and then I still have to take the medical every year (due to the special issuances.) If I am denied, I can try to jump through even more hoops and get the medical back. Then I might not want to risk another medical for fear of being denied. I guess since I know that sooner or later I'll be denied, I'm thinking, let it expire, then I know I safely have Light Sport. I could still do a new log book for a new pilot now and then in the "Champ" or whatever I will own. I could still instruct a bit if I wanted to. I really hesitate to instruct because I feel that the students should go to the young guys coming up, and the career CFI's who need the work for a living. I had my chance to do that instructing and it was a great experience and an entry level into a career that served me well. It's someone else's turn now. I was talking about this dilema of Airman Medical vs Light Sport Rules with a bud of mine. He said that one of my regular trips is up to Dover to have the plane worked on, or fly gliders. He asked if that would work just as well in a "Champ". I know what he's saying, and he's right. It would be just as good--even better. I hate to give up the 140 and all that kind of flying. I thought it would be for another ten years maybe. But this is life...... We watch our parents die..... Then we die. In the face of that, I may have to go Light Sport. Most of my "aviation" world is riding a mower anyway. GAI ::::+::::

the longest day

This last Saturday we went to a fly-in at Crisfield. The blue crab capital of the country. I'm not a huge crab fan. Every time I eat crabs, I wind up getting new lessons all over again on how to "pick" the crab meat. But I love crab cakes. So am I still a Marylander? My buddy "Click" has the use of the professor's airplane, a 152. So he and his wife drove over here and took that plane and wife and I took the CherOH kee. Off we went. A beautiful day. About 40 miles south. Nice airport. Laid back. Not a beehive of planes. Maybe a dozen. A pretty M 21. A light sport Rans 6. Three ercoupes!..... actually one was an Alon. My little M 10 would have fit in nice! Sigh. A basic Arrow which I liked a lot. A 140 Cherokee older than mine. Homebuilts that I don't know the names of. Crabs and Corn on the Cob and "Smith Island Cake" was the menu. My wife doesn't eat crabs and I don't eat corn, so we split an order nicely. I try hard not to eat sweets and I didn't, but the Smith Island Cake looked like the best dessert I have ever seen. Wife said it was very good. Some nice conversations and a new friend or two I invited to my two upcoming parties... and it was time to head north. I wanted fuel and a coffee stop in Cambridge, so both planes stopped in there. Now it was Coconut Cake! Now we were in air conditioning. My son called from home asking where we were because he wanted to go out on Saturday night and was tired of watching the kittens and dogs. We would be home soon. That last little 12 mile leg to our place was the nicest of all. It was getting just a bit cooler. 80 instead of 90. Perfect. We landed and tied down the 152. Click and his wife let me tour them around in the golf cart a bit and show them some of my projects, and wife's garden. It cooled off a little more. Then they headed off to Annapolis. My son said he was going to see his buddy's band play at a place in Cambridge called "Jimmie and sooks". So he took off. My wife took care of the barn, the kittens, the dogs. She said she was tired and I said I was too. After a pause I said, " hey I need to get some stuff at WalMart why don't we spy on son at this bar in Cambridge, if we can find it?" I was really surprised when she said, "OK". What a cap off to a really great day. It was a fun kind of grill, raw bar, seafood, tavern, kind of place. I had two nice drafts. And wings too. Poor son. You're twenty one, out with your buds, and your parents show up. My wife considered the cake, to make it three, but only for a moment. It was one of the nicest days ever. Tonight I'm off to the western shore to a solstice fire. Summer is here and it's off to a flying start. Happy first day of summer my friends. GAI ::::+::::

Lovin' the DC-3

I wrote a post a while back about the alphabet groups I do and don't want to belong to. I never did get around to joining the EAA. You can't join them all. It's too much dues. So I pay up every year for the AOPA. I've been in EAA in the past, but I'm not an aircraft builder and I never did like the EAA for reasons I don't even remember. But now there has been a flap between EAA and the DC-3 people who are having the big "Fly over" with 75 DC-3's. EAA has taken the stance that Oshkosh is theirs, and they will run the DC-3 deal. Now I kinda remember what I didn't like about EAA. Every year at Lakeland I would ask about the relationship between EAA and the "Sun N Fun" organization. Every year I was told that EAA runs sun n fun and that EAA has nothing to do with sun n fun. In the same sentence. Every year. If I were a DC-3 owner and was all set to meet up this summer with 74 other DC-3's in Illinois for some formation flying, I'd be pretty excited and happy. What a great summer endeavor. A record setting civilian aluminum overcast. History making. If I were in that wonderful group of guys I would right now be saying: F--- the EAA! F--- Oshkosh! I just wouldn't be able to say it fast enough. GAI ::::+::::

Psychology 101 for aging pilots

Two aviation weather jargon terms meaning low IFR weather are "Socked in" and "Fogged in". Well I've combined the two terms into a new term to describe my little farm airstrip. "Sogged in". I've now paid for four months of tie down at Cambridge, where my Cher OH kee sits. My airstrip is closed indefinitely. To say it is soggy is an understatement. I've been considering putting an "X" on the middle of the strip, but I havn't figured out a good way to do it. Most everyone who might come in is savvy enough to know not to try it without calling me. But I still worry a little. I was lucky to get the M 10 and the Cher OH kee out when the gettin' was good. I really can't complain. In the twelve years of having the landing strip, this three month stretch is the first time the strip has ever been closed for a whole season. And it's the first time I've actually had to buy monthly tie down somewhere to keep operating. Yes, I've had floods and storms, but I've worked around them and moved the plane for a week or two. Even through two hurricanes. If I could only have the airstrip for three seasons a year I would still work hard to have it. I love everything about it. I even love mowing it. Most of the time. The airstrip has kind of "framed" or "defined" who I am in a way. The same way I had a certain "identity" when I was an airline pilot. Before I retired I used to think that I would retire when I lost my medical, or when I reached age sixty. I never dreamed I would walk out the door with only what seems like a split second decision to quit. And I was not sixty and I had a brand new first class medical in my pocket. I don't know whether early retirement was the right decision for me at that time. But it sure feels right. I know why it feels right. Because of an interesting thing called "cognitive dissidence". If I learned about it in college forty years ago I sure had forgotten about it. But my friend the professor mentioned it to me once and it cleared up something in my mind about why some idiot friend of mine was acting a certain way. That was years ago and now I've read books about it. Cognitive dissidence causes you to set up rationale in your mind to justify the things that you do. Or say, or think, or believe. So I "know" I made the right decision to retire because: I was sick of the job, the industry was no fun anymore, the airline was bankrupt, I was tired of the commute... whine.. whine.. blah blah... But if I had stayed on at good ole "Northworst" (now Delta) I would have also "known" I had made the right decision because: son was still in college, build up bigger retirement, keep the ego/identity I felt as a successful pilot blah..blah.. No matter what I did I would be right. We all want to be right very very much. So we make our decisions "right" by finding supporting information and ignoring non supporting information. I do it. We all do it. When the professor first mentioned it to me I didn't realize what a huge thing it is in all of our minds. When you gain insight into the way you think, you can sometimes make yourself more at peace and less confused. Am I too old to learn this stuff? Set in my ways? I hope not. A part time hobby of mine has become the study of how I can grow old gracefully, and happily and quietly yield to the things I can not control, and be somewhat proactive about what I can control. I really thought I would be troubled after I retired about not having the identity of an "airline pilot". This, and would I have enough money, were the two big fears. Well, good ole cognitive dissidence took care of it. Once retirement was a done deal and there was no turning back, my mind wouldn't even let me doubt. I've got some good buddies out there who are pro pilots and my age who have not retired and are maybe thinking about it. You guys can retire anytime you want and you'll never look back. Remember I told you so! Oh, and the money? No need to worry there. That one is easy. There is never enough money!

Legacy

Hey my dear friends who are kind of digital communicators. e mail is just great, and i love voice mail on my cell phone which works for me 24-7. but i just can't get into text. I guess i can send and receive messages crudely, but it's difficult to type. if i got good at it i guess it would be ok. Wife and I went to the auto auction tonight. It's up at Dover, DE. We were going to dine at "Jimmies" which is this famous place that all my friends that go to the beach on 404 know about. But we got a late start. we didn't get to have dinner, so I ate at the sale. A hot dog and small chili. Wife had a "Clementine" she had brought and we found my 8 pack reeses cups in the truck. I was craving coffee. You have to put up 400 bucks just to bid at this auction. It was cold. It was loud. It was very fast. Except when you were waiting in line to sign in and back out. that was too slow for me and i opted for waiting till today to go back and settle up. I bought a little 16 year old car for $1200 and it probably won't make it home, let alone thru inspection. Speaking of auctions. One week ago and two weeks ago tonight i went to a different auction, the one at American Corner. It's just junk every thurs night, but I like it. Two Thursdays ago I bought a ceder chest for 80 bucks and gave it to Wife. Even though it's not fancy or perfect, she likes it. I bought a few boxes of vinyl 45 records too. Then last week Wife came along to see what else they have. We wound up buying a really nice quality futon. And a couple of cool old tables I want to make into a computer desk. I bought a set of seven nickels for twelve dollars. Ever heard of a "shield" nickel? I bought some cool little tools. For two dollars I bought a bunch of old picture frames for hangar art in the man-cave. Anyway this could be an inexpensive hobby. But I spent $1200 tonight so I gotta cut it out. You should check out the auction. DVD's are about 50 cents if you buy a bunch. Books are really cheap. the furniture is fun, but not always cheap. Do you think maybe I'm settling in to retirement? LLITTY ::::+::::