Leftovers

Here are a few other pictures I took yesterday on my way home from Sierra Vista.


The building with the blue front towards the center of the picture, is a restaurant in Sierra Vista called My Place. It's really good.


This is the San Jose area of Bisbee. The main road cutting through it is Highway 92, and First Baptist is visible on the right.

And, finally, this is the Warren area of Bisbee. The big hill behind the town is a tailings dump from the old copper mines.

That's all for pictures until my cross-country tomorrow morning. Hope you enjoyed them!

Church, at 7,500 MSL

As I was overflying Bisbee on my way home from Sierra Vista Thursday morning, I noticed that I fly right over First Baptist, which is where we go to church now. So I decided to take a couple pictures on the way back from my solo this morning. The church is the blue-roofed building in the center of the pictures. As always, clicking on the pictures will enlarge them. Enjoy!

Difficult Decision

As I mentioned earlier today, I went and registered for my Fall classes. One is a classroom class, and two are online courses (most of the interesting-sounding classes were only offered on the Sierra Vista campus, so I had to make due with Douglas classes and online classes). I was reasonably happy with my choices. Then I talked to Erin while we were flying this afternoon. She warned me that the guy who teaches one of the online classes is a real jerk. Apparently, he really likes to pick out two or three students from every class to shamelessly pick on and otherwise make miserable. So now I have another choice. I can either drop this particular class and replace it with one of my other choices (sort of a first runner-up situation), or I can just stick with the class and hope I'm not one of the unlucky few who are chosen.

Wasted Semester?

In just a few minutes I'll be heading over to the one-stop to register for my Fall classes: three classes I need to take in order to receive my full financial aid, but don't need for my degree. I still have mixed feelings about this coming semester. On the one hand, it feels like I'm wasting a semester, since I'm not taking anything aviation-related, except for my flying. On the other hand, it will give me a chance to get all caught up before I go after my Flight Instructor certificate. I'm mostly just afraid that I won't commit myself to these classes and I'll hurt my GPA. We'll see, I guess.

Ground School

In my last post, I mentioned a near-incident I had, involving some power lines, but I never really went into details. I've decided to go into details now, but to fully appreciate what I'm telling you, I have to start with a little bit of private pilot ground school (plus I'm eager to try out my explanation of density). I'll try to keep it from getting overly technical. Here we go.

Air density is, essentially, how many air molecules you'll find in a given parcel of air. For instance, if you could jump up to 10,000 feet MSL (mean seal level) and snatch up a one-inch by one-inch by one-inch cube of air, it would have a certain number of air molecules. That's the air's density. The air becomes progressively less dense the higher you go, because there's progressively less pressure pushing those molecules together. Think of a really thick book laying on its back on a table. The last page of the book is under more pressure than the first page of the book, because it has all the other pages pressing down on it, whereas the first page of the book has no other pages pressing down on it. Same thing with the air: the air down low is more dense because it's under more pressure due to all the air above it pushing down on it. However, other factors can also affect the density of the air. High temperatures, for instance, cause the air molecules to expand, causing air to become less dense. Your 1x1x1 cube of air now has fewer molecules in it because they expanded and some were pushed outside of your box. When we have a really hot day (and we have plenty!), the air at ground level expands to such a degree that it ends up having the density of air we'd normally find, say, 3,000 or 3,500 feet above the ground. We call this "density altitude." It means, not how high the air is, but how high the air is acting. The ground here at the school is about 4,000 feet MSL so, in the situation I just described, the density altitude would be 7,500 feet MSL. The air at 4,000' is acting like the air would at 7,500'. This is not usually a good thing. In fact, I struggle to think of a scenario where high density altitude would be beneficial to anyone. I digress.

Air density, and thus density altitude, directly affects the airplane's performance. The propeller works, essentially, by grabbing and pushing off against those air molecules, so if there are fewer air molecules for the propeller to push against (like if we're at a high altitude, or if we have a high density altitude), then the propeller's not as effective. If the propeller's not as effective, then you can't climb as fast or as high (or, sometimes, at all) as you would be able to in denser air.

All that said, here's what happened on my flight Monday. There are power lines a pretty good distance off the departure end of runway 5. They're far enough away from the runway that they aren't typically a factor for us when we take off. However, by 3:30 in the afternoon, it's good and hot here and, accordingly, the density altitude is nice and high, which means it takes us longer and farther to take off, and longer and farther to climb up to a safe altitude. On my very first landing, I came in a bit fast, which meant I didn't actually touch the ground until I was close to halfway down the runway. So when I added power to take back off, I didn't have much runway to work with. Had I been alert to how much runway I'd already used up, I could have done a short-field takeoff, which would have made everything okay. But I didn't. I did a normal takeoff, and didn't get very far off the ground before I ran out of runway, which meant I was sort of skimming the desert floor as I struggled to climb out in the distressingly un-dense air. I felt like I was doing okay, because there were no close mountains or anything else for me to collide with, but then I saw the power lines in front of me. They were still a fair distance ahead, but I wasn't making much progress in climbing, so I started to wonder a little. Then I started to worry a little. Then I asked Erin if we were going to hit the power lines. After a moment of tense (for me, at least) silence, she finally answered that no, we should be okay. And we were, but I sweated until we were physically over and clear of the lines. The experience did its job, though; I learned my lesson and did mostly short-field takeoffs for the rest of the lesson.

And that's the story of the near-incident involving power lines. It should be stated, though, for the sake of establishing the severity of the situation, that Erin's opinion is that 1)hitting the power lines would probably have killed us, and 2)there's really nothing we can do in a situation like that to avoid hitting them, if we're pointed at them and unable to climb any faster. Thanks to everyone who prays for my safety!

P.S.- I would appreciate any feedback regarding the clarity and/or understandability of my explanation of air density. Thanks!

The Return of Flyboy!

I just got back from my first flight period in two weeks. It went really well, except for a near-incident involving some power lines. I had a really good attitude and felt I flew the plane very well, and my landings were pretty decent, especially for having not done one in two weeks. Erin and I are flying to Sierra Vista on Wednesday, and I'll probably do a local solo on Thursday morning. I'm gearing up for my last cross-country before my commercial 1 stage check. Exciting!

One pic

It's too hot to post much (I know that doesn't really make sense, but trust me), but I wanted to get a pic online ASAP. It was taken during one of the highlights of our trip. Enjoy.

The Difference Between Michigan and Arizona

The news teaser on TV a little bit ago gave us this gem of a quote: "Rain in the middle of June. What's up with that?"

Holy Smokes!!!

I jokingly told Jenny, this morning, that I was going to dazzle the aviation staff by getting a perfect score on my commercial knowledge test this afternoon. Turns out I was almost right. I missed one question, out of 103. Not too shabby.

Today is the day I take the FAA commercial pilot knowledge test. I don't know why, but I pretty nervous about it. I know the study guide inside and out, and I only missed one out of 70 on my commercial ground training final exam. This thing is in the bag!

Here's an update I forgot to make, regarding the chick I'd previously rescued, twice. It's dead. The morning after I put it back in its nest the second time, we found it on the ground, expired. At least I tried.

It stormed here during the night. That's pretty exciting news for Douglas. It's the first rain we've seen in over a month, and we needed it desperately. It's still pretty cloudy out, so maybe we'll get more moisture before the day is done.

Final

I just got home from taking my commercial ground training final exam. I don't know my exact score yet, but it seemed pretty easy, so I'm guessing an A. I'll find out for sure tomorrow and, assuming I passed, I'll also make my appointment to take the FAA commercial knowledge test. I'll probably end up taking it on Monday. I just hope, when I do take it, I'm not too distracted by the thought of heading for Michigan on Wednesday. We have to be up to get ready at 1:00 in the morning!!!

Micro-Update 2

Chick = back in nest.

Josh = Incurable hero complex.

At a Loss

The other day, Jen noticed that a chick had fallen out of its nest. Now, for the sake of not incriminating myself, I'm not going to mention the type of bird this chick happened to be. What I will tell you is that I put on a dirty, old pair of gloves and helped the chick back into its nest. Problem solved. Well, now the stupid chick has fallen out of its nest again. The fact of the matter is that five chicks is just too many for this nest, and it seems inevitable now that at least one of them is probably going to keep falling out. The chick is unhurt as far as I can tell, but I'm hesitant to put it back up there again. Truth be told, I don't have any clue what to do in this situation. Do I just let nature run its course and do nothing for the chick? Or do I go put it back again and wait for it to fall back out the next time? Any ideas would be helpful.

Micro-Update

I thought this was an interesting coincidence. This morning I posted about how much I like birds. This afternoon I knocked one out of the sky with my airplane.

Scoping Out Chicks

Thanks to my grandparents' influence in my early life, I've always enjoyed watching birds. Since moving to Arizona last Summer, I've become pretty near obsessed with watching swallows. They're fascinating! This nest of little guys is at the base of our stairwell, so I get to see them every day, usually multiple times a day. Only 4 chicks are visible, but there are actually 5 who live there. I really like them. Last year, there was a nest with 3 chicks in it by our stairwell. It was fun to watch them grow up and eventually fly away. I'm excited to see these little guys do the same. This post actually brings up an interesting question Jenny raised the other day. I've been calling baby swallows chicks, but are all baby birds really called chicks? If anyone knows, please feel free to answer.

8 Random Facts

I've apparently been tagged, which means I have to come up with 8 little-known facts about me. I find myself at a slight disadvantage, since I more or less already did this when I filled out my Blogger profile. However, I just happen to be one of my favorite topics of discussion, and I'm disinclined to turn down opportunities to talk about such a fascinating topic, so here we go.

1) For a short time in the first half of this decade, I had electric blue hair.

2) I used to (and kind of still do) want to open a coffeehouse.

3) This is my fourth attempt at college.

4) I still fantasize (regularly) about becoming a superhero.

5) I have a small, underdeveloped third nipple a few inches below my left one.

6) I have a lifelong love of hats of all kinds, but I'm usually too self-conscious to wear any but a standard ball cap.

7) When I was a kid, I used to read multiple books at a time because it was like being able to change the channel when I got bored with one.

8) I can remember the most obscure names and lines in movies and literature, but I struggle to recall even general details from my own life.

There. That should do it. Now I'm supposed to tag 8 other people, but I don't thank I have any Blogger friends who haven't already been tagged. What I'm going to do instead is invite my readers who don't have their own blogs to leave comments on this post and reveal their 8 little-known facts. I'm talking about you, parents and parents-in-law.

Bird's Eye View

(As always, click on the pictures to enlarge them.)
Here are some pictures from Friday's cross-country. This is the airport in Willcox. It's called Cochise County Airport.

This isn't really anything specific. I just thought it looked pretty.

I forgot the name of this body of water, and I'm too lazy to look it up right now. I will say, though, that it kept me from becoming very lost on the first leg of my journey.

And here are some more of those round fields. A lot more. Also, I'm pretty sure those shiny things are solar panels. I think they're the first ones I've seen on any of my flights.

Where Credit is Due

I feel like I don't give God the credit/glory He deserves in my life. He's certainly got some coming for my cross-country yesterday. As I was dealing with the clouds and the turbulence and stuff, I kept praying, "God, help me." And He did. Most of my trip was remarkably free of turbulence. He enabled me to get oriented when the clouds put me off-course, and He gave me a path back home. I asked Him to keep the clouds away from the college so I could get back and land safely, and He did. I didn't have to fly around any clouds after I got situated on my new course. I asked Him to keep the clouds from developing into thunderstorms, and He did. And, despite my final landing being ugly and as un-graceful as any landing could ever be, it was also a safe landing that didn't result in damage to me or the airplane or the runway. And that was God, too. So all the glory and all the credit for a successful cross-country belongs to God, and to Him alone.

Post-Flight Date

Oh, yeah, and then after I got back from flying, we went and saw Shrek the Third. It was very good. I laughed a lot. It may not have been as funny as it seemed at the time, but I had tons of leftover tension I needed to get rid of. Laughing did the trick for me. The movie really was enjoyable, though. One of the highlights of the experience happened about 2/3 of the way through the movie, and didn't actually involve the film at all. There were a little boy and little girl with their parents (I'm guessing) sitting off to our left a ways. Suddenly, I heard the boy cough a bit, and then I heard a splash. And then the little girl said, very loudly, "Did he just throw up on my shoes?!" It was hilarious! What wasn't so funny was when, a short time later, the puke smell finally wafted over to us and stayed with us for pretty much the rest of the movie. There were quite a few people there, and we weren't sure how much longer the movie was, so finding new seats seemed like a whole lot of effort. In the end, we alternated between breathing into our hands and breathing into the collars of our shirts. Still, though, it was a good movie and I'm glad we went.

Forty Miles West

I finally flew my cross-country yesterday morning. It wasn't my best cross-country, but it was mostly okay. I made 3 landings in the course of the flight, and 2 of them were pretty bad. I think I was just really tensed up, and it caused me to over-control the plane in the flare. Also, on the last leg of my flight, I encountered some cumulus clouds. Flying under cumulus clouds is like saying, "I sure do love flying through turbulence." Not a great idea. So I flew around the clouds, which put me about 40 miles off-course and resulted in my spontaneously selecting a new course home. What's remarkable, and I truly praise God for this, is that there was only a very brief period where I didn't know where I was. Despite flying over unpopulated, rocky terrain with very few obvious landmarks, I was able to figure out where I was and successfully choose a path that took me safely back to the college. That's an amazing thing! Thank-you to everyone who was (and is) praying for me. Your prayers were answered.

Now I only have one cross-country left before I can finish commercial stage 1. Unfortunately, it's a doozie of a flight, under-flying Phoenix's airspace and landing at a large, towered airport with 3 parallel runways. On the bright side, I don't have to deal with it until next Friday at the earliest.

Last Post of the Day... Maybe

I think I somehow forgot to mention that Jen and I are heading back to Michigan for a week in June. Shame on me! Jen and I are heading back to Michigan for a week in June. Now you know.

The Horse

And now my pity party is officially done. It's time to get back on the horse. I just called Erin and asked her to dispatch me for another local solo tomorrow morning. I'm going to work on takeoffs and landings again. And I'll keep working on them until I regain my confidence. Yeah.

Failure

I was sitting in Erin's office this morning, filling out my flight plan and expecting to be taking off in the next 20 minutes. Everything was looking good, except for my confidence level. After talking to Erin about my fears, we decided it was probably best for me to pass on the cross-country today. Erin told me to do a local solo instead, and to stay up as long as I wanted working on maneuvers and things. I wound up spending all of about 30 minutes in the air. As I started my takeoff roll, I realized I hadn't been in a plane by myself since my last cross-country flight. That flight took place over a month ago and, if you'll recall, it was a difficult, frightening flight for me. Since keeping a plane in the air is much easier than safely putting it back on the ground, I decided to start my solo time with some touch-and-go's. I did five in all, a couple good ones and a couple bad ones. Then I decided that was long enough for my first solo in a month. And from the moment I taxied off the runway, I felt like a colossal failure. In fact, I'm sitting here typing this and still feeling like a colossal failure. In the end, though, I suppose it's better to call off a cross-country I don't feel good about, than to force myself to go and make a foolish and dangerous mistake because I'm all nerved up. Thanks to everyone who prayed for me, especially my father-in-law. Thanks, Terry. Your assurance that you'd be praying for me meant a lot to me.

Jenny asked me to update, so here goes. Assuming the weather forecast doesn't dramatically change overnight (and that the actual weather tomorrow morning turns out something like the forecast), I'm flying one of my last two cross-countries of the semester. I'll be going to Globe, AZ and to Holbrook, AZ. Erin and I flew over to Bisbee-Douglas International this afternoon to get me a little practice landing somewhere other than the college. It was a good learning experience, but also a little frightening. The air does strange things around here when it starts getting hot, and it's very hard to predict just how the air's strangeness is going to affect your airplane. For instance, I was just coming over the end of the runway, maybe 20 or less in the air, getting ready to set down on the runway. Everything was looking good, and then, very suddenly, we hit a weird air pocket that rocked the plane pretty hard. We instantly found outselves swinging sideways. I wound up putting in full throttle and aborting the landing, and everything was fine. But the experience certainly accelerated my heart rate.

Anyhow, please ask God to grant me skill and safety for my cross-country tomorrow morning. Thank you.

SPIDER-MAN 3 SPIDER-MAN 3 SPIDER-MAN 3!!!!!!!!!!!

Okay. Now that's out of my system. Wait, no it's not. SPIDER-MAN 3 SPIDER-MAN 3 SPIDER-MAN 3 SPIDER-MAN 3!!!!!!!!!!!

Right. Okay. Better now. As you may or may not have already guessed, Jen and I are going to see Spider-Man 3 today. The theater in Sierra Vista had not 1, not 2, not 3, but 4 midnight showings last night. Jenny gave me the choice of going alone last night, or waiting til this afternoon and going with her. Hopefully, everyone will still be in work this afternoon, so we won't be crammed into a packed-out theater. Also, we'll get matinee prices (movie tickets are pretty expensive here).

Speaking of Spider-Man, our niece, Mady, is apparently looking for a radioactive spider so she can coax it into biting her and making her into Spider-Girl. On the outside, I laugh and say, "Oh, how silly little children are." On the inside, I'm wondering if she'd let me borrow that spider when she's done with it.

Remember when I first started posting on Blogger, and I was always talking about my training? Well, It's been a while, so I should probably say something about my training. We're in the summer months now, which means two things: wind and turbulence. You can't appreciate the turbulence here unless you've flown in it. Since I, until about a month ago, flew early in the morning, I never had a chance to really experience wind or turbulence. As a result, I'm now trying to get myself accustomed to both, especially during takeoffs and landings. The problem is that I find it very nerve-wracking to take off and land in these conditions, so I usually wimp out after 2 landings. Yesterday, for instance, Erin and I went up. Just after my first takeoff, we hit a wicked bit of turbulence. The nose of the plane started swinging back and forth pretty hard. After two landings, I was ready to call it quits. But then, as I was tying the plane down, I realized I need to stop wimping out and just learn to handle it. As I was debriefing in Erin's office, we talked out that a bit, and she told me during summer break we're going to fly from 12:15 until 3:30 every day. She was sort of kidding, but I told her that would be okay with me. I need to quit being a fairweather pilot and work my way through turbulence and crosswind training.

I was supposed to fly a cross-country this morning, but the forecast was calling for pretty severe winds today, so I decided against attempting to repeat my last cross-country (not the route of flight, but the near-emergency conditions). Tomorrow is supposed to be more of the same, so I guess I'll try that flight again next weekend. I really need to get these last two flights knocked out before June 7 so I can take my stage check for commercial stage 1.

My Flying Groupies

While my parents were here, they got 2 opportunities to see me fly. The first day, I was only up long enough to fly 2 patterns because the wind and the turbulence were pretty strong. The second day was better, and I did 5 patterns before I called it quits. Here are some pictures of that second day.



This is me unchaining the airplane. We chain them up when we're not using them, so the wind doesn't flip them over.

This is me taking off, or possibly flying a low approach (I did one to show off a little bit for my parents).

This is me taxiing back in at the end of my flight.

Here I am standing on the wing like a goober, because Jenny was eager to take my picture.

And here I am with my parents and Erin after my flight. Jenny would be in the picture, too, but someone had to snap the picture. I told my mom I'd Photoshop her eyes open, but I don't actually know how to do that. Sorry, mom.

Clarification

I just wanted to clarify, regarding my last post, that we all had a great time at Tombstone. The only lame part of the whole day was the reenactment. The other 6.5 hours we spent at Tombstone were actually quite enjoyable. I recommend the place to anyone who might be passing through southern Arizona. I would just advise those people to think long and hard about seeing the reenactment.

Tombstone

It's taken me a bit longer than expected to get around to this, but I'm finally going to talk about and post pics of our visit to Tombstone.

This is Big Nose Kate's Saloon, where we ate lunch. It's named after Big Nose Kate, who was, of course, Doc Holliday's lady friend. It was a pretty cool place. They had employees dressed in Old West costumes, which was cool and not-so-cool at the same time. Cool, because it's always cool to see people dressed in Old West clothes. Not-so-cool, because the waitresses were all dressed like, well, saloon girls, so there was a lot of cleavage all over the place.

This is my dad, not looking like he's having much fun at the Saloon. I decided I needed to help him have more fun...

...So I asked this guy to hold him at gunpoint. Whoopee!!!

I found this picture funny. You've got the stage coach and the horses and the cowboy up top. It's all very Western-ish... except that the cowboy is chatting on his cell phone.

This is Jenny showing off her herculean strength by taking my parents for a carriage ride. You'll notice my mom is whipping Jenny with the reins, apparently because the poor girl just isn't generating the speed my mom was desiring. My mom's a pretty ruthless lady.
This is a picture I took at the "Shootout at the O.K. Corral" reenactment. It would be cruel of me if I didn't give you a word of warning regarding this reenactment. First, they make you pay to see it. Then they only do it once a day, so you have to hang out all day to see it if you get there too soon (that's what we did). Then they finally let you in, and you sit down with high hopes, and they try their level best to crush your hopes into oblivion. It's an awful show. Just awful. They almost make it into a poorly-scripted, poorly-acted comedy. As Jenny has said more than once, "Just rent the movie Tombstone, instead." Also, you'll notice that they misspelled "photographer" in the sign on the green building. Lame.

At the end of our day in Tombstone (it really was the end of the day; we spent 7 hours there), we went to Boothill.

This is where the "bad guys" from the O.K. Corral were buried. Most of the tombstones and other grave markers have been replaced by metal ones, but as far as I know they were put in all the original locations. This is, to the best of my knowledge, the very spot where these guys were actually buried. What's interesting is the huge number of "Unknown" grave markers throughout the cemetery. I'm guessing it's either because the graves were never marked, or because the original markers were so worn that the restorers couldn't read them.

And that's the end of our trip to Tombstone. Hope you enjoyed it!

Jenny

Here are a few pictures of my beautiful wife that I wanted to share. The first two are of Jen opening and trying on the headset that I bought her. Now, when I finally get to renting a plane this Fall (when the winds and turbulence die down) Jen can have her very own headset in the plane. (Don't worry; I bought her a couple other things, too, so she didn't get totally shafted on birthday presents.)

The last picture is one I took of Jen coming through a set of old-time saloon doors in Tombstone. I thought it looked really cool in sepia tones. Man, I've got a hot wife! (Interesting side note regarding those doors: Moments after the sepia picture was taken, I accidentally broke the right-hand door!)

I'm starting with this picture, mostly so Kara can see what Jen and I were talking about. This photo was intended to be a nice pic of my parents sitting on a cool bench (note the horses on the top) in Tombstone. But take a moment to really study it, and you'll start to find the humor in it. Enjoy!

P.S. Sorry, mom and dad.

My parents headed home today, after arriving last Saturday and spending a week visiting us here in sunny AZ. My dad called a little while ago, to let me know they'd made it back to MI safely. We did some fun stuff while they were here. Details and photos will be coming soon, I promise.

My mom and my father-in-law both commented on my last post, telling me they have been and will continue praying for my safety in the air. Thank you both.

My parents will be arriving in Arizona on Saturday for one week of sunshine and friendly weather, before returning to Michigan (could you hear the disgust in my voice when I said "Michigan"?) on the following Saturday. We plan to show them some of the tourist attractions in southeast Arizona, like Tombstone, that we haven't even been to ourselves yet.

Friday is Jenny's birthday. I've got a special special special super-special birthday date planned for her. I can't give you any more details until after the date, because she has no idea what we'll be doing and I don't want to ruin the surprise.

It's been crazy-windy here all week, so I haven't been in the air since Friday's educational cross-country. I've spent four flight periods in a row, in the simulator. Yesterday I got very frustrated with it. I'm having a lot of difficulty grasping instrument procedures (despite the fact that I passed my instrument rating FAA test yesterday), and it's getting to me. Today is looking like another simulator day, so I've got one last chance this week to do it well.

A Flight Full of Hard Lessons

I flew a cross-country yesterday morning. It was one of those flights that will probably hold a place in my memory til the day I die. (As I was typing the words "til the day I die" I suddenly thought that I would probably continue to remember after I died, and then I had a mental image of me telling this story to Silas or Timothy or someone in Heaven.) The forecast was for decent weather and acceptable wind velocities until around noon. I was scheduled to leave the ground at no later than 6:30, so I was counting on plenty of time to complete my flight. My route was from the college to Deming, New Mexico, where I would overfly the field bound for Truth or Consequences. I'd do a touch-and-go at T or C, then backtrack to Deming and land for fuel before heading back home. Another student, Ryan, was scheduled to make the same flight yesterday morning, and he was at the airport getting his plane ready the same time I was. Everything was looking fine.

My first problem came as soon as I opened the cockpit door and noticed someone had left the master switch on. The master switch controls the electronics in the plane. Leaving it on is much like leaving your car's headlights on: eventually your battery is going to die. Sure enough, 2143Y had a dead battery. The other two Cherokees were already signed out, so if I couldn't get a jump, I wouldn't be flying my cross-country. I called Erin, and she made a couple calls and got someone to jump the plane for me. The plane got started, but waiting for a jump put me behind schedule. I didn't get off the ground until right around 7:00. The flight to Deming wasn't bad. The air was getting a little bumpy, but I thought I could handle it. And then I listened to the Deming ASOS (weather report). The winds were already a little stronger than forecast, but I'd already flown well over an hour. I didn't want to abort the flight, so I kept going, bound for T or C. I got there without incident, flew a pretty decent traffic pattern, and got myself all set up to land. I was tense, though, because I was going to be landing with a fairly substantial crosswind. I came across the end of the runway and began my flare. However, due to my tension, I overflared and the plane lifted back up. Not good. Not good at all. I pushed the nose back down, waited a second, then attempted to reflare. The plane, though, decided not to level off and I slammed into the ground pretty hard and, since I was holding quite a bit of back pressure on the yoke, the plane jumped back into the air. Then it slammed into the ground a second time and bounced back up. Not entirely sure how to remedy the situation, I added some power, hoping it wound bring the plane to the ground and leave it there. No dice. The power aggravated the situation. All told, I think I slammed into the ground 4 or 5 times before I got it under control. I was torn between adding power and take back off, or taxiing off the runway and inspecting the plane for damage. Maybe it was my imagination, but the plane seemed to be leaning to the left, which made me afraid I'd wrecked my left strut or blown my left tire. I decided, though, to attempt to take back off, so I added power and the plane responded by beginning to shimmy. I was close to the end of the runway at this point, so I cut the power, stood on my brakes, and taxiied off. I got to the ramp, shut down, and took a look at all 3 struts and tires. None of them looked damaged in any obvious way, so my choices were call Erin and sit in Truth or Consequences for however many hours it would take for someone to pick me up and recover the plane, or take off and hope everything was really okay. I took back off. The plane seemed a little shaky, but I think it was just the crosswind, which had only gotten stronger. I flew back to Deming for my fuel stop, fully expecting someone to radio me and let me know I was only flying with 2 wheels on my plane. I was also pretty concerned about my landing in Deming. The wind direction and runway layout guaranteed me I wouldn't be facing much of a crosswind. My fears were rooted completely in my recent crow-hopping experience. I knew I would only be more afraid of landing again, now that I had completely (and dangerously) botched my first one, and my fear was only going to add to more mistakes. On top of that, I wasn't completely sure my landing gear would hold through a second landing, since I couldn't be certain I hadn't damaged it in T or C. I checked ASOS again and discovered the wind was indeed getting stronger and gustier. And the rising outside air temperature had made the turbulence a little stronger than I was completely comfortable with. I considered skipping Deming and heading home, but doing that would have put me at serious risk of running out of fuel before I got home. Deming was now a necessary evil. Fear aside, I made an excellent landing at Deming (seriously, it was beautiful), taxiied to the ramp, shut down, tied down, and headed for the FBO office. I turned on my cell phone to let Jen know I'd made it to Deming safely, and noticed I had a voice mail. It was Erin. She'd called to let me know that the forecast wasn't looking good, and I should make haste to get back home. I called her back to let her know where things stood: I'd make a horrible mess of a landing in Truth or Consequences, I was well behind schedule, I was facing a bit of a wait for fuel (the FBO guy was trying, unsuccessfully to get the fuel truck started, and I was second in line for gas), and even under optimal conditions my planned route back home was going to take me at least an hour and a half. Erin suggested I figure out a new route that would be closer to a straight line back, instead of the longer, more squared-off route I'd planned. She also let me know that I should keep my options open and, if the winds were too strong at the college, I should divert to Bisbee Douglas International and land there. The FBO, thankfully, had free New Mexico state aeronautical charts that I'd be able to use to figure out that more direct route. (I had the proper charts for my intended route, but not for a straight-line route, and flying without a chart would put me in danger of wandering into Mexico.) The fuel truck finally started, the guy ahead of me got fueled, and then my plane got gassed up. As quickly as I could, I went over my charts and figured out the best way back, did my taxi and runup, and took back off. My new route took me through the San Simon Valley, which is a narrow valley between two mountain ranges. Turbulence tends to always be worse around mountains, so I was extremely uncomfortable flying through this valley, but my alternative was to fly my original route and give the winds even more time to become unworkable. I chose the valley. The turbulence was terrible, and I prayed and feared for my life my whole flight back. In my fear, I couldn't figure out why I was getting such poor performance out of the plane. I was almost red-lining my tachometer, but I was only getting 85-90 on my airspeed indicator (normal is anywhere from 95-105). (I realized, after the flight, that it was because I was flying near the upper limits of the Cherokee's climb abilities, and I had a high density altitude because of the high air temp, which decreases the plane's performance.) I eventually got back to the college and overflew the windsock so I could see what I was up against. What I saw didn't inspire confidence. The sock was completely horizontal, and it was showing an almost-direct crosswind. I knew Bisbee Douglas International had a runway that would turn that bad, bad crosswind into a much better headwind, but I've had bad landing experiences at BDI, and I felt sure that the wind and the turbulence and the bad memories would all work together to guarantee a damaged plane or a damaged Josh, or both. And a final landing at a field other than the college wouldn't have necessarily been a good thing for me or my instructor. I was going to land at the college, no matter what, I decided. I entered the downwind leg of my traffic pattern and had a brutal time holding my altitude. Then I reduced my power at the proper time and had a hard time regulating my descent. I fought the plane all the way to final approach and ended up about 200 feet in the air as I crossed the threshold. That's way too high for landing. Any other time, I might have attempted to lose altitude with a forward slip, but I was already feeling pretty gutsy just trying to land. I wasn't up for an attempt at slipping. I decided to go around and try again, so I added full power and tried to climb out... and nothing happened. My engine roared with power, but I couldn't get the plane to climb beyond about 4500 feet. Traffic pattern altitude is 5000 feet, so I had a problem. I leveled off as best I could, in order to gain some airspeed that I could use to climb, and I retracted one notch of flaps. It worked, to some extent, and I eventually got back up to 5000' just in time to reduce power and start my descent again. This time the plane gave up altitude too easily, and I had to add power just to make it to the runway. But I was determined to not go around again, so I did the best I could with what I had. As I was just about to begin my flare, I noticed that two people were standing just off the left side of the runway. If I screwed up my landing and came in too far to the left, and they didn't move in time, I could injure or kill them. Not good. I pulled on the yoke to begin my flare and found myself overflaring again, just like in Truth or Consequences. REALLY not good. I let the nose back down a little and forced myself to focus on smaller control corrections, which resulted in a fairly decent, albeit slightly slanted, landing. However, as soon as my wheels met the asphalt, they gripped pretty well and straightened my nose out. I taxiied off the runway, breathing thanks to God all the way to the ramp.

I found out when I got back that Ryan, the other student who was scheduled to make the same flight, had decided against going. Probably a very wise decision, all things considered. Yeah, I got the cross-country done and I can cross it off my list, but it was a very frightening experience. Here's something interesting I wanted to share, though. As I was flying my downwind leg on my second attempt at landing at the college, I was fearing for my life and praying again, and a sudden thought popped into my head: God isn't killing a student; He's shaping a pilot. Whether that was the Holy Spirit or just wishful thinking I'm not sure. I do know, though, that I learned quite a bit from that flight and my experiences will certainly make me a better pilot.

Final Exam

I just got home from my final exam in Instrument Ground Training class. I managed to rake in some extra credit during the semester, and I get a full letter grade bonus on my end grade because I didn't fail any tests, and I was pretty confident taking the final, so my odds of passing the class are pretty good. If I pass, I will get written authorization to take the FAA instrument written test. A passing grade on that test, along with passing an instrument check ride, will earn me an instrument rating on my pilot certificate. I don't ever intend to actually use the privileges of my instrument rating, but it's required of an MAF pilot/mechanic. That's very encouraging. It means we're still inching our way toward the mission field, albeit slowly.

Some of you might be curious what Erin (my flight instructor) looks like. On the off-chance you haven't already seen the pictures on Jenny's blog, here is a pic of Erin. (If you're wondering just what Jen and Erin are doing, Jen wanted to be able to say that she's also flown with Erin.)

(Insert witty title here)

Well, flying didn't happen for me this weekend. Two of our 3 planes are down for maintenance, and another student reserved the third plane for both yesterday and today. That's okay, though. I'm a little disappointed, but also pretty happy that I get to spend the whole weekend with Jen.

We had Erin over for dinner last night, and I grilled up some burgers. They were pretty good. Jenny made her nationally renowned lemon cake, but in cupcake form this time. They're so good!!! We had intended to dye Easter eggs last night after dinner, but we got talking and time got away from us, and then Erin had to go because she's an R.A. and she was on duty last night. So she might come back today and dye eggs with us.

My last day of working at the library was Thursday. Thank God I'm done with that fiasco! It was just a train wreck of a job. I do have an application in with the aviation department, so the next time a student position opens up there, they'll at least consider me.

Today there's a carne asada lunch taking place in town. Last Fall, Jen and I discovered we like carne asada, so we're going into town to buy some for lunch. We also have volunteered to help Erin move, and also help our downstairs neighbor move. No clue whether or not either of them will take us up on our offer. And our Georgia friend, Chris, is a bachelor this weekend (his wife took a short trip back to Georgia), so he might call to set up a play date today (he has an X-Box and a PS2!). Lots of potential activities; let's see if any of them come to pass.

I decided, about a month ago, that I was only going to celebrate my rebirthday this year, as opposed to celebrating my biological birthday in November. For those unfamiliar with the term, it's the day I became a Christian in the true, Biblical sense (April 4). I'll be 9 this year. That said, Jen gave me my rebirthday present on Sunday. It's a brand new flight bag that I really wanted. My original flight bag was a little bit on the... umm... cheap side. It was a very basic beginners flight bag. My new one (thank you again, Jenny) is more durable, has more pockets (with zippers), and even has a pocket for my headset. I really like it.

After class yesterday afternoon I walked to the library and quit my job. The reason I gave them was that I needed greater flexibility in my schedule in order to succeed in the flight program, which is not a lie. There are times when an opportunity to fly will come up almost spontaneously, and I need to be able to jump at those chances. However, the other, equally true reason for my quitting is that it was just an awful job. No one on campus (aside from the librarians) had anything good to say about being a student worker in the library, or how the librarians treat those student workers. So I quit, but Helen (my boss) basically begged me to finish the week. I told her I couldn't do Friday, because that's prime cross-country time (which I explained in my interview, and they still scheduled my longest shift on Friday mornings), but I'm working the rest of the week. I'm not happy about it; I'd rather just be done. But I suppose it's the decent thing to do.

So I've got a cross-country scheduled for Friday. Whether or not the weather will accomodate my plans is still uncertain, but I'm going to plan on it and see what happens. I've still got 3 X-Cs to fly before I'm done with Commercial Stage I, so I need to get it in gear and wipe them out ASAP. I still need to get a whole bunch of Instrument time logged before June, and I can't very well do that until I finish Commercial I.

And speaking of flying, I made what may well be my best landing ever this morning. What's funny is that I was flying a plane I'm not used to, and I had a really sticky yoke (my flying pet peeve), so I was really wrestling with the controls: don't pull back hard enough, and you slam into the ground, but pull too hard, and you go back up instead of coming down. I'd just made a pretty sorry landing, and I was pretty sure I'd be making another one. Then, just like nothing, I landed so gently I literally didn't feel the wheels touch down. Jackpot! Now if only I could get the rest of my landings to do that.

Airshow!!!

Today is the first ever Border to Border Airshow at Douglas Municipal Airport in town! I'm very excited about it. All the proceeds go to the Cochise College Aviation Dept. Admission is free, but there's a carnival and food and stuff that costs money. I'm hoping for a really good turnout, not because of the proceeds going to my program, but because I'm hoping that a good turnout will mean another airshow in Douglas next year. There are 2 good reasons why the numbers today might be a little low. First, there's also an airshow at Davis Monthan in Tucson. It's a military airshow, so they've got bigger, louder planes (I think the Blue Angels are supposed to be there, but don't quote me). And second, Spring Break was this past week, and it seems like many of the Cochise students haven't gotten back into town yet. Reckon all we can do is wait and see.

Oh, and Cochise College Aviation Dept has a booth and a plane at the airshow today, and Sally (the glue that holds the department together) said I could probably go hang out in the booth for a while, since it would be good to have prospective students talk to actual students. Sweet!

Here's some stuff I couldn't quite manage to fit into the body of the post: There might be carne asada for sale at the airshow, and we're really excited about that, too. We like carne asada. Our new friends from Sierra Vista, Chris and Jennifer, are coming out to see the airshow with us. The Douglas Municipal Airport was the first international airport in the United States, and it was dedicated by Eleanor Roosevelt and Amelia Earhart. I think that's all.

I forgot to mention that I have a new job, starting this Monday. I'm going to be a part-time library aide. I'll be doing all the normal library stuff, plus the library is responsible for meeting the A/V needs on campus, so I'm going to be an A/V guy, too. All those duties will be packed into just 12.5 hours per week!

Tuesday morning I flew to Ryan Field, just on the other side of Tucson's airspace. It's a trip I'd been dreading, because my training has left me uncomfortable (and, in my opinion, unprepared) to interact with Air Traffic Control. It was a required cross-country, though, so I was going to have to do it sooner or later. I decided it may as well be sooner so I could stop worrying about it. It went pretty poorly, and I wound up getting scolded by both the approach controller at Tucson and the tower controller at Ryan. I do feel like I learned a lot on the trip, though, so it had value. On the downside, I really took a hit to my confidence. I went out and did some touch-and-go's yesterday morning, and I was a mess. My final approach each time around the pattern was pretty awful, and I kept overcorrecting on the flare. Not a good time. I was supposed to fly another cross-country this morning, but after the time at Ryan and my troubles yesterday, I decided to just call it a week.

Whiskey Creek, or My Last Great Bad Idea

As can be inferred from my last post, I flew a cross-country last Friday morning. I have a list of 5 or 6 cross-countries that I have to complete for my commercial certificate, and I get to pick which one I want to go on, each time I get the chance to make a flight. Well, on Friday I chose the Silver City-Safford-Willcox trip. It seemed like a pretty straightforward trip to knock off the list, except Grant County (the Silver City airport for that trip) had been closing their runway at odd times, seemingly at random. I certainly didn't want to spend time planning a cross-country, only to find I couldn't complete it because of a runway closure. So I had Erin fill out the necessary paperwork that would allow me to do a touch-and-go at Whiskey Creek (the other airport in Silver City) instead. I knew nothing about Whiskey Creek, save that it was on the school's list of approved airports, and Erin was no help as she'd never been there. So I set out on my trip.

As I approached Silver City, I began looking around for Whiskey Creek and monitoring the traffic frequency. I wanted to know if anyone else was taking off or landing there and, if so, which runway was active. All standard stuff. I also had the plane's GPS set to Whiskey Creek, to make it a little easier to find. Everything was going well, except the GPS said I was only a mile away from the airport, and I couldn't see it! Then another plane called in to say they were about to enter the traffic pattern. And then I saw it, and instantly realized why I hadn't seen it sooner. It was a single, narrow asphalt runway on a hill, with no markings whatsoever. So I muddled my way into the traffic pattern behind the other plane. When I was about 20 feet over the end of the runway, I noticed that there were, in fact, runway markings, but they were so old and faded they weren't visible from the air. I made my landing and took back off... only the plane got about 15 feet off the runway surface and seemed to stop climbing. I pitched up some more, but then my stall horn went off, so I was out of options. I couldn't pitch any further without dropping like a rock, and I wasn't gaining any altitude. After I passed the end of the runway, though, I started climbing again. I don't have documentation proving it, but I'm pretty sure the runway is on a slope. That's the only explanation I can come up with for why I was staying 15 feet over the asphalt. Anyhow, once the ground started getting smaller, I breathed a sigh of relief and then realized I was still in bad shape. There's a mountain range off the departure end of the runway I used, so I had to turn left a little early, which meant I was flying over Silver City at an uncomfortably low altitude (I think the regs require at least 1,000 feet over populated areas). And then I noticed that the mountains curled around to the left of the airport, too, so I had to swing well off my intended heading to avoid what we in the aviation world call an "accident." In the end, I made it away from Silver City and got back on my heading once I'd climbed up to a reasonable altitude. But I spent the rest of the flight convinced I'd be hearing from the FAA for swooping the good citizens of Silver City. Fortunately, it hasn't happened.

Here are 2 pictures of the airport. I strongly suggest clicking on them so you can get the bigger picture (literally).

This is what it looked like to be on final approach. Notice how you can't see the runway number or any other markings on the asphalt. Also notice how the land falls away to either side of the runway.

And this is a shot that I frantically clicked off as I was working to climb and turn and not hit a mountain. The airport is the dark horizontal stripe in the center of the picture. If you're wondering where the city is, it's right below me.

For Kara, and every one else who was curious.

Here it is, at long last. As always, clicking on the pic will enlarge it. Enjoy.

Updating, as requested

It's been a little while since I last posted, my wife has helpfully reminded me. She's also requested that I take a moment or two to update. So here goes nothin'!

It's been windy here. Exceptionally windy. Keep-all-the-pilots-grounded-every-weekend windy, which means I haven't been able to knock out a required cross-country in a while. That may very well change this weekend. As of right now, the forecasted winds for tomorrow will allow me to get up and get an X-C done in the morning. I've been pretty bent on flying the Silver City-Safford-Willcox trip, but the winds in New Mexico are supposed to be pretty intense tomorrow, so I've got another trip in mind. It's the Globe-Holbrook X-C, and it will be the first all-Arizona X-C I've flown in a very long time. If God really decides to make my weekend rock, He'll make the winds manageable both tomorrow and Saturday. If that ends up being the case, I'll do Globe-Holbrook tomorrow, and head for Silver City on Saturday. It sure would be nice to get those flights out of the way.

Speaking of cross-countries, the other day I asked Erin when I would get to fly the new plane (3154W), and she told me we might be able to take it when we fly our night cross-country to Tucson. 3154W is a 2006 Piper Warrior III that the school bought last year. It has a glass cockpit. That means the panel of "steam gauge" instruments has been replaced by two screens on which the pilot can call up all sorts of information. Glass cockpits are sort of where general aviation planes seem to be headed, and the Quest Kodiak incorporates the glass cockpit into its design, so it seems like a fantastic idea for me to get familiar with the glass now.

As Jen mentioned in her blog, we got to see Glory Road for free in the campus theater last night. That was really fun. What Jen failed to mention is that the Douglas theater has worked a deal with the college, so if we show up at the Douglas theater this Monday, we not only get into a movie for free, we also score free soda and popcorn. We've heard some less-then-encouraging reports regarding the Douglas theater, so we haven't really wanted to spend money to experience it for ourselves. So this is a great opportunity to go check it out, and have some fun off campus while we're at it. Jackpot!

The View From the Top

Here are some some pictures from last week's trip to Las Cruces.

This is a farm of some sort, surrounded by those round fields I mentioned in a previous post. You'll notice one of the fields has a slice missing out of it. The Cochise VOR is located in the missing slice.

This is just a cool highway shot I couldn't resist taking.

This is the airport in Deming, NM. I personally don't think it's a very good airport, but it looks cool from the air.

These are some semi-rare non-round fields I found. I like this picture because it reminds me of a patchwork quilt.

And this is my personal favorite. C'mon, it's Pac-Man. How can you not love that?

SAD

Occasionally, when I fly a cross-country it becomes necessary to stop and fuel up the plane. Twice now, I've gotten fuel at Safford Regional Airport (SAD). I really like stopping there. It's sort of remote and quiet, and it's good practice taxiing from the active runway to different points on the airport. Anyhow, when I was there on last week's cross-country I took a few pictures. The mountains in the background look fake but, trust me, they're real.

The building behind the Cessna is the FBO where I buy my fuel. On the men's room walls, they have newspaper pages from the late 1940's. They also have an amusing little sign next to the sink. I'm going to try to get a picture of it on my next cross-country.

These are fuel trucks. It's impractical to try to taxi a plane up to a gas pump for fueling, since planes have a fuel tank in each wing, so they fill the truck up with fuel and drive the truck up to the planes for fueling.

This is just a cool-looking hangar with some beautiful mountains in the background. That's my rudder on the right hand side, but its presence in the picture is incidental.

And finally, this is a jet that was just sitting on the ramp. It looked very out-of-place as it was the only jet among a handful of prop planes. I had to snap a picture.

And that's Safford. I hope to fly my wife out there one day.

Trains

During yesterday's cross-country, I somehow managed to fly over 3 different trains at 3 different points on the trip. I know my father-in-law likes trains, so I did my best to take pictures of all 3 of them. Enjoy!

P.S. If you click on the individual pictures, you'll get a bigger version to look at.

And February 7.

And February 6.

This is the cross-stitch as it appeared on February 3.

As some of you know, I'm cross-stitching a picture of Yoda for my lovely wife. For the sake of the pictures I'm about to post next, this is the original picture, more or less (I'm not sure why it looks like Yoda has a dandruff problem. That's not how the picture is supposed to look).

At 4.5 hours, today's cross-country was my longest yet. And my scariest. It was very windy in New Mexico, and I was catching some incredible turbulence off the mountains. So much so that I spent some of my flight time in prayer. I'm not kidding. I was a little concerned about my airplane losing a wing or something. In retrospect, it probably wasn't that bad out, but it sure felt like it at the time. I took a bunch of pictures, but I haven't downloaded them yet. When I get around to it, I'll be sure to stick some of them on here. I'll also go into more detail about the flight later. I just woke up from a nap, and my fingers aren't typing so good.

Photo op!

As of right now, the forecasted weather for tomorrow is looking good, so I'm probably flying my Las Cruces - Safford cross-country tomorrow morning. And good old 2143Y is back on the ramp and ready for flight. She's been in the hangar getting her 100-hour inspection the past couple days. I LOVE that plane! Assuming I don't forget the digital camera at home, expect some aerial photos to be up at some point this weekend.

Speaking of cameras, Erin has actually recommended I start bringing the camera along and taking pictures on my X-Cs, to help break up the monotony a bit. Apparently, I'm past the point where taking photos in flight would get me in trouble. This is very good news. Expect photos!

Since Saturday's cross-country didn't happen for me, I'm going to try again on either Thursday or Friday. And then, assuming I'm able to fly to Las Cruces on one of those two days, I'll try to get another X-C in on Saturday morning. It'll probably be Silver City, NM - Safford - Willcox. It's not really necessary for me to start doubling up like that, yet. I'm just trying to stay a little bit ahead of the game. Besides, cross-countries are fun.

This morning Jen and I got to sleep in a bit, since I didn't have to fly at 6:45. Erin called last night to tell me she was on her way to Tucson for dental surgery and that I should get dispatched for a local solo by Jorge (another flight instructor here). I wasn't sure if Jorge had a first-thing-in-the-morning student today, so I went in for the 8:15 flight period instead. The solo was fine. I worked on some commercial maneuvers (chandelles, 8's on pylons, and 8's around pylons), then I flew back to the college and did 4 landings. I'm pretty much over the fear of flaring, but my landings are still a little rusty. And yesterday I got introduced to the power-off precision landing. Doing them successfully requires some skill with short-field landings. Doing short-fields successfully requires soem skill with normal landings. Hence, I did 4 landings before shutting down this morning. One was pretty rough. One was really nice. The other two were passable.

I got my radio nav test back in class yesterday. I missed two, which earned me an A. This test was much easier than the first one, mostly because I took the time to sit down and go through the relevent questions in the study guide. Turns out it pays to never underestimate the power of the study guide. It's a lesson I won't soon forget.

Maybe Wal-Mart by noon...

Sigh... never mind. I spent 3 hours last night working on flight planning for my Las Cruces/Safford flight. Then I spent an hour getting the plane ready this morning, so everything would be A-okay for my X-C. Then when I was finally all ready to go (90 minutes behind schedule, due to several factors), the engine wouldn't catch and the starter eventually killed the battery. So my choices were walk back to security, sign out a different plane key and start preflighting all over again, or call it quits and come back home. The first option would have put me at least 2 hours behind schedule, and I wouldn't have gotten home until somewhere around 2:30. Option B wound up being the winner.

Las Cruces by noon...

I'm flying a solo X-C to Las Cruces, NM (LRU) tomorrow morning, weather permitting. We stopped overnight in Las Cruces on our voyage down here. It's the only time I've ever been to the place and I'm excited, for nostalgia's sake, to be flying there, even if it's only for a touch-and-go. It'll be more or less a straight shot from here to Las Cruces, then from Las Cruces up to Safford, then back to good old P03 (that's the airport identifier here). It's looking to be a fairly long X-C. The P03 - LRU leg alone should take me well over an hour. The longest cross-country I've flown was exactly 4 hours, from initial engine startup to final engine shutdown. I'm curious to see if this one takes the record. I'll let you know.

Ear to ear

That's how big my smile is right now. Why? Because I just received my private pilot certificate in the mail. Now, granted, I've been a private pilot since November 21, but all I had to show for it was a flimsy half-sheet of printer paper that Mr. Perry very unceremoniously handed me upon completion of my private pilot check ride. But now I've got an official plastic credit card-type certificate. Now it feels real! And I'm lit up and grinning like a jack o'lantern.