Dear Friends and Mysterious Guest Readers,

I am leaving Blogger. In fact, I will begin the process of removing myself entirely from social media. What gives? As much as I LOVE to share my love aviation and adventures with everyone, this is necessary as part of my next big movement in life.

What's this? you ask.

I do not want to go into details here (kind of defeats the point of going private, eh?) so I welcome your questions, comments, well wishes, and contact details so we can keep in touch. Email me at sarahnejdl@gmail.com or call/text me. I am happy to "spill the beans" offline.

I will be back on social media some day. Until then, Auf Wiedersehen, Adios, Au revoir, and I'll miss you.

Today was Nicole Ticknors' bridal shower. She's a cousin on my father's side. While we're somewhat distant cousins, I definitely see some resemblances like our high cheek bones, our noses, and fair skin. But Nicole is a stunning beauty.

Nicole Ticknor & I

I'm very glad she invited me to her bridal shower in Durant. It gave me an excuse to fly and use our airplane for practical travel. While last week was solid instrument weather, today was clear and calm.

I flew on an IFR plan intending to do the GPS approach into Durant, but I was running late. I decided on a visual landing to save time. After the airplane was parked and tied down, I borrowed a courtesy van then showed up to the party in my new blue heels just in time to mingle and celebrate Nicole's special day.

After the party, I chatted up the nice guy at the Durant FBO. He told me the airplane off the runway is abandoned. It's a Fairchild FH-227D. The story is, students from the university purchased the airplane to restore it as part of a project, but didn't finish. It's now sitting on an old taxi-way off part of closed runway, abandoned. The city just wants to get rid of the airplane. The guy at the FBO thinks it will get scrapped by the city. He says this airplane was featured in the 1993 movie Alive. It was the only furnished FH-227D the producers could find, so the airplane served as part of the set.

The Fairchild at Eaker Field

So if you want a dirt cheap, twin turboprop airplane that was once in a movie, call the nice guy at Durant.

Leaving Durant was my first departure from a non-towered airport. I called up The Briefer and fumbled my way through filing then getting clearance. I say fumbled because I hadn't done this before and mixed up my terminology. I wasn't sure if I opened an IFR plan, or get filed, got clearance first or last- I didn't know. I'm sure I was informed at some point in my training. Now I'm all straightened out: file then get clearance, and do it within 10-20 minutes of departure if you're on the field. Otherwise, file then call again for clearance when you're almost ready to taxi.

Ooh, and I learned that hot air balloons can launch without ATC knowing. Luckily, I saw this one well enough in advance to deviate. There were three in the area, but this one was closest to my path.

I promised roommate Stephanie Ponder that I would take her on a flight. On September 1st, her dream of a flight with me came true!

So where does a pilot go for sightseeing? I didn’t want to practice landings or shoot a practice approach. I didn’t have a destination. So I decided a fly-over destination was the best plan.

We took off from Addison in sweltering heat. As you can see from this picture, I can handle the heat.

Outside temperature: 98° F (36° C)

I didn’t file or do flight following. Instead, I just keyed the mic for a north VFR departure. After I left Addison’s Class D airspace and DFW’s Class B airspace, we cruised at 3,000 feet. It was just high enough to catch a break from the heat but not in the clouds, since I wasn’t on an IFR flight plan. The clouds above us were a good thing: shade!

East of Lake Lewsiville

After about 20 minutes or so, I could finally see the blue snaky image and state border dotted across the GPS map.

“We’re almost at the Oklahoma border.”

I flew us over the Red River then East a bit tipping the wings at times so my passenger could take pictures and take in the scenery. The Red River isn’t close to the magnificence of Niagara Falls, but around North Texas with no coast and no mountains, you take what you can get. 



The impressive part was getting there in about 30 minutes of flight. Ground speed getting there was 135 knots thanks to a hefty tailwind. That same wind slowed us to 85 knots on the way home even though indicated said 120 knots. I landed in a lot of headwind, but it was a smooth boring landing, the best kind!

Afterwards, I had her help pushing the plane back into the hangar space and double checking that everything was off.




The flight was short and not exactly an adventure, in my book, but my friend really enjoyed her time which made it worth it. And I had an excuse/reason to go fly.

So if you are reading this and you would like a flight for the fun of it, let me know!  I need more excuses and reasons to fly with friends!

Stephanie

Like any private pilot with a newly minted certificate, I was nervous before my first instrument flight being instrument rated. I was tempted to tell the Tower and ATC to go easy on me. But I decided to keep that to myself. Afterall, I had demonstrated proficiency to several instructors and ultimately an examiner.

Fear is a reaction. Courage is a decision.
~Winston Churchill

This past weekend I flew four instrument cross country flights. Three were in Florida. Ask me about Florida weather! That state is a cloud machine.

I could bore you with mundane details of each flight, but this time, I’ll keep it brief:


Trip #1
Opened in Mobile, AL (KMOB) going to Jacksonville, FL (KCRG). Right after departure, I was vectored slightly around a storm with heavy precipitation. Skies were fairly tame and a large part of visual meteorological conditions (VMC) meaning I could see the ground and wasn’t too close to clouds.

Mississippi River

Then we came up behind a storm already in progress. My real-time weather detector (the windshield) advised I go the south of it so we informed ATC of this request. While we went through a few bumpy clouds on the backside, it wasn’t so bad. I was told I couldn’t do an instrument approach into Jacksonville at night so I did a practice approach and landed visually. 3.1 hours

Trip #2
Opened at Jacksonville, FL going to Key West (KEYW). Right after take-off, we were in clouds. These fluffy white clouds were scattered all over Florida ranging from 3000 feet above the ground to 10’s of thousands of feet high. I was vectored around a couple of storms but they weren’t too imposing on my flight path. Around Naples, FL we left clouds and started the flight over ocean water. THAT was nerve wracking. I kept thinking to the airplane, please don’t fail me now! But for all the worry, it was over very quickly. I was allowed to do another practice approach. 3.6 hours

Somewhere around Ocala, FL

Above Marco Island, FL

Trip #3
Opened in Key West going to Tallahassee, FL (KTLH). Another flight in and out of clouds, and this time vectored only once around a storm. After we emerged north of Tampa, a convective sigmet was announced for the area. We had good timing! Tallahassee said the ILS and glideslope were inoperative so I didn’t bother with an approach. The skies were clear and I could see the runway. That was my only instrument flight without an approach this weekend. 3.6 hours

Somewhere east of Tampa, FL

Trip #4
Opened at Monroe, LA (KMLU) going home to Addison, TX (KADS). Rusty was exhausted from flying under clouds from Florida to Louisiana. He originally said he’d take that last flight but then later let me do it. Without hesitation, I took him up on the offer to let him rest on the right side. There was a convective sigmet (thunderstorms) over the Dallas area that was predicted to move off around the time we expected to arrive. I studied the weather information then spoke to a briefer. The trip was actually VMC the whole way and Rusty totally could have done it, but we just didn’t know. I was able to do my instrument approach to Addison landing on the 33 numbers.

Almost at YEAGR along DUMPY4 east of Dallas, TX

This whole weekend was a terrific start for using my new instrument rating. I got to plan, file, fly it, then shoot approaches in visual conditions. It was easy enough and a good confidence booster.


What’s next?
How about practice approaches to airports with DME arcs then a fly-in to Lubbock next month? Stay tuned for more!

Leaving Key West with my favorite co-pilot

Thank the stars, I PASSED MY IFR CHECK RIDE!!!

Details to follow...

Last weekend we flew to Lubbock to visit my mom. The original date to visit during Memorial Day weekend was thwarted by storms & rain in Dallas and in Lubbock. We rescheduled for mid July under the assumption, "Surely we'll have clear skies and 100 degree weather."

Have you met my friend Murphy? She's not much of a friend really.

Turns out the weather over Dallas on the Friday we took off was cloudy and unseasonably cool. Through the day, my husband and I watched radar and sky condition charts. He called off the flight preferring to drive or depart the next day. But I had a sense that we could safely make the flight with an amended route that showed higher ceilings than our normal route. So we switched pilot-in-command (PIC) and I assumed responsibility for a safe flight.

We departed flying 2000 ft above ground level (AGL) which was 500 ft below the clouds. The clouds lifted a little around Bridgeport, then lifted more around Abilene. After KABI, the cloud shelf ended and we were finally able to climb to 4500 and 5500. We stayed about 2000 ft AGL the whole trip.

Lubbock Executive was hard to find with the sun setting between us and the airport but we did find it almost below us eventually. I circled around the airport to descend and get into position to land.

But my pattern was all off and the landing didn't look like it would be good. I did a go-around and the second attempt was better resulting in a smooth landing.

The weekend with my mom was great!

Rusty was PIC on the flight home. The lucky guy got his clear skies most of the way and we enjoyed outside air temperature of 70F at 7500. Near Dallas, clouds were bunching up to a broken ceiling. We had to descend early to get below the clouds and then the Bravo airspace shelf. He did a very fine landing at ADS.

I'll upload pictures later. No video this time though. (The camera wasn't charged.)

What does it say about me that I made the call to fly under MVFR? I told my mom it was a calculated risk and my calculations were correct. What I didn't tell her was that I was prepared to deviate to the nearest airport at any moment if the flight wasn't safe. Being brave is good, being smart about risk is better.

My friend Lee shared this amazing video that I must share because watching large Boeing planes maneuver "in the pattern" is fun to watch if you're me!  :-)

 From the expert himself, these beauts are made of "50+ % composite by weight (mostly epoxy resin carbon fiber), a fair whack of titanium, some aluminum and steel." [other source]

I suspect drink services were not available during this flight.

It was time for another excuse to fly the family! This time, for burgers in a neighboring suburb.

I flew us from Addison (KADS) to Grand Prairie (KGPM) to meet up with a friend for burgers at Mixed Up Burgers. The burgers were very delicious and service was great. Oh, and kid friendly! After burgers, pictures of the boys, bathroom breaks, and threats of no ice cream if there was any fighting in the backseat, we departed. Rusty was pilot-in-command going home to Addison.

Both flights were uneventful, although my visual approach into Grand Prairie was less graceful. I spotted Arlington's larger airfield just beyond our destination and mistook that for KGPM. I was on short base before I realized I where I needed to be, and was 1500 feet too high. So I flew the pattern to dump altitude and get coordinated for my landing.

Anyway, here's the video of Rusty's flight.

I passed the Instrument Rating Oral Exam this afternoon.

There are area thunderstorms today so the flight is going to be this weekend (assuming fair weather), hopefully on Saturday.

I have a lot more studying to do to prepare for that. Just because I'm done sitting across from him at a table answering questions doesn't mean he won't drill me on some of the same topics I missed and ask other questions.

Details to follow as events unfold.  yay!

We were so hopeful and excited about flying to Chicago! I had paper maps, a departure, fuel stops, runway information, ground transit- it was planned, all systems go except- EXCEPT- the weather got in the way. AGAIN!

(I cannot wait to be instrument rated. Stay tuned, I’m working on it.)

So what happened? you ask.

We did our weather research days in advance like good pilots. By Tuesday, we were watching weather forecasts for the cities between here and there. Several weather forecasting sites all agreed that there would be storms across the Central part of the U.S. on Friday, and several sources agreed on storms the Sunday we wanted to return. We also saw forecasts for overcast skies across large portions of our route.

We decided not to chance it and bought airline tickets instead.

Friday, we departed Southwest Airlines out of Dallas Lovefield under dark, low clouds. I say that to make myself feel better. Really, we probably could have flown ourselves East under the clouds, or between layers, to the overcast shelf. After the shelf, we would have been in the clear for a bit, then we would have been stuck on top for much of the Central Plains flight.

Leaving Dallas

What aviation nerds do during commercial flights.

It might have worked out! Or, it might have ended in disaster. What if we had issues stuck on top? There was a lot of turbulence (at airliner flight levels) that might have also been at lower altitudes. Would we have been tossed around?

Arriving into St. Louis, the clouds were breaking up and I could see ground well before we went through the cloud layer. Some time after St. Louis, the clouds cleared up and was all clear into Chicago. We totally might have made it.

Somewhere between St. Louis & Chicago

We had a most excellent time in Chicago!



Sunday morning, we woke up early to catch our flight. There were low scattered clouds about 1000 feet off the ground that disappeared well before our scheduled flight. Same as last time, there was no lack of overcast clouds to trap VFR pilots on top. This time though, we arrived in Kansas City, MO to more scattered than broken, meaning there were patches of visibility between clouds, meaning we totally might have made it. Departing Kansas City then into Dallas, clouds began to break up and clump into fluffy compact sky pillows.

Enroute to Kansas City, MO

Over Kansas City

Back at Dallas

The clouds looked ominous but there was no rain and little wind. Totally. Could. Have. Flown. That.

But here’s the thing. It would have been a huge risk as VFR pilots. There would have been long stretches of flying on top with no way to get down without breaking the law and possibly bumping into something. And there was no way to know that at the time we flew into St. Louis and Kansas City that there would have been enough of a break between clouds to get down. It could have been solid overcast, but it happened to break up. Weather forecasting has gotten much better in recent years, but it has a long way to go before pilots can reliably predict the when and where on clouds.

So this blog post is about me whining that I could have flown but chickened out after forecasts for storms seemed so sure. This is not a story about an accident or incident that I regret. Hopefully that flight doesn’t happen for a very long time, if ever at all!

The weather this weekend will be scattered area thunderstorms across much of the Central Plains area from Oklahoma to northern Missouri. There will also be thunderstorm activity for the same area and extending into North Texas on Sunday.

And this is why we bought airline tickets to attend the wedding in Chicago.

I was so pumped, so confident, so nervously ready for an oral exam and checkride last weekend.

Yet, I wasn't ready.

As I faced the examiner across the table from me, my heart was pounding, my hands shaking, my breath short, my eyes wide, my emotions on the edge of erupting either with joy or sorrow depending on how the exam went. My confidence going into the exam was full of hope but quickly deflated as I began to stumble over basic questions, some I knew I knew but panicked and froze up. My brain and my confidence went into a graveyard spiral. I wasn't as prepared I could have been. I thought I was close enough, but really, looking back I can see know how woefully I wasn't.

That was my false start.

The examiner offered his time to review material with me and even shared his notes as to what I missed during the exam so I could review. I gathered my things and walked solemnly back to my airplane. I covered up the canopy, locked everything up, then cried in the car.

I had too much going on that weekend: Joshua's birthday party at 5pm followed by a neighborhood pool party and pressure mounting for a long cross country trip to Illinois. That's not my excuse and it is no excuse. I simply wasn't as ready as I could be.

I had a conversation with the manager of US Sport about what I should do next. He advised me to get with one of his instructors. I scheduled with a guy who I thought would be a Finisher type of CFII. He seemed military to me: little emotional connection, very factual, very methodical, even a bit rigid.

Things were going well. I was being challenged and nitpicked on details from the FARs and equipment and aeronautics. I was asked to make a flight plan from scratch (pencil, paper, E6B, maps & weather data), asked to reread the POH, asked to call in a flight plan, not just use my iPad. It was good! I was actually enjoying the Bootcamp treatment because I believed it was going to make me better, stronger and more ready for the next exam. No stone was left unturned.
"Do you have GPS user manual in the airplane?"
"I have a few-page cheat sheet in my pilot bag."
"The user manual is a 50-60 page book."
"Well, no, I..."
"That mistake will cost you $500."

gulp!

Then today happened.

We were to go up into low cloud IMC on a flight to Tyler, TX. I made the flight plan on paper quickly, picked out the alternate airport, looked up pertinent weather, called the briefer, and preflighted the airplane. I was ready to go, fully expecting to be diverted then tested on a variety of flight maneuvers and approaches.

As I started up the airplane going step-by-step with my checklist, the instructor asked what the yellow words on the GPS screen said.

The 530/430 WAAS GPS system showed that the obstacles database had expired in February of this year.

"Can we legally shoot a GPS approach with outdated information?" he asked.
"I did not read anything in the FARs about an obstacle database being required."
"But if the database is expired, is that safe to do a GPS approach?"
I think it is safe enough. Obstacles like towers and buildings don't change very quickly.
We went back and forth on the issue for a moment, then the conversation evolved to my ultimatum:

"I feel confident that GPS course laid out into Addison is clear of obstacles and that clouds are high enough that we could safely get back. What do you want to do? Are we a go or a no-go?"

The instructor said he did not feel safe going on a flight and so the flight was canceled. I taxied back to the hangar space, shut it all down, tied it up, covered the canopy, and collected my things. A perfectly good flying day was canned on the basis of having the GPS obstacles database expired by four months. None of the other instructors had made obstacle mapping a requirement of GPS flight. None of previous FOUR instructors took issue with it. I had current paper plates and maps (VFR and low IFR) to reference.

I called Rusty to discuss the change in plan. He felt as incredulous as I did.

I tried to reschedule. He's booked with another student. Tomorrow- booked. Monday- booked. Tuesday- booked. Wednesday, available after 5pm.

"Can we do ground time, review material to prepare me for the next test?"
"I need to see you fly."

I didn't have enough time to run home to update the database then be back for a flight before his next appointed student would arrive. And he didn't take my offer for ground time to study other topics.

My female brain heard "We're done."

I later did update one Garmin card with a new obstacle database at the cost of $200, and read carefully Garmin's terms of use,

... to use the Database in a Garmin GPS receiver or System and, if applicable, use as a VFR reference tool, but not for primary airborne flight navigation, during the effective period stated on the Database download page.

Not for primary airborne navigation. This explains why plates for GPS approaches show obstacles depicted. The maps and procedures updated every 28 days are certified for primary airborne navigation, but obstacles are not.

I reluctantly paid for my time with him, then left, crying and pissed. Angry that I had just paid, over two days of time, $275 for an instructor who wasn't available to help me with my goal to prepare for a retest, and who wasn't available to see me finished any time soon, angry that the very FBO that got me started wasn't able to finish me with a rating, angry that so much effort and time and money had been spent only to be stuck, and dumped again by yet another instructor. I have had CFII instruction by six instructors, seven if you count that one girl CFII who was a no-show the second time we were scheduled. I understand that flying with various instructors is good to learn various perspectives and techniques. But none of these guys were Finishers. There was no sense of ownership to see me get rated.

I was in the self-checkout lane.

I have decided I am done using that FBO as a student. They are terrific with mechanical issues, super friendly in passing, helpful in many ways, but not adequately staffed to serve pilots seeking higher ratings.

After a couple of hours of reflection and emotional cooling off, I called Torrey Zook. He put me on his schedule to fly on Tuesday for my biennial flight review checkride, and to evaluate my progress since we last met.

I was so hopeful and tried so very hard to get an IFR rating secured before Rusty and I embark on our long cross country to Illinois for a wedding next week. It's highly likely we'll encounter clouds and weather that will mess with our desired route and timing. But it's just the way it will have to go.

My plan of action is to continue test-prepping information, continue my review of material, continue to polish and prepare for the next opportunity to test. I feel confident that by then, I'll be way more on top of my game!

My Facebook page has been accumulating a little dust while this blog has a thick layer of neglect to wipe off.

Every year, April to June is the busiest time of the year of me and the family. After Easter, there are 3 birthdays to prepare for, Mother's Day, volunteer obligations, and the various outings that celebrate the warm weather. This year, my attention has been laser focused on finishing my instrument rating.

To date, I've flown 48 approaches and just over 40 hours of simulated and actual instrument conditions. On a couple of weekends, I flew 4 times! Plus a lot of landings, tracking VOR radials, holding procedures, following ATC instructions, airplane control and flight planning. While 40 hours doesn't seem like much considering that's normally a work week of time, for me, it's lasted since Nov. 2012. There were pauses of time due to new airplane ownership, weather, maintenance and general scheduling. I've flown with six different instructors, plus a couple of CFIIs in a simulator.

I feel more than ready to get this rating, and a bit of fatigue from being a student of it for so long.

My last flight with Torrey Zook went very well minus a couple "gotchas", which we discussed. This week I'll be reviewing concepts in preparation for the oral exam and reviewing approach procedures for various airports.

If I can pass my rating checkride this Friday, I'll feel more prepared for our family flight to Lubbock next weekend. And don't worry, when I receive my rating, I promise to share it here! :-)

I have been flying a lot lately doing IFR practice flights. The only time I can seem to get up is on the weekends so I'm scheduling myself any time I can squeeze in between family obligations and instructor schedules.

Last weekend, I flew four times in three days:
Friday evening
Saturday morning
Saturday afternoon
Sunday afternoon

This weekend, only twice. Friday's scheduled flight was canceled due to area thunderstorms. booo.

One of the instructors I'm flying with, Torrey Zook, brings a video camera that provides audio inside the cockpit during flight. I'm loving this! I can rewatch portions of our flight to review where I got off (or where I was spot on) and actually see what's going on outside the airplane as I'm flying "under the hood". I have plans to slice up the videos into short segments and post to my YouTube channel. But video editing takes time, and I'm short on that these days. Some day (or night) I'll find loads of time to crank out a few videos. Until then, 17.6 GB of footage will have to wait.

Here are a few pictures of recent flights taken by the instructor from today:

Dallas, TX

Over Lovefield in Dallas, TX (you can see a commercial flight on the taxi way)

Yesterday I attended a very insightful FAA Safety webinar titled "How to Flunk an Annual Inspection"*.

Since most service centers will repair items to meet inspection standards, you'll likely need to specifically ask them to fail your inspection.

And you're asking, why on Earth would you ever want to fail?

What I Learned:
You can ask the Inspector or service center to put things back together and fail the inspection. When that happens, you'll get a special note in the aircraft logbook that essentially says that the aircraft owner was presented with the list of discrepancies.

With this, the inspection is now officially complete and not due for another 12 months.  yay!

And now you can take this list of discrepancies to:

• a specialist for particular repair, like for the airframe
• another mechanic for a lower price
• another service center for a second opinion
• your hangar to make repairs yourself (if it's one of those permissible types of repairs like a flat tire)

If your alternative mechanic or specialist is at another airport, you can get a ferry permit from the FAA from the local Flight Standards District Office (FSDO) then fly there. My understanding is that it's not a big deal to obtain and there's flexibility.

You do have to have the discrepancies addressed. If another mechanic determines a repair is indeed not necessary, such as a manufacturer's recommendation or replacement service bulletin that's isn't required by the FAA, then they can sign off stating that repair/replacement was not performed and the airplane is airworthy. voila!

For the non-owners reading this, regulations state that ...no person may operate an aircraft unless, within the preceding 12 calendar months, it has had an annual inspection ... and has been approved for return to service by a person authorized [to do so]. Whether your airplane needs it or not, you must have your airplane opened up and thoroughly inspected if you plan to fly it. It's much more intrusive than a car inspection which tests exhaust and basic safety like lights and brakes. Annual inspections range in price from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars depending on the type of airplane, the condition it's in, and the service center's baseline fee for an inspection.

For us, we know there's an airworthiness directive that needs to be addressed and a few things that need repair.

Our airplane is being examined this week for its annual inspection. Stay tuned for details!

*Thanks to Mike Busch from Savvy Aircraft Maintenance Management for presenting!

All this terrific weather during my holiday break from work is torture. I really want to fly. 

For my birthday this September, I got a camera to mount onto the airplane. It's a Sony Exmor Action Cam. The camera case is more aerodynamic than GoPro and shorter than most other action cams. It's not a perfect camera for everyone, but for back-of-the-plane videos, it's perfectly acceptable.

After several weeks of distraction, I finally mounted it and took it for a test flight. Once it's recording and the airplane is started, there's no turning it off. So the video here has been edited so that you're not watching (more) minutes of no action. (Heck, watching me taxi can be considered no action.)

The video shows a condensed version of my taxi and takeoff. If you just want to see the takeoff, skip ahead to 9 minutes.

Shortly after I'm up, the camera case fogs up. I suspect the case was warmed up by the sunlight then the cold air aloft made it fog over. To test this theory, I should do a flight on a cloudy day.

Much of the flight is uneventful if down-right boring to watch. Being inside the airplane during the flight is not boring, but just watching is. I cut much of the city flying out.

At about 11:13 it cuts from boring Dallas to flying over Lake Lewisville.

But then, there's something interesting that happens!

After the lake at about 15:08 until 15:10, you might see a black speck go across the right side just above the horizon. It's actually a cluster of balloons! I marveled at it in the few seconds I had it in view. There were red and black latex balloons with a black heart shaped one in the middle. Luckily I flew past it, and not through it. Getting tangled in my propeller or caught on my wing could have been bad news.

The fog on the camera case is thick. I'll see if I can zoom in and circle the balloons in a future video segment.

The rest of the flight to Possum Kingdom (F35) was uneventful. The landing was good enough. The takeoff again was uneventful. The flight back home was uneventful. The landing back at Addison was- yep -uneventful.

There you have it! My first video! And it's (mostly) uneventful.

“…in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” Benjamin Franklin (1789)

It has happened so many times since I began flight lessons. A conversation about flying small airplanes yields a comment from a non-aviator about the lethal risks of flying.

“Those crash all the time!”
“Aren’t you afraid of crashing?”
“Did you hear about that plane that crashed?”

First, not all crashes result in the death of the pilot and passengers.

NTSB reports that in 2012 US general aviation had 1,471 accidents of which 271 resulted in a fatality. In other numbers, in 18% of small airplane crashes, someone dies.

My glass is half-full: I have an 82% chance of surviving a crash, statistically speaking.

Cessna Carrying 3 Crash-Lands on Farm, No One Injured

How frequent are crashes anyway? According to the NTSB, they have been on the decline for the last 10 years.

Tab 10

But this blog post isn’t about the good crashes where people walk away. Let’s be frank about things: death happens.

In fact, death happens every single day to millions of people around the world for a huge variety of reasons:

biological aging    disease cancer illness war famine drowning fires crime job related accidents wild predators transportation accidents

Now, I have a very in-the-moment perspective on life. I don’t dwell in the past carrying burdens, and I don’t think too far into the future stressing about what-ifs. For better or worse, I’m right here right now taking in this exact moment.

Living in the moment means I live like every day could be my last for any of the above reasons. I’m not spending all my cash and doing crazy stuff every day like it’s literally my last day on Earth. Instead, I’m taking in what’s going on around me, enjoying the good moments, thankful every day that I’m here and focusing on what’s really important: family, friends, good food, security in life and creature comforts.

Flying airplanes, for me, is part of the package to happiness. I get excited before each flight, I grin on my way up (and usually down), and I love sharing my stories with people who don’t see the world from a few thousand feet up. My brain’s reward center is full of pleasure before, during and after each flight.

All this unicorn talk has made me forget about the reason for this post. Back to death!

People do crash and sometimes these accidents are lethal. I read NTSB reports each month which include accidents from all aircraft types and sizes, all pilot experience levels, and result in fatalities ranging from none to all.

I have a very realistic approach to the risks of flying. I am fully aware that a number of things could go wrong: engine failure, in-air collision, pilot error, terrible landing, etc.



Despite knowing that flying can be dangerous, I insist to live my life to its fullest. I want to enjoy my time on Earth, not live in fear of it. I want to drink premium coffee, sip quality wine, eat delicious foods, and enjoy the view from aloft. This doesn’t mean I’m reckless about the matter either.

I recommend having a will for all pilots- especially pilots with families. Rusty and I have a will drawn up that designates who will take custody of our children and where estate funds will go. It’s also a good idea to prepare the spouse for early departure. Things like monthly bills, accounts, and passwords maintained by one person needs to be shared so the other can take care of business to keep the lights on. Having a friend support base is important too. In the event one or both of us goes, having friends to help cope with loss can relieve some of the feelings of depression. Talking about what to do with your remains is important too. I’m all for organ donation and I want my surviving family to decide on burial or cremation. (I don’t believe it should be my choice when I’m not grieving for me.)

With death contingency planning done, the next best thing to do is to always be prepared. That means to continually learn about flight safety topics, practice flight maneuvers, practice emergency landings, give safety briefings to passengers, and take a cautious approach to flying.

“Those crash all the time!” No they don’t and accident rates are on the decline.
“Aren’t you afraid of crashing?” Nope. I’m more afraid of drunk drivers and random acts of violence.
“Did you hear about that plane that crashed?” I did- and here’s what I learned about it…

Clouds on departure, clouds enroute, clouds caused us to divert to Sante Fe. Safely landed though! Will continue tomorrow morning, Rusty will be pilot. :-)

One thing I love about Fall is all the activity. It seems like there’s something exciting to do nearly every weekend. This coming weekend is the reason for my blog post:

Cameo's Wedding in Colorado!

The backdrop of the ceremony are the San Juan and Cimmaron mountain ranges in Ridgeway, CO. We had the choice of landing at Telluride or Montrose. While I was excited about the idea of putting KTEX in my logbook, there weren’t any car rentals available. So we’ll be landing in Montrose (KMTJ).

Keeping it equal, I’ll fly us to Las Vegas, New Mexico (KLVS), then he’ll fly us into around the mountains to Montrose; I’ll fly us out of the mountains to NM then he’ll fly us home. In theory, we’ll have the same amount of fly time and same amount of planning and challenges.

Neither of us has flown this much into mountains.

To add to the adventure, there is a chance of rain in the middle of Texas the same morning we plan to depart. We’ll either leave after rains subside, or if the storms seem broken, fly around the mess.

What is it about us flying around rain?

We expect the total flight time to Montrose, Colorado to be approximately 6 hours (this doesn’t include our fuel and bathroom stop) requiring approximately 52 gallons of fuel. (Las Vegas is our mid-point for fuel if you’re wondering.) We'll be flying over 735 n. miles. If we were to drive, it would take 14 hours.

Thursday night is my night to plan out my portion and begin packing. If all goes as planned, we’ll get to leave Friday morning!

US Sport Aircraft in Addison organized a group trip to Galveston. Pilots of all experience levels (pre-solo students to instructors) both renters and owners participated. I'm estimating 10 airplanes flew in, with about 20 pilots plus our two kids.

Galveston's tower seemed less than equipped for arrivals. Their radar wasn't operational so they didn't know our position despite us having a squwak code. Rusty landed us, we emptied the plane, hung out at the airport waiting for others, then took a bus to the hotel. 

The cylinder got repaired in time for me to fly it home Friday after work. It started fine despite I flooded it on my first attempt. If it's been started the same day, or ambient air over 105F, I've learned to consider it a warm engine. No fuel pump needed!

Something about a crack in or on or near a cylinder.

This crazy red lip batfish sums up my feelings right about now:

The mechanic reinstalled the fuel control system. And determined the fuel issue is still an issue.

So he took the parts out and sent them back for repair again.
We'll continue to impatiently wait for repairs.

Stay tuned for updates.

Hopefully I'll have one later this week.

Twice in one weekend!

Saturday Donut Fly-In

I flew the kids to McKinney on Saturday morning to meet local pilots and let my boys snarf some donuts. This was an EAA Chapter meeting- my first. It was great meeting so many welcoming pilots. Several were very inquisitive about the airplane.

What kind of engine does it have? What's the cruise speed? How much fuel does it hold? What do you think of the T tail? How's the ride? What's the range?

I sensed that a few of the guys were impressed a girl pilot with kids showed up. Rusty was doing his Saturday morning work out.

I tried to shake everyone's hand and engage in chat about flying and airplanes. I learned:

• Filling up a large fuel drum can cause static electricity to build up which can cause a fire. The pilot who told me this said he blew out the flames at the gas pump both on the drum and on the fuel pump nozzle.
• If you want to book The Dorms for your next AirVenture at Oshkosh trip, I'm told you have to reserve for next year within hours of the event ending this year. (I guess we'll be camping.)
• Seahorses can grow to be about a foot tall.
• Many pilots who are members of EAA are not necessarily flying experimental airplanes. Some aren't even pilots!

The flight there and back was fast and uneventful. For some reason, there wasn't much traffic- which was surprising and pleasant!



Sunday IFR Practice

I went up with my instructor to do an approach at McKinney (TKI), an approach at Rockwall (F46) then an approach at Addison (ADS). No matter how much I think I'm prepared, I'm not. Conceptually, I understand what I need to do for these approaches. But staying one step ahead of things and having all my information on hand during flight is still a challenge. For one thing, I'm using my iPad for plates which is crammed into my knee-pad covered by a plastic sleeve that restricts a little of the view at top and overheats it when the sun is directly overhead. That's no excuse, but it doesn't help either.

I learned on Saturday if my iPad gets over heated, it doesn't work. Paper plates are in my future again.

I look forward to my next flight later this week. Hopefully I'll be more on my game.