To all my friends and readers, Happy New Year!
May 2016 be an even better year for you than 2015, full of health, happiness, and hope that you achieve whatever you set out to accomplish in 2016.
We've finished our traditional feast and now at the stroke of midnight the kids get to open their New Year presents.
Welcome to 2016.
Today Natasha requested that I make something different for New Year's and I smoke something different than usual. How could I say no?
Today's ingredient - Whole Rainbow Trout
Begin with a brine of water, salt, sugar, lemon juice, chili pepper and garlic powder, cover and brine overnight.
Get home and fire up the smoker
Place fish on the smoker grills, close it up and walk away (coming back to check on it occasionally).
Wait and voila:
Remove the skin and either eat the goodness right then and there (it's hard not to), or turn it into a salad, a smoked fish spread, or nice pieces ready for the table.
Not a bad special creation for the New Year's table.
Flying Lesson #33 was quite short.
Good pre-flight of N7355PR, fuel tanks freshly filled and ready to go.
I was flying with Will today.
Good taxi, good run up, good seeing the helicopter on short final and requesting clearance from the tower for departure.
Good takeoff, get up to pattern altitude and turn crosswind we get this:
A nice solid mist, that quickly started to ice up the windshield and the rest of the plane. Visibility was bad in the mist and got worse immediately as the windshield iced over.
At that point it was time to call it, so I continued the pattern and let the tower know this landing would be to termination.
Will's view looked something like this on landing:
He asked me if I wanted him to take the landing and I said I could do it.
I had a very small portion of the windscreen to look out of as the rest was covered in ice but I had enough to see.
I then did the best landing I've ever done to date - perfectly lined up, perfect flare, touchdown as the stall horn went off and landed as smooth as a baby's butt.
Will was very impressed.
Not sure if that means I'm finally getting landings, or lack of visibility gives me a better landing and I really need to skip the Private Pilot rating and go straight to the instrument rating. Really excellent landings in crappy visibility are becoming a solid trend for me.
We told the tower about the icing and visibility conditions on landing, and the other flying lessons scheduled, including one in N757MK in the run-up area pretty quickly and wisely cancelled.
Getting out of the plane, it became readily apparent that the ice wasn't just on the windscreen but a very thin layer was all over the plane including the wings and prop.
That's the last flight of this year for me with .3 and one excellent landing, and my first experience with icing conditions.
But apparently not: Revelers must know ‘celebratory’ gunfire can be deadly (From: The Detroit News)
It's a continuing saga and Sisyphean task to convince Detroiters and other idiots that no, you do not shoot live ammunition up into the air on New Year's Eve.
This really should not be difficult to understand, but apparently for far to many it is akin to rocket science.
Quite simply, what comes up must come down, and bullets falling down from the sky can still injure or kill the innocent.
Yet another reason to sadly avoid Detroit.
So, are you running out of storage space for your arsenal, need more parking, and want to buy your own armory? Now you can:
The Detroit News: National Guard seeking new owner for Manistee Armory
If they throw in the two tanks sitting out front as part of the deal, $350,000 would not be a bad price at all.
Manistee is also a darn nice place to be in western Michigan.
The Detroit Free Press: Man charged with starting fires in theater
Our stupid criminal of the day, Nicholas Glenn Chelar, managed to get himself charged with two well-deserved felonies for yes, setting fires in a crowded theater. The Freep fails to state what the movie was but in any case, the Stupid is extremely strong with that one.
You should also note that this is one of the few times that you can shout "Fire" in a crowded theater without any penalty.
Some things really aren't better late than never.
Probably shouldn't complain too much as we had one heckuva pleasant December but today royally sucked.
Leaving the office to go to court early this afternoon I found the car encased in a layer of ice. Freezing rain continued throughout the 35 minute drive to the court, turning it into a 50 minute drive. Filing done, and heading back to the office and then the fun really began.
Between people driving too slow for conditions and those driving way too fast for conditions it was a mess.
Got caught in a nice bumper to bumper traffic jam that had a 8 lane road down to one lane in each direction due to a really impressive accident.
The salt truck was stuck behind the accident so finally getting past led to still more slow-to-no moving traffic.
It's still coming down in a mix of snow and freezing rain so it's gonna be a neat trick to get down the Driveway of Doom™ tomorrow.
Ah well, it's been a good run, but winter is now well and truly here.
Murphy's Law and his nephew the Spud met up with me and Abby and Leah at Zap Zone for some Laser Tag. ML has a good description of the events up as well, including his mauling at the hands of the Spud in Game 3.
Laser tag was a ton of fun.
For Game 1, it was the five of us versus eight other players and they beat us by two points, but for one reason only - Leah's Laser stopped working within one minute of the game starting so the score ended 60,602 for us to 60,604 for them. Leah ran through the game as a human meat shield that game. The staff noted they had never had a closer game, ever. On the upside, the guy gave Leah a ticket to a free Laser Tag game or go cart as compensation for her gun not working.
Game 2, as Murphy describes, he started signing Men of Harlech just before the game began and I almost fell down laughing.
Luckily no one on the other team caught the reference. We didn't do too badly considering we were outnumbered 13 to 5 on that round. We certainly held our own.
Game 3, it was a free-for-all and I ended up in first place - yay me. Even though it was supposedly a free-for-all I had to promise an alliance with Abby and Leah and the three of us swept the floors with the opposition. ML got pasted by us and the Spud, with the Spud doing the most shots on him. Good times and the kids had a blast.
Then Leah got her free go-cart ride. Did I mention Leah had not driven a go-cart completely by herself before?
So she happily got in, started taking the course and then went a bit fast and this happened:
That was one heckuva bang and she ran right into the wall as she was going too fast to make the turn. It was good she was wearing the seat-belt in that go-cart. They apparently didn't tell her that the brakes aren't quite immediately able to slow a go cart.
Impressively enough, after that crash she didn't quit nor cry. Instead, she kept right on going around a few more times until the ride was done but with no more crashes. She did again take that turn at a good clip on her final run, successfully clearing it that time.
After leaving the ride she complained of an ache at that spot by her shoulder where the seatbelt held her in place, and she had quite a mark from the seatbelt. At home she got some ice, some ibuprofen and some heat applied and she's fine. I'm quite proud that she stuck through it even, after the minor heart attack that she gave me from my watching her hit the wall.
The kids all had a great time with ML and his family, as we always do, and they want to do it again.
In a moment that the usual suspects in Detroit have long been waiting for, they've now manufactured a BLM moment out of a criminals assault on a cop. Based on the facts so far, it will be a heckuva reach to get to a "hands up don't shoot" myth, but they're going to try. Their last attempt fizzled after a black cop shot a black man coming at him with a hammer during an attempt to arrest him for a armed robbery, but now they've got a white cop shooting a black man and they mean to work it, and the facts of the situation are irrelevant to the narrative they are building.
The Detroit News: Dearborn cop fatally shoots unarmed suspect in Detroit
Unarmed is a relative term, considering he was shot after struggling with the officer and attempting to take the officer's firearm.
Of course his name is Dindu Nuffin:
The Detroit News: Family of man shot by cop: He was harmless
Looking into the matter, not only was he a paranoid schizophrenic with an outstanding warrant and being sought for a prior larceny that very day, but after first running from police and having an admitted history of running from police, and then struggling with the officer and trying to disarm him he was harmless. This makes the definition of harmless highly relative.
The Detroit News: Craig: Witness saw officer struggling with man he shot
It will be interesting to see how this plays out, with a promise of protests over the death of what was a violent criminal. It will be hard for the community organizer grievance gang to make a hero out of him and bend the facts to fit the narrative, but like in Ferguson and other places, it looks like they're going to try.
After the mess of Lesson #31 today was much better.
I had Will as my instructor today and was flying N757Mk as 73455 was in the shop for its 100 hour inspection.
I did the preflight and the plane was covered in a light layer of frost, which I scraped off the windshield and leading edge of the wings.
It's funny how planes of the same type and model handle differently. Among other things N757MK has a very pronounced break when you reduce the throttle to 1500, unlike 73455.
So with the wind coming from 070 we were using runway 9L today, with a left pattern for a nice change of pace.
We also got diverted on a pattern to Runway 9R, the nice huge runway, when another plane seemed to be having radio issues and the tower wanted us out of the way in case he tried to land without clearance. Then we got to head back to 9L, and the controller had the occasional instruction to us for modification of the pattern for other traffics, so it was good and kept things interesting.
Overall the landings were markedly better than my last lesson, so I'm either being more assertive, getting better at this, or something.
The flares were good this time, but on occasion I still pulled up a little early for some float, but no major bounces. Overall the touchdowns were pretty darn nice complete with stall horn on landing.
I got some good feedback from Will on some ideas to fix my latest error of having too low an approach. It seems I'm diving down too much on turning downwind to base, probably from misunderstanding something Sean had said, so with that fixed its much better now but more back pressure in the turn. He also gave me some very good things to look for and some indicators to help with the landings that I had not known about before so that was very good. Ended up doing some nice stable approaches and good landings.
Either I'm getting better or being really inconsistent. Let's hope for the former over the latter.
That's 1.3 more hours and 11 more landings.
Today was a beautiful day in Southeastern Michgian. Sunny, mostly clear skies and temps in the high 40s.
So we went for a good long walk on the local rails-to-trails for a couple hours to enjoy the rare late December warm weather.
Jett enjoyed the privilege of being off leash when no one else was about and he minded well the whole time and thoroughly enjoyed himself.
He was always happy to return when called back, even if he sometimes sat and then yawned as if to say "Hurry up guys, daylight's a-wasting!"
Just a nice relaxing day today, and hope all of you had a great one as well.
Somehow I expect this beautiful weather is not going to last for much longer, so might as well enjoy every moment of it.
In a few short hours, I and the family will be joining with Murphy's Law's family and partaking of a fine Christmas eve gathering. This tradition has been going on for years and we wouldn't miss it.
And to all of you who observe and celebrate, I echo the same sentiment from the excellent Dry Bones:
May all of you have a very Merry Christmas indeed.
The gun I brought to the range is the new (to me) M&P Compact 22.
It looks like an M&P, but it is smaller and lighter in every way. This will be important for its intended purpose.
It comes in a cardboard box, not quite as nice a presentation as their center-fire caliber pistols with their plastic carry cases.
Nicely small and lightweight, it's quite an ideal kit gun and in my case, kids' gun.
The kids can easily get a grip around the thin grip and it's smaller and much lighter than the Ruger MKII bull barrel I have. Soon I shall take the kids to the range with it and see what we can see.
It comes with two magazines, both of which are markedly easier to load than the Ruger MK II's magazines, which again makes it attractive for the kids.
I put 50 rounds through it after first cleaning and lubricating it as it arrived bone-gratingly dry in the box. The bore had a bit of gunk in it which I got out with a patch and am glad I did so before firing it.
All 50 rounds of Remington Golden Bullet fired through it flawlessly, recoil is nil, and keeping it on target is a cinch.
I expect this will be a real kid-pleaser at the range, once I scrounge up some more 22 LR that is and take them to shoot it.
Murphy's Law is in town so I met up him and his sister after I finished up some work at the office and then we headed to the range.
ML's sister is still a novice shooter, complete with a new M&P Shield 9mm. We went over safety and handling procedures and then went on to loading and firing.
With a bit of instruction from me and ML, after a few runs she started settling down and knocking down some steel plates with aplomb.
She did quite well with the Shield, using both FMJ ammo as practice and some Speer Gold Dot which will be her carry ammo. You can say the pistol is now well and truly broken in and should serve her well.
I took the opportunity to put another 150 rounds through the P30, making it 950 rounds so far with no cleaning and no issues of any kind.
I shot the M&P 40c as well, putting another 100 rounds through it with no issues, including some Winchester Ranger ammunition, and the TRUGLO TFX Sights
I then brought out my Glock 17 which I haven't shot for awhile. The grip angle on it was distinctly different from that of the P30 and M&Pc and took a bit of getting used to, but after shooting the M&P40c, the by contrast low-to-no perceived recoil of the 17 made it very easy to shoot quickly and accurately. I had also brought along another gun which will be the subject of my next post.
ML had brought along quite a few nice handguns, including his Walther PPK.
On drawing it, you could hear him say: "My name is Law, Murphy's Law".
I can guarantee that he's a better shot than Daniel Craig.
It was a darn good range trip.
Apparently the word "contained" is open to multiple alternative definitions.
NBC: ISIS Takes to Airwaves, Transmits Fatwas in Jalalabad, Afghanistan and Beheadings, Video Raise Specter of ISIS on March in Afghanistan
ISIS - so contained by Obama that they're spreading into Afghanistan.
Obama in the face of such containment is continuing to withdraw US Forces from Afghanistan: U.S. Troops to Leave Afghanistan by End of 2016.
However "containment" will likely be the best we'll get while this President is in office, as read via Instapundit: Obama Promises Not To Defeat ISIS Before Leaving Office.
Remember the good ol' days when we had Presidents that believed in America, and wanted America to defeat it's enemies, and to win?
Flying Lesson 31 had a low cloud base providing a marginal VFR kinda day with the wind blowing 9-12 knots typically shifting somewhere from 250 - 300 degrees. On the upside it was warm and rather pleasant so more pattern work it was.
Can't say I did too good today. One landing of 13 was right on and the rest were again with not enough flare and landing pretty flat as usual. Approaches were a little low and not as stable as I or Sean would like.
Apparently I need to be more assertive and constantly show that I'm flying the airplane and it's not flying me. I happen to think I'm already doing that but I need to be more extroverted about it I guess. Yelling "Banzai" on landing is back on the table as an option. FMFL.
That's 1.4 more hours and 13 more landings.
It did not suck, instead it was great and worthy successor to the original three and well worth seeing in theater.
Harrison Ford made the movie (Yes, you knew he would).
The Empire is 0-3 for gigantic super-weapons with fatal and readily attack-able flaws (Yes, you knew that would happen).
There are no Ewoks nor Jar-Jar Binks (You may breathe a sigh of relief accordingly).
Go forth and see it. Suspend your disbelief. Prepare to be entertained and . . . . .
May the Force Be With You.
Heading out to a theater not so far away for a morning matinee showing of Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
I hope it's as good as it strikes out to be, and that I return with a positive report.
Today we had winds gusting from 20-30 knots from 250 to 310 degrees. There was also a wind shear warning with a report of a 10 knot drop on final for runway 27.
So it was gonna be a very fun pattern flying kind of day.
Sean had thought we might take a break from patterns and do some unusual attitudes and other stuff, but there was reports of icing at regular flying altitudes and a lowish ceiling, so pattern work it was.
Right as we got clearance to take off we got a wind shear warning via the tower from another aircraft that had just landed and he had noted the wind had just dropped out 10 knots on short final.
The first time around it was kinda fun with a decent crosswind and a real fast downwind. I had a good pattern and kept the airspeed up 5 knots higher than usual on final to account for the potential 10 knot drop.
Sure enough, there it was, but I still landed ok.
Next time around I had a fun time with the wind really whipping us around, but I still got it on a stabilized approach and landed fine with an aileron into the wind and the rudder keeping the nose on the runway as I adjusted the throttle for the wind that was coming and going.
I said to Sean "That one was kinda sporty wasn't it?" He said "Yeah, but you handled it well."
Ah, now that was happy-making, At this point he's not touching the controls much if at all and only occasionally advising me to add or take out some power, and I progressed to figure out pretty much all of those adjustments on my own out on this hop today.
So we continued to do patterns and the wind shear started to ease up, but the shifting winds did not, and I kept on going.
I had one particularly crappy pattern but then made an excellent landing even so and then the subsequent patterns were pretty much on.
There were a few more planes coming by and in the pattern but traffic was pretty light for a Saturday morning. I guess the snow and icing from last night kept most people away.
Of the 10 landings, 2 were great, 6 were really good, one was good, and one was with a main wheel bounce. I still need to flare a bit more on average but it's really getting there.
That's 10 more landings, and one more hour in flight. It's also now me with a heckuva lot more confidence that I can really land, do a stable approach, and handle the plane even in some variable wind conditions.
In what may likely be determined to be a "Suicide-by-Cop" scenario, a fellow decided to pull a large knife and charge a court security guard at the Dearborn Heights District Court.
As a result, he was quite properly shot multiple times.
The Detroit News: Security officer fatally shoots man armed with knife
The Detroit Free Press: Police ID man killed at Dearborn Heights courthouse
Pulling a knife and charging at an armed individual is not going to end well. Happily, the guard was not injured nor were any innocents harmed.
I seem to be getting better at this.
Going up in trusty N73455 it was pattern work day.
A light wind, oftentimes blowing straight down the pipe, at other times giving a little crosswind, and a little thin layer of mist at pattern altitude made it only slightly less than perfect flying conditions. Nothing to complain about there.
Good patterns, most were excellent patterns with everything going just right, and I flew nice stable approaches on final.
Of 13 landings, 3 were really great with very nice flares, 9 were decent with sufficient round-out and flare but could have used a bit more, and one was a bit sucky from rounding out a touch too high resulting in a little bounce but no nose wheel bounce.
It was a very busy day today with multiple jets and twins coming and going and multiple planes flying the pattern. It got so busy they opened up the second tower frequency and moved all of us using 27R to it on the fly. It was kinda fun as everyone switched over and then checked in in series - "N757MK on base", "N73455 on downwind", XXXX on crosswind".
In short, it was a darn good lesson and I may just be coming along nicely with this whole landing thing.
That's 1.5 more hours and 13 more landings.
This post is for Juvat.
Juvat, for those of you who don't know, is one of those awesome pilots that got to fly one of the hottest and best jets in the world - the F-15.
If you're not regularly reading him and the other contributors at Chant Du Depart, you darn well should,
So, how good is the F-15 as an aircraft?
So good that it doesn't even need both wings to fly and safely land, seriously:
On that day there was a combination of an awesome aircraft and an awesome pilot. Hopefully Juvat never got close to having to replicate that particular scenario.
It really does make law enforcement officers' lives easier when impaired individuals decide to approach them for directions.
The Detroit Free Press: Intoxicated W. Bloomfield man arrested at Selfridge gate
In addition to being drunk while operating a vehicle to the point of blowing .15, Marcus Eugene Russell-Taylor was also found to have methamphetamine, cocaine and marijuana in his possession after he stopped at Selfridge ANGB and asked the Security Police manning the gate for directions.
Unsurprisingly, he's a slow learner, with a prior DUI conviction.
Stopping to ask police for directions while drunk and in possession of no less than three illegal substances at the same time earns him today's Stupid Criminal award.
Lesson 28 had some overcast and light rain with about 10-14 knots coming shifting from 280-300 degrees but it was clear enough for some pattern work.
Patterns weren't quite perfect today but it's coming along and getting more stable overall, but with a bit of more adjustments on final than I and especially my instructor would like.
Overall, I'm getting better in the landings, not quite as good as the two from the last lesson but one was very nice and and a couple were good and the rest were average. Still had some float and a couple bounces in some of them, but no nose wheel bonking this time which is a good improvement so it is coming along. I'm certainly feeling better about it.
That's 1 hour and 10 more landings.
Today was a really good flying day for many reasons.
I arrived at the field this morning and the tower's beacon was on and it was IFR conditions
So I did the preflight and Sean told me he was filing an IFR flight plan for us to Lansing and we'd be doing actual IFR conditions. This also promised to be a break from pattern work, got me all the required IFR training hours for the Private Pilot requirements, and would be my first official dual cross country. Lots of boxes were getting checked off with this one flight.
So we got clearance to taxi, and I taxi'ed all the way down to Runway 9L, did the run up and held short and awaited IFR and departure clearance.
Then I did the takeoff after getting instructions to fly the runway heading and climb to 3,000 feet.
Immediately after takeoff we were in the clouds, and it was fun as all get out.
We were then instructed to contact Detroit Approach and they had us immediately climb to 4,000 and they gave us a direct heading to Lansing.
So I climbed through the soup to 4,000, then leaned the engine and kept it level and on course by instruments alone.
This was lots of fun. It then got better as we approached Lansing and got an ASR approach with no gyro.
Basically if you're a VFR pilot and you get stuck in IMC conditions and you can't get out, it's best to communicate and declare an emergency if need be, and you'll get an ASR approach to an airport. So this was to simulate such a situation.
Lansing control was very cool with it. Basically with an ASR approach they initially give you course and speed to follow and as you get closer to the field then they just tell you not to acknowledge and they give you instructions like "Turn left.", "Stop", Turn right", "Stop", Turn right", "Stop" and such.
The controller did pretty good getting us there, but had us break out of the clouds a fair bit off to the right of the runway and practically on top of it.
Sean got us lined up and then said "You've got the landing!"
I then did the absolutely smoothest landing I've done up to that point. Go figure, maybe I just had to get all the crappy landings out of my system yesterday, or I can land better in IFR than VFR.
We then immediately took off back to KPTK and we climbed to 5,000 feet for the return trip.
Detroit had us do it as an ILS approach which is beyond my ken. I got to fly it up past waypoint Spartan and to do the initial descent at waypoint WAKL and then Sean took over.
Again we popped out of the clouds and Sean had us lined up and then he said again "You've got the landing!"
And I proceeded to do an even better landing than before. It was so nice you could barely feel us touching down on the runway.
Go figure. Yesterday my landings were so consistently bad I figured I was never gonna get them and it was time to start reconsidering this whole flying thing. I was pretty much fed up. I had even received inquiries after that flight from both the Imperial Japanese Navy and some Arabic-sounding guy who were both excitedly looking to recruit pilots that could fly but for whom landings were optional.
Then today I make two of the best landings ever.
Let's hope it means I'm finally past that slump and back on an upswing. Either that or I need to skip the Private Pilot cert and go straight to an instrument rating.
That's 1.6 more hours, 2 landings, 1.6 hours of actual instrument time and 1.6 hours of dual cross country time, and a completed log book page.
That was also some of the most fun I've had flying so far.
So today we had a nice wind of 16-20 knots gusting. Luckily it was typically from 260 to 290 degrees and with Runway 27 being in use it wasn't all that bad, but it was there.
Of course I had been continually asking for a clear day with 4 miles minimum visibility, ceilings over 2000 and winds clam. Not asking for much, really, but I certainly didn't get all that I'd asked for.
So, pattern work and landings again.
They were doing some training in the tower so they had us cross runways 36 and 25R and then hold short of 27L. This was fun as I'd never received those taxi instructions before, normally they put small planes on 27R.
Then I got to line up and wait and then at takeoff was instructed to do a right pattern and setup for landing on 27R.
With the wind gusting 20 knots, I had a darn short takeoff run before we were airborne.
I was trying to change my sight picture and really try to see the runway expand at landing and then do the round-out. Didn't work.
I'm still having trouble with the round-out and flare. First I was rounding out to early. Then I wasn't rounding out enough. Then I was rounding out too much and did the floaty thing complete with a nice flat bounce. Can't win for losing. On top of that, I'm not flaring enough and not keeping it off the runway long enough, but when I try to flare or keep it off then it's too much and we frickin' bounce again.
All the fargin' while he's going "keep holding it off, don't let it touch", and of course it then touches or goes up too high and then bounces down.
I had all of one decent landing with a good flare. Yipee you-know-what. At least my approaches and pattern is getting more stable, except for a little too much climb and airspeed on the downwind this time, but there had to be just enough of a crosswind pushing me to make me have to fight it as well as land. Did I mention I had requested a calm day?
That's 11 more landings, 10 (1 good and 9 bouncy sucky ones) by me, and 1.2 more hours.
Outside Air Temperature and altitude of the airfield above sea level combine to create density altitude, and density altitude can have drastic effects on the performance of aircraft.
It can also have drastic effects on your written test scores if you don't know how to calculate it -- sadly my written test didn't have a single density altitude question even though I studied it intensively. I was almost going to complain and demand some density altitude questions from the exam proctor....well, almost. But I digress.
Density altitude basically mean that you're on the ground but the aircraft acts like it's already at high altitude with all the decrease in performance that entails. With light aircraft at airports located at certain levels above sea level such as in mountainous terrain with high outside temperatures, you likely will not be able to safely takeoff.
This Russian pilot demonstrates the fun involved with density altitude with a heavily-laden IL-76 jet on a hot day in Australia, complete with some very Australian color commentary.
Well, since he's paying for the use of the runway, he might as well use all of it, right?
Trust has a definite expiry date:
The Daily Express: Muslim convert who held up 'hug trust' sign now faces jail over MP bomb threat
Today finally the weather was decent enough to get airborne.
Today the task was to fly and navigate to Romeo airfield (D98) and do some uncontrolled pattern work.
I had just for practice previously written out a navigation checkpoint list for Romeo and it came in handy. I had the course already laid out, all the checkpoints identified and had already drawn a diagram of the airfield from the online airfield directory,so it was all close to hand.
This made it very easy to navigate there, and I hit my checkpoints pretty nicely, getting a little off by the shape of a couple lakes, which are some of the main checkpoints in the area but it was ok. Not the best naviguessing and pilotage in the world, as I didn't know exactly where I was all the time, but I knew where I was going and was quite sure I knew where I was not and I got there.
So I got to Romeo, announced on the CTAF that I was there, overflew the field and setup to a left pattern downwind for runway 18. Pattern entry is something I need to work on, but I'm figuring it out.
Romeo's runway is 4,000 feet long but only 75 feet wide so it seems kinda small when you come up on it. This results in you thinking you're higher than you actually are on approach.
So I did the first landing which was not great, and then we went to a full stop and taxied back to do it again.
Overall my approached are getting much more stabilized but my roundout and flare still suck - I either pull back too early and float up and then have a nice bounce, or I don't do enough and do not pull back long and hard enough and we come in rather flat. No frickin' clue how to fix it as I've been trying and it all just seems to suck either way with no in between. I'll just keep at it I guess.
Overall, the uncontrolled field was kinda fun - we were the only ones around for most of it, with all of one other aircraft entering the airspace only to fly on by after announcing he was overflying the field. There was no PAPI so getting the height right on the approach was all eyeball and I did ok.
Then we flew back to KPTK and while I sucked navigating back especially due to some haze that had rolled in, once I found the airport I had to setup for a right base entry as directed by the tower which was a bit of a head-scratcher until I diagrammed it out. In short, I then came in way too fast, didn't get the picture early enough to do a good setup for a landing so I didn't bleed off nearly enough speed or get setup right. As a result, I announced to Sean I was doing a go around as it wasn't feeling good at all. He said ok, I told the tower I was going around and then went around. Apparently my decision to do a go-around was an exercise in good judgment, so yay me.
Then I settled into the pattern, went around and got it landed flatish yet again, and again not enough roundout and holding it off, but I was landed - so there. Then I taxied on back following a large turboprop and that was the end of lesson 25.
Also this lesson I experimented with Foreflight - It's a preflight planner and moving map/navigation tool for your iPad/iPhone what have you. To say that it is all that and a bag of chips would be an understatement.
Not only will it give you a course and heading and a moving map to show your position as you fly, it adjusts your suggested course for wind effect on the fly, and calculates your groundspeed. It even warns you when you're approaching a runway to prevent runway incursions when you're on the ground. Awesome that it knows where you are that precisely. It worked perfectly with my Ipad Air 2 and its onboard GPS.
I deliberately didn't look at it during the navigation excercises to and from Romeo until after I already had a fix using just the paper map and visual cues outside the plane, but wow is it awesome! Given that the plane has a built in Garmin GPS and I'd have Foreflight along, getting lost would be next to impossible - so of course you can't use them and still have to know how to use ye olde paper map and outside references. I understand and appreciate that, but the GPS tools are so much easier and safer to use it's not even funny.
That's 2 more hours and 6 more landings. Some fun, some frustration, and Lesson 25 was done.
The Express: Police forces deemed NOT prepared to deal with 'honour-based violence' in damning report
It's a pity the British no longer have the fortitude to say: You may kill a woman according to the dictates of your culture, but we will then hang you according to the dictates of our culture. You may follow your custom and we will follow ours.
Instead of that, in today's Britain we get Rotherham.
After Massacre At Malmedy, Democrats Gather At Virginia Bund Hall
Declaring not all Nazis are responsible for the massacre at Malmedy, Democrats gathered at a local Bund hall in Virginia to express support.
Democrat AG Lynch promises to take swift action against anyone uttering anti-Nazi rhetoric.
Continuing to claim the act was most likely just an act of "battlefield violence", the President continued his demand for unilateral disarmament and an immediate withdrawal of all American forces from Europe.
"These types of massacres don't happen in other countries." said the President, speaking from Katyn, Poland.
The really frightening implication from the San Bernardino terrorist attack isn’t so much that they chose to leave their 6 month-old baby behind and give up what seemed to be a rather nice American lifestyle with good secure government jobs and instead go forth and get themselves killed in the name of jihad.
Instead, the far more disturbing implication is that this guy described as a "devout Muslim but not outwardly radical" just up and mowed down co-workers that he had happily worked beside and known for years without warning and with happy abandon for the simple reason that they were not of his religion and ideology.
The last bunch we got serious about dealing with that went around killing with abandon their neighbors who had religions differing from them, we had to intern lots of those that lived here, bomb their cities to rubble, outlaw their ideology, and occupy them for about 70 years. Haven't had serious trouble from them since.
It also shows the absolute fallacy that strict gun control laws, gun free zones and unarmed security guards are going to keep anyone safe, but we already knew that.
Oh and Democrats - Prayers are not enough at a time like this, right?
The Detroit News: Wife in shooting pledged allegiance to IS
Of course, the Obama administration even after learning this latest tidbit is still going on the "sudden workplace rage" theory:
At the same time, law enforcement officials from local police to Attorney General Loretta Lynch cautioned it could have been work-related rage. Or a twisted hybrid of religion and personal vendetta.
The narrative blaming white males and the NRA sure fell apart quickly and quite conveniently only after it was caterwauled from every proggy news outlet, now didn't it?
This has been a week of absolutely no joy for flying lessons.
I had scheduled 4 different time slots this week, figuring the weather might bag one but that I'd get some serious time in to fix my landings and get them competent. It was not to be. First, the weather was bad Tuesday with LIFR visibility at the airport so it was a scrub, then the plane was down on Wednesday, then yesterday the weather was a total bust yesterday, with LIFR at the airport. LIFR, Low IFR conditions that even IFR pilots avoid, are conditions that are certainly not to be messed with by a student VFR pilot and I rightly wouldn't get a take-off clearance anyhow.
Now tomorrow, when I'm scheduled to go and the weather looks reasonable, it's not happening. It's for a good reason and a good cause, but it's still not happening because per the FAA, Operation Good Cheer is shutting down all morning flight school ops at KPTK.
Delivering presents via aircraft to those kids in need for the holidays throughout the state is a very good thing indeed and a noble effort, so I have no issues with that.
I can feel those skills that I've acquired, limited as they are, fading away already.
On the one hand, in the wake of the Sudden Jihad Syndrome attack yesterday in San Bernardino we have images of Police armored vehicles being used to protect both police and citizens in the aftermath.
Now this today in the Detroit Free Press: Michigan cops fume over loss of U.S. military vehicles
The Obama administration may want to rethink that generalized recall of such vehicles that was an attempt to show they were "doing something" after Ferguson. After all, the vehicles may indeed be needed for their intended lawful and proper purpose.
This was supposed to be a day for a flying lesson. I had 757MK all reserved and everything.
I arrived and it was not to be. N757MK had just had an engine failure on takeoff with the previous student and instructor for no known reason. Not carb icing, Not the mixture or fuel tank or throttle setting or other readily apparent issues, and it was not reproducible. The plane started up again just fine, but out of a very sensible burst of caution, it was taken into the mechanics for a thorough check-over.
Since I would have been the next to fly it, I heartily approved that decision. Practicing engine failures is one thing, rolling the dice with a known problem with an unknown cause is quite another.
So we went over my pre-solo written test. I did very well with my answers and passed with flying colors - yay me!.
Then I got an intro to cross-country planning today instead.
While planning is much easier today with products like Foreflight and other internet-based resources, we started old school. A sectional, a Plotter
The mission: Plan a trip from KPTK to KLAN.
Yes, I'm going to get to play in Class C airspace once this is all planned out.
We'll see if I get to fly the planned cross-country soon.
Ah, when you think of Turkish justice, you think of quality Turkish prison.
Now the Turkish justice system, instead of worrying about little details like questions of free speech, is asking the important questions: Turkish court asks: Is Gollum good or bad?
A Turk has allegedly committed the offense of majestas, insulting the image of the head of state, with a potential two-year sentence in the aforementioned Turkish prison, by daring to juxtapose Turkish Prime Minister Ergodan to Gollum in a Facebook posting.
Since free speech is not a defense to the crime, his attorney has been stuck arguing that Gollum isn't bad so it should not be an offense to make such a comparative image.
So the court is actually going to have a hearing as to whether Gollum is a bad or good figure.
Whatever you do, don't suggest to the court that Gollum is Jewish, ok?
An interesting historical find indeed has turned up in a dig near the Old City of Jerusalem.
The item, a 3,000 year-old seal impression, used to seal a papyrus scroll, bears the name of King Hezekiah.
The Times of Israel: Seal bearing name of Judean king found in Jerusalem
An amazing find of an historically valuable artifact from 3,000 years ago.
George Lucas is unrepentant in his editing of the original Star Wars to make Han not fire the first shot.
The Detroit Free Press: George Lucas explains why Han Solo did NOT shoot first
Of course Han shot first and we all darn well saw it in the original. It wasn't until Lucas re-edited the film that the controversy arose, and the reason for the editing is rather laughable as can be seen in the article.
As to why Han Shot first, this explains it in terms even Lucas can understand:
Detroit's Police Chief is not afraid to counter conventional "wisdom" when it clashes with reality: The Detroit News: Police Chief Craig: Armed Detroiters cut terror risk
Yes, the Chief actually pointed out that having armed civilians instead of helpless innocents can help thwart terrorist attacks.
There's the usual PSH hand-waving and pearl clutching from Josh Horowitz, director of Washington, D.C.-based Coalition to Stop Gun Violence with the usual canard that merely having a gun puts you in danger.
Impressively, aside form that aside, the article was favorable to the Chief's comments and included quotes from other experts supporting such a statement.
Certainly Detroit has undergone a sea-change in attitude towards lawful firearms since Chief Craig has come to town, and we're all the better for it.
