Dammit Canada!

The Detroit Free Press: US-Canada border restrictions extended until July 21

What utter nonsense.

They're extending it likely to stop people from traveling on the July 1 Canada Day / July 4 Independence Day Weekend. 

Hilariously, the Canadian government is announcing that 

it anticipates fully vaccinated Canadian citizens who test negative for COVID-19 will be exempt from two weeks of quarantine when returning to the country sometime in early July.

Why wait? After all, they're "fully vaccinated Canadian citizens who test negative for COVID-19".  As such, they're not likely to be spreading Covid and Covid is already well and truly in Canada so there's no  valid need for vaccinated and tested people to quarantine, nor any reason to wait until July to make such an announcement.

A pity we don't demand they open the border to vaccinated Americans and allow vaccinated Canadians to travel here instead of agreeing with this nonsense.  This is doubly so as the US sure as heck hasn't closed the Mexican border and doesn't even test illegals coming over.

My Comment on ATFE's Proposed Arm Brace Reguation

Not that I expect it to do much good, or that it will make much of a difference, but I just submitted a comment on FR Doc # 2021-12176, The ATFE's proposed new rule on stabilizing braces.

In short the rule doth suck, and in going over the worksheet it seems practically that there is no pistol with an arm brace that will not likely be found to be an SBR under their criteria.

I'd suggest commenting, and there's over 79,000 comments there so far.

When you comment, do be polite, don't swear, and don't copy and paste other people's comments.  Point out what is wrong with the regulation and how it is unnecessary.

You can go and comment here.

So here's the comment I submitted:

Comment on FR Doc # 2021-12176

Agency Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives Bureau

Arm braces have been evaluated and specifically determined by ATFE in 2012 and 2014 to not create Short Barreled Rifles (SBR). Millions of law-abiding firearms owners have relied upon that series of determinations and have obtained, installed, and used arm braces on pistols in a law-abiding manner. DOJ and ATFE now seek to withdraw those determinations relied upon by millions of Americans and instead proposes an arbitrary and subjective standard that places millions of law-abiding firearms owners at risk of a felony or being required to pay a tax and wait up to a year or more and have the resulting firearms that they already own now be regulated as an SBR.

DOJ and ATFE’s explanation for the proposed rulemaking identifies 2 illegal shootings that have occurred with firearms equipped with arm braces as one of the rationales for this proposed rule. However, DOJ and ATFE in the explanation also states there are between 3 million to 9 million arm braces currently in circulation. This means the concerning criminal use of such braces varies between 0.0000666% to 0.0000222% of all extant braces, which is statistically insignificant by any rational analysis. With 3 to 9 million arm braces in circulation, one may indeed say that arm braces are now “in common use” under the Heller test. Furthermore, it is clear that considering their ultra-low and infrequent usage by criminals per DOJ and ATFE’s own stated analysis, they do not pose an issue as “dangerous”, nor given their popularity and widespread adoption can they be considered to create “unusual weapons” when installed upon a pistol.

Furthermore, the DOJ and ATFE’s proposed worksheet is both arbitrary and capricious in its composition and in it’s stated subjective enforcement. The worksheet criteria makes it highly unlikely that any arm brace, including all those already examined and found by ATFE and DOJ to be an arm brace, when placed on a pistol would not lead to the resulting firearm being classified as an SBR by ATFE and DOJ.

The proposed Worksheet 4999 is clearly arbitrary as one of the points used to determine if a pistol is to be considered an SBR is the presence of iron sights, earning one point out of a possible four towards a finding that a pistol is instead an SBR. ATFE and DOJ should clearly know that iron sights have been present on the vast majority of, if not practically all, handguns sold and produced in the United States for well over two hundred years. As such, making this a point that may classify a firearm as an SBR is inane as such a feature is absolutely normal and standard for handguns. Further, the addition of a red dot or other electronic sight is considered another point towards a determination that a pistol is an SBR. As ATFE and DOJ knows or should know, red dot sights have been a feature of handgun sport competition for decades, and have in the past few years have become prevalent on everyday handguns used for self-defense, competition, and other lawful usage. As such 50% of the possible points to determine if a handgun is an SBR are awarded for standard or normal accessory items that are installed on handguns today. Many of the other proposed criteria such as that setting of an overall length for a pistol are similarly subjective and flawed in that any AR15 pistol with a barrel over 7.5 inches will now be deemed an SBR under these criteria regardless of the type of brace used. None of these criteria are necessary. All ATFE and DOJ truly need to do is determine whether the end point of a pistol is a brace or a stock. If it is a stock then it is an SBR. If instead, the item has instead been previously examined and declared by ATFE to be a brace, not then it is a brace and the resulting firearm is a pistol and not an SBR.

In conclusion, there is simply no justifiable need for this proposed regulation, nor for this subjective criteria. Crimes committed with brace-equipped pistols remain statistically insignificant. The braces are now well and truly in common use on pistols and ATFE has already evaluated and regulatorily declared brace-equipped pistols to not be SBRs and there is no justifiable basis for, nor any need to be changing that relied-upon determination.

While it's unlikely for the comments to have an effect on changing their proposed rule, we might as well make them work for it as they do have to review properly submitted comments.  Note well that telling them to perform anatomically improbable acts upon themselves is not a properly submitted comment and will be deleted.

Not Flying - IFR Simulator Ride And Stage Check

It was time for a stage check.  The stage check was set with the Assistant Chief Instructor, Sara.  She really doth knoweth her stuff.

Normally the stage check has both a flying and ground component and takes two lesson blocks.

Today was supposed to be the flying portion but prior thunderstorms and potentially more thunderstorms during the flight time, and IFR conditions meant that wasn't going to happen, especially as there would be steep turns and unusual attitude recovery maneuvers that are best not done and evaluated in actual IFR, and, you know, thunderstorms.  

So instead we setup the simulator.  My first time in a full sim since 2017.

In short, for instrument flying it's not a bad way to go but it takes some getting used to.  It is way, way more sensitive than an actual plane by far, and a lot of the instruments such as the HSI are not the same as in the planes and require different operation which lead to a few issues.

But, I still did well, doing apparently excellent steep turns, and really good unusual attitude recoveries, VOR tracking (Once we figured out the sim lacks the Flint VOR - it did have the Salem VOR which surprised Sara as well, and that the HSI has a totally different OBS approach from the G5), and did a VOR cross check "in flight" as well.  Sara would also ask me some ground knowledge question while I was flying - Aviate first as always, but get the questions answered too.

Then I setup and did an instrument approach in the SIM back to Pontiac doing the RNAV 9R approach (Which I have never done before) and I did it quite well - I loaded it into the GPS, activated it, got out the plate on Foreflight and did it.  Although, landing the super-sensitive simulated plane was very different from a real one.  In short, the SIM shines as an IFR trainer for approaches as you can get many more done in the sim compared to a real flight but landing and takeoff are nowhere like a real aircraft. Best part of all is that it's also cheaper than renting a plane for the same amount of time, so that's helpful.

Next, we went to her office and did the ground portion of the stage check - lots of grilling over flight instruments, the compass, some of the FAA IFR regulations and requirements for both the airplane and the pilot.  Got some things to improve on and tighten up, especially because of my overthinking stuff a bit too much.

I passed both the ground and flight portion of the Stage Check and next week will start Stage II of the IFR curriculum.

That's 1.3 Sim,  0.6 Ground instruction, and 1 simulated landing (no you don 't log simulated landings).

How To Be A Bunch of Ungrateful Snits - University of Michigan Edition

The University of Michigan is now offering free tuition to any high school student admitted to the University whose parents earn under $65,000.

The Detroit Free Press: U-M extends Go Blue Guarantee free tuition program to Flint, Dearborn campuses.

But there's a catch - you have to have a high school GPA of 3.5 to qualify.

For leftist activists, that's apparently a problem.

Apparently such generosity is not welcome, because expecting students to study for their grades in high school is now an expectation that is both racist and classist - yes really.

Students spent all morning celebrating this victory, only to find out there's a *3.5* GPA requirement — which is not present in Ann Arbor. This is a classist, racist requirement that implies only 'hard working' students deserve an education. I'm devastated," Amytess Girgis, an activist for more funding for Dearborn and Flint who graduated from the Ann Arbor campus in May,  tweeted as the expansion was announced. Girgis will be a 2021 Rhodes Scholar in November.

Could Rhodes perhaps revoke granting their scholarship for this twit?  

How the heck is insisting on a 3.5 GPA a "classist, racist requirement".  If this twit is devastated from the idea that hard working students should get a free ride and those with sub-par GPAs should not, she maybe isn't ready for the realities of life,  nor to be a Rhodes scholar.

After all, The University is offering Free Tuition to these students.  

At UofM, tuition for in-state students is between 16-18k per year, so that 's $68,000 or so for an undergraduate degree that these students (including illegals living in Michigan) are being given gratis. Is it too much to expect that they can't study sufficiently to earn a 3.5 GPA in high school in return for such largesse?  

I'll note that if your family earns 66k or more and you have a 4.0 you get bupkis under this program.  As UofM is notorious for not giving out merit scholarships, it is unlikely you'll see money for your effort as a student, which is a pity - as will be your student loans of 68k while a student with a family earning $1,000 a year less will get a free ride.

You Really Can Fool Some Of The People All Of The Time.

Especially so when they want to be fooled.

The Detroit News: 'The one who came back': Ex-Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick returns to Detroit to preach at Historic Little Rock Baptist Church

Yep, disgraced ex-mayor and playa Kwame Kilpatrick, after ripping off the City of Detroit and engaging in really impressive amounts of corruption that fleeced the city for millions, has announced he has found religion and is now preachin' and declaring he's a pastor.

And the credulous fools in Detroit love him for it and gave him a pulpit to do it from.

He took the pulpit to shouts of “Kwame!” and “We love you, Kwame!” and delivered a sermon that drew standing ovations. He thanked churchgoers for praying for him.

They bought his claim of now being a changed man hook, line, and sinker and along the way forgot that the devil can cite Scripture for his purpose:

Pope said he liked that Kilpatrick stuck to biblical references in delivering his sermon because it showed his commitment to his faith.

“I think he’s already a phenomenal pastor,” Pope said.

Detroiter Gwen Greenlee agreed.

“(Kilpatrick) did a blessed sermon,” Greenlee said. “He used the Bible. He is a changed person.”

. . .

Evangelist Rosemary Washington-White said she believes the former mayor is “born again,” and it showed with his knowledge of scripture and his application to his own life.

“He did an awesome job,” said Washington-White as she left Little Rock Baptist Church Sunday. “He’s a changed man.”

Con men are gonna con, and the credulous sheep will continue to be fleeced in the City of Detroit.

One of the many mistakes Trump made during his presidency was commuting this con man's sentence to seven years after he fleeced an entire city.

Postal Disservice Yet Again

I placed an order for a few of a very useful AR15 type magazine accessory from Buds Guns.

It's the Thermold AR15 Magazine Loader.  For $6.00 its about the best tool you can buy to quickly load your magazines.  Used by the Canadian Forces, no less.

You can use Canadian or US stripper clips in it, or just pile loose rounds in by hand and push down on the rounds to load them en masse, no stripper clip required.

In short, it works great and is highly recommended if you have an AR15 or firearm that takes AR15 magazines.  Their FAL loader and M1A loader work similarly well.

Now Buds offers excellent service.  The Post Office, not so much.

The order was placed on May 20 and shipped by Buds on May 20.  Like I said, excellent service.

The package arrived in Pontiac two days later on May 22.   It's been sitting somewhere in the Pontiac Post Office ever since, with the last update being dated May 28 stating delivery will arrive later than expected.

Tell me something I don't know.

Since May 28 no further updates, and no package.

Update June 23:  It finally arrived in the mailbox sometime last night.  Mailed out May 20 and it spent a month sitting somewhere in the Pontiac Post Office before being delivered.

Flying IFR - Lesson 8- More Approaches

Today the weather was nice and with the cloud layer at 4000 and lifting it was rather the opposite of yesterday.

So I went to DCT and began preflighting N5337F.

Turns out Kevin was not going to be my instructor today as they had assigned him for a King Air charter flight.  So, I had Robert as an instructor for the first time today.  Nice enough guy, and I explained what I had done in the last lesson and he then got things in motion for today's lesson.

He then filed an instrument flight plan and showed me how to do so in Foreflight.   Good to see how to do it.  We would do Pontiac to Flint, shoot a couple approaches at Flint, and then back to shoot an approach at Pontiac

Not the  approaches I had written up and studied for that Kevin had told me to study, of course, that would be too easy.  Instead, we did some I had not done before.

So I looked over the plates and started prepping for the VOR Runway 36 at Flint, followed by the Flint 27R ILS, and then finishing with the Pontiac 27R RNAV approach. Fun.  I got as much pre-loaded and ready as possible to ease the workload in the air.

So off we went and got assigned our clearance and we were off.  After takeoff I put the foggles on and they stayed on until practically the end of the lesson. After takeoff we flew runway heading and contacted Detroit approach, were given a vector to fly and to climb and remain at 3,000 and to contact Great Lakes Approach.

Busy day today, with everyone catching up from yesterday's weather cancels.  Flint Tower and Great Lakes Approach were getting a serious workout in as a result.  Pontiac also went to dual towers due to the volume.

So, we got vectored to the VOR 36 approach and I did it rather well if I say so myself.  Then we did a missed at the threshold, and I was immediately told to climb to 3,000 and turn right due to traffic taking off from 36. Next, we got vectored quite a bit due to traffic before getting the ILS 27 approach.  I then got that set and did it and then we had to do a quick missed right at the threshold for traffic.

Then back to Pontiac for the RNAV 27L.  We were vectored around for a bit before heading to the initial fix, and then given the option of holding for awhile to get the initial fix, or getting vectored right in to the final approach fix, and Robert had us get vectored in as time was ticking.  So I loaded up and activated the RNAV 27L approach, had the plate out on my iPad and did a very nice LPV approach and landed, and thus ended the lesson.  

I'm certainly enjoying the process.  Robert said I was doing good for someone starting out and was very good with my altitudes and headings.  Definitely a work in process and I need to work on the Garmin 430 settings a bit more for setting up the plan, procedures and approaches but I'm getting better at it and am understanding stuff a lot more. 

Still lots of task saturation but I'm getting an idea of the flow and what to look at and do next for each step and a better understanding of the process.

A very good lesson and excellent approach practice.

That's 1.6, with 1.4 Simulated Instrument, and 1 great landing.

Further Murphy Adventures Postponed

The plan was to take Murphy and a friend of his up for a flight today.

Thunderstorms moving in and out of the planned route of flight and low clouds put the kibosh on that, not to mention some gusty winds and turbulence that would have made it unpleasant for Murphy's friend who hath not been up in a small plane before.  

No point making the first impression of small aircraft flying a lasting ugly one.

Ah well, we'll get up another time.

Widener's Is Shooting Tires For Science!

Over at Widener's, they decided to check on the effect of projectiles on vehicle mobility. Because, science, and they had tires and ammo available, so why not?

Widener's: Mythbusting: Shooting A Tire

They shot tires on wheels with a 9mm, a 5.56 and a 12 gauge with 8 pellet 00 Buck.

Basic summary:  1. A tire probably should not be considered effective cover from common projectiles.

2.  In general the tire does not immediately deflate as depicted in movies, but it will deflate and when hit by a 5.56 or 12 gauge it will deflate in  a matter of seconds. 

I would have liked them to shoot the tire with 9mm self-defense ammo rather than FMJ as that may have changed the penetration a bit on the shoot throughs, but it still makes for a fun read.

Sunday USPSA Range Day With Murph

So today I headed off to pickup Murphy who was in town visiting and then to a USPSA match at my home club.

I was RSOing as usual and had three shooters on the squad that had never shot USPSA before, Murphy among them.

Overall thing went well.  But I'll let Murph describe how he did if he chooses to do so (hint: lookup significant advantage procedural penalty...).

Unfortunately one new shooter (not Murphy) when being told to unload and show clear thought that meant dropping the magazine and then pulling the trigger to discharge the round in the chamber.   

Not quite what we're looking for there.

We explained that to him and worked on a few other issues he had and he did alright for the rest of the match.  Not a DQ as it was in a safe direction and was before the slide forward, hammer down, holster command was given.

I did ok, but certainly not great.  Missed a hidden target in  two different stages which sucked and cost me some badly needed points. One problem I'm finding with RSO'ing is it takes my attention  away from  my own shooting and planning for the stages as I'm really focused on the shooter, safety and scoring which really is as it should be and not on my own stage plan.   I'll learn to handle both in time.

On the upside, the last stage of the day I had a plan, stuck to the plan, and did it quite well in reasonable time, with only one C and the rest A hits.  Rather pleased with that one.

So, it was a darn good time had by all and overall a really good squad.  Had one Open class shooter who was an older fellow and  a bit of an attitude - first stage he started pasting before the targets were scored which is not helpful.  He also didn't like when I said he should not do that as we need to score them first and the shooter has a right to see them before they are pasted.

Then he argued with me about range commands as he apparently was used to the much older ones.  "Nope", I said, "we're using the standard USPSA commands here, sir".

Then finally on the last stage he said he would be shooting from the back of the free fire zone and didn't want me in the free fire zone.  That's not really up to him as I go where I need to be to do this properly and I'll note I did not block a single shooter at any time during the match (or in prior matches I've RSOs for that matter.  You often need to be behind the shooter in the FFF ZOne in order for the timer to pickup the shot sound, not to mention be able to handle a safety issue if it comes up, and scoring issues as well.   In any case I simply said "make ready".  Dolt then did not actually shoot from the back of the free fire zone.

Even better, I beat him at that stage on time and accuracy, and I was shooting carry optics with my carry Glock and he was slinging a $5,000 gun.   Shooting well is the best revenge I suppose.

So, it was a good match and everyone had fun in a safe manner.

Then home to my place to eat some ribs I had smoked in the smoker last Wednesday, and enjoy an adult beverage while going over the events of the day.

Anyways, more adventures are scheduled for tomorrow with Murph, weather permitting.

Dad's Travel Back To Cana-Duh

The Canadian government when it comes to dealing with travelers in the age of Covid is just plain stupid.

The border is, of course, still closed to non-essential travelers, vaccinated or not. Which is stupid.

However, let's talk about Canadians returning to Canada.

My dad has returned to Canada,  He was fully vaccinated here in the US when he went there in March as it was taking forever for him to get an appointment to get a vaccine there.  His brothers of similar age have still not received their second shots and may get them in July.

So he's vaccinated but he still had to get a PCR test 72 hours before returning to Canada.  And he had to sign up for ArriveCan.

The Canadian government information technology people who designed ArriveCan seem to be a bunch of idiots. 

The ArriveCan system, as it turns out, is not compatible with Google Chrome.

But it doesn't tell you that.  

Instead it gives you an error when you create a password stating the password doesn't meet their requirements even when it does, and doesn't let you proceed but instead states it sent you a verification email, which it does not do.

Try to get a 77-year old to diagnose that problem and know why it is not working.  Good luck.

He then let me know, and I looked it over and then figured it out that it was probably a browser problem.    I then used Safari instead and got it working, setup his password, and got the verification email.

Once we figured that out it was on to the rest of the form.  You have to input how you're traveling, your travel documents and when you will arrive and since he's crossing the border by car, its always hard to know exactly when you'll cross.

There is no provision to indicate you're vaccinated, nor any exemption for being so.

But he gets a nice printout he can show the border services.

So, my dad when he gets home has to quarantine alone for 14 days which makes absolutely no sense considering he's fully vaccinated.  He can't see anyone, nor leave his condo under penalty of law for 14 days. It's stupid and cruel both.

The best part, after being driven across the border and dropped off in Windsor, he was on a Train to Toronto which ArriveCan specifically stated he could do to travel back to his condo.  That kinda gets rid of the whole concept of a quarantine considering he would be exposed and exposing his vaccinated self to any train-travelers in his compartment.

We couldn't drive him as neither of us is considered essential, but had to have a paid driver deliver him across the border. 

So at the border he handed in his ArriveCan receipt, showed his ID and his negative Covid Test within the last 72 hours.  They then had him get tested again right there which again is stupid as he's vaccinated.

Then he was allowed to proceed to the train, got on the train, with others on board no less and got to Union station in Toronto, got picked up there and went home, where he is now stuck for a total of 14 days alone with no direct human contact.

Like I said, it's stupid and cruel both, but it lets the government proclaim they're doing something.  

Meanwhile, we can't visit Natasha's mom on Canada as we don't have somewhere to stay for 14 days away from anyone over 68 years old even though we're both vaccinated. First both my dad and her mom are over that age and two, spending 14 days stuck somewhere in a room in Canada unable to leave before seeing them is kinda useless and not practicable at all.  

This stupid border closing especially when Covid is well and truly already out among the population in Canada, and ignoring the fact that vaccinated people are definitely fine to travel farce and don;t need this goofy quarantine really needs to end. 

Take Dad Out To The Range

In a simple exchange last week, I took my dad to the local golf driving range as he's a big golf aficionado (I'm really not), and the next day we went to the shooting range.

While I love my dad dearly, he's a product of his environment - with a very liberal, Canadian, anti-gun outlook which has very much been driven by the media etc.

With his age of 77, there is no point arguing it with him, he's not going to change his views, and getting into a heated argument, which is where we tend to end up would have spoiled the day if not the whole visit. 

In short I've finally learned not to fall into that particular no-win situation.  Only took 48 years to figure it out, but yay me.

As such, I declined to argue and said let's just go have some fun.

And fun there was to be had.

I met up with Tosh and he brought his family who were visiting from New York to the range.  In contrast to my dad they are big firearms aficionados and looked forward to shooting stuff they can't have in New York.  They live near the PA border in New York.

So we got setup at Range Six as our usual Range 4 was busy. 

We started with some pistols.

I had him start with the suppressed 22 as that's always a nice intro and he had fin with that.  I then had him shot the Beretta 81 and then my Glock with the 509T on it and (gasp! - 15 rounds in the magazine).

Then I got him shooting some more historic pistols, starting with my Romanian Tokarev.

First, since he's Canadian, it was my Inglis Hi Power, which is only a couple years older than he is:

Since he has a washer and dryer at his place made by Inglis it was all rather fitting.  Letting him shoot it with the magazine filled up to the "dangerous" 13 rounds capacity rather than the Canadian legal 10 rounds was a bit of subtlety on my part.  Amazingly, yet absolutely predictably,  nothing bad happened.

Then on to the Colt 1927 - The 1911A1 Colt made for the Argentine Army contract and marked 1927.  This one was older than he was and yep, it still works flawlessly.

He nailed all the plates on the plate rack with both.

I thne had him shoot my suppressed Tavor, and the 300 Blackout pistol with the suppresor on it, and let Tosh's family shoot all the pistols and rifles as well.

We all had a good time at the range, which is what it's all about.

Take Me Out To The Ballgame!

So my Dad is in town for a few days and we're rather enjoying his visit.

Since he's a baseball fan, last night I took him to the Tigers v Mariners game.

It's the first baseball game I've gone to in person in many years. I splurged for some decent seats on the first base line.

Got there and parking was easy.  The game was delayed for 45 minutes on account of rain, so we walked around the stadium looking at the various Detroit Tiger history and artifacts on display.

The game began at 7:45.

The crowd was very sparse but lively.

 We got a lot of foul balls dropped in our area, with a guy just off to my right catching one in the first inning.  The overcast sky let you pick them out pretty easily as they came down.

The Tigers scored three runs in the first with Eric Haase hitting in a 2-run honer, which was a promising start and a great hit. 

Manuel Cabrera played his 2,500th game which is impressive.  At 38 he's still a rock for the Tigers and hasn't lost a step at first base.  He did get struck when at bat by the Mariner's pitcher which led to some angry boos from the fans.

A rainbow popped out when the score was 4-2 Tigers.

 The Tigers were going through pitchers like most people change their underwear, going through 5 pitchers in the game with 4 of them pitching one inning or even less.   

The pitching staff got into quite a few pickles,  for example by walking the bases full for the Mariners as they struggled to find the plate, and with Jimenez committing two errors that hurt, but they managed to pull it off in the end with a score of 5-3 for the Tigers to win it.

A great and exciting game to watch in person and my dad had a great time.

Flying IFR - Lesson 7- Approaches

Plan of the day was approaches - 3 different approaches at three different airports. I was going to experience some massive task saturation.

Today the weather was better than forecast.  Everyone at KPTK wanted to depart at the same time and Runway 27L was closed, so chaos ensued.

So we got in line and did our run up not in the run-up area but prior to even getting on the taxiway to get to the run-up area, if that gives you any idea how busy it was.  In short busy with a conga line of planes waiting to get cleared to takeoff.  We initially setup flight following to do the PTK-FNT-VLL-PTK to do the approaches.

However, there was a good cloud layer approaching Flint between 3,000-5,000 so we got a pop-up IFR clearance from Detroit Approach and into the clouds we went.  Then to Great Lakes Approach and setting up for our first approach, a VOR to Rwy 18.  So we did the VOR approach in pretty much actual and I did all the required things complete with a procedure turn.  Then we went missed and climbed to 3,000 and then were handed back to Detroit Approach who had us climb to 5,000 and then we headed to Troy, KVLL.  There we setup for the Runway 9 RNAV circle to land at 27.  This included a procedure turn to get to the initial fix.

Then I did a circle to land and lined up on Runway 27. That was fun as approaching KVLL on final you always think your going to land on the roof of a building and then plop down to the runway.  Then with a perfect approach to the runway and a assured landing we instead went missed and got back in touch with Detroit Approach.

Things then happened very quickly as I had to get the Localizer Backcourse for 27L loaded into the GPS which is kinda hard to do while: turning and climbing; while communicating with Detroit Approach; getting vectored by them; change altitudes as they required;  grab the ATIS at Pontiac; and check the approach plate; and change frequencies and contact Pontiac Tower because it was coming up fast being only 4 nautical miles away from KVLL - and we were constantly popping in and out of clouds as we went.

Was I getting behind?  Why yes, yes I was.   Lots and lots of stuff to learn and improve on.

So I did a nice localizer approach to Runway 27L which had then reopened for business, and did a nice landing.

This was a lot of fun and its always cool to pop out of the clouds with the runway right where it should be.  I need to spend time studying the approach plates for each of these in detail prior to my next flight.

1.9 with .5 actual, 1.0 simulated and a nice landing.

Defund The Police Upset When Ypsilanti Funds Some Police

First, we should inform our readers that Ypsilanti is what you would call a diverse city right beside Ann Arbor.

Second, it is run by Democrats.

Third, we can note, as per the article, it has quite a lot of violent crime, in fact it's rate of violent crime of all types more than doubles the State of Michigan as a whole in just about every category and three times as much violent crime compared to the rest of the state per capita.  Ypsilanti also has one of the lowest violent crime clearance rates of a whopping 29% -- meaning you've got a 71 percent chance of committing a violent crime in Ypsilanti and getting away with it.

Fourth, so of course there was heated opposition that the city would hire 3 new police officers to deal with the shortage of police to deal with crime in the city.

MLive: ‘I hear the gunshots, I smell the gunpowder.’ Adding 3 police officers sparks debate in Ypsilanti

But it wasn’t the additional tax dollars being spent that upset Ypsilanti residents. Instead, the concerns were a reflection of a bigger debate happening nationwide about best policing practices.

“Everyone I know and love in Ypsilanti doesn’t want three more cops, we want three less cops, and eventually we want no cops,” Ypsilanti resident Jeff, also known as JC, said. He did not give his last name during public comment at the meeting. “Because people in this town can take care of each other. We have to vision how that will look, and I know there are a lot of us here that are willing to do that work.”

Yeah y'all been doing a bang-up job taking care of each other there bud. 

With a crime rate of about double that of the state at large I'm sure that once the police are gone, crime will vanish, neh?

Thankfully 4 of the city councilors have some sense and voted to approve hiring the officers.  3 voted against which is a rather sad commentary on the BLM Defund the Police insanity amongst city government officials these days.

Michigan Democrats Demand Vehicle Electrification While Demanding Electricity Generation Reduction At The Same Time

On the one hand, we have Democrats pushing for the total electrification of vehicles which means a much higher demand for electricity.

NPR: Whitmer signs orders to help automakers in shift to “mobility” business

The Detroit News: Biden makes electric pitch at Ford plant: 'There's no turning back'

On the other hand, we have Democrats pushing for the closure of power plants that produce electricity without building sufficient replacement reliable baseline power.

Fox 2: DTE officially closing River Rouge Power Plant Friday

That's 840 megawatts of reliable power to Michigan being dropped without a reliable replacement at the behest of the Michigan Public Service Commission and advocacy groups.

So, where's the additional electricity to power all these electric vehicles going to come from, not to mention to satisfy the existing demand for power?

After all, we're now being told electricity will increase 50% in peak hours this summer, meaning during from 2pm to 7pm due to increased demand in the summer months - without all these new electric vehicles demanding power at that time.

The Detroit News: Consumers Energy electricity rate increases 50% during peak hours

Note the reason for the increase:

The higher cost during certain times of the day is a part of a greater trend in the energy industry seeking to reduce power generation as it pivots to relying on greener and renewable resources by providing a financial incentive to ratepayers to not use the dishwasher, do laundry or vacuum when energy demand is at its highest.

So there's a goal of reduced generation of power being sought  (with the goal to totally eliminate reliable coal powered plants that create rather inexpensive electricity by both  Consumers Energy and DTE) and replace it with far less reliable wind and solar.  Then, at the very same time mandate a highly increased demand for power for the electrification of vehicles at the same time by the same people.

What could possibly go wrong? 

Flying IFR - Lesson #6 - Pattern A Pattern B - This Time With VORs

Got the preflight done on N8570F,  and we took off and headed to the practice area.

Then we started doing unusual attitudes and recoveries with both full and partial panel (No Attitude Indicator or Heading Indicator). This is fun and feels like a roller coaster ride at times when you have your head on your chest with your eyes closed - you get disoriented pretty fast and once Kevin says "recover" I had to open my eyes see what the insturments were telloing me and respond appropriately.  All good.

Thence on to tracking a VOR.  So I dialed up Flint's VOR and tracked a couple different radials.  

Then we flew Pattern A, using the radial as a reference point.

 

Then we did Pattern B, using the radial but only partial panel with again no Attitude Indicator or Heading Indicator.  This is harder than it sounds as the compass quite frankly sucks for determining your heading while turning.  Its also harder as figuring  out what is the proper course for a right turn 45 degrees from a  current heading of 135 degrees just makes my head hurt.  At least with the heading indicator you can eyeball a 45 degree angle on the heading indicator to figure out the heading number make it work. But, I got it handled. I'm starting to get the idea of doing the pattern based on VOR which is a good thing.  

Then back to Pontiac.  Tower got us a little too close to another plane also coming in just ahead of us and spacing was too tight. 

All this was while I was still under the hood and navigating by instruments, so Kevin let the Tower know we needed spacing and we did a 360 for spacing and then came in on Runway 27L as I got to take the foggles off on final.  Not a bad landing.

That's 2.0 with 1.6 simulated instrument time and one nice landing.

Optics Planet: A Company That Honors Its Back Order Price

It's always a good thing when a business, or anyone else for that matter, keeps its word.

Back in the first week of October 2020, I had placed an order for 1,000 rounds of Blazer Brass 147 gr 9mm.  I had just missed the in stock quantity as it went out of stock as I was ordering and it went to back order. While it was over twice the price from a year before, it was by October 2020 standards, a decent deal.

I just got contacted from Optics Planet and it is now back in stock and they are honoring the price as of the date of the order in October.  That's a very significant savings versus the market price today and that makes it a great deal now.

Optics Planet could have easily cancelled the back orders and sold the same items at the much higher market price today.  

They did not.  

That's worthy of praise these days, especially compared to many other ammo sellers.

Thank you Optics Planet.

Lots Of Money Doesn't Replace Good Judgment And Experience

Otherwise known as how to Smack Up A Multi-Million Dollar Aircraft The Easy Way.

Flying: NTSB Reports Don’t Always Reveal the Complete Story

In short, a pilot with all of 46 hours in a Cessna 172 immediately transitions to a Piper M600.  

The Piper M600 is a whole other breed of aircraft compared to a 172, it's very high performance, retractable gear, and did I mention high performance? -  It demands an experienced pilot who can keep up with it.

So the very newly minted pilot rejects Piper factory training and doesn't have an IFR rating.   In the two and a half months he has the plane, he gets 56 hours of training with an instructor on the M600 which apparently isn't enough.

On his first flight on his own, he has a very bad landing, and since the insurance industry understands risk -   he has no insurance on the aircraft.

He manages to have the nose-wheel depart the aircraft due to a high speed landing and incorrect technique, and cause substantial damage to the aircraft.

To paraphrase Ferris Bueller:  He didn't deserve such a fine aircraft.

Some Pontiac Airport Plane Pics

While waiting for the fuel truck to refuel the plane, I got some decent pics of some aircraft taking off and landing at KPTK.

Interestingly enough, the planes coming in were a veritable bonanza of Cessnas:

A Cessna 172B:

 

A Cessna 182P:

Then there was the case of the Cessna prop plane versus the Cessna jet coming in to land on their respective runways:

The jet won that race.

A nice Cessna 550 coming in for a smooth touchdown:

 Yet another Cessna, this time a 560XL in a nice paint job and the thrust reversers working during the landing rollout:

 

The mirage from the heat of the engines and of the runways created some  interesting effects often making the photo unusable, but sometimes making it look kinda interesting.

In the photo below, it looks like this jet is landing gear up.  It most assuredly did not, and had a perfectly normal landing, and even took off afterwards: 

Kinda interesting effect there.