On This Day....

It's January 20th, I'm now 25. How did that happen?

What have I learned this far.

1) Cessna's will not land sideways willingly
2) Avgas prices will force you to forget any ethics or standards you previously had in life.
3) Hours in the log book will make you feel invincible, cause a sudden urge to wear sunglasses at all hours day or night, despite the fact you still have no business in a cockpit on your own.
4) If your aircraft is equipped with a STOL kit, every highway/country road/ high school football, soccer field looks like a potential landing spot from the air.
5) You'll learn more hanger flying for 5 hours with a group of questionable souls than any amount of time spent in a plane.

(Get it? Wire HANGER, Flying)

Working at an airside anything also has it's advantages, pilots seem to tip well. In addition there seems to be a variety of interesting characters passing through. In the last two days alone that I've been working I've seen more old timer pilots than I care to remember, all of whom are still flying by the seat of their pants and generally don't trust the "new fangeld gadgets" in the cockpit. A few Navy guys passing through on check rides from airports to airports. Dale Earhart Jr. and crew. The Red Baron flight team (based here during the winter) and regulars who know practically anyone and everyone who ever worked, flew, sat foot on Lakeland airfield from 1938 till present. It's good to know these types.

KW

Side Note: As interesting as the Baron's are, hearing two, three, four, or five Prat and Whitney 450 Engines screaming by in the AM, amusing though it is at first, gets kind of old when you have to scream at the person two feet away from you to be heard.

Saturday...I think...

Groggily I crawl may way from the bed this morning in search of coffee, and some form of sustenance. Getting to know Lakeland and the surrounding night life has been a fun little experiment of mine that started sometime last night, and promptly crashed and burned in the same evening. Should I have been driving...probably not, thus I walked/staggered from place to place looking for a damn good Irish pub filled with Blue Moon and a few of the beautiful women I've seen floating around.

Swing and a miss on the gorgeous girls, seems everyone takes the short trip to Tampa for good times on the weekends, not that it's bad thing I just have another city to explore.

Irish bar? Haven't located one yet but me thinks my efforts are not totally in vain. THE SEARCH CARRIES ON...till I pass out again.

I have, in fact, nailed down a job and as the last post suggests, it is of the cliche flight student variety. Inside the main FBO here in Lakeland in Tony's Airside Restaurant. By comparison to other FBO gin joints, this one is arguably the best I've seen and were it located anywhere else in this city with a little more space it could easily be a four star kind of place. Not too shabby and the tips flow is supposedly on the upper end. Evidently these older flying types (this is Florida after all) aren't incredibly tight with their cash. It was pointed out to me during my interview that I am, by and far, over-qualified for a job shuffling food from place to place and was subsequently asked directly why I wasn't pursuing something more related to my degree and work background. Being and honest guy and being hit square between the eyes with an honest question, I quick fired a response with a wry grin and look on my face that suggested that I was just crazy enough to put my lofty accolades on hold in order to do something that I absolutely wanted to do, rather than chase something within Sociology that would confine me to a office for the rest of my life. That, and because serving is so mindless a trained chimp could do it, I'm allowed to pour my mind into flying and studying flying related subjects, rather than trying to balance a stressful job alongside a continuing education.

The only catch is that I seem to be the sole flight student amongst the others I work with, who are there simply because it's just another job, or something to do. I see it as an opportunity to meet and network with other pilots, maybe even find a higher step up somewhere on Lakeland/Linder while I push for 85 total hours, 25 of which need to be cross county. Ah, perspective.

"But wait", you cry, "you only need 40+ for a private ticket" Yes, this I know, but I've also decided on a flight Academy. ATP pilot training, who requires the 85/25 before even considering your lowly flight student arse. So I'll be in Lakeland for a while.

Someone do me a huge favor though, if I'm stuck here longer than six months come down and get me the hell out of here, something must have gone wrong. Not that there's anything particularly wrong with living here, I just prefer larger cities.

Outside, while the rest of the world turns, El Presidente has decided to push forward another troop surge in Iraq. Yeah, because that worked so damn well the last four times, what's one more? Two new generals have been placed in command of operation in Iraq, neither of which have any readily apparent ground command experience, oh yeah this will end well. Not surprisingly Rummy's replacement isn't the sharpest knife as far as qualification goes and yet the war rages on...well after the Mission Accomplished debacle. Hey what ever happened to that other county...you know, Afkandahar or some damn place? Didn't they have something to do with all this way back when? Must have been my imagination at work.

Congress is slowly coming out of the republican funk they've been laden in for the past, well, ever. I see the economic life support plug that's keeping this shoe string mess alive, slowly getting a hand wrapped around it. A quick yank from the wall and it will all be over. Here's hoping before myself a few friends get placed back on the outbound planes again.

KW

Cliche Flight Student?

So I've gotten shop more or less set up down here in Sunny Lakeland. I'm essentially sleeping on what equates to a rather elaborate air mattress, my bank account is slowly dwindling, my mind is revolving around flight related information, radio frequencies, VOR NAV frequencies, I have a flight medical on Monday that will probably involve a few pokes and prods, I've got a whole flight bag worth or interesting devices including a new hand held transceiver, Pilot headset, FAR/AIM '07 book, thri-fold knee board complete with checklists and E6B, a relatively new GPS, and a Florida airport reference guide. Throw in a couple of sectional maps of and you can see where my money is vanishing.

To stem the bank hemorraging, I've tracked down a few airport based opportunities for employment and simply must pick and choose. One that I defiantly want is an FBO slot based with Columbia Air Services. It would provide an opportunity to meet a variety of pilots while working around various types of aircraft, civilian and military as Columbia is contracted to refuel DOD aircraft that come through. I had a long and fun interview with the owner who, it seems, wants to hire me but has a full crew at the moment. The good news is that any given FBO job is essentially a revolving door and it's only a matter of patients until someone bows out. Till then, there's a always Tony's Air Side restaurant. Yes, given I'm over qualified for either of these types of employment but the key here is employment that's not demanding. My time and effort won't be wasted chasing spread sheets or marketing plans, instead I can focus purely on flying, thus finishing the Private ticket then getting the Hell out of here. ONTO ATP, to run the gamet of their Airline Career course.

Oh, one last (sort of vital) part. Located an instructor. He's an interesting character to say the least. More on him and the rest of the Lakeland crew to come.

KW


(P.S. All attempts to correct for my inability to spell have been made, so if blogger doesn't recognise an elaborate word for bleeding, what am I to do?)

Orange Juice Anyone?

The Cards have done it, taking Wake Forrest to win the Orange Bowl with a respectable score of 24-13. Not too shabby considering we've not put away a bowl for about 15 years. Hat's off to the boys in Red and Black, damn I wish I could have been at that game.

Farewell to the Broadcasting job and to those in the business that I've gotten to know pretty well. Absolute credit to those who keep at it, especially in these lower markets were pay in scarce and the competition is cut-throat. Fun as it's been, I can't see myself doing this as my career.


Hello Beautiful! A Cessna 172 waits for me and I'll be meeting her in about 4 days and counting. If anyone for any reason needs to locate me I can be found at the following: (CLICK to expand)























Shouldn't be too difficult to locate. Happy New Year and here's to starting over.

KW

SUCK IT WAKE FORREST

Half time at the Orange Bowl and we're up 10 to 3

GO CARDS!

High Flight

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of-wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there,
I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless hall of air.
Up, up the long delirious, burning blue
I've topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or even eagle flew-
And, while with silent lifting mind I've trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand and touched the face of God

-John Gillespie Magee, Jr.

What reason could I possibly find to not fly?

KW