1/2/07 Night XC to MSN - The moon was so bright tonight that my student and I could almost read our maps with the cockpit lights turned off. We went on a fun night cross-country from Brennand to Madison and back. There was a 40-knot wind aloft so the trip took us 2.5 hours.

1/4/07 Demo Flight in the Diamond DA40 DiamondStar - Hoooeeey! Fun stuff. I got a demo flight in a DA40 today in Green Bay. It's a low-wing, T-tailed, composite four-place airplane. I flew it from the left seat for half an hour. I liked its handling, speed, and visibility. Now I wish I had one to teach in, or at least the two-seat DA20. Maybe someday.

cockpit picture my coworker took from the back seat

1/6/07 The Pilot Behind the Voice - I met "Pilot Kent" from The Pilotcast tonight when he picked me up in his club's Cessna 182. We flew to Portage for dinner and then flew to the Lake Michigan shore for some nighttime sightseeing. Kent added Portage to his list of claims for the ConUS Challenge. It was a nice night to fly and we had fun.

1/10/07 Piper Arrow III Checkout - I learned to fly the Piper Arrow today. My boss gave me a checkout flight including commercial maneuvers that I hadn't done in forever. I'm going to practice a few more landings and then I'll be ready to instruct in our school's two Arrows.

The last of the sunset after tying the plane down

1/14/07 Lunch in Eau Claire - I rode with Kent in the Cessna 182 to Eau Claire today. We met up with five other people for what one of them called a "Midwest Mini Fly-In." It was a small gathering of friends from aviation message boards. A $100 hamburger type of thing. It got dark and threatened to snow as we flew back to Clintonville. Luckily we got our trip in and Kent made it home before the heavy snow hit.

A sightseeing detour around Wausau. Click for large version.

1/30/07 First Night of Ground School - Tonight was the first night of teaching my first-ever private pilot ground school. I have seven enthusiastic students in my class at the University of Wisconsin - Fox Valley in Menasha. It's exciting for me to be able to offer this course through the continuing education program. We are going to meet once a week for the next 12 weeks. In the dead of winter... when I haven't been flying much lately, it's fun to spend time with like-minded people who want to learn all about flying.

©2004-2007 Kate Bernard all rights reserved. Mac and the Mac logo are trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. The Made on a Mac Badge is a trademark of Apple Computer, Inc., used with permission.