7/3/06 "Guest Student," FSS Tour, and a Passed Test - I spent the day in Green Bay today. My first student to take the private pilot written test passed it in the afternoon. Then my student, a visiting student from Racine, her friend, another instructor, and I took a tour of the Green Bay Flight Service Station. The visiting student and her friend flew with me just to experience flying in another place. She was in the area for a camp and is planning to be a missionary pilot in Africa.

7/5/06 Stearman Flight - He'd been promising me a ride for a year, and the pilot of the Stearman biplane based at Brennand Airport finally got the chance to do that. It was a nice clear evening when I strapped myself into the front seat of the 1943 WWII open-cockpit biplane. I wore a helmet with built-in headphones and felt the wind in my face. The chugging of the radial engine sounded awesome. All the colors on the ground were rich in the low sun with no windows to get in my way! I even got several minutes of "stick time" flying this big biplane.

pilot Chuck and me in the Stearman

7/6/06 Fourth Student Solo - It was time to push another one out of the nest: another student of mine, Terry, took his first solo flight tonight in Waupaca. He is the fourth student I have soloed.
 

7/13/06 Young Eagles Flights and a Trip to Madison - I flew two Young Eagles flight this morning, for a total of five kids and one chaperone. It was a hot and hazy morning but the flights were fun. Two other instructors took Cessna 172s, and a fouth pilot took his Piper Arrow, so there were four of us following each other closely in a line on each flight. I followed on the first flight and led on the second. The kids were from the Menominee Nation. They got to see the turtle-shaped Oneida school, the bay of Green Bay, the Fox River, and Lambeau Field.

Later that day I rode with my boss and our mechanic to Madison in our Piper Seminole. By then it was even hotter, still hazy, and partly cloudy. We flew under the clouds on the way down. I visited with my fellow UD alum, Tina, while the guys looked at a Piper Arrow for our school and bought it. We flew above the clouds on the way back, where it was crystal clear and 65 degrees at 7,000 feet.

7/15/06 CAP Wing Staff Meeting and Milwaukee Air Expo - Other staff members of the Wisconsin Wing of Civil Air Patrol finally got to meet me today. My squadron commander (who happens to be my boss) and I flew down to Timmerman Airport in Milwaukee for a staff meeting. We had a tailwind and a 180-hp Cessna 172, so the flight only took 50 minutes from my hometown of Clintonville.

After the meeting I left with a friend to watch part of the big airshow on Milwaukee's lakefront. Temperatures around the state hit 100 degrees and it wasn't too far behind there, but it was bearable. The show ended with an awesome performance by the Thunderbirds. The airshow itself was free so it was a pretty nice bargain.

7/16/06 I'm Here... Somewhere! - For those of you who have wondered whether I fell off the face of the earth, I'm still here... just very, very busy. Until now I haven't been able to touch this web site since May. Flight instructing has kept me busy working long hours sometimes. You'll find a bunch of news and some other updates. I am writing a big story about my Montana trip that will be featured on this site as soon as I finish it.

7/18/06 Cross-Country to Waukesha and Sheboygan - My student Eddie and I went on a cross-country flight from Green Bay to Waukesha to Sheboygan and back. I had been to Waukesha several times but never Sheboygan. We had an interesting flight to the busy Milwaukee-area airspace and then along the Lake Michigan shoreline.

7/21/06 Iola Lunch, Helicopter Ride, Brennand Hangar Party - Either weather or scheduling conflicts kept me from flying to Iola for the weekly Friday lunch this year until now. I took my student Paul on this gorgeous day and we had delicious barbecue ribs. At least 20 planes showed up and there were lots of people as usual. Later in the evening I got to ride in a Robinson R44 helicopter based at Brennand Airport. One of the tenants held a big hangar party with food, drinks, airplane rides, helicopter rides, and a bonfire.

7/22/06 Brennand Old Time Airport Days Fly-In - I began the day with a lesson where my student Terry navigated from Brennand Airport to Clintonville and Waupaca and back, with landings at each place. We were reminded of aviation's number-one rule-- "fly the airplane"-- when a horse fly somehow appeared in our cockpit during our landing approach at Clintonville. It's not easy to pay attention when a big biting bug is buzzing around and smacking into your face. We did fine, the bug did not! After getting back, I spent the rest of the day hanging out and talking to people at our annual fly-in event. There were lots of visitors, food, and Young Eagles flights. Evektor SportStars were on display as well as CubCrafters Super Cubs and SportCubs.

7/31/06 Skipping AirVenture - I missed EAA AirVenture Oshkosh for the first year since 1998. It was just too hot and miserable, and I had been around airplanes too much, so I took the opportunity to leave town for a little vacation. My flight training is effectively shut down that week each year because there is too much traffic in the area I fly. I would have gone to the show had it not been so hot. It was an odd feeling, missing the show. It had been such a part of my life for so many years, and this year I just didn't bother suffering through 90-degree temperatures. Do I get credit for going to Sun 'n Fun this year? I can still say I attended an EAA fly-in.

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