|
10/5/06 The Weather Turns Nasty - August was my busiest month of flying ever, and early September started out okay. Then in late September I suddenly found myself scheduling around bad weather again. Or if it wasn't too bad to fly, sometimes I flew and put up with annoying conditions. It has made for challenging flying and good experience for my students and me. I soloed my student Keith one calm evening after we flew in wild and gusty winds in the morning. I went on a cross-country where drizzle seemed to fall out of nowhere and the turbulence below 2,500 feet rocked the airplane. On September 28th I raced the season's first snow showers out of Green Bay and dodged shafts of rain on a quick flight to Neenah. On the 29th I taught a lesson in solid rain and on the 30th had to go above the clouds to find some smooth, clear air and good visibility. October 1st brought a warm front with strong westerly winds aloft but clear skies that allowed me to do a cross-country lesson. A couple hours after we got back, thunderstorms developed south of our route. Then today, under a clear blue sky, there was such strong turbulence that I reported it to Flight Service. The fall colors are strong and the weather is stuck between summer and winter. It's sad to know that the long, nice days of summer flying are over for now, but I'm also looking forward to a change of scenery. I'll need to take advantage of any good weather I can find.
10/8/06 King Air Trip to Mackinac Island - I rode in the copilot's seat on a non-commercial private flight from Milwaukee to Mackinac Island, Michigan, and back with stops at Sturgeon Bay, WI and Cheboygan, MI. The airplane was a King Air A90 turboprop. It was a very cool experience to fly in another corporate airplane and visit a fun tourist destination.
10/9/06 Seventh Student Solo - I soloed my seventh person, Dan, today at Clintonville. The weather had kept delaying his first solo but finally today everything worked out. I watched him do three takeoffs and landings and we had a good flight back to Brennand.
10/15/06 Stepping Down as WI Wing CAP Webmaster - After serving 7 1/2 months as the webmaster for the Wisconsin Wing of the Civil Air Patrol, I decided to step down in order to have more spare time for other things. It was a tough decision since I enjoyed working on the site and met many interesting people through it. I have decided to put most of my volunteer activities on hold for a while so that I can focus on acheiving a multi-engine rating and advancing my career.
10/16/06 Mentoring at the LEAP Conference - I was invited to the "Learn, Earn, and Prosper: Wisconsin Teen Girls Forward" conference at Monona Terrace in Madison today. The conference was put on by the Wisconsin Women's Council. About 500 high school girls from around the state attended. I participated in the career fair where I gave out information and answered questions about aviation. The girls who stopped by asked a lot of good questions. The chaperones and parents were the tough ones. I had to stand up for aviation in the midst of all the negative media concerning it lately, including the death of Yankees Pitcher Cory Lidle less than a week ago. I even had the awkward experience of fending off a personal attack by a woman whose husband is a disgruntled airline pilot. Overall, though, it was a positive experience and most of the girls were excited to learn about being a pilot. The girls showed a lot of potential and I know they will succeed in whatever they do. I was also a mentor at the luncheon, which featured female guest speakers from a variety of careers. I shared a lunch table with three girls interested in aviation and a female FAA employee. It was a good experience for me because the speakers were very motivational. Hopefully I encouraged some girls to pursue aviation. |
|
