Another mid-lifer story
justplanecrazy February 15th, 2008
Well, Im off to a new address. I dont know if anyone is reading this anymore, or if they evvery did,but please come visit me at my new home.
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Round 2!!!
justplanecrazy February 11th, 2008
OK, thing are starting to come together again. Lets back up a bit and discuss what happened before. I had decided to go out of town to attend an accelerated commercial pilot course. Unfortunately everything that could have gone wrong…did! I was told there would be designated examiners available at any time (we have two on staff, so i was told, but not true) Well, we couldn’t get an examiner when we would have really needed one. The first day I showed up, the cfi i was to be paired up with wasn’t there. So, first day lost. Day two high winds and snow! The cfi did show up that day, but we spent about 3-4 hours tops together and didn’t really cover all that much. Which was a disappointment, because I made sure before I scheduled myself to go that they had a “structured ground school”…they didn’t He (the cfi) was like, well read that tonight on your own. I COULD HAVE DONE THAT AT HOME!!! the weather did not cooperate either. two days of snow, One day of winds 30-40kts. Oh did i mention the presidential TFR. MX issues with the airplane. OK, if you know you have someone coming into town to fly a specific airplane. don’t you think you would want to have the plane ready? I really like the owner of the school. I know he will have a good product, I’m just not sure he is fully up to speed yet. The CFI was a nice guy, but we didn’t communicate very well, and his teaching method was different then any other I had ever seen. One day we spent about 30 min looking for “pylons” to do eights around pylon maneuver. Its like just pick something for cryin out loud!
Anyway…I’m back home. I called a local guy who used to be the chief flight instructor for a local school, and is an ex-USAF pilot, he has agreed to help me finish up and I have scheduled my check ride for Feb 26. 3 days before my 40th birthday! My goal has been to be a commercial pilot by the time I’m 40. I’m cutting it close! I hope I get it done this time!!!
Houston we have a problem!
justplanecrazy February 1st, 2008
Wow, where to begin. As i wrote before, i had decided to go out of town to get my commercial single. One of those so called Accelerated courses. Well, Im sitting in an airport in the middle of fly over country at 1130pm waiting for a chance to get a standby seat at 9am. without a commercial license…So, to say the least, im not happy. I will get into details later, right now i just want my bed!
The count down has begun
justplanecrazy January 13th, 2008
Well, I have made a choice. I am departing good ole south Texas Jan 28th heading to chilly Kansas to do an accelerated commercial pilot course! I have the written exam done, I have the amount of flying needed (actually more than…270hrs tt) all I need is to learn the commercial maneuvers, and PASS the commercial practical. So, by Feb 1st I will be a commercial pilot!!! I will be at Career Pilot School. I have heard good things so far about them, as best as i can tell by their website, they have their stuff together! I hope so 
OK, any commercial guys out there that have any tips for me?
One small step for man…ok so its not that big a deal…
justplanecrazy January 5th, 2008
OK so its not as big of a deal, as stepping onto the moon, but I did save 10% on my car insurance…Oh sorry (this is where my wife would roll her eyes at my usual bad joke!), I PASSED my commercial written exam today!!! WOOHOO with a 91%. Not the score I wanted but hey, its a pass!
So, now it’s time to jump back into the video’s again and watch the king check ride dvd with good ole Martha and J.C.
I swear the kings should offer me a discount on my next purchase for all the plugs i have given them.
Oh get this. I sent in my 3 practice exams to kingschools to get my instructor endorsement, My wife calls me while I was at work to say she had received it back from them, she says it’s signed my John King. I was like oh sure…but sure enough when I seen it, it said John king on it. Boy did I feel special. Someone at kingschools stamped my paper with a big ole rubber stamp with the big guys name on it! Oh well, I will just keep telling everyone its really his signature:-)
So now what? I hope about 10 hours of finish up in the Arrow and I will be a commercial pilot. I hope to have it done before the end of Jan! We will see, but that is my goal.
I have not been in a plane for over a month so the first thing is to rent a plane for some currency work! I need to make sure I can hold headings a altitude still! So, for now its study time and I hope to report real soon that I am available for hire!!!
Where did it go?
justplanecrazy December 30th, 2007
Another year gone, wow…where did it go? It amazes me sometimes, it seems time is going faster. It seems like we just had the 07 near your change. As for my training…I’m still studying for the commercial ground. I hope I will have my commercial License by the middle of Jan 08. I think I have decided to continue and get my CFI-I and Mei. Since there are not a lot of options for low timers. I’m still only at 266TT. I have to wonder about the cfi thing, Sometimes It feel like I do not know anything. I don’t think its possible to learn enough to teach someone else to fly! Well, that’s my perception anyway, I’m sure I can do it.
Anyway, I wish you a very Happy New year, I hope your 2008 is a great, blessed year!
Merry Christmas
justplanecrazy December 14th, 2007
Just a side note and a moment away from flying. I want to wish you all a Very Merry Christmas, As a follower and believer of Jesus Christ I wish you a Happy and very Blessed New Year!
Rand peck, a life aloft
justplanecrazy December 14th, 2007
For those of you who enjoy reading about the airline life, You will love this. This guy has some great stories and awesome pictures. This is the kind of airline pilot I would love to be, and the kind of Captian I would like to fly with! Maybe someday I will get lucky and get the chance to meet him!
6.6 hours in a Cessna 172…My back side still hurts
justplanecrazy December 1st, 2007
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Well I just finished up another requirement for the commercial license. I did my LOOOOOONG Cross country. San Antonio to Gladwater TX about 260ish miles. 6.6 hours in a 172 is a lot of flying. It was however just a wonderful day to fly! Vis was great, and the air was amazingly smooth. Traffic into SAT was coming almost directly inbound my outbound course. after checking the plane, it was time to climb in and get ready to go. everything went smooth on the ground. simple taxi to 12R at Kilo quick run up and all is good. Tower gives me the takeoff clearance (fly rnwy hdg and cleared for t/o 12R) and off I go. I’m thinking after i start my roll that its unusual to get a fly runway hdg when you have an airliner coming in behind you. Usually they want you to turn north or south real quick, but if that’s what they want, ok.
Shortly after takeoff I’m settling in for a short climb up to 5500. They keep me on the runway hdg for awhile as they let a couple takeoff from the crossing rnwy, then finally i get a turn to the north. It’s then that I realize why they took me before turning NE. As I already mention the inbound traffic was coming right down my outbound course. I was really amazed that they turned me as oon as they did. I had three airliners pass me by very very close. It was very cool Finally i get out of the SAT area and I get turned over to Austin approach. My flight path was directly over AUS. I figured they would circle me around but they didn’t. It was a great view of the new AUS/burgstrom airport. Once again I was intermingling with the big guys. They had a SWA take off and fly below me and up along side me. Again it was very neat. A few min later An American MD80 come right at me, It was so close. closer then I had ever come to one in flight! After passing Austin the flight became much quieter. There was not much activity out there.
Finally it was time to play a little, pull out the sectional, mark some ground reference point time them check ground speeds winds etc. Not that I had to do it the “old fashioned way” The moving map gps was giving me all that info too, Figured I had the time so might as well keep myself busy! I was really surprised even a couple hours into the flight and the heat of the day coming it was still very smooth. I didn’t even need an auto pilot. Trimmed her up and she flew great. I finaly made it to the glade water area, had just passed over Taylor TX at 16 out began a descent. Over flew the field made left traffic to runway 14 and had an uneventful landing into Gladewater. Now it’s time for a short break, a ham sandwich and fuel.
Fueled up and ready to go. I decide to take 17 to make it a short turn to on-course heading. It’s funny. My PPL training was done on a field in Missouri. The field was 2200X49 (FES). Never gave it a second though about the length, But when you start flying out of a 8000X150 all of a sudden 2200 seems REAL SHORT! It was obviously long enough.
The flight back was pretty much the same. Climbed up to 6500 the air was smooth as could be. Settled in for the long ride back at 96kts ground speed!
Finally made it back to the San Antoni Area. Decided to make my second stop at a local field with cheap fuel (if you can call $3.45 cheap) I had never landed there, so I didn’t know what to expect. Had an RV in the pattern so I just followed him around. Then while on downwind I seen the runway, this thin had a huge downward slope to it. They built this rnwy on a hill. I crossed the number and flared and the runway just kept dropping away from me. Strangest landing I have ever made.
Got my fuel and headed home, got back at dusk pushed her into the hanger and called it a day! Sometime you just feel fortunate that you can fly, that we have the ability…Some days you just really love to fly! This was one of them!
Slowly but…
justplanecrazy November 10th, 2007
I’m studying for the ground portion of my commercial pilot license! I wish I could say it’s going good, but its not, at least not fast enough. Im thinking about going up to skymates in arlington. I think I could hamer out the single engine commercial, and then the multi engine commercial add-on in about a week! I want to get it done so i can get on with life. Try to find a flying postion so I can start building time! Oh well, nothing major to report…Any ideas about how to approach the comm training? I case I dont make it back, Happy Thanksgiving!