At the crack of dawn I found myself amazingly awake. I knew that today I would fly in a Super Cub. Bill and I had come back down to Anchorage and stayed with Ron and Mary Ann in Anchorage, two close friends of his that took good care of me. We drove up to Palmer to meet Gary Bishop.
Gary is a good friend of both Bill and his son Paul and they arranged this amazing opportunity for me. One of the pictures Bill gave me long ago, that I have never parted with was a picture of a runway that was quickly made so that Gary and his super cub could get Bill back to civilization. But this runway did not look like a runway at all…it looked like a swamp. This is a typical place for Gary to place his little cub. I quickly learned that Gary began his career in aviation in Oklahoma as a crop duster in a super cub and as a beginning pilot was given the opportunity to fly from New York to England to deliver a Cessna 172 with his flight instructor. He now lives on a beautiful little private airstrip outside of Palmer and runs a Part 135 operation.
Gary willingly took me up and showed me everything that a Piper Super Cub could do. We began with steep turns, using the bars as visual reference on the horizon, which was a 60-degree bank turn. He then showed me the advantages of vortex generators and how the cub, as long as it was coordinated would not have the abrupt stall characteristics that most airplanes have and it just oscillates. We then continued on and saw many moose and landed on a few gravel bars and a mountain. There is almost nowhere you can’t put a cub down as long as you are aware of what the wind is doing. As we took off from the mountain, it was sloped down hill and we had a tail wind all of a sudden we ran out of runway and dropped off a cliff about 30 feet and nosed the airplane over to gain airspeed and off we flew through the crevice of the mountains. There is so much more to this flight, but all I can say is anyone that has any interest in aviation should fly in a Super Cub some day.
Once on the ground, Gary told Bill and I a number of aviation stories over a cup of coffee. My favorite was when Gary had experienced 40 knot winds, stepped on the brakes and applied full power and just after the tail of the aircraft had lifted off the ground the cub without moving an inch lifted off the ground and flew.
Unfortunately, it had come time for Bill and I to part ways. He is remaining Alaska for a few more days and I must return to Florida to complete my multi-commercial and begin CFI ground. I already miss traveling with Bill and look forward to meeting up with him and Jojo in the Twin Cities some time soon. As for Alaska, I know that I will be back, hopefully to fly a beaver on floats in Kodiak.
Tuesday, July 26, 2005
Saturday, July 23, 2005
Day 5: Mt. McKinley
My infatuation with flying has been present since I was a little girl and has only grown stronger in the past four years. And now my infatuation with Alaska flying is so intense that I am already trying to concoct ways to move to Kodiak in a few years to fly a Beaver on floats. I have had a very supportive family along my journey of becoming a pilot, but there has been one very important person in my success as a pilot and that is Bill. When I was about fifteen, I had come home from New England and declared that I wanted to become a pilot when I grow up. Most people told me that I would change my mind a number of times before I decided upon a profession, not Bill. By the end of the evening that I had declared my professional fate, Bill had handed me a book about flying and since then has encouraged and mentored me. When I became a private pilot, Bill was my first passenger and since I began, when I would come home, I would sit across from him and his wonderful wife Jojo and recount my flying tales and update him on my progress. Always enthusiastic about my chosen profession he would share with me some of the bush stories he had heard or experienced and would give me photos of runways that were in reality swamps and books about the bush pilots of Alaska. Bill has not only been a mentor to me, but a dear friend and I look forward to completing my CFI so that he can be my first student and fulfill his dream to fly. Without Bill, this trip to Alaska would not have been possible, and I am tremendously grateful for all the work he has put forth to make sure my wings were spread many times in the Alaskan sky.
But today, on top of meeting Buck and Charlene, Bill and I went for a flight around Mt. McKinley. It was the most majestic flight I have ever experienced. We flew out of Talkeetna with Hudson Air Service in a Cessna 185. Talkeetna is known for being the departure point for climbers to Mt. McKinley’s base camp. Also, Don Sheldon, a famous Alaskan bush pilot, was based out of Talkeetna. We climbed north and eventually reached an altitude of 10,200 feet and began cruising around the many peaks of Mt. McKinley. Dodging clouds and mountains Bill and I saw the beauty of Mt. McKinley and all that surrounded it. It’s greatness makes one feel pretty insignificant. We nearly circled the top of Mt. McKinley, but a cloud prevented us from circumnavigating the entire peak. Instead, our pilot Jacques decided to fly directly toward the south face of the peak, I know it made me slightly nervous because we aimed right for the south face and all there was in front of us was a mass of rock and snow that filled the windscreen. Luckily he turned and we continued on to land on Pika Glacier. As we contacted the glacier traveling up hill, it was a bumpy ride until we came to a stop with the 185 turned down hill. We all climbed out of the 185 and viewed the beauty and massiveness of the mountains that encompassed us. After throwing a few snowballs and making a miniature snowman, I climbed back into the 185, only to return to Talkeetna that much more enthralled with becoming an Alaskan bush pilot.
Bill, I know that I will say this many times, but thank you for giving me my one way ticket to Alaska, I don’t think I will ever really make it home.
But today, on top of meeting Buck and Charlene, Bill and I went for a flight around Mt. McKinley. It was the most majestic flight I have ever experienced. We flew out of Talkeetna with Hudson Air Service in a Cessna 185. Talkeetna is known for being the departure point for climbers to Mt. McKinley’s base camp. Also, Don Sheldon, a famous Alaskan bush pilot, was based out of Talkeetna. We climbed north and eventually reached an altitude of 10,200 feet and began cruising around the many peaks of Mt. McKinley. Dodging clouds and mountains Bill and I saw the beauty of Mt. McKinley and all that surrounded it. It’s greatness makes one feel pretty insignificant. We nearly circled the top of Mt. McKinley, but a cloud prevented us from circumnavigating the entire peak. Instead, our pilot Jacques decided to fly directly toward the south face of the peak, I know it made me slightly nervous because we aimed right for the south face and all there was in front of us was a mass of rock and snow that filled the windscreen. Luckily he turned and we continued on to land on Pika Glacier. As we contacted the glacier traveling up hill, it was a bumpy ride until we came to a stop with the 185 turned down hill. We all climbed out of the 185 and viewed the beauty and massiveness of the mountains that encompassed us. After throwing a few snowballs and making a miniature snowman, I climbed back into the 185, only to return to Talkeetna that much more enthralled with becoming an Alaskan bush pilot.
Bill, I know that I will say this many times, but thank you for giving me my one way ticket to Alaska, I don’t think I will ever really make it home.
Day 5: Buck
I dreaded this morning. I have thus far been spoiled rotten with the aviation experiences I have had and I have met some wonderful people. I have not looked forward to leaving Kodiak because realistically it will be at least a year before I can return. I told Bill as we flew back to Anchorage on a De Havilland Dash-8 that I was upset with him because when I return to Florida to fly, I am going to be bored out of my mind. I have never experienced flying like I had in Kodiak and I already crave more.
We arrived safely in Anchorage and stopped at the Hood Lake Aviation Museum before heading towards Talkeetna. Just south of Talkeetna lived a pilot named Buck. Now for those of you that have not seen the video Buck made about flying in Alaska, Bill gave me this video when I began flying and since then have failed to return it to him, but shown it to many other pilots. It is a wonderful video about flying in Alaska, but primarily landing in the bush on beaches, riverbeds and in the brush. Today, I finally met Buck and his wonderful wife Charlene. Yet again, with a very open ear I heard more lore of pilots in Alaska. One of the best stories I heard was when Buck had started flying in Alaska he had been warned never to fly directly over the White Lady, a mountain just outside Anchorage. Well not listening to his elders, he decided to directly over the Sleeping Lady (Susitna Mountain) and as they approached the peak neither he nor his passenger remembers what happened next because they both backed out and when Buck regained consciousness he found the airplane in a descending attitude up side down. Like I said, flying in Alaska is unlike flying anywhere else
We arrived safely in Anchorage and stopped at the Hood Lake Aviation Museum before heading towards Talkeetna. Just south of Talkeetna lived a pilot named Buck. Now for those of you that have not seen the video Buck made about flying in Alaska, Bill gave me this video when I began flying and since then have failed to return it to him, but shown it to many other pilots. It is a wonderful video about flying in Alaska, but primarily landing in the bush on beaches, riverbeds and in the brush. Today, I finally met Buck and his wonderful wife Charlene. Yet again, with a very open ear I heard more lore of pilots in Alaska. One of the best stories I heard was when Buck had started flying in Alaska he had been warned never to fly directly over the White Lady, a mountain just outside Anchorage. Well not listening to his elders, he decided to directly over the Sleeping Lady (Susitna Mountain) and as they approached the peak neither he nor his passenger remembers what happened next because they both backed out and when Buck regained consciousness he found the airplane in a descending attitude up side down. Like I said, flying in Alaska is unlike flying anywhere else
Friday, July 22, 2005
Day 4: Halibut Fishing
The next morning I woke early, just as the sun had risen (yes the sun goes down in the summer in Alaska, well at least for a few hours). Chris and I said good-bye to Jeanne and pushed the Luscombe out into the bay and moments later returned to the air. As we flew back the weather was slightly above IMC, we saw sea lions and a whale. We skidded back into the bay shortly after seven and I found myself drinking a cup of coffee with Bill back at Paul and Angie’s recounting my adventures from the previous day and Bill informed me how the crew had done halibut fishing.
That afternoon, I joined Bill, his son Paul, Hyrum and Cole to the cannery to cash in on the halibut they had caught. It was quite the operation, and being such a huge state for fishing I was glad I had been exposed to this. They have bins of fish waiting to be headed and then gutted by a line of Asians and then tossed into a large wheel barrel, which are then weighted and eventually put into cans to be sold in grocery stores. In the end they had caught a little over two thousand pounds of halibut.
That evening Angie had a wonderful little get together, where she had made homemade pizza and I met more people that lived in Kodiak. Angie and Paul are such sweet people and I really enjoyed meeting them. At this get-together was another young pilot from the Chicago area, named Tyler, whom I spoke with for quite a while, asking him questions about how he is working on moving up to Kodiak to fly amoung other things. Paul told a thrilling story of a crash that he had been involved in 15 years prior in the mountains of Kodiak island, all three men survived without a scratch even though the airplane was a ball of metal in a ravien after hitting a float on the mountain side, spinning around and tearing off the wings. As this story ended, Cole had come to pick me up to take me to the music festival, where I met more pilots and people my age that we living on Kodiak.
That afternoon, I joined Bill, his son Paul, Hyrum and Cole to the cannery to cash in on the halibut they had caught. It was quite the operation, and being such a huge state for fishing I was glad I had been exposed to this. They have bins of fish waiting to be headed and then gutted by a line of Asians and then tossed into a large wheel barrel, which are then weighted and eventually put into cans to be sold in grocery stores. In the end they had caught a little over two thousand pounds of halibut.
That evening Angie had a wonderful little get together, where she had made homemade pizza and I met more people that lived in Kodiak. Angie and Paul are such sweet people and I really enjoyed meeting them. At this get-together was another young pilot from the Chicago area, named Tyler, whom I spoke with for quite a while, asking him questions about how he is working on moving up to Kodiak to fly amoung other things. Paul told a thrilling story of a crash that he had been involved in 15 years prior in the mountains of Kodiak island, all three men survived without a scratch even though the airplane was a ball of metal in a ravien after hitting a float on the mountain side, spinning around and tearing off the wings. As this story ended, Cole had come to pick me up to take me to the music festival, where I met more pilots and people my age that we living on Kodiak.
Thursday, July 21, 2005
Day 3: The Candy Pilot
This morning when I awoke, Bill, Paul, Cole and Hyrum had already emptied the yard long before of the boats and fishing equipment that they had prepared for their halibut fishing trip. Other than myself, Angie was still at the house and we took the morning to go up to Abercrombie Fort to walk the dogs. It was beautiful and I got to know a little about Angie as well as learn more about Kodiak. I am already beginning to think about eventually moving up here.
Shortly after lunch, I met up with Chris again and we went up in his Cessna 180. This bright purple plane with Indians painted on the tail was what I would finally experience real flying in. We took off at the small municipal airport called Lily Lake. I wish you could see this runway. It sloped down into Lily Lake; a small narrow lake used by sea planes, and is no wider than a bike path. But we took off and flew to Larson Bay. It was an amazing flight. The entire time we flew at less than 300 feet above the mountain ridges and bays. It may not have been the smartest thing to do, but it was what I have always imagined flying to be. We flew over old fish canneries, Paul’s bear camp and Chris’s house, all of which can only be reached by a very long boat ride or by seaplane. We arrived in Larson Bay and about fifteen of the locals came up to the airstrip to see who flew in. After surveying some land for a hangar, we walked around the little town of Larson Bay and before I knew it we were back in the 180 fifty feet off the ground viewing bears and mountain goats, some which stood higher on the mountain than what we flew. I truly felt like I was flying and I didn’t want it to end when we arrived in Kodiak right as the fog moved in.
Moments after Chris and I got out of the plane I had an invitation to fly with him that evening in his Luscombe to Musch Bay to stay the night at his girl friends’ house. Excited to fly in his Lucombe on floats, it only took a minute for me to decide that I was going. So a few hours later, a cooler full of ice cream and a bag full of candy we flew to Musch Bay.
As I had mentioned, the fog had moved in, and although it had broken by the time we took off Lily Lake Municipal airport, the clouds still hung low among the mountains which forced us to weave around them and fly even lower to the island of Kodiak. On the way to Musch Bay we landed in a mountain lake and made a candy drop at a house that had five children among the mountains of Kodiak. We flew over the house to get the family’s attention and circled back around. With my arm fully extended out the window, there were five children on the deck and beach jumping up and down with excitement when we made the drop. Once again circling back around, we saw that the children had recovered the bag of candy and we flew on our way to Musch Bay.
Upon arriving at Musch Bay we were greeted by Jeanne, Chris’s girlfriend, and she promptly took us out to her beautiful organic garden to pick strawberries to have with the ice cream we had brought out. Her gardens were unlike anything I had ever seen, they were HUGE with everything you could imagine in them. Her house was beautiful too, a homestead that was built in 1921. So the three of us sat up talking until late in the evening about more flying stories as well as their life on the island of Kodiak. Among these stories I learned that Chris was no stranger to dropping things out of his airplane, in fact he had become known as the “Candy Pilot”. Chris had been making drops to people all over the island for years. He not only had dropped candy, but gold earrings, toilet paper, and on Christmas he would string lights on his plane and drop Christmas presents to the children on the island. These stories, among many others touched my heart and although I have always have had a love for aviation, they have made my passion even greater than it has ever been. Since I have arrived in Kodiak I crave to stay here.
Shortly after lunch, I met up with Chris again and we went up in his Cessna 180. This bright purple plane with Indians painted on the tail was what I would finally experience real flying in. We took off at the small municipal airport called Lily Lake. I wish you could see this runway. It sloped down into Lily Lake; a small narrow lake used by sea planes, and is no wider than a bike path. But we took off and flew to Larson Bay. It was an amazing flight. The entire time we flew at less than 300 feet above the mountain ridges and bays. It may not have been the smartest thing to do, but it was what I have always imagined flying to be. We flew over old fish canneries, Paul’s bear camp and Chris’s house, all of which can only be reached by a very long boat ride or by seaplane. We arrived in Larson Bay and about fifteen of the locals came up to the airstrip to see who flew in. After surveying some land for a hangar, we walked around the little town of Larson Bay and before I knew it we were back in the 180 fifty feet off the ground viewing bears and mountain goats, some which stood higher on the mountain than what we flew. I truly felt like I was flying and I didn’t want it to end when we arrived in Kodiak right as the fog moved in.
Moments after Chris and I got out of the plane I had an invitation to fly with him that evening in his Luscombe to Musch Bay to stay the night at his girl friends’ house. Excited to fly in his Lucombe on floats, it only took a minute for me to decide that I was going. So a few hours later, a cooler full of ice cream and a bag full of candy we flew to Musch Bay.
As I had mentioned, the fog had moved in, and although it had broken by the time we took off Lily Lake Municipal airport, the clouds still hung low among the mountains which forced us to weave around them and fly even lower to the island of Kodiak. On the way to Musch Bay we landed in a mountain lake and made a candy drop at a house that had five children among the mountains of Kodiak. We flew over the house to get the family’s attention and circled back around. With my arm fully extended out the window, there were five children on the deck and beach jumping up and down with excitement when we made the drop. Once again circling back around, we saw that the children had recovered the bag of candy and we flew on our way to Musch Bay.
Upon arriving at Musch Bay we were greeted by Jeanne, Chris’s girlfriend, and she promptly took us out to her beautiful organic garden to pick strawberries to have with the ice cream we had brought out. Her gardens were unlike anything I had ever seen, they were HUGE with everything you could imagine in them. Her house was beautiful too, a homestead that was built in 1921. So the three of us sat up talking until late in the evening about more flying stories as well as their life on the island of Kodiak. Among these stories I learned that Chris was no stranger to dropping things out of his airplane, in fact he had become known as the “Candy Pilot”. Chris had been making drops to people all over the island for years. He not only had dropped candy, but gold earrings, toilet paper, and on Christmas he would string lights on his plane and drop Christmas presents to the children on the island. These stories, among many others touched my heart and although I have always have had a love for aviation, they have made my passion even greater than it has ever been. Since I have arrived in Kodiak I crave to stay here.
Wednesday, July 20, 2005
Day 2: Kodiak
Words cannot describe the day I have had. When I woke up this morning I never would have imagined what I was about to experience or the airplanes I would fly in. I took the people mover (Anchorage’s Bus) to the airport and got on a De Havilland Dash-8 to Kodiak. It was a beautiful flight along the Alaskan Mountain Range and arrived at State Airport in Kodiak. When I arrived I was in awe of the beauty that this little island holds and the huge mountain known as Barometer that sits at the end of the primary arrival runway. Bill and Angie met me at the airport and immediately took me to a seaplane base to see a few Beavers. Before I knew it I was in one of those Beavers with Josh flying to Katmai. It was an amazing flight. We had cargo on board and when we got to our destination we unloaded and took on passengers to go back to Kodiak.
Upon arriving back in Kodiak, Bill was waiting to sweep me away to State Airport again for a ride in a Steerman. Chris, a long time Kodiak pilot owns three aircraft: a Steerman, a Cessna 180 and a Luscombe on floats. He has thousands of hours flying in Alaska and has knowledge of weather and mountain flying that I hope someday to gain. Bill, Chris and I pulled up to his wooden hanger on State Airport and inside was a beautiful yellow Steerman. Bill and I felt like little kids on Christmas morning, it was so exciting. We pulled the Steerman out of the hanger and Chris pre-flighted and after doing a little work on one of the starters (that he pulled out of the airplane), Chris and I climbed in. Aviators cap, goggles and all we took off in the beautiful 1942 Steerman. We flew right over Pyramid Mountain and over the town of Kodiak; we even did a few loops. It was amazing to be in an open cockpit bi-plane. Like all good things the flight came to an end and Bill was up next. I watched them take off and head towards Barometer Mountain. Chris and Bill circled the mountain a few times at the top and came back in to State Airport. We all pushed the Steerman back into its wooden hanger and called it a night for our wings.
Bill and I returned to Paul (Bill’s son) and Angie’s house to help them bait hooks in preparation for the big halibut fishing trip Bill, Paul, Cole and Hyrum would be going on tomorrow. Although this was a very fishy, and at first very disgusting job, I had fun putting octopi, haring, salmon and other bait on hooks to help get the job done.
What an amazing day. I have fallen in love with Kodiak. Of all my travels this just may be the most beautiful. But I suppose that I am biased because of my love affair with aviation. I cannot imagine what tomorrow may bring, regardless my trip to Alaska has already been worth it a hundred times over, even if I don’t get to fly again.
Upon arriving back in Kodiak, Bill was waiting to sweep me away to State Airport again for a ride in a Steerman. Chris, a long time Kodiak pilot owns three aircraft: a Steerman, a Cessna 180 and a Luscombe on floats. He has thousands of hours flying in Alaska and has knowledge of weather and mountain flying that I hope someday to gain. Bill, Chris and I pulled up to his wooden hanger on State Airport and inside was a beautiful yellow Steerman. Bill and I felt like little kids on Christmas morning, it was so exciting. We pulled the Steerman out of the hanger and Chris pre-flighted and after doing a little work on one of the starters (that he pulled out of the airplane), Chris and I climbed in. Aviators cap, goggles and all we took off in the beautiful 1942 Steerman. We flew right over Pyramid Mountain and over the town of Kodiak; we even did a few loops. It was amazing to be in an open cockpit bi-plane. Like all good things the flight came to an end and Bill was up next. I watched them take off and head towards Barometer Mountain. Chris and Bill circled the mountain a few times at the top and came back in to State Airport. We all pushed the Steerman back into its wooden hanger and called it a night for our wings.
Bill and I returned to Paul (Bill’s son) and Angie’s house to help them bait hooks in preparation for the big halibut fishing trip Bill, Paul, Cole and Hyrum would be going on tomorrow. Although this was a very fishy, and at first very disgusting job, I had fun putting octopi, haring, salmon and other bait on hooks to help get the job done.
What an amazing day. I have fallen in love with Kodiak. Of all my travels this just may be the most beautiful. But I suppose that I am biased because of my love affair with aviation. I cannot imagine what tomorrow may bring, regardless my trip to Alaska has already been worth it a hundred times over, even if I don’t get to fly again.
Tuesday, July 19, 2005
Day 1: Arriving in Anchorage
This morning I woke up and headed to the Minneapolis airport, courtesy of aunt Shelly’s airport taxi service (she has been wonderful about taking me to and from MSP). My attempt to catch the first plane failed miserably and I caught the 11:25. Fortunately, as luck will have it, I met another pilot while waiting named Matt who is a sophomore at UND. His father is a B-747 captain for Northwest Airlines and is based out of Anchorage. We both were flying stand-by and although we weren’t sitting next to each other we visited one another and played hangman and the dot game while talking about aviation making the six-hour flight fly by.
Once I arrived in Anchorage, Brad, Matt’s dad offered to take me to the Anchorage Guest House where I was staying and extended a dinner invitation for dinner at F Street, which is well known by pilots in the Anchorage area. At F Street the three of us had Halibut and talked shop. After dinner, Matt and I found a driving range at the base of a mountain and enjoyed the beautiful weather and sunlight. But for now it is time to get some rest and catch a flight to Kodiak to meet up with Bill tomorrow.
Once I arrived in Anchorage, Brad, Matt’s dad offered to take me to the Anchorage Guest House where I was staying and extended a dinner invitation for dinner at F Street, which is well known by pilots in the Anchorage area. At F Street the three of us had Halibut and talked shop. After dinner, Matt and I found a driving range at the base of a mountain and enjoyed the beautiful weather and sunlight. But for now it is time to get some rest and catch a flight to Kodiak to meet up with Bill tomorrow.
Saturday, July 16, 2005
Key West
Promptly after forth of July weekend I began working on my multi-engine commercial add-on. While I was in Europe, Jen, my instrument/single-engine commercial instructor, was hired by Sun Aviation in Vero Beach flying a Beech jet. And although I was thrilled she got a great job, I was bummed that she would no longer be my instructor. Thankfully, I got Kevin, another awesome instructor. So in the past few weeks Kevin and I have been knocking out lessons in a Piper Seminole. The humorous thing about flying the multi is that most of my flight time in the Seminole is done single engine. But last night I had one of the most amazing flights. I decided to put my two cross-country lessons together to fly down to Key West. Nicole and Paul came along for the ride, always have to make it a party. As we flew south we could see massive thunderstorms. The picture attached is just one of the many thunderheads we flew by. I wish we could have captured the lightening that was in these storms. But it was an amazing flight. Once we arrived all four of us climbed into a taxi and had dinner at the Conch Republic, a good seafood restaurant on a wharf. Unfortunately we had decided we didn’t have time to change out of our uniforms and while at dinner were pegged as cruise ship workers. We just smiled and nodded. Dinner was all we had time for in Key West and we then returned home. The light show over Florida was beautiful that evening, the storms were so large and massive and at night they seemed that much bigger and scarier. Without the sun it was difficult to judge how close we were to them. Shortly after mid-night we made it home safely from yet again another adventure. Next on the list: flying the skies of Alaska and landing in all kinds of crazy places.
Monday, July 04, 2005
St. Augustine
It has been very quiet around Vero Beach this weekend. Everyone emptied out for the holiday weekend flying to Atlanta or Key West. Paul and I found ourselves alone on flight safety’s campus. I stuck around Vero because I need a bit of a break from traveling. I am craving to sleep in the same bed for seven straight nights. But despite the initial urge to sit still for a few days Paul and I decided we needed so go somewhere for at least one day. So we figured since everyone else was renting an aircraft to go somewhere, we decided we deserved to as well. Besides we could justify the flight. It was a needed flight because Paul has his CFI check ride this coming week in the Arrow and I had not flown since before I had left for Europe. And with two extra seats in the back, we invited Nicole and Jay to come along too (Which if you haven’t checked out their blog, you should, it is on my links list). Our destination was St. Augustine.
St. Augustine is a cute, Spanish influenced town and it happens to be the oldest city in the United States. In order for both Paul and I to log the time I went under the hood and he was my safety pilot, but the weather was beautiful on the way up and Paul, Nicole and Jay got a good view of NASA’s space shuttle on Cape Canaveral and Florida’s eastern coast. After playing around in St. Augustine for most of the day, it was time to return home. The weather was a bit of a different story. We flew through thunderstorm after thunderstorm, it was the first time I had ever been in hard IMC (Instrument Metrological Conditions). It was raining hard and at one point we were in a cloud for a solid twelve minutes. I’m not going to lie, I was a little nervous, but it was a blast. As we approached Melbourne the weather cleared up and the four of us returned home safely. I’m sure there will be another adventure around the corner.
St. Augustine is a cute, Spanish influenced town and it happens to be the oldest city in the United States. In order for both Paul and I to log the time I went under the hood and he was my safety pilot, but the weather was beautiful on the way up and Paul, Nicole and Jay got a good view of NASA’s space shuttle on Cape Canaveral and Florida’s eastern coast. After playing around in St. Augustine for most of the day, it was time to return home. The weather was a bit of a different story. We flew through thunderstorm after thunderstorm, it was the first time I had ever been in hard IMC (Instrument Metrological Conditions). It was raining hard and at one point we were in a cloud for a solid twelve minutes. I’m not going to lie, I was a little nervous, but it was a blast. As we approached Melbourne the weather cleared up and the four of us returned home safely. I’m sure there will be another adventure around the corner.
Friday, July 01, 2005
Trans Atlantic Train
While I was in Paris there were huge billboards in the Metro advertising a train that traveled from Paris to New York in 8 hours. I have to admit this baffled me, how in the world could there be a train that goes under the Atlantic Ocean? Is it remotely possible? Well I was curious, and I did some research online and this is what I found:
http://www.atlantictunnel.com/
Now I would suggest you all go check out this site. I was in shock. A trans Atlantic train, it all seems like such a hoax. The history behind the tunnel is amazing. How could we not have heard of this? How many of our tax dollars have gone into this? And look at the prices of a round trip ticket! They are cheaper than ANY airline. Naturally, as a pilot, I could not disagree more with the crazy idea of taking a train under the water for 3,261 miles, not to mention it would not be good for the airline industry. But would people actually take this train and would it be profitable? The Chunnel is even in the process of going bankrupt. Would anyone consider taking this mode of transportation? It will be available in 2009.
Another website to look at: http://www.transatlantys.com/
http://www.atlantictunnel.com/
Now I would suggest you all go check out this site. I was in shock. A trans Atlantic train, it all seems like such a hoax. The history behind the tunnel is amazing. How could we not have heard of this? How many of our tax dollars have gone into this? And look at the prices of a round trip ticket! They are cheaper than ANY airline. Naturally, as a pilot, I could not disagree more with the crazy idea of taking a train under the water for 3,261 miles, not to mention it would not be good for the airline industry. But would people actually take this train and would it be profitable? The Chunnel is even in the process of going bankrupt. Would anyone consider taking this mode of transportation? It will be available in 2009.
Another website to look at: http://www.transatlantys.com/
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
