Rush of Blood to the Head

Flying Inverted in the Zlin
Originally uploaded by sasnook.

Sadly I had my last flight in the Zlin today. One full hour of loops, spins and pulling G’s. Five and a half was the maximum G’s that I pulled. Dave was gladly my cameraman, snapping pictures and videos with my camera. I don’t think any one maneuver took precedence of being my favorite. I even enjoyed recovering from a spin once I did one or two. The crazy thing about spin recovery is that you give full opposite rudder and push the stick forward and the spin increases in speed and if you don’t neutralize the rudders you’ll end up spinning in the other direction or if you push the stick too far forward then you’ll actually end up in a flat spin (neither of which is a good result and I came close to doing). But once I got the recovery down, spin recovery was actually a lot of fun. Over the course of the last three flights I did more than spins and loops, I did hammerhead stalls, snap spins, half Cuban eights, four point turns and four leaf clovers. The great thing about flying in the Zlin is that I was laughing the entire time. Lately flying has been very serious and intense because I am wrapping up my instrument rating, being under the hood and concentrating on shooting approaches and adjusting to the craziness of Miami Center/Daytona Approach. So it has been nice to lighten the mood with some inverted flying and make all the blood rush to my head.

To The Moon!!!

Kennedy Space Center
Originally uploaded by sasnook.

…Okay, no…To Kennedy Space Center. Paul and I decided to go up and check out the space center together. I knew that it would be an informational trip and receive a great tour, but what I didn’t realize was how amazing the experience would be. We got there and immediately saw this fun and informative 3D IMAX film on the International Space Station that many countries have joined together to build. After that you get on a tour bus which shuttles you around 140,000 acres of land that surrounds the space facilities. And believe it or not NASA only uses a small fraction of this land; the remainder is a wildlife reserve that is the home to thousands of animals. They take you to different locations and tell you brain bursting amounts of information. Such as, did you know that the shuttle landing facility is 3 miles long? Or did you know that the Russian’s were the first country to put a man in space and that America failed miserably for many years until we finally had our first man in space? Or that when landing on the moon things went terribly wrong with the Lunar Module, but America still successfully put the first man on the moon? The Space Center does a great job of sharing the history of both good and bad (embarrassing) events NASA encountered and shows that it is very much part of our lives today not only as American citizens but how the International Space Station has united many countries. I would strongly suggest if anyone comes to Florida and is in the Orlando area, consider going on the tour, it is better than Disney. I do want to clarify that as amazing and appealing as becoming an astronaut is, I think I will remain on earth as a pilot…I have so much to explore here in my airplane.

Loops and Spins and Barrel Rolls...Oh My!

Loop De Lou, Loop De La
Originally uploaded by sasnook.

Today I flew up side down. Yes, up side down. I did loops, barrel rolls and spun the Zlin. You would think that one would be nervous about performing such maneuvers, but the truth is, I was so excited! This was exactly what flying is all about, and I get three more hours in this toy airplane! The reason behind the aerobatic flying I did today is that Flight safety has students fly four hours in the Zlin for upset recovery and spin training. This is primarily so that as pilots we will know what to do if ever put in a spin condition and then on the side we get to have some fun and pull a few G’s. I had my first of four lessons today in which we did chandelles, lazy 8’s, Crazy 8’s and wingovers. These maneuvers gently increases in bank and pitch, easing us into more unusual attitude of flying. Chandelles introduced 30-45 degrees of bank in a high pitch attitude and by the time I was doing a wing over, with 90 degrees of bank, I was ready for a full fledge loop – which I promptly did again and again and again, until Dave, my instructor, told me it was time to stall spin the aircraft. We did that a few times, it happened so quickly, it was amazing that in an instant I had lost a thousand feet of altitude. I was like a little kid in a candy shop, which Dave saw and introduced me to barrel rolls. I could have done those all the way back to the airport. Then he wanted to know if I wanted to fly inverted – HELLS YA I WANTED TO! So he took the controls and flipped us up side down and we just cruised along for a while. The G’s I felt on my body as we pulled out of that was intense. I’m flying in the Zlin again tomorrow and I am shaking with excitement. More barrel rolls, loops and spinning!!! The accompanying picture was taken by Dave while up side down during one of my loops – look in the upper right hand corner and you can see the ground. Other than that, all is well with me, unfortunately my Apple is sick and has been sent to see Dr. Mac.

Take Me Out to the Ball Game...

Take Me Out to the Ball Game...
Originally uploaded by sasnook.

This past weekend was a fun, but long, weekend. I say this because I got sick for the first time in Florida, ended up on antibiotics and about three other drugs. Despite my ears refusing to equal out I still went to my GATs training last Thursday and Friday. GAT training is a spatial disorientation type training where they put you in a C182 motion simulation and put you in different attitudes and illusions. Some of these included up- and down-sloping runways, false horizons, wider and narrower runways than what a pilot is normally used to and the Coriolis effect. I know there were others but I can’t think of them right now. The Coriolis effect was the only one that really made me dizzy and forced me to concentrate. But needless to say that this did not make me feel any better last week. However, somehow I felt better long enough to enjoy going to the Vero Beach Air show and then to Port St. Lucie to Tradition Field to see the Dodgers play the Mets. It was a beautiful great day. I went to the game with Melissa, Katie, Josh and Paul. I recently met Josh and Paul through Katie. These two guys came here Rochester, New York and are a lot of fun. I am hoping to go to a lot more spring training games with these guys. The following day, the same group of people, adding Jamie, went to a beach party thrown by another girl who is going to Flight Safety through NOAA. She was a sweetheart and we had a blast at her place on the beach. Oh…one other thing…I finally began my instrument training! I only have nine lessons total and then, well I have my check-ride. I will be sure to keep everyone updated on that, but it’s going to happen fast.

Girls Weekend In Atlanta

Robinson 44 Helicopter
Originally uploaded by sasnook.

So what did everyone do this weekend? Honesty, I would love to hear what everyone has been up to. As for my recent endeavors…I just completed another ground school last week, which was essentially a workshop called CRM (Cockpit Resource Management). It was a great workshop, and being the only female, I was put on the spot numerous times and asked to share my “female viewpoint.” Mr. McAleenan was the wonderful ex-military pilot who ran the workshop by sharing stories, showing movies about accidents and had small group activities. Great workshop, I was only disappointed to find out that Mr. McAleenan only taught that one workshop. Other than that, I have been flying; I had a great flight last Thursday night in which I did some maneuvers to commercial PTS standards. Although, I had a few mistakes here and there (I am still a little rusty) my maneuvers were awesome and I was greasing my landings left and right (all thanks to the PFD I sat on to see over the cowling).
As for my weekend; Melissa, Katie and I piled into my little Honda Civic (which passed the 200,000 mile marker on the way home) and drove eight and a half hours to Atlanta. We met up with a bunch of Melissa’s great friends, went running at Piedmont Park, had a great brunch at the Flying Biscuit, went dancing at Rendezvous until two in the morning, and went on the most amazing Helicopter ride over the city of Atlanta. Okay, so about the helicopter ride…some day I will solo in a helicopter! It is the most amazing experience, it is indescribable and every fixed wing pilot should experience flying in a helicopter at least once. Melissa, Katie and I flew in a Robinson 44 over the beautiful skyline of downtown Atlanta at night. We flew over downtown Atlanta, Turner Field, Piedmont Park, Buckhead & directly between the King and Queen buildings, all at 700 feet above the ground. I will encourage all of you to someday, whether you are a pilot or not, to go to an airport near a major metropolis and go for an evening helicopter ride – go with friends or family, maybe even a date because it is a breath taking experience that you will always have with those people (or person). For me those people are Melissa and Katie, and I feel very luck that I have such wonderful friends.

Flight Safety Guys

Flight Safety Guys
Originally uploaded by sasnook.

I just want to introduce everyone to my male friends at Flight Safety, since I have already introduced you to Melissa and Katie. You have all met Dave already, he is the one to the right of me in the picture who got his instrument rating a few weeks ago and since then has completed his multi-engine and single-engine commercial and left us to move back to Northern California. Waylan is to the left of me; his Dad is currently over in Iraq and also works for Flight Safety in West Palm Beach. Perry is on the other side of Davey. Perry tried to teach me how to surf the first weekend I came to Vero. We haven’t attempted since, but hopefully he will be teaching me again soon. He is working on his CFI right now. And Jamie is next Perry. Jamie is from London, is working on his Instrument rating, and has been a great person to study with so that we both can prepare for the instrument oral exam. So those are my Flight Safety guys – I love them all dearly and I am glad to introduce you all to them.

Girls at South Beach

Girls at South Beach
Originally uploaded by sasnook.

First of all Happy Valentine’s Day to everyone! Some exciting news; we finally got sun this weekend! I would also like to take this opportunity to introduce my new roommate Katie. Katie, as I said is from EVERYWHERE and she is in the private audit with me for the next week. She’s working on time building and then will begin her commercial. Katie, Melissa and I have been having a blast together for the past week – I love these girls to death! We do practically everything together and I feel so lucky to live with such great female pilots that have quickly become such close friends. Also, this past weekend I had a three-hour cross-country to Ormond Beach, which is just north of Daytona Beach. It was a night flight, tracked a few VOR’s up the coast, did a few touch-and-goes and saw The Daytona 500 all lit up from the sky. I attempted to take a picture but movement and taking pictures of lights is not a good combo – it looked like a firework show. I hope that everyone is doing well and that even though Valentine’s Day is superficial holiday, that everyone talked to or got dropped a line by a friend or someone they love. Thank you to all of you (friends & family) that were my Valentine’s this year.

Flight Safety Moms

Flight Safety Moms
Originally uploaded by sasnook.

Much like everyone needs a home away from home…everyone needs a mom away from home…and I have two! Meet Janice and Marlene, Flight Safety’s mothers. These two wonderful women work in the pilot supply store and I get the pleasure of seeing them almost everyday. They truly are the sweetest ladies. They know all the students by first name and take a genuine interest in how every single one of us is doing. They don’t hesitate to laugh with us (or at us) and they always make sure we’re taken care of. It is because of wonderful people who work at FSI, like Janice and Marlene, that my experience at Flight Safety thus far has been so enjoyable. Even the ground instructors joke around with us inside and outside the classroom helping us make all this aviation knowledge stick in our heads. I couldn’t ask for more…not only do I get to pursue what I love, but I have also met so many amazing people in the aviation industry –Vero Beach has quickly become my home away from home.

First Flight Safety Flight

X-Country VRB - PBI - VRB
Originally uploaded by sasnook.

Today, almost four weeks after arriving in Vero Beach, I finally had my first flight. I flew in a Cadet from Vero Beach on a cross country to West Palm Beach. As you all know I love to beat myself up and over criticize myself as well, so in my eyes I did not perform up to my standards, but my instructor (Nick Hall) thought I did a really good job considering I haven’t flown since the 14th of June (the math: 7 months ago). The first thing that is taking some adjustment for me is that the checklists are so unbelievably different from what I know, so trying to block out the procedures that have been drilled into my head and spit out the correct checklists was a bit of a challenge. Another challenge is that Winona (ONA) was a non-towered airport, where as Vero Beach (VRB) is Class D and is towered and I flew 61 NM to West Palm (PBI) which is Class C airspace, also towered. Therefore, my communications were a little rusty – but on a positive note, my radio communications were great in PBI and I tracked the VOR’s perfectly. I flew my flight plan to exact amounts on planned heading, time and fuel, almost down to the second – which their method of flight planning is foreign to me as well. All these differences! I think the strangest transition so far is the checklists and that they pitch to Vy of 79 knots (which is about 6 degrees nose up in climb and I am used to 2 ½) after rotation until 500 feet above the runway and then pitch to cruise climb of 87. It felt really good to be in the plane again and I am excited to be at Flight Safety. I have no doubt that in a few flights I will have all of this under and all will be well.
On another note, I have a new roommate named Katie (don’t worry Melissa is still my roommate, I just have two now) and she is from EVERYWHERE. Most recently she came from Colorado but she has also lived in Hawaii in the past year and the Bay Area and is originally from Texas. She’s cool – her and I are auditing the Private Pilot course together. Last week I completed the Instrument Ground and took all the FAA Exams that go with that (IRA, FII & IGI), including the ground final – trust me, it is way too many tests to take in 4 days.

Never Trust A Cookie Box By It's Cover

The Chocolate Chip Cookie
Originally uploaded by sasnook.

For those of you that don’t know, I recently discovered that I MAY have celiac’s disease. For those of you that don’t know what celica’s disease is, it is usually hereditary and causes a person to have an intolerance to gluten, which is found in wheat, rye, oats, and other grains. It has different side effects for different people, headaches being one of them. I say that I “may” have it because I have not yet been officially tested, but it is a common disease in my family and since mom and I road-tripped down here and found out headaches are a symptom from my Aunt Lyn in Atlanta, I have stopped eating gluten products all together and therefore my headaches have stopped as well. To test my theory a week ago I decided to eat wheat and see if it would cause a headache... and as I expected, it did. Since then what I can eat is limited and therefore I have been on the prall for gluten free products…so when I saw this box of chocolate chip cookies (picture shown) I was so excited that I couldn’t contain myself. I mean, yum, big yummy chocolate chip cookie…or so I thought. To my dismay, I opened the package in great anticipation, only to discover a little brown ball that resembled something that didn’t even look as good as the pre-made frozen cookie dough you can buy from the Schwan’s man. So immediately I searched the packaging for cooking instructions thinking they would need to be baked (which would be unfortunate as well because I don’t have an oven). Well, they didn’t need to be baked…but it suggests warming them in the microwave and eating them with a cold glass of milk – trust me I tried that experiment later that day and that didn’t help the foul what could be a cookie flavor in my mouth. So again I looked at the packaging and if you will please notice the small white print above the BIG YUMMY looking cookie it says “extreme close-up” – talk about advertisement fraud! I guess this is just an example of why people say to “never trust a book by its cover” – ERRRRRR.

Dave's Instrument Celebration

Dave's Instrument Celebration
Originally uploaded by sasnook.

Never a dull moment around here...and that's just the way I like it! Melissa and I have been in Vero Beach 2 weeks and we are still having a blast.
Besides the eventful day I had of homework, class, and gemini-ing; Dave, a new friend of mine from northern California passed his instrument check-ride. In celebration of such a feat, Melissa and I took him out to dinner to a great Japanese-Thai restaurant. We had a great time and I think I already found a restaurant to take my dad to when he comes to visit!
I mentioned that I gemini-ed today, so I should probably explain what that is. Gemini-ing at Flight Safety is where you sit as a passenger in another student's flight lesson, usually in a similar lesson that you will soon be experiencing. I went up directly after class and I finally saw Vero Beach from the sky for the first time - WOW, flying never ceases to make my heart ache for more. There really is something about soaring through the sky during a sunset while the fog rolls in over the ocean and becomes MVFR. It is such a rush to know that these skies are now my playground.

Melissa & I

Melissa & Afton
Originally uploaded by sasnook.

I want to introduce everyone to my wonderfully awesome roommate Melissa, who is currently making fun of me for enlarging her ego by paying her a compliment. She's an incredibly fun person and we hit it off from day one, in fact, many people ask us if we came here together because we seem to know one another so well. She's originally from Queens, but is currently living outside of Atlanta. Melissa came here with her private certificate and instrument rating and she just completed her multi- engine ground school. She's been helping me study for my instrument and on the 7th of February commercial ground school begins and we will be in that course together (that's going to be trouble). Anyway, this is the two of us in uniform - the uniform that we both love so much. Uniforms are just so serious and well, the two of us really aren't. But in the next few months I am sure that there will be many more pictures and stories.

Road Trip 2005

Road Trip 2005
Originally uploaded by sasnook.

I have completed my first day of class at flight safety. I won't lie, I felt like a little kid who was anxious for their first day of school in September. I probably would have had my outfit picked out if it hadn't already been determined for me (which I have to say the uniforms in the aviation world do not have an ounce of femininity).

Mom and I made it alive. We left Sunday the 9th of January and while listening to the Vikings beat the Packers on many random AM radio stations and after driving ten hours we ALMOST made it through the HUGE state of Illinois, stopping to stay the night in Marion. The following day we got up early and headed for Atlanta and eight hours later found ourselves in Alpharetta, GA at my aunt and uncle's beautiful home. Uncle Kent and Aunt Lyn were very hospitable and great to see. My cousins Kendal and Kyle have gotten so big and reminded me that I am glad I don't have to deal with the drama that occurs at that age again. My other cousin Elizabeth was doing great, she's dating a great guy who ended up making sure that Aunt Lyn, Elizabeth, Mom and I got the royal treatment at Emril's the following day for lunch (Thank you again Lyn for the wonderful lunch). Before Mom and I knew it, it was Tuesday night and we planned for an early departure through Atlanta the next morning. We got up at 5:30 and were on Highway 400 by six O'clock, the traffic even THEN was bad! Our plan was to make it all the way to Vero Beach, which we accomplished with only one bump in the road. An accident happened just as we got south of Jacksonville which resulted in us being held up in traffic for about half an hour. That's where the picture Mom took comes into play. This is the trucker that saw we were from WI and pulled up besides us and asked us where in WI we were coming from. Mom told him and we then found out that he was from Milwaukee and that he would do anything to move back there. It was humorous. But before we knew it we were in Vero Beach eating lobster with Howard (who is a close friend of my moms and been very supportive of my career in aviation).

Obviously, I have made it safe and sound to Vero Beach. Mom helped me get all set up and she went on her way back home. I have a great roomie named Melissa who is originally from Queens and we get a long great; they seriously could not have matched us better!! I also have met a lot of other really great people who have already taken me surfing (definitely looking forward to more of that). Although don't worry, this lady pilot is not going to be distracted, already I have spent a lot of time studying, but it feels great to have everything centered around aviation and to know that I am on my way.

The Mugby Gang 2004

The Mugby Gang 2004
Originally uploaded by sasnook.

I would like to thank the Lakins and the Hallacks for the wonderful Mugby Junction employee party that they threw for us in December and for the past year of fun and enjoyable employment as a Barista; I formed some wonderful friendships with both co-workers and customers.
I am sad to say that I am no longer working at Mugby in order to become a professional pilot, but I am very excited to continue on with my career goals. I hope to stay in touch with everyone and remain the coffee snob they transformed me into. Best of wishes to everyone in the New Year.

Mom and I on graduation day

Mom and I on graduation day
Originally uploaded by sasnook.

Well, I am officially a college graduate. Winona State University was a good choice for me. On Friday the 17th of December I graduate Magna Cum Laude with a major in Business Administration and a minor in Aviation/Airway Sciences.

My future plans are to move to Vero Beach, Florida where I will attend The Flight Safety Academy, which for me is definitely grad school. I was proud to earn my private certificate through Winona's flying club and look forward to a new flying experience in Florida. There I will complete the remainder of my flight training so that my dream of becoming a pilot comes true. I begin at the academy on the 17th of January and plan to train for seven months, which will then be followed by a year as a flight instructor. After that...is after that...and I'll update you when it happens.

Over the past four years, I have become knowledgeable not only academically, but have also learned from numerous life experiences. I was fortunate to have the opportunity to spend a summer in Nantucket, explore the natural beauties of the Mississippi River V alley, travel the New England area, and have met some fantastic people along the way. It is you that have made these years memorable whether it be by sending me a gift basket or a card to cheer me up. Many of you trusted me to watch your kids or trusted me with your life as I flew you through the air. Some of you put a roof over my head and others made sure I ate a hot homemade meal. A few of you proof-read my papers while some of you taught me how to write them. I would not be where I am without all of your support. I thank you all for being in my life.

Turkey Day 2003

Turkey Day 2003
Originally uploaded by sasnook.

Here Rachel & I are painfully smiling for a relative that most likely insisted on taking our picture. Thank God for Turkey.

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