Okay, getting up at 1:30 a.m. wasn’t as bad as I thought. Flying in the middle of the night has it’s advantages, especially in the desert. I’ve never seen the air so smooth. It makes the flying easier and more enjoyable, but of course it also leaves a pilot with little excuse for deviations in altitude or heading. McCarren Int’l… Read more →
Category: Aviation
ATP Total CFI Program Day 5
I’m starting to form an opinion on ATP’s instructor program. I’ll reserve final judgement until I’ve completed the course, but my thoughts thus far are that your average pilot is probably not going to be well equipped or well served by this kind of thing. Allow me to explain. My class is comprised of five people of widely varying experience.… Read more →
ATP Total CFI Program Day 4
The ground school portion of the program ended today. I’m tempted to think that this will free up a lot of time between flights to do things like study and maybe even sleep a bit. Somehow it probably won’t work out that way. The folks who are in the preceding class are currently in the second week of this 14… Read more →
ATP Total CFI Program Day 3
I haven’t used dial-up since the mid 1990s, and now I remember why. I’m 99% sure this is a problem with the ISP (Netscape Internet), because I have no problems connecting, it just says my password is incorrect. Which is, in itself, incorrect. I even had Netscape’s tech support confirm it, after spending half an hour on hold. Why do… Read more →
ATP Total CFI Program Day 2
Title 14 CFR Part 61 requires a Certificated Flight Instructor candidate to demonstrate ‘instructional proficiency’ in spinning an aircraft. That means I not only have to be able to put the plane into a spin and recover it, but also instruct as I do so. My spin sign-off flight was scheduled for 6:30 a.m. this morning. Unfortunately it was cancelled… Read more →
ATP Total CFI Program Day 1
Greetings from Las Vegas! After talking about doing this CFI thing for so long, it’s almost odd to actually be here. The most remarkable thing about the “Total CFI” program seems to be the way the system works here. Days are long enough that one connects to another. For example, I was up at 4:30 a.m. today in order to… Read more →
Goodbye Discovery Wings
I had a feeling this was coming. Bringing viewers compelling, real-world stories of heroism, military strategy, technological breakthroughs and turning points in history, Discovery Communications, Inc. will transition its Discovery Wings Channel to the Military Channel on Monday, Jan. 10, 2005. Despite the fact that D-Wings had an annoying habit of playing the same shows over and over again, it… Read more →
Success!
The month of December starts off on a good note: One checkride down, three to go. I wish I’d have remembered to bring a camera to capture the moment. But alas, a camera was just about the last thing on my mind today. The commercial glider checkride went very smoothly. For one thing, the FAA examiner — Roger Brownlow —… Read more →
Turandot
Turandot has finally opened. My thirty third opera. Damn that’s a lot of singing. In keeping with the theatrical tradition of ‘bad dress / good opening’, our preview performance started off so dismally that we re-ran half of the first act after the show was over. Apparently we’re supposed to be singing behind the conductor, not with him. First time… Read more →
The Seinfelt
The Seinfelt poker table has (more or less) been completed! The only thing left to do is airbrush the artwork onto the felt. Of course, that’s a pretty big part of the table, and the thing that’ll give it such panache. But that didn’t stop us from breaking that bad boy in with a night of Texas Holdem last week.… Read more →