A beautiful day to fly!

Friday was just Beautiful! Unfortunately our planes are still grounded for Maintenance so no flying with my Students, but I did get a call to fly with my Father-in-law. He had a mission to complete. We needed to fly to Fredricksburg TX to pick up a piece of equipment for the auto pilot in his Baron. The night before a cool front came through (we don't have COLD fronts in South Texas) and the air was so clear! There was a bit of light chop (a little wind shear) but nothing to bad! Once I arrived at the airport Jimmy had already the Cessna out of the hanger and pref lighted (now that is nice!). He offered to let me fly left seat, something I have not done in a while. I decided to take him up on the offer since as a cfi I don't get that chance very often. Then He pulled out the low enroute chart and approach plates for T82 and said I needed to fly the VOR-A approach and do a hold so I could keep up my currency. If you don't know what this means, Basically I put on a view limiting device (so I could not see outside the airplane) and shortly after Take-off I began flying the airplane only by looking at the Instrument inside, no outside reference! I flew it OK, the hold wasn't to bad, and the VOR approach brought me out right on target. It was funny I looked up to search for the airport looking straight out and thought I was off course because it was actually between my 10-11 o'clock position, then he reminded me of my 25 degree wind correction angle! Its funny how soon you forget stuff when you are not using it! So, one hour after engine start we arrived. Its also funny that for 10 minutes prior to our arrival there was nothing going on at the airport. No sooner then we begin our final approach into the field we had two aircraft coming in behind us and 3 wanting to take off.
So we get on the ground and go to the avionics shop to take car of business. After a little small talk and looking at some really really cool new airplane gadgets (which ranged in price from $10,000 to $15,000) We decided we better get out of there! Just about the time we get back to the airplane we spot a Cessna 190 behind us with engine running...Nothing had to be said, we both new we where not going anywhere until this beautiful airplane was off the ground. There is just something about an Airplane with a radial engine. The sound they make to me is like music! I have always said if there was another time in history that I should have been born it was the late 30 early 40's. I love the airplanes, I love the music, and even the look of that time! People just seemed to have more respect for themselves and one another.

Isn't she a beauty...



Now, listen to her singing...It does not sound nearly as good as it does in person, but you might get the idea.


OK, so now that she is gone we can get in and fire up. I'm back in the right side, and Jimmy has this leg...so I get to look out the window and take some pictures! T82 Otherwise known as Gillespie county airport is nice airport in the Hill country of Texas. Located in Fredricksburg Texas it is a favorite place for pilot's to come and have a $100 Hamburger. Also on field is a very nice hotel, The Hanger Hotel. It has a balcony on the second floor so you can go outside and watch Planes coming and going! My wife and I will be spending a night there real soon. I look forward to it. Here is a view of the Hanger Hotel

Here is another view with the Diner sitting just to the right...Look at the nice crowd of planes sitting on the ramp outside the diner on a Friday afternoon.

The diner has a 40's feel to it. They play old swing/big band music and have it decorated like a 40's diner. They even have a banquet hall dressed up the same way. It's a fun place!

Waiting for takeoff we watch another 172 coming in for a touch and go. This plane is also based at KSAT.

Finally our turn to go, departing runway 32, watch as I pan to my right you will see the diner, the hotel, and a DC-3 sitting on the grass on the right side of the ramp.


The ride home was nice, a little bumpy but nothing to bad. The clear skies and cool temps where a welcome relief for us here. Sometimes we forget just how fortunate we are here the United States. We have such freedom and opportunity.

Arriving back a KSAT On Final 30R KSAT

Flying the Baron.

I got a chance to go fly the Baron a couple days ago. I never pass up that opportunity! There is just something about sitting between the engines instead of behind one! It was a nice day. We departed KSAT and flew up to HYI to meet a friend and check out a Mooney he is working on. This guy had to rebuild nearly half of each wing. Someone had run the Mooney off a runway and in a fence. He built new spars and ribs by hand, and it was amazing to see how they looked like factory new parts. After looking over the work progress we all decided we needed a $100 hamburger, so of to the airport cafe'. It's just a small little place there at the San Marcos airport, but it has a pretty good burger. From there we hopped over to KBAZ for some "cheap" fuel...$4.35 a gallon. When you burn nearly 30 GPH cheap gas is a must. After our fuel stop we departed KBAZ and made our way back to KSAT, it was my leg and everything was going fine. We had been told to fly to the SAT VOR which is typical when arriving from the north east. Once we made it to the vor things took an interesting turn. Over the VOR I expected a turn to the south for a 12L landing, but the call didn't come When the guy (ATC) did call he sounded all freaked out telling us to switch to another approach frequency and that we had radio problems. We switched back and forth to the two radios we had, all the while approach was turning us back to the north away from the Airport (we could hear them they couldn't hear us). Finally the turned us back south to the field and cleared us to land runway 12L. I went ahead and let Jimmy have control of the airplane (since it is his and he is more familiar) and just like that they could hear again...come to find out it was just a push to talk issue. After regaining radio communication with ATC they calmed down a little and everything went just fine from there!

Getting paid to fly!

FINALLY, the time has come...I am getting paid to fly!!! It seems it has taken forever to get to this point. I have started working for a flight school that primarily has foreign students. My first day I was assigned 3 student, a couple days later I picked up a forth. All of them have been flying for a while. They are all Private pilot students. I have not yet had a new 0 time student. I think taking on these students who have been flying already has been more of a challenge. There is a certain amount of time that it takes to get to know the student, learn where their book knowledge is and what their flying abilities are. They are an interesting mix. One is a young guy from Saudi Arabia, another is a girl from India, and then I have two guys from Mexico.
We have had only one full week of flying so far. My second week they grounded all the planes so the maintenance personnel could get all the planes back into perfect condition. Airplanes used for primary flight instruction usually are not the best looking planes out there. They tend to get abused. The FAA started ramp checking us pretty hard so the Owner of the school decided to self ground the fleet and ask the FAA to come in and inspect the planes and tell him what they wanted him to do. We are in our second week of being grounded. While I am thankful to see the owner is being responsible, it really stinks not being able to work!
So far it has been a good experience. You learn real fast how to make rules for the students, you also learn to never take your eyes off them. Even though you are not actually flying the airplane you are watching everything and keeping yourself ready to take over.
I can tell already that this CFI thing is going to be a very interesting experience.

TFR's an outing to see the prez

Monday here in sunny San Antonio we had a TFR (temporary flight restriction). GA pilots just love tfr's...yeah, like a headache. So I found out that President Bush was coming to town so I called my Father-in-law to see if he wanted to go watch air force one land. He has a hanger that us maybe just 150 yards off the touch down point of KSAT 12R. So of we go to the airport, get the lawn chairs and scanner out and get ready. Well, until we found out the center of the tfr was 16nm off the SAT vor on the 194 radial. Pull the sectional out to verify what we already knew in our heads and yup...Kelly AFB, Ok Lackland AFB what ever they are calling it now days.
Then we heard it, Air Force One calling San Antonio Approach, letting them know they were landing runway 15 at Kelly. Oh well, cant win them all. We did catch just a glimmer of the plane as he passed behind a SWA that was on approach to international. Whats worse, The flight path to Kelly is right over my house, I could have been sitting in my back yard with a ice cold beverage and watch him fly right over!

We decided to go ahead and just stay at KSAT, and take a chance, because usually when the Prez comes to San Antonio he does land at KSAT.

While we sat there of course we had to do some plane watching!
I caught this SWA 737 just as the mains touch down


Then watched as this citation and a couple more taxi by for takeoff








Than right after this Aero mexico connect landed

I spotted a military Helicopter approaching towards runway 21. I was surprised to see that and decided to wait to leave to see where he was going. The transient military aircraft usually park near us, so landing in 21 would be a really long "taxi".

Well, after some time I was really amazed to see what was actually landing/parking right next door.





Marine One. I thought that was pretty cool! I am assuming he flew in from Austin which is where the president had been just prior to his arrival. Imagine the 747 making a trip that short! It seems that would be a large workload. Austin to San Antonio in a 172 is a short flight, maybe half hour or so.

Well, after all the excitement and disappointment wore off we headed home. I was loading my car up and talking with Jimmy about possible going by Kelly to see Air force one take off when I hear a plane approaching from an unusual angle. I could tell it was a large plane, so I grabbed my Camera and managed to snap off a couple of pictures.





So after all of that we finally got to see it! Not up close and personal like we had hoped, but it was a fun adventure! Of course, airplane, and airports are always fun!

PLANNING

The word Planning is a BIG word in aviation. we are taught to make plans for everything we do. I wonder if 'flight planning' is an Oxymoron? If you have been around aviation long enough, you know nothing ever seems to go exactly as planned. There is always something that changes things up a little. Weather, Maintenance, cfi's canceling, another renter not getting back on time with the airplane, the list is endless. If you are a student pilot, or pilot working on advanced rating you definitely know what I am talking about. One of my favorite saying regarding GA (general aviation) is, If you have time to spare, go by air!
Time and again I have had to cancel flights for numerous reasons. One day I was preflighting the Mooney for an Instrument lesson and I found some pretty bad damage to the landing gear doors that one of the partners had done, and NOT reported to anyone. Talk about mad!
I try to plan things out. I like to know where I'm going in life. One of my goals for my Aviation Career is to fly for an airline. My top number one pick for a regional airline was Express Jet.


Not only where they one of the best regionals to work for, they had a base in San Antonio! How awesome that would have been! Well, as of Sep 1 2008 Express jet (branded service as pictured above)will be no more! i hoped they would make it through the "OIL CRISIS" because I wont be ready to make the move to a regional until probably this time next year, but they didn't. Of course express jet will still be around as Continental express, I Hope. Just like anything else in aviation, your Planning does not always work out. In reality your planning for best case scenario. Each person has there own way of looking at life. I have a Faith. I believe My path will be planned out for me and I just need to walk it. Just like right now, I am down for a little while and cannot fly, but I have faith that their is reason for it, and I will just keep moving forward working toward my destination. Just like a flight plan, The weather might delay you for a while, even though your planning did not include the delay, you will eventually get there!


The picture of the Express jet was taken yesterday while I was at KSAT. I was checking out some work being done on the 172. While there I managed to check out a couple more of the neighbors. Across the field was a Trade Winds Boeing 747 sitting at Sino Swearingen.

I thought it was an interesting photo, with the heat rising off 12R blurring the picture.

Sino Swearingen if you are not familiar with them are building a new light jet here in San Antonio the SJ30-2

Great looking plane, isn't it!

A couple more of the neighbors.

An arriving SWA


And a departing Delta. I really like the MD-80 series. It's such a shame they wont be a round much longer!

Aviation is just an indescribable thing. It can drive you crazy with all the up and downs but if it's in your blood you just can't shake it! You know what I'm talking about...don't ya! ;-)

A Day at the airport

Have you seen the bumper sticker a bad day fishing is better then a good day at work? I think that's the same as being at the airport. I was at the 172 Hanger at KSAT, which is abeam the touchdown point of 12R (san antonio's main runway).
It's fun sometimes to just pull a lawn chair out and watch the planes come and go. We have all types, GA, corporate, Airline, Freight, Everything from the smallest GA to 747's. It always interesting to see whats coming and going. We even have a p-51 p-38, and a f-4 corsair that frequent SAT.







The only downside to being at a large field, is there usually is no one else around...close by. It doesn't have that small field feeling, where people are sitting around a picnic table telling "there I was 35,000 feet, in the soup, inverted" stories.






But it sure is fun to sit and watch the "neighbors".


There is just something about being at the airport!

MEI on Hold

Well, the MEI is hold for a little bit. Maybe I will have have a chance to get it early Aug! Getting the CFI and CFII at Career Pilot School was a lot of fun, and hard work! I will come back soon and add a few photos to this post of the school and planes. I want to say thanks to Michael, Adam, Mark, Jake, and Ron. What a great bunch of guys! I'm ready for another wally's burger! It was really a good experience, It was sad to leave as quick as I did! Hopefully I will get back up there soon to finish up! Now, all we need is that new Career Pilot School Location 3 in San Antonio TX!

UPDATE, while I'm holding I figured I would post a few pics!

Here is a shot of a newly minted CFI flying back to IXD from GHP. I was debating about flying back from the left, since it had been so long since I had flown from the left. But I decided to fly from the right!


I couple of shots of downtown Kansas City




The Arrow I took the CFI initial in.



The archer II (the plane I used for the CFII) and the Arrow



My buddy Trevor "teaching" a lesson in prep for one of his checkrides!


Career Pilot School, their IXD
New Century Location


It was a good time up there, I look forward to going back and finishing up my MEI!