Wednesday, October 29, 2008

pics and vids

I took a flight over to St. George Island with my skydiving buddy Cory last weekend. en route he snapped a few photos and a video with his phone. the video he shot is of us on final for 36 at KTLH. actually we flew directly north from the coast so it really was something like a 30 NM final. you have to watch closely to tell that we are even moving as there was a pretty stiff wind coming out of the north west that day. if i remember correctly it was about a 30 degree crosswind lining up on 36 at about 15kts. i landed a little left of the center line unfortunately but its no biggie when your flying a cessna into tallahassee. we've got 150ft wide runways that are both over a mile long. more than enough wiggle room for x-wind landings. if you listen closely at the end of the video you can even hear the right main touch first, then the left, followed by the nose wheel. Jason would have been proud.
oh yeah, disregard cory's yelling in the background. its the first time he's taken off and actually landed in a plane in a while. normally he just jumps out of them. he was understandingly excited.

Cory (on the left) and I en route to St. George Island (F47)



Playing with the radios.... the one that works anyway.


the props blades are in the way, but you can see the tallahassee slightly to the right, and the field at KTLH straight ahead. i think we're over crawfordville here. i believe that's their water tower just off the right old nasty mikes nose.


here's the video

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Freqency change approved

well I've been a pilot for more than 2 months now and i think it is finally beginning to sink in. It has been a long time since I've posted anything to my blog and i have been waiting for a free hour or so to get my thoughts in order. i really have no excuse though. I've just been a little lazy posting since this initially was a training blog, and well..... i haven't been doing any flight training..... since i have gotten my ASEL license I've only been doing local flights and some short x-country's. i have been very busy with school trying to finish up my degree and have not been flying as much as i should. my training, for now, has been put on hold. come December 13th (graduation) i will begin actively pursuing financing for the rest of my ratings through the initial CFI.

lately it seems i have been flying about once a week or so and will keep that up until i get some $$ for the rest of my training. on these once a week flights i have been racking up some x-country time. i usually go over to St. George or Apalachicola via the coast. dog island is a fun stop, but its not quite the required 50NM straight line distance to qualify as a x-country flight towards my ratings. of course i have also been doing a few local flights, taking 45 minute trips around the city at night (which the girlfriend loves). i try to take a friend up with me every time and so far that has not been a problem. over all though, i prefer flying up and down the coast. we are only about 15-20 minutes north of the gulf here at KTLH. so its close, and i enjoy flying at 500ft above the water skirting the coast line while rocking the wings for the kids on the beach waving at me. I can remember having the roles reversed when i was young. i would always try to wave at the planes flying over head hoping that they would see and acknowledge me.

well that's it for now i guess. i will try to stay motivated about updating the blog, but without much training going on for the next month or so it will probably just be pictures or something. i have a flight to Apalachicola planned for this weekend. there is a seafood festival going on so I'll be sure to take some pictures. until then.....

~yoman out