Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Lily Lake
This is mostly a test to see if I can add photos from my flickr account. It has the added benefit of sharing some of the beauty that I experienced in Colorado. Took this one hiking around Lily Lake just south of Estes Park, CO.
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Some More Letters to Add
- F - I! The aviation Gods were kind, and I was treated to a gorgeous, unseasonably warm week in Denver, CO for my CFI training. Not only did it provide great flying weather, but it had another, unexpected side effect that I'll touch on in a minute.
My training was conducted with Hulley Aero Training at the Front Range Airport. Of the airports in the Denver, FTG seems to be the "forgotten one". One morning as I was approaching the airport in my car a tumbleweed actually blew across the access road...how metaphorical. The people there were super nice, and both the airport facilities and the aircraft themselves were in fantastic condition. The bulk of my training was focused on flying - and teaching - from the right seat. Flying in the high country was a little different than I am used to. Because of the density altitude, the underpowered Cessna 172 RG I was flying struggled for altitude with every circuit of the pattern. A new experience for sure. Outside of that, there is nothing like climbing away into a clear blue sky with the [lightly] snow capped Rocky Mountains as your backdrop. I can't count the number of times that I only half heard my instructor, because I was too busy taking in the landscape. Just incredible.
One thing I'll really miss, from a flying standpoint, is the section lines on the ground. Every powerline, road, etc. is oriented either East-West or North-South, and make fantastic references for rolling out on headings. My use of outside references was better by the end of the week than it has ever been, and my flying was much better for it.
As for the actual flying, we covered everything in the PTS: from straight and level flight, to steep turns, to every stall in the book, to all the ground reference maneuvers, to every type of takeoff and landing - many, many, many times - all from the right seat. My flying was really good. My landings were really bad. Acceptable, but bad. Apparently Bruce thought it was good enough, because I started the checkride on schedule.
As expected, the week whizzed by, and Thursday night was the beginning of my oral. If you want to read the full write-up on my checkride, you can find it here. It's long, as it was a long day, so I won't duplicate efforts. The bottom line is, I passed, and I'm now a CFI!
With the checkride out of the way, I had a full day to explore the magnificent Rockies. Aside from the altitude kicking my butt and preventing me from making a hike I wanted to (Long's Peak), I had a great time driving along the Peak to Peak highway and taking pictures. Which brings me to my earlier comment - I want to move to Colorado. Not only do I want to move to Colorado, but my wife wants to move to Colorado. Oy vey! I am tentatively scheduled to start instructing full time here in VA, some feelers out to other airports, a job offer from a law firm for an IT position, and a wife who is tapped to be the next president of the Chamber of Commerce - all that and we want to move to another state without jobs, knowing no one, so we can be mountainhippieliberals. Life is a trip...
My training was conducted with Hulley Aero Training at the Front Range Airport. Of the airports in the Denver, FTG seems to be the "forgotten one". One morning as I was approaching the airport in my car a tumbleweed actually blew across the access road...how metaphorical. The people there were super nice, and both the airport facilities and the aircraft themselves were in fantastic condition. The bulk of my training was focused on flying - and teaching - from the right seat. Flying in the high country was a little different than I am used to. Because of the density altitude, the underpowered Cessna 172 RG I was flying struggled for altitude with every circuit of the pattern. A new experience for sure. Outside of that, there is nothing like climbing away into a clear blue sky with the [lightly] snow capped Rocky Mountains as your backdrop. I can't count the number of times that I only half heard my instructor, because I was too busy taking in the landscape. Just incredible.
One thing I'll really miss, from a flying standpoint, is the section lines on the ground. Every powerline, road, etc. is oriented either East-West or North-South, and make fantastic references for rolling out on headings. My use of outside references was better by the end of the week than it has ever been, and my flying was much better for it.
As for the actual flying, we covered everything in the PTS: from straight and level flight, to steep turns, to every stall in the book, to all the ground reference maneuvers, to every type of takeoff and landing - many, many, many times - all from the right seat. My flying was really good. My landings were really bad. Acceptable, but bad. Apparently Bruce thought it was good enough, because I started the checkride on schedule.
As expected, the week whizzed by, and Thursday night was the beginning of my oral. If you want to read the full write-up on my checkride, you can find it here. It's long, as it was a long day, so I won't duplicate efforts. The bottom line is, I passed, and I'm now a CFI!
With the checkride out of the way, I had a full day to explore the magnificent Rockies. Aside from the altitude kicking my butt and preventing me from making a hike I wanted to (Long's Peak), I had a great time driving along the Peak to Peak highway and taking pictures. Which brings me to my earlier comment - I want to move to Colorado. Not only do I want to move to Colorado, but my wife wants to move to Colorado. Oy vey! I am tentatively scheduled to start instructing full time here in VA, some feelers out to other airports, a job offer from a law firm for an IT position, and a wife who is tapped to be the next president of the Chamber of Commerce - all that and we want to move to another state without jobs, knowing no one, so we can be mountainhippieliberals. Life is a trip...
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