Endangered Species

" Dec 13, 10:30 AM ET LONDON (Reuters) -
The government said Wednesday it would ban the sale of samurai swords because the weapons had been used in a number of serious, high-profile attacks."

What bothers me is that I think they're just NOT going far enough. It's time to take this issue seriously!

Since it's no longer legal for a subject of Crown to posses a firearm, (even for self defense) the logical progression is to get a handle on cutlery as it were, completely. Next the ne’er do wells will progress to steak knives and when they're all forbidden the butter knives. I say grab them all now! Can't wait till it happens here in the good ol' USofA. I certainly hope Charles Schummer is on top of this. Come on Hollywood, here's a bandwagon to jump on!

Well, according to the International Crime Victims Survey; England, Australia and Wales, where anti-gunners have been most effective are the countries with the highest burglary rate and highest rates for crime of violence among the top 17 industrialized nations. Oh, wait. Let's ignore that fact. That puts them right with DC and would prove that criminals don't obey laws. Ok, so the criminals will still have samurai swords, no big deal, at least none of them will be injured by an honest citizen protecting themselves with a samuria sword.

How about that nonsense in Colorado. Can you imagine? One poor defenseless murderer was shot by an armed citizen. It's just not fair, his right to express himself by killing whoever he wanted to was infringed.

Thank God these days children can't be permitted to even draw a picture of a firearm, sword or knife. If Jill should see Jack draw a picture of a knight with a sword... Somebody gets suspended from school.
Worse, imagine if little Jack draws a soldier, with a firearm.

Along those lines I think we should protect our children properly and prohibit history books with photos of Washington's Crossing and most certainly Mount Suribachi. Otherwise, they might make some sort of connection that makes them believe that freedom isn't free!But I digress, the point being; how much better things are today that we have replaced common sense with laws and zero tolerance policies.

When I think back to all of the senseless bloodbaths... All of our fellow classmates who we slaughtered as we marched through the classrooms in our Cub Scout uniforms wielding our pocket knives.

Hopefully clear thinking control mongers will someday forbid the sale of cutlery here in this country too.

Firearms first though of course.

Ice + Wind = No Electricity

Snow would have been better.

Lost all power at 9:17 Sunday AM. The power was out till 7:00PM. It got cold and it got dark, lots of dark and cold in fact.

Of course I was personally responsible for getting the power back on!

How did I do it?

Simple!

Whenever you have a power failure go out and buy a bunch of kerosene for the smelly heater. Then, stop a Wal-Mart and buy a bunch of candles and MORE flashlights. Every man knows you just can't ever have too many flashlights... Especially when somehow they just manage to disappear.

Now, start the kerosene heater glowing, setup and light all the candles and within 15 minutes...

Voila !!!

The power comes back on, works every time.

It's Hitting The Big Round Thing That Pushes Air

After almost three months of being unemployed, things have finally deteriorated to the point of almost total despair. The first terror was the loss of all medical coverage, being a parent that sort of thing is always a scare. Since C has now turned 18 and is a student he did have coverage on my now gone health plan but does not qualify for CHIP. I’ve been trying to keep things as normal as possible but now that too has fallen totally apart. Within the next two weeks I expect the phone, the electric, and the cable to be shut off. That should also be just about the time that the bank shows up to repo my stead. The most annoying thing about all of this is that I’m now basking in self pity, and I hate self pity.

Graying Aviation

The general public has always felt more comfortable seeing an older gray haired pilot getting onboard the plane that they are about to board. There is a certain comfort in knowing the old fart must have lived so long because he's a good pilot. Otherwise, he would have died long ago while barnstorming in the Midwest with wing walkers or while towing banners or something.

The FAA took a different view and as far as they were concerned, there was a serious safety issue with having so many old pilots who probably needed pacemakers or something zooming across the sky. So, the FAA started an age 60 mandatory retirement of ATPs back in 1959. Actually, there is probably some validity to the debate that says it was really to get younger pilots with lower pay scales into the left seat.

Actually, for ages aviation has had a gray overcast that prevented many from becoming professional pilots. When I earned my pilot license at the ancient age of 28 it would not have been possible for me to even consider becoming a professional pilot. The skies were full of pilots from WWII and Korea who had so much seniority that it prevented younger generations from considering it as a possible profession. That has begun to change as the oldsters are being forced to retire.

With aviation there is only one way to ever land a job as a professional pilot and that's by "building time", an expensive proposition. The way many pilots build time is once they get a Commercial license they get an Instructor rating and then hope to find students to pay for their flying time because all this stuff can get VERY expensive, very quickly.

These days there are "lower" levels of pilot licenses than Private Pilot that can be earned, there is now a Sport Pilot and Recreation pilot license. These licenses have restrictions on the types of aircraft that can be flown, where and when they can be flown. The basic standards for Private Pilot have not changed and that is the license that many General Aviation pilots hold. Above Private there is Commercial and ATP (Airline Transport Pilots, the rating needed to fly scheduled carriers) but there are many ratings, or steps along the way. After Private the next logical step is to work on is IFR, or Instrument Flight Rating, (the one Kennedy should have had). From there you need to pick up Multi Engine and Commercial. There are specific endorsements that are needed to fly floatplanes, taildraggers and complex aircraft (More than 200HP, Constant Speed Prop or Retractable Gear). Oh, and Type ratings. If it weighs more than 12,500lbs ya gotta get a Type Certificate to fly it.

Now, things have changed. There is some serious concern that there just aren't enough young people looking into aviation as a career these days. With airlines being run by MBAs (Morons of Business Aviation) along with bankrupted retirement funds professional pilots these days feel more like bus drivers than kings of the sky. Experienced pilots are actually even leaving airlines and going back into the military to fly since the pay, retirement and level of respect for experience is better.

Since I have sons of age I’ve looked into the cost of getting all the ratings to start an aviation career. Self study at a small airport with a flight school would run $30,000 to $40,000. Doing a university degree thing would be in the $65,000.00 plus range. Just renting an airplane dual (with and instructor) these days can easilly be over $100 an hour putting just a private license in the $5,000.00 range. Even the smallest piston rotary wings (helicopters) have always been two or three times as expensive. I wonder how many people have been checking out the ads that have been running on TV lately that tout… "Come learn to fly helicopters".
Come on PowerBall!

Red Lion Airport (N73)

It’s a short walk from the parking lot across the little wooden bridge that transverses the drainage ditch. From there one walks into what was once the airport café where the experience of a world famous frosty mug of Red Lion root beer could be had. When I walked in the door it was the proverbial walk into a time machine. I wanted to ask where Don was, my friend, my instructor. I knew he wasn’t there, he hadn’t been there for years and no one knew what had ever happened to him. I do think about him from time to time, I knew him well and he I. But isn’t that the same feeling that every pilot has for the instructor who gave him the keys to the sky.

Just beyond the café is the "pilot's lounge". If there is one word to describe the pilot’s lounge it would have to be cozy, another word would be constant, it hasn’t changed much in 15 or 20 years. The floor is made of the tile that one would expect to find in a bathroom, you know… the little one inch tiles that would drive anyone crazy who believed in keeping grout clean.

The same tiles that were missing twenty years ago are still missing today. The furniture is overstuffed comfy as it should be. Stark contrast to the seats student and instructor experience in the confines of a C152. The atmosphere like the chairs and sofas is relaxed. Yet it’s that kind of relaxed where you are still on the edge of your game, like the relaxation that one feels from a demanding game of chess. Demanding of attention, yet at ease and satisfying. It’s the same place where I was comfortable 20 years ago and I still felt just as home there today.

The runway threshold is just about 50 yards away, do a greaser and you can walk in tall and arrogant. Slam the gear into the ground and you would get the roasting that you well deserved. Funny how it went, but the others always knew when you needed to be brought down to size with the proper ribbing. They also knew when you needed encouragement.

There is never a shortage of pilots who will walk up to you at an airport like this and happily tell you about their most embarrassing moments. You know, the typical "Ah shit kid, that landing wasn’t that bad, you should have seen the one I did last week. We had to call the FAA and get them to lower the field elevation on the sectional charts", that’s hanger flying. Hanger flying is the best way to learn how to fly. Sure, the books tell you the right answer, the hanger flyers tell you the better answer. Good example would be when a student pilot asks 'in the hanger'... "How far are you alowed to fly out over water without having survival gear?". Well, the book says within glide, the hanger pilots answer that question with another question: "How far can you swim?".

Today those people aren’t around, Red Lion Airport is quiet. I was watching a twin doing a taxi on runway 5 when Arlene walked around the corner. "I know I recognize you, but I just don’t remember your name" she said. "I’m Vince Lyons, it’s been a dozen or two years since I’ve been here". Arlene and her husband Ray own the airport and the FBO, Affiliated Air Services. We talked for a few minutes and reminisced trying to put together the names of the typical hanger flyers who could have been found around the airport years ago. "Coy was just here this morning" she told me. Oh I certainly remembered Coy, he had been my FAA Designated Examiner and had signed my ticket some 24 years and two months ago, sorry I missed the chance to see him.

Arlene told me to go ahead and take a walk down the line and that I should help myself to some magazines too, "Maybe you’ll get the bug again". I told her I still had it, I just need to hit powerball.

Trash Compactor

Anyone who really knows me can verify that I am a man of simple needs. Sure, like most men I'm perfectly happy with a cold bear and a **. But for that matter, what man can't appreciate such baser pleasures?
But yes, I do have other desires. For years I yearned to own my very own rubber chicken. Why? Well you never really know when you're going to need one now do you. Finally thanks to one of my favorite people I do own my very own rubber chicken. It's a splendid device that I'll cherish for the rest of my natural life. No, not laden with frills, just your basic plastic rubber chicken but it works splendidly.

Then of course there is the trash compactor.

Years ago X and I and 'da boys were in a suite in OC, MD for a few days of R&R. Low and behold there was a trash compactor. One quick trip accros the street to the 7-11 provided the nesecary foder for an exciting evening of drinking a beer, putting the empty can in the compactor and pressing the button, it was great fun. Some day I hope to have my very own trash compactor so that I can relive those joyous moments as my heart desires.

Ooops... Almost forgot the airplane.
Some day when I hit poweball, or when the boys go out and get good jobs and they can afford to buy it for me, I need a Cessna.

Oh I don't need a very fancy Cessna, in fact a little C162 Sky Catcher will do. Oh, you've never heard of a C162 Sky Catcher? Me either till recently.

General Aviation just may be back in growth mode with the new LSA (light sport aircraft). Cessna is again selling basic aircraft that could be the trainers to replace the twenty year plus old fleet of Cessna 152's and even older Cessna 150's that have been the mainstay of primary flight training throughout the world.

What has changed? The FAA has established a new category of aircraft based on ASTM specs called "Light Sport Aircraft". The kicker is that the LSA category has a maximum takeoff weight of 1,320 lbs. Well fitting snugly into that category is the new Cessna C162 which has an empty weight of 830 lbs. Compare that to the empty weight of say an ol' Cessna C150M at 1,104 lbs. Well, they put the 150 on a diet and it lost 374 lbs.
The best diet is the price. For quite some time spending about a quarter million was the cheapest anyone could leave the Cessna or Piper factory with a new aircraft. The C162 Sky Catcher will be a relative bargain at $109,500.00 and that's fully equipped with a glass cockpit instead of steam guages. (that's LCD displays instead of mechanical and electric gauges).

I'll take one to go please. Oh, the money? Well... err... I'll get back to you about that.
Cessna Sky Catcher ,

Check out the Sky Catcher Intro Video under media links, you'll see a handsome man.
Yes, it's true, he's lucky enough to look just like me. Jack Pelton, president, chairman and CEO of Cessna is my stunt double. Maybe I can get a special discount!

Someone Please Remember

Gotta ask...

Am I the only one who was pissed when looking at Google's home page today?

Sure, they put up little green things for Earth Day and Santas for Christmas... and they do all sorts of cute artwork... Shamrocks for St. Patty's day...

But today? Nothing.

Well, George W. Bush may not be the most popular man on the planet these days and the last thing I would ever want to see is another young American make the ultimate sacrifice for the sake of some worthless sand box...

Yet I just can't help but thank God every single day that Al Gore ("During my service in the United States Congress, I took the initiative in creating the Internet.") was not president of the United States this day six years ago.

Poor Bubba

Well, once again poor Bubba is under the weather.

For thos e that don't know, Bubba is our '92 S10 Blazer.

Well...

T took Bubba to Wally World for an oil change and they topped off the coolant. Well, looks like they mixed red and green... If you don't know it that means BROWN... aka: mud. You see older green and blue antifreeze does not mix with newer red antifreeze. If you mix these two incompatible fluids... it makes BROWN... Brown mud that will not cool an engine.

So, several weeks ago I topped off Bubba with some coolant flush to try and clean out the mess... Well, it froze. Then overheated on C. It was a distraction...

However there was a worse distraction...

While driving Bubba, C reached for an Iced Tea that was in the console... While this distraction was going on, a snow bank jumped in front of Bubba.

Poor Bubba, his right front wheel is now smashed against the fender, and Diad is pissed.

Oh the joys...