Taking off on runway 12 at Whiteman Airport (KWHP)in Pacoima, California, heading toward Burbank.

View Limiting Device

This is the hood I wear when learning how to fly the airplane with reference to instruments only. I've had about 5 flying lessons with my instructor so far.

Simulator Class Final Exam

The final exam for my IFR simulator class was held last night under the watchful eye of the instructor (and department chair) Jerry Houser at Palomar College. The test was to take off from Burbank airport, navigate to the Van Nuys VOR, fly out on a radial to the Canoga intersection, perform the course reversal, land at Burbank airport...well, not exactly land, as you were then to perform the missed approach proceedure. When it was all done Jerry said, "That was flawless."

OUCH!

When N6794J's owner Ron went for a pleasure flight with a buddy, he let the buddy fly left seat on the way home. Ron, in the right seat, didn't put his seatbelt on. The buddy didn't notice (hey, isn't that one of the jobs of the PIC?) and they took off with the buckle outside the door. About 1/3 of the way home then heard a noise and wondered what it was...figured it out and decided to continue on home. Look at the damage the buckle caused on the side of the airplane!

Instrument Rating Checkride Reviewer

I was searching on the internet for a syllabus for the Instrument Rating and I came across a good one written by Darren Smith. That led me to check out his web site and I saw that he had a book called Instrument Rating Checkride Reviewer. Darren's web site is very complete and I was convinced to buy the book. I was not disappointed. His book is exactly what I need to track my progress while working toward the instrument rating. You can check out his stuff at http://www.geocities.com/cfidarren/

100th Post!

With just 20 days to go until my 1-year anniversary of starting this blog, this post represents the 100th post I've made. I've enjoyed getting my thoughts and photos out into the world. Most of the posts have been aviation related, but a few were strictly about me, my family, or my world (gotta love the "Happy Ho" song from Christmas). I expect the same ratio to continue into year number two.

New P-38

Lightning Aviation at El Monte airport has been working on their P-38 for quite some time. It's a slightly scaled down version of the original. They will make it into a kit and then assist the owner in building his own.