Friday, April 30, 2010

Somewhere, Out There, We are Not Alone



So all day yesterday, I awaited a cool event that was going to happen at 9:12pm last night. The Pittsburgh area was to be able to see the Space Station overhead. As the afternoon wore on, I looked outside and noticed a bank of clouds coming into the Latrobe area. What? Where was THIS forecast. I whispered to myself that the "weatherman" who made the forecast earlier in the morning must have been smoking banana peels. I didn't see a forecast of rain... though I've been known to watch the weather and not really see the weather, if you know what I mean. I get that a lot. "Did you see the weather?" "Yes." "So what's it supposed to do today?" "hmmmm.  I can't remember."

I digress. Last evening, around 8:00pm, I noticed that the bank of clouds was moving to the southeast. I kept looking at the sky and figured that there was a possibility that we may be able to see it!! I sprang into action. I ran upstairs and announced that we were going to drive to Greensburg-Jeannette Regional airport about 8 miles northwest of the house, to see the Space Station. You see, the airport is up on a hill and would have a great vantage point for seeing a big portion of the sky.

As we drove, I kept glancing skyward to make sure the clouds were really dissipating. To my delight, the sky was turning out to be perfect for a spectacular view of the Space Station. While we were standing in the middle of a recently-mowed field, we scoured the heavens looking; my eyes darted in all directions. I just didn't want to miss it. Of course, there were plenty of jets streaking across the sky. Every time I saw a blinking object moving toward us, I said "is that it?" John would just say "no, you'll know it when it arrives."

Then, I spotted a bright light in the southwest sky. There was a thin layer of clouds obscuring the object but it had promise and it was very close to the time the Station was to pass through the area. As it approached us, it became very clear that it was the Space Station. It looked like a big star, moving very quickly across the sky. We watched it disappear to the northeast on its journey through space.

I thought to myself, that was pretty darned cool. I have a huge fascination of space exploration. While most people go through life and don't even have a clue what is out there in space, I hope, someday, they will understand the tremendous benefits we have gained from the progress of these missions. It's a pretty huge accomplishment.

Monday, April 26, 2010

Hey, pass the rubber ducky



John and I headed out to the hangar yesterday to give "Mikey" a bath.  For those newcomers to the blog, "Mikey" is the name I gave my Skyhawk 172XP some 30 years ago. They were calling for rain storms all day so we figured it would be a great day to wash the tops of the wings. Boy, it's surprising how dirty it gets even inside a hangar. And for extra measure, we waxed the wings. "Mikey" sure seemed appreciative to get the attention.

While we were inside cleaning, I heard a familiar sound.  "Is that an airplane I hear starting up?"

"hmmm, sounds like it"

"Who's crazy enough to fly in this stuff?"

Eventually, a Diamond DA-40 was seen taking off and flying to the south on his instrument flight to the south. I pulled up radar on my Blackberry.  All I have to say is there were a lot of pretty green, yellow, red and dark red blobs all around the area and lightning to the southwest. We hoped he got home safely.

It was pretty lonely out at the airport. The only other pilot who showed up to tend to his plane was Rick, hangared a few doors down from us. Lots of cleaning going on that day, eh?

We finished up and headed home.

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Patient, heal thyself



How many of you going into the doctor's office for your flight medical, hate to fill out Form 8500-8? You know, that pesky form...

They hand it to you - you enter your name, address, flight time, explain whether you have you been arrested, hung out at hospitals getting surgeries, and much much more.



Consider submitting it electronically. It's really easy to do and is actually quicker for the Doctor to get your appointment done sooner.

Just go onto www.faa.gov and find MedXPress under Licenses and Certificates then Medical Certificate. You must register so you can log in and submit the information. The plus side is, when you log in the next medical appointment, your name, birth date, etc. all the normal, constant information about you are already saved and come up on the new form.

Pretty slick, eh?  Don't be afraid.  Just try it!

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

The new, improved Piper Cub



Hey folks. Behold a new Piper Cub... the new fold-able, take-home-on-a-trailer-model.

Yet another casualty of April 16th's storm. This plane, based at Allegheny County airport, was tethered but the tie-down cables were no match for the strong winds that ripped through the area.

R.I.P. little Cub.

My condolences to the Owner.

Monday, April 19, 2010

The storm and the jet-blast look



While setting things up for the April 17th safety seminar, John and were at the Latrobe Airport terminal building bottom floor.  The weather outside looked ominous and the dark, rolling clouds became more intense while we were setting the room up.  Somewhere in time, we heard a 737 gambling plane from Mississippi touch down and taxi to the area in front of us.

The lineman from Vee Neal was standing there to position the jet to the parking spot. The jet came to a stop and as we stood there watching things happen, we noticed an increase in the winds. All of a sudden, the winds went hyper and the orange cones that were placed on the ramp, to indicate the parking position, flew into the air and headed north, post haste. The lineman started to lose his footing and I worried he would be blown away! (And it wasn't because-a-beautiful-woman-stepped-into-the-room kind of being blown away, either.) He struggled to keep standing and eventually was able to walk over to the protection of the cat-walk.  We watched until the winds subsided. It turns out the winds, at the peak, were 86 MPH.  That's Category 1 hurricane velocity!

There was one casualty on the ramp - an untethered Piper Archer III from out of town got blown into a sign along the fence.


A hangar on the southern ramp of the airport gave up some skin in the game as well.

That was a pretty exciting yet frightening experience. We mused about the possibilities of what would have happened to the Archer had the winds been more from the south; since the Piper was parked in front of the parked 737.

Lesson learned:  never, ever underestimate the wrath of "Mother Nature".  She's still in charge.

After the Seminar



Well, reflecting on my seminar presentation Saturday, I felt it went pretty well. The only problem we had was the room we used at the Terminal Building didn't have heat and the cold winds permeated through the spaces of the glass doors.  I felt bad for the audience, but they were real troopers and hung in there for the presentation.

Thanks, everyone who attended, for coming out and participating in an important safety seminar.

I got a lot of feedback from the folks and will utilize those ideas in future seminars. There are some really cools ideas being hatched for Wings Weekend this September.

Updates coming soon!

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Countdown to Safety



Well, gang.  This Saturday, April 17th is coming up quickly.  The Safety Stand Down seminar to be held at Latrobe Airport should be informative as I have lined up those who can answer questions and enlighten us all.



Please, one of the important things that makes these safety programs work is to get pilots, who don't fly regularly and keep pace with the ever-changing rules, regulations and air spaces. Generally, the ones who participate in safety seminars aren't always the ones who are the problem.

The NTSB released preliminary accident statics for 2009 which shows the general accident rate climbing.  We need to encourage fellow pilots, who don't participate in safety seminars, to come along and get involved.

Spread the word!  See you Saturday.

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Pilots, pilots everywhere



Well, I was relaxing last evening getting ready for the Safety Stand Down seminar to be held April 17th. I'd say the AOPA Safety Seminar presented by Andy Miller on Monday evening in Pittsburgh was a success. There were close to 300 attendees. For that, I want to thank those who attended. I know there are quite a few pilots who relish the camaraderie of others as well as the quest to learn more in order to be safe. I also realize that every pilot in the area can't attend due to work, travel, etc. I just hope they can get to some seminars throughout the year.

Andy put together a humorous yet informative seminar on Pilot Pet Peeves. And I know you have had those thoughts about something another pilot has done that made you just shake your head. One of MY pet peeves has been the pilot who feels that it was too time consuming to taxi down to the run up area to do a pre-takeoff run up. They'd rather do their run up on the ramp (soon to be called the 'apron'). I don't know where they learned this habit but if they think about what ugly things could happen, they may come to their senses. Reminds me of America's Funniest Videos. What did they think would happen?

So if you have that urge to do your run up on the 'ramp' at Latrobe Airport don't be surprised if you see me come out and give you dirty looks(and I'll make sure you see me doing it). I know you'll think I'm a kook but you'll know that I'm a disapproving kook.

Okay, enough of my rant. I'll behave.

Thursday, April 1, 2010

Wings Program Online

I'm pretty stoked. The FAA Safety people finally put together a comprehensive, user-friendly website for the Wings Program. I hope to get more of my fellow pilots to take part in this program. It's basically a way of getting credit for going out with an instructor and by recording it on the website you get credit and a certificate for each phase of Wings you complete. The general idea is to keep up with a good safety habit and hone your flying skills.

I've been going through training on the site and I have a good understanding on the workings of the site.

Now all I need is for more of you to read my blogs. :/


www.faasafety.gov