Taking It For Granted

So on Sunday I went to a small town called Brooks to help with some scenic flights.

You see, a friend of mine is off to Zambia for two(ish) years to help with aircraft maintenance as well as probably some flying. To fundraise this endevour he has been offering scenic flights by donation, mostly to give people exposure to what he's going to be doing.

Back to Sunday... He had 90 reservations or so, and had asked the flight school if he could bother planes and instructors (to fly said planes). He also needed people to help calculate weight and balance, brief passengers, help with re-fueling, crowd control, etc.

So that's what I did all day Sunday. It was great fun. But I must admit, the biggest thing for me was the reminder that I'm unbelievably lucky.

You see, many of the passengers (if not most of them) had never been in a small plane before, and were nervous (to say the least) while they were waiting. But once they were back on the ground, the look on their faces reminded me that what I do everyday is one of the coolest things in the world.

I should never take this for granted.

Flowers!

So not everything I do is aviation related, or really has anything to do at all with college...

A couple months ago, my roommate walked into our room with a big bag of potting soil, some pots, and seeds. he had randomly decided that we were going to grow flowers so that we could impress the girls!

I was dubious to say the least, but hey, what's the worse that could happen?

I honestly didn't think that the plants would survive or even sprout, so you can imagine my surprise when I checked on them and saw this.

Success!

Since these photos were taken, we've had even more flowers bloom. Who said college guys can't garden?

Flying, Car Shows, Races and Africa

So, last week (was it really last week?) I passed my flight test. In theory, that means I'm a licensed pilot, but in practice, I still need to finish off the paperwork. (I probably could have gotten it done a day or two after the test, but I'm lazy). I've started the next module of my flight training called IT&E (Initial Time & Experience). Basically, I do lots of cross-country flights and get introduced to class C airspace.

Yesterday I did my first flight since the flight test, and my first ever flight into class C airspace. (For those of you who don't know, Class C airspace is a busier airspace where the planes actually communicate with a control tower.) For this flight, I went to Springbank (A nice town a few miles west of Calgary). The Calgary class C airspace is the third busiest airspace in Canada, and Springbank airport is the ninth busiest airport. With all that information, you might think that I had a hard time, considering that I learnt to fly in the quiet airspace of central Alberta! but it was a piece of cake! Other than a minor incident involving the map telling me to use a radio frequency that wasn't right, that flight went great! My next flight (which was supposed to be today, but we're having some really ugly weather) will be again to Springbank, but solo this time!

The weekend after my flight test, Three Hills had a car show in town. Unfortunately, I didn't bring my camera, so I couldn't get any pictures. That Sunday though, we closed the airport and hosted drag races! That was pretty darn cool! I volunteered to help out in the pit, parking trailers and what have you, but that meant I got to be up-close and personal with the race cars! And boy were they loud! Again, I didn't have my camera, so I don't have any pictures. (Sorry)

My Africa trip this Christmas is going very slowly, there is so much to do and so little time! Right now my greatest concern is financial. God has blessed me with many people saying that they are praying for me, but precious few people have said that they will support me financially. Chad is an expensive country to travel to, tickets vary between 3000 and 3500$, and I still have to get food and have somewhere to live. Once everything is said and done, I'm looking at a cost of around 4000$ possibly more. Please, I need support if I am to go on this trip. If you want to know more, you can read my previous posts here and here, or you can comment this post, e-mail me, or send me a letter. Also, if you want me to send you a prayer letter for our church or small group or what have you, let me know! And thank-you in advance!

PARTY!

So, I had my flight test this morning...

I got up at 0530, and got cracking. I had to check what the winds were so that I would be able to properly calculate headings and ground speeds. Then I got my butt to the airport for 0700. The oral brief started at 0900, and lasted about an hour and a half. That all went well, I knew all the information. Then we took off at 1130.

Now, you must understand, there were thunderstorms building several miles to the west, and coming our way... So as the flight went on, things got turbulent! But at first, the skies were silky smooth. I didn't even need to hold onto the yoke! Then things started to get bumpy, and I started to get tired. The last few exercises didn't go so well. After simulating an engine failure, I started to do some low-level exercises. Those are difficult and stressful at the best of times, But I had some good turbulence, a tired brain, and the stress of an exam... It wasn't very good to be honest.

Finally, we landed. I shut down the engine, and the examiner got out almost right away without a word. You can guess how I felt. Almost an hour later he sits down with my instructor and myself and starts to pick apart the flight. It took about half an hour for him to get through all the things he had to say. By the end, I was positive I had only gotten a partial and would have to fly again.

Then he told me I passed! Man was I excited! He gave me the sheet with all my marks, and I realized just how small the things that I thought I did bad on really are. I guess it goes to show that generally the things that you think were terrible usually aren't that big of a deal.

I'm really tired now, so if you'll excuse me, I'm going to get some rest!

Test Stress!

So tomorrow I'm doing my flight test for my Private Pilot License... I'll be spending tonight planing for that. I'm a bit stressed... Like a lot!

There's a lot of work that I have to do, a lot of paper work, and a planing, and even though I'm confident that I will do well, I'm still stressed out of my mind...

The state of the kitchen table... My desk is a bit to small. And this is just the beginning!