From the category archives:

flying

Brutus and the failed checkride.

February 21, 2010
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This is what happens when a cat attempts to fly an airplane, which is always a mistake. They are too short to adequately maintain visual contact with the exterior as well as the interior of the plane, and are prone to curling up and falling asleep. The lack of opposable thumbs does not help. [...]

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Safety briefing.

February 20, 2010
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At this week’s CAP meeting, the safety briefing included some of the information provided in the February 2010 issue of The Sentinel, the monthly safety newsletter. These incidents, and others, were part of a section entitled “Mishaps”, which made me realize that if I ever do anything stupid at an official CAP event, it’s going to [...]

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Uniform.

February 3, 2010
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This past Saturday, with the temperature reaching all the way up to three degrees, a number of CAP members headed out to the Veteran’s Cemetery to remove the wreaths placed there in December. I imagine in the Southern latitudes, this is an easier task. As it was, due to heavy snow and a strange thaw-re-freeze [...]

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Bring crackers.

November 14, 2009

As a new Civil Air Patrol member, I wasn’t sure what to expect on a recent SAR flight. As I hurried home from work to get in my uniform and get out to the airport, I thought of all the emergency supplies I might need to bring for the mission.
I stuffed my pockets with Halloween [...]

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Panic in the pages.

November 8, 2009

The latest edition of the AOPA Flight Training magazine arrived in the mail today. I always enjoy reading it, though I inevitably get to the section where someone writes about a horrific experience they had flying and how they learned a lesson.
It’s great to learn lessons.
I like learning lessons from books, because the forces of [...]

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Over Dakota searching.

November 2, 2009

The scene earlier today, from the air over western North Dakota, on a real CAP SAR.
“The Highway Patrol along with three civil air patrol planes are also searched from the air but were called off after dark.”
UPDATE: I’m sad to say that the three girls (and their dog) weren’t found alive. Just by taking a [...]

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I found the dummy.

October 18, 2009

It was I, and not Mark, who found the dummy.
Granted, he found the first target. But I found the dummy. And it was not me.
I suppose I ought to put all of that dummy-talk in perspective.
Saturday was the day the new members of the Civil Air Patrol took part in a SAREX here in Bismarck. [...]

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More important.

October 11, 2009

“There are more important things in life than walking.”
– Joni Eareckson Tada, from her book The God I Love
That quote sticks.
If I were prone to writing positive prose (which I am not), I might try to tie in some concept that you can’t fly if you insist on walking. I’d probably throw in a three-point [...]

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Boggle.

September 15, 2009

Starting something new is necessarily like the game Boggle.
On rare occasions, new skills are learned on a graduated basis. They happen in a logical sequence where each new skill leads to the next, often involving tabbed binders and incremented progress charts, with, depending on your age and self esteem, gold stars.
Mostly, though, this does not [...]

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Blue Chips.

August 23, 2009

In these difficult economic times, you might be expecting this post to be about secure investments. Obviously, coming from me, that would be a foolish assumption.
Today, three of us flew to Fargo to attend the Fargo AirSho. Mark flew the plane which was a relief to me; the NOTAMS and exit traffic were a little [...]

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