Day 114 ( 162 TT, 87.1 MET )

I have a confession to make. I signed up to facebook. Yep. I resisted for as long as I could, honest. But it seems these days it's impossible to stay in touch with people any other way. So now you will see share icons on these posts, so share away!

A friend of mine invited me to sail with him from Punta Gorda to Key West. I agreed, since he ensured me that the trip will take only two days. A couple of nice time builders flew me to Punta Gorda and off we went sailing the gulf of mexico. The entire ordeal took seven days! Several of those we spent grounded waiting for high tide (I guess nobody onboard knew how to read a marine chart), and one day I spent sea sick (some pilot I am). Below is a picture I call "studying hard on deck, in Key West"


Once we sailed into Key West, I called my buddies to pick me up. They flew in late Friday night. I threw my stuff onboard and bummer, one of the main tires went flat. It didn't happen on landing or taxi, it just deflated siting there on the ramp. So we found a hotel and stayed the night. Saturday morning, Mike (owner of the school) flew in a mechanic with a new wheel.

On the way back my friend wanted some excitement and decided to hug the coast instead of a straight shot to Ft. Pierce. Because of Miami international airport, ATC made us follow the coast line, at 500' or below (that way we don't disrupt the traffic into MIA). Below are a couple of shots of us whizzing by Miami beach at 300', doing 130kts !

Day 98 ( 153.3 TT, 78.4 MET )

My visit to Colorado was awesome! It snowed right when we landed in Denver international. Had a wonderful Christmas with my family, ate a LOT of food. Came back to Florida before new years, which I now regret, there was nobody here at school, so we didn't do much flying. This was the first time I celebrated new years alone, just me and Times Square on a small TV :(

I'm now flying off my commercial maturation hours (18 hrs with an instructor before you start time building with another student). The planes brake down a lot, and during the last week alone we squawked 3 different planes in 2 days. On a flight from Key West on Friday night, I had to use my flashlight to light up the instruments because all but two bulbs were burnt out. And by the end of the flight I couldn't feel my fingers because the heaters don't work in any of the planes (I heard a rumor that the 100 hour inspections are cheaper and faster without having to maintain the heaters).

I got a kneeboard for the iPad on Christmas, and I've started to use it on long flights. It is a better tool than I expected. Not only does it replace a TON of paper maps, plates and diagrams, it's also extremely easy to change flight routing on the go. For example I filed an IFR route from Jacksonville that was changed by the flight center and was given a different route. I just found the new fix and dragged the course over it and thats it. My instructor wants an iPad now too.

Below is a quick shot of a twisting river on the way to Savannah, Georgia. Also I've attached a screen shot from ForeFlight with my recent x-country flights.