Sorry that it's been a little quiet on the flying front but there have been some non-flying activities (believe it or not!) that have been sidetracking me for a couple of weeks, hopefully only temporarily. I'm not going to go into any detail, but it's been a perfect storm of activities and issues circling around--some good, some we don't know yet. October at work, for one, has been the single busiest month I think I've had in almost 13 years with the company, at least in terms of my caseload.
Then too there's been some travel--got to go to Boston for some work and then a long weekend, including game 6 of the ALCS at Fenway--awesome time! And just some downtime to spend with my wife--hanging out together after errands are done--just a nice luxury we don't usually get too much of.
But I haven't forgotten about the flying (not by a longshot!). I got my new IFR charts (now that they've redesignated the chart numbers to correspond with new geographical areas--but I got all the right ones I needed) and approach plates a week ago (the IFR charts, approach plates and some other publications are updated every 56 days to keep things current) and have already started practicing with them on the simulator in the basement. While Michiko was working on our computer updating some iTunes, I shot 5-6 approaches at Poughkeepsie, Sky Acres and Bridgeport, including VOR-A, VORs to a specific runway and ILS. It was some good practice and I found that for the most part I was remembering to do all the little things I was supposed to do. That means the couple of long training days with Dan really paid off by ingraining things into my head.
Also, I've been trying to do a lot of reading--I recently got some back issues of Flight Training magazine, which I enjoy reading cover to cover. I also finished a recent biography of Jimmy Stewart, though it barely touched upon his flying career. (Note to self--if interested in writing a nonfiction work, Jimmy Stewart's flying would be a great topic--while there's a book about him as a bomber pilot, there's very little about his private flying and his Air Force Reserve career after WWII.) I just started a flying classic, Antoine de Saint-Exupery's Wind, Sand and Stars, which I've never read before.
And I'm scheduled to fly with Dan on Sunday morning for a few hours to continue honing....can't wait to get back into the air!
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