Scud Running

Made a lunch run to Redmond today. About a 98 NM trip over the gorgeous Cascade Range. Both the leg there and the leg back was an amazing learning experience.
First we picked up an IFR clearance for VFR on top. So we flew Over the clouds at 10,000 ft for most of the way there. Which was pretty surreal.

Then we grabbed some great lunch in town and planned our trip back – VFR for as long as we could. Our back-up plan was to pick up an IFR in the air if needed, which hopefully wouldn’t happen… Since the freezing level was at about 8,000 and we had picked up quite a bit of rime on the way there.
It had been the perfect amount of adrenaline. We always had an out, so it was never a panic or TOO unsafe. However on the way back the clouds stayed right above us… And we stayed right above the mountains.

It was a classic scud run on the way back. The Alaskan bush pilot came out in all of us!
Here’s a photo of the track over the mountains.

How to Play Hooky

When you do something, whether it’s getting a tattoo or indulging in a hamburger – when you do something ‘wrong’ – you need to do it right. If you’re going to permanently mark your body, don’t get a tiny tattoo that you can only make out with a microscope. And if your going to go for the hamburger you don’t get a side salad with a diet soda, you get a bacon cheeseburger with fries and a shake.

So… if you want to drop your responsibilities for a day and play hooky, don’t do it in front of the T.V!

Step one:

Leave campus after your morning french class and go to the airport where you will climb into a Cessna Conquest with three helicopter pilots and a nice old man who is along for the ride.

Step two:

Fly from Willamette Valley Oregon down to Southern California and drop off one helicopter pilot so he can fly a purple Huey back, and one old man who is driving a truck back for a friend. You will play hangman and the ABC game at FL 270 while cracking jokes about the two helicopter pilots flying because they can’t hear the cabin mics. You will also fly over snow-topped mountains and a quilt of green, dark green, and brown that makes up the coast range and Rouge Valley.

Step three:

Take controls of said twin-engine Conquest and fly to a famous steak house to have the “Hickory Smoked Salt & Brown Sugar-Rubbed Ribeye with Whiskey Butter.”

Step four:

Fly back home at FL 270 directly over Mt. Shasta and a few miles away from Crater Lake with two hilarious helicopter pilots. You might also consider how lucky you are for the entire trip, and love life in the sun.

Mt. Shasta from the right seat!

My phone camera sucks but you can JUST barely make out Crater Lake

“Roger, Roger. What’s our vector, Victor?”

All pilots have done it, do it, and will do it. Over and over again. We make THOSE radio calls.

The ones to ATC that contain the non-word UMM about fifty times.  The ones that contain the wrong tail number… the ones we don’t correct. The conversations to pilots or UTICOM people that we know, taking up radio space. Then there are the calls that sit out in limbo that no one really knows whether they should say or not… ‘UH, Skyhawk 20490 crossing runway 09-27 on the ground on Charlie.”

Papa John (the head flight instructor at the airport) has a ‘few’ opinions  about people’s radio calls. Mostly I have learned through him and everyone else at the airport that no one is ever happy with anyone’s calls. Papa John’s pet peeves however, are always voiced and always hilarious.

Papa John: “Someone got on the radio and said ‘any traffic in the area, please advise.’ Can you believe it?”

Me: “NO!”

Papa John: “So I got on the radio and told him that it was HIS job to watch for traffic. I mean, some people don’t even have radios out here… they don’t need to have them! It’s class G for cryin out loud. Don’t ever make that call.”

Me: “No one’s ever going to come here now. They’re afraid of talking on the radio.”

Now to come clean…

my worst radio call. “Corvallis Area Traffic, Skyhawk 20490 about eight miles north of the airport. Just cruising out here, descending through 3,000 ft. Corvallis.” I’m sure there will be worse to come. Until then, the guys at the airport like to bring this one up A LOT.

Anyone else want to come clean on their worst radio call?

‘Here, Take the Controls’ – My Airport Subculture

There is a place in my town that could be its own little world.

They have their own language, time frame, hierarchy, drama, view of the world, etc…

It’s a place where someone like me can bum around enough to take the controls of an R-44 helicopter for about 80% of a cross-country flight.

Me and three helicopter instructors flew up to Salem to eat at the Flight Deck Restaurant – Best Club Sandwich ever.

Fly in and park right in front. Their food is delicious and it’s always entertaining to watch aircraft land.

The First thing that happened when we got into the aircraft with me in the right seat…

My instructor said, “How many hours do you have in a helicopter?”     Me: “That one day you took me for a ride. And about an hour with Mark.”    Instructor: “Ok. The checklist is right there. Go through it and let’s go.”    Me: “…”

Of course, he was kidding (kinda), and went through the checklist with me, explaining as we went down the list.

However, I’m not kidding when I say that it was about a 50/50 on the controls when we lifted off. Next to the giant tank of BP gas that we just used to fill her up. We probably knocked over the trash can and the porta-potty that sit next to the tanks but I was too busy trying not to kill us on liftoff to notice. Anyway, I didn’t run into anything or almost roll the aircraft or kill anyone. So all-in-all I would say that it was pretty good!

Big Mean Yellow Machine

I had the extremely fortunate experience of getting to poke around this aircraft. I even got to sit in it…

like a kid with candy. I’m not sure I ever stopped smiling.

This photo is from the company’s website but I believe this was the plane that was parked at KCVO.

The first time I ever saw one of these spraying a field I made a face like I was looking at a puppy and an ‘AWWW’ sound came out of my mouth. I then proceeded to make cute little airplane noises every time it came up to bank around for another pass… It looked so small!

In my defense almost everyone I have run into and asked say the same thing… they just look so cute and toy-like when they are flying around.

So, to my bubbly surprise, I was completely intimidated walking up to this aircraft. AT LEAST twice the size of the Piper Warrior and tall enough that I couldn’t touch the top of the engine or see over the leading edge of the wings.

I was also psyched to see that inside the cockpit looks a lot like the Masey Ferguson combines that I’m used to driving.

Sign me up!

Worked my networking connection by getting a card before they took off. One tiny step in the right direction.

P.S. Crop dusting is SO much cooler then flying a helicopter or doing auto rotations! I’m going to find out what it’s like to come a few feet off the ground at 160 MPH and tell you how it compares to an auto rotation in an R-22 and R-44. (this was for my instructor, who likes to brag about his helicopter hours. He would be rolling his eyes right about now like a 14-year-old girl).

My Crazy F*cking Bucket List

My legs continuously bounce whenever I sit behind a computer or a desk.

And as I logged off my email, an article caught my eye and made my stomach flip and the butterflies come alive…

http://www.bing.com/travel/content/search?q=World%27s+Most+Hair-Raising+Airports%3a+Sea+Ice+Runway%2c+Antarctica&cid=msn1264823&form=HPTRAV

One pilot said that sometimes you have to fall off the edge of the cliff before your airplane creates sufficient lift… I’m so there.

Challenge Accepted

Needless to say all of these airports are on my bucket list! I’ll start with the closest ones and move on to the ends of the earth when I can fly larger aircraft.

* A girl can dream *

Anywhere but Here

My hiatus from writing has to come to an end…

I haven’t completely stopped…

but the only writing I have done has been essays for school – the kind that I should actually be working on right now instead of blogging. Oh well.

So, I have developed a new theme for my blog, one that centers around that plane you see in my header – Warrior 2765Quebec. She’s an old (i mean OLD, around 1970′s) girl, not very fancy and only has a single engine, but she gets me where I want to go. NEED to go. So far I haven’t gone anywhere too far, not that it matters how far, as long as I have the opportunity to get away sometimes.

My first cross-country was to Roseburg, Or during a hazy summer day to an airport that is surrounded by hills. It proved to be a white-knuckle landing since it was my first landing that far from home base, but it turned alright and I made it back in one piece (as did the plane).

On the way to Roseburg I caught an interesting smoke plum

My second cross-country and first ‘long’ cross-country was panned as a straight leg to Tillamook, Or, then a straight path to Newburg VOR before turning to Aurora State Airport. My final leg was a pilotage course back to KCVO (Corvallis, Or).

The first leg couldn’t have gone better

I flew straight-and-level, never breaking a hundred feet in any direction. I corrected for wind, having a fun-time crabbing. Each checkpoint was more or less hit in the same amount of time as was pre-planned, and I made a smooth landing into a gorgeous bay next to Tillamook’s air museum. Not to mention the heavy winds that seem to always be around on the Oregon coast didn’t seem to impede my landing.

Once parked at Tillamook I enjoyed a few minutes of the scenery and beautiful weather. I even enjoyed the smell of cow manure that gives Tillamook its charm (which I smelled even as I was descending into a downwind for the runway).

Tillamook bay

      After I took off however, as I was turning for an east departure toward Newburg VOR, I immediately didn’t feel right. My heading indicator seemed stuck – I changed direction to experiment and found that it wouldn’t budge.

Of course, I still had a working compass, so the fact that my suction completely quit on me (in hind sight) wasn’t a big deal at all, but since I was only about 16 or so hours into my training I lost trust in my plane (which was Cessna 24261 at the time), and flew back to home base using pilotage.

Turns out that Cessna 24261 was semi-retired due to the fact that it was always breaking. Again, an old plane from 1970-something.

Which is really what prompted me to switch to the Piper Warrior… that and I get to say Warrior 2765Quebec on the radio.

My next adventure that will hopefully take place: Round-trip to Alaska during spring break. Which I will blog in (almost) real time.

Oldie but a goodie

“The Oregon Experiment” – Book Review

Sometimes quiet little towns can hold burning secrets

click here to buy the book at amazon.com!

It is said that the quickest and easiest way to a memory is through the sense of smell – spiced orange tea that brings back memories of Christmas mornings, a strangers deodorant as you walk by them on the street created the image of an old lover in your mind, or the the crinkly smell of dried flowers that recalls every sentence of a book you read years ago.

For Naomi Pratt, a professional ‘nose’, smell is everything – it’s linked to her taste, her perception and judgment of others, memories, attraction and disgust, the bond to her newborn child, and sometimes even the decisions in her life.

Throughout the book my sympathies and sides were continually changing. One minute I would be scoffing at the young anarchist Clay, then pitying him, then rooting for his cause (“First priority, always: no one gets injured. Second priority: don’t get caught. Third priority: achieve the objective of destroying property owned by religious bigots, corporations, and the U.S. government. Disrupt the system to hasten its downfall.” pg 30).

The author, my writing professor at OSU, said at a book reading in Portland that he believes that Clay’s character is the most sympathetic. To me, he was usually tied with Scanlon Pratt, who despite his major flaw (I won’t give it away) had my sympathies for most of the book. Another character who’s plight I sometimes pitied, scoffed, and went along with was Seqouia – the almost too-agreeing force behind the local secessionist group.

My least sympathetic tendencies overall were for Naomi. Although I could relate to her every once in a while, her stuck-up nature and annoying neediness were sometimes too much to bear.

These sympathies however should be taken lightly, they are ever-changing the more I ruminate over the book (which is what you will do even days after reading it). It is a beautifully written book that sheds light on a part of Oregon that dangerously gorgeous. Every character had their justifications and reasons, each one fleshed out so well that I wondered if they weren’t based solely on real people. It’s a novel driven by character and laced with explosions, protests, sex, love, friendship, and community.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading it, and you will too!

The End of the World/I told Ya’ll So

Anyone who is reading this might want to refer back to my article about the Zombie Apocalypse, ( cause it’s happening THIS SATURDAY! There is also another great source of information on this subject if you need to brush up just click here

Rule 2 - Double Tap... and for God's sake, don't check to see if it's 'dead'

According to the dozens of billboards that have popped up around the country, the world needs to save-the-date. Come on people! We all know that we get the majority of our truthful information from the sides of highways.

The billboards, which are funded by Family Stations Inc., have the exact day set – Sat. May 21st. Sadly, it doesn’t give the time, and I’m hoping it’s late at night because I’m hosting an end-of-the-world party and I don’t want it cut short. The reason I bring up zombies is because in the article, according to the man who figured out the date (Harry Camping), the graves are going to split open and the dead will rise. Those of them who are worthy will go to heaven, and those of them that aren’t well… we get to deal with that.

My main piece of advice: Have a plan

You Radical Skeptic You! – My Nietzsche ‘Review’

“On Truth and Lies in a Nonmoral Sense”/”On Truth and Lie in the Extramoral Sense”

By Friedrich Nietzsche

I love philosophy classes. Granted I have only taken a few – back in Ohio and down in Southern Oregon – but the ones I did take were amazing. So after the first day of Eng 345 (Intro to literary criticism and theory), and I went home to read this essay, I was thrilled. It seems as though this class is going to combine two things that I find most interesting in the world; radical philosophical ideals, and reading.

 

Friedrich Nietzsche

So, my plan for this post is to type out the notes I took and other thoughts and revelations as I’m typing them. I figure, if I type them again maybe I’ll from some new ideas and understand the text more fully for the class. If you click on the photo it should take you to a full text (if I did the link right).

 

So the first thing we tackled in class was the perspective and context for the essay. The perspective (at least in the beginning) is indicated with the first few sentences. “Once upon a time, in some out of the way corner of that universe which is dispersed into numberless twinkling solar systems, there was a star upon which clever beats invented knowing… the star cooled and congealed, and the clever beasts had to die” (Nietzsche 79). I would say that the perspective here is the universe as a whole, including time, since we see that the clever beasts die. I would hesitate to say it was from the perspective of a superior being such as a god-like presence, since later in the text Nietzsche seems to dismiss the existence of such a being. However it does seem like he is writing as though the entire universe or whole of existence is some sort of thinking creature.

Most of Nietzsche’s ideals in this essay deny the existence of ‘God’, but one passage in particular seemed to stand out in this respect, at least to me.

“He [man] strives to understand the world as something analogous to man, and at best he achieves by his struggles the feeling of assimilation. Similar to the way in which astrologers considered the stars to be in man’s service and connected with his happiness and sorrow, such an investigator considers the entire universe in connection with man: the entire universe as the infinitely fractured echo of one original sound – man; the entire universe as the infinitely multiplied copy of one original picture – man. His method is to treat man as the measure of all things, but in doing so he again proceeds from the error of believing that he has thee things [which he intends to measure] immediately before him as mere objects. He forgets that the original perceptual metaphors are metaphors and takes them to be the things themselves” (Nietzsche 86).

If you believe Nietzsche in this passage, which I think I might slightly agree, then man created the image of the universe after himself. God is therefore only God because we have created him in this way instead of the common religious practice of ‘God created man in his own image.’ I have not read enough of Nietzsche to guess at his religion but I don’t think he was an atheist. If I were to ask him what he thought of a higher being, at the time he wrote this paper, I believe he would say that if there were some being that created the world or the universe, that we wouldn’t have the means to even begin to understand what it ‘was.’ And that it would be arrogant assume that we could even try to understand something that could create a universe.

This is what I do in college... I draw

This is my terrible and blurry sketch of what we discussed in class. Basically humans see something, our brain perceives it, and then we name it. But the name has no connection to what the thing actually is. In short, language is necessary but Nietzsche wants us to remember that it should remain as simply a way to communicate and not a way to define.

The example given in class was the ways in which the new military actions in Libya are being defined – through metaphor – and that these comparisons have potentially harmful consequences. Recently, and I’m not going to give examples since I feel as though you could turn on any news station and hear this, the bombings in Libya have been compared to sports games.  Actually, now that I think about it, a lot of what has been going on in the Middle East has been referred to time and time again as games. I remember hearing the former Vice President, Dick Cheney, say that finding weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East would be a ‘slam dunk.’

The point being that Nietzsche would have balked at this – the fact that people are taking something as complicated a situation, and defining it with b-ball game metaphors. We may think that this is harmless – a way to explain things in simpler terms so we can understand them – but this is how ‘truths’ are made. If we keep using game metaphors as a way to explain the goings-on in the Middle East, then won’t it eventually become truth? According to Friedrich, if he were still alive of course, that is exactly what will happen. Which brings me to the main point (in my opinion) of his essay.

“Truths are illusions which we have forgotten are illusions; they are metaphors that have become worn out and have been drained of sensuous force, coins which have lost their embossing and are now considered as metal and no longer as coins” (Nietzsche 84).

And to be truthful is to tell the same lies that the ‘herd’ is telling, to imply the usual metaphors. Those in power (in the case of my example) the government, can create these truths. The harmful consequence could be that war will no longer be the complicated thing that it is, and will simply be a game. We use these metaphors in order to understand complicated things, and to communicate them to the masses, but whether your  simplifying or fully explaining your metaphor, someone is being left out.

I digress

This blog has become way to long, and I haven’t even begun to scratch the surface of this essay. I will leave it by saying that Nietzsche knows we can’t live without language if we want to communicate. Even if we stayed audibly silent, we would still be putting words to the thoughts in our heads. You can’t escape language, you can only be aware that it is simply a tool and not a truth. I don’t believe everything that he states in his argument but I do agree with a lot of it.

If anyone else has read this and wants to add to it in the comments, be my guest, I love discussing these types of things.