Tuesday, January 17, 2006
Flying Solo
I've been taking flying lessons since late September last year (2005) in hopes of getting my private pilot license. I actually started on it about 15 years ago but gave up after about 18 hours right before I was about to solo. It was too much of a financial and emotional drain at the time, but this past summer I decided it was time to go for it, "now or never," so to speak.
I'm flying Cessna 152's with the Westosha Flying Club at Westosha Airport, just across the border in Wisconsin. Here's a picture of one of the 152's I fly and one of the other students, Dwight.
I'm certain I have the best possible instructor for me, Dana Holladay. He's a wonderful guy, a skillful instructor and a very talented pilot. Here's a shot of him relaxing in the flight office at Westosha.
This past weekend I made my first solo cross-country flight, a quick 2-hour jaunt to Oshkosh and Watertown and back. The weather was great and I had a blast. This was the first time I had time to take pictures and actually remembered to take some with my handy Treo 650 phone/PDA. Here's one looking back after departing runway 36 at Oshkosh, sacred ground for me and thousands of other aviation enthusiasts who make an annual pilgrimmage there. It was a real treat for me to be able to land solo on that runway, even though there was no traffic and nobody to watch except the guy in the tower, unlike the annual EAA convention which draws something like 14,000 aircraft and 250,000 spectators.
Here's a vanity picture of me flying into the sun with the Horicon National Wildlife Refuge visible out my window. Yes, I took the photo myself--I was trying to focus on flying and not get distracted so it looks like someone else took it.
This is a quick shot I took on climbout from Watertown Airport. Watertown looks like a nice, quaint Midwestern river town. Watertown is a very friendly airport, but it was a little busy because it was such a beautiful winter day to fly.
I'm flying Cessna 152's with the Westosha Flying Club at Westosha Airport, just across the border in Wisconsin. Here's a picture of one of the 152's I fly and one of the other students, Dwight.
I'm certain I have the best possible instructor for me, Dana Holladay. He's a wonderful guy, a skillful instructor and a very talented pilot. Here's a shot of him relaxing in the flight office at Westosha.
This past weekend I made my first solo cross-country flight, a quick 2-hour jaunt to Oshkosh and Watertown and back. The weather was great and I had a blast. This was the first time I had time to take pictures and actually remembered to take some with my handy Treo 650 phone/PDA. Here's one looking back after departing runway 36 at Oshkosh, sacred ground for me and thousands of other aviation enthusiasts who make an annual pilgrimmage there. It was a real treat for me to be able to land solo on that runway, even though there was no traffic and nobody to watch except the guy in the tower, unlike the annual EAA convention which draws something like 14,000 aircraft and 250,000 spectators.
Here's a vanity picture of me flying into the sun with the Horicon National Wildlife Refuge visible out my window. Yes, I took the photo myself--I was trying to focus on flying and not get distracted so it looks like someone else took it.
This is a quick shot I took on climbout from Watertown Airport. Watertown looks like a nice, quaint Midwestern river town. Watertown is a very friendly airport, but it was a little busy because it was such a beautiful winter day to fly.
Thursday, January 05, 2006
A Rainbow In The Grime
A neighbor's car was consumed by fire recently, for unknown reasons. After the burnt carcass (no pun intended) was removed, all that remained were oily puddlets reflecting a rainbow of color. The color was so striking in an otherwise drab and color-deprived winter city environment that I had to take a picture of it.
