VNY 16R

I was going to write something else today, but I ran across this short clip from the movie 16Right earlier.

I hadn't heard anything about this project until now. What a wonderful expression of flying anf flight. I can't wait to see the whole thing.

Now I'm very glad that I made that unplanned stop recently at VNY, gives it a more personal touch.

Thin Line

I read this entry on FL250 the other day and this one at IFR Pilot today.

I remember early on in my training begin younger and single I had no real issues with the safety of small aircraft. I had always been interested in flying so I was glowing in the fact that I had finally begun my training.

Over time I began to here stories related both in print and personally about so and so friend, relative, aviation good guy, who had perished in an accident. I realized that was the main difference between the driving and flying crowd. It is a rare person who has had someone close to him or her killed in a car accident, even rarer for more than one. It seemed all too common in aviation.

Some of that has to do with the size of the community of flyers. We are really a small number compared to the rest of the non-pilots. Motorcyclists share some in common with this I believe. I heard a similar story from a motorcyclist friend, who recounted the number of folks who had had unfortunate outcomes from their riding.

The old adage of the most dangerous thing in flying is the drive to the airport isn't true and just doesn’t hold up to any real scrutiny(It’s not as dangerous as some in the news media would indicate either, but that’s not the point), and is a straw man to what is really important. Granted I feel safer and more in control in the air.

These stories only serve to remind me that the line can be thin between a good or bad outcome in aviation, and I should do everything to keep the line strong.

Dry Spells

Another tough part of being a renter is the dreaded daily minimum.

There are two family trips planned for later this summer that would be much better on everyone if they were flights. (Anyone who has driven the I-5 route through central California will understand, anyone with children doubly so) Unfortunately the flight length and number of days do not come together to make economic sense.

I've read similar comments on the newsgroups from time to time so nothing new here. Recently a discussion related this as a cause for many pilots giving up flying. As a renter your wings are really clipped and the family budget can only support/justify so many hamburger runs.

Having been a leaseback owner I know the other side of the story. I needed that daily usage to make the ends come somewhere close together over the long haul.

Anyway, no good answers for the renter. My own goal is to build a need for more business travel and let that drive another aircraft purchase. At least, that's the current idea.

Not this time

One of the difficulties in being a Sloppy Pilot is trying to get the flight time to improve. This last weekends attempt being an example. The plane was scheduled months in advance. A backup reservation was made on another plane at another FBO, just in case.
First the backup plane is pulled from the flight line. Unfortunate, I was really starting to enjoy that plane. But, it was the backup in this case because of the high daily minimums. At least I still have the primary plane booked.
Checking the schedule I see the main reservation plane is now scheduled for an annual. Supposedly to end before my reservation, but having seen how annuals have had the creeping red crawl on the scheduler before I was already having my doubts. Just to rant a bit. What owner lets their annual fall in the middle of summer? No one want to spend extra money, but, it just takes biting the bullet once and doing a half year annual in the middle of winter to fix that problem. I think the lost revenue from a couple of weeks downtime on the peek flying season would more that make up for the extra half year annual cost.

Anyway, the annual of course, continues right through the weekend. I drive to my intended destination. I am not a Sloppy Driver.