It has been some time since I have posted. I got a part time job on the weekend to help pay the bills, and have not had a lot of time for anything. At school I am now involved in restoring a 1960's Cessna R172E (T-41). This was an Air Force trainer from California. A lot has been going on in the hanger. We are involved with doing safety wire projects, to show our ability to safety bolts and such. We are making hammer heads and plumb bobs to show our ability at fabrication and the operation of some of the machines in the shop.

Glider Ride

My number came up for the ride in the glider. Its a motor glider, meaning it can take off under its own power (without having to be towed by another aircraft or a slingshot) You shut the motor off when you get to the altitude you want and glide around. Its quite peaceful. I got to fly it for about half an hour under power and for about 2 min. gliding. Talk about being excited and terrified all at once. You are in control and have never flown a plane before. It was very exciting and I got a lot of good pictures and may consider getting my glider rating.

Special Vistors

Today I was looking up part numbers for a worksheet on the fiche and heard this tremendous beating of the air. I looked out the door and to my delight a Black Hawk helicopter was landing on the ramp by our hanger. It turned out one of the Aviators needed to take a test, much like I will have to take. We got to sit in it, climb all over it, and even open panels and look at the working parts. The Crew Chief and Pilots answered all our questions and showed us around. It was pretty darn cool!!

The photos are from my phone so not the best quality.

Tool Boxes are in

Our tools and tool boxes arrived about a week ago. Let me tell you $700 does not buy a lot of tools and does $1300 really seem reasonable for a tin box with drawers? I have been really trying to apply myself, because at 38 I feel I really only have one chance to do this right or its back to the rat race again. My grades have been great thus far, because first I want good grades and I also want to get a scholarship for next year to help pay for the $2000 worth of tools I still have to get.

I didn't take any pictures of my tool box but may at a later time.

The way I get to relax

Myself, Wife and 2 Children get to enjoy having Family close by. My Dad and Step-Mom have come here with their camper 2 times and we have gotten to relax by the lake and fire. There has not been a lot of stress but I know it has helped to get away, even though it may only be a few miles away. Camping has been a blast and I think my Dad has realized he has a fire bug in the family as he can't keep me out of the fire and had to bring more wood on their second trip. The kids love it, they get to peddle around on the bikes that Grandpa and Grandma bring and play with the other camping kids. My wife likes to sit by the fire and knit, read, or visit. We have gone to my Brothers a few times and spent the night. My Mom and her Husband have been able to visit us there and My Sister and her Husband have been able to visit us there too. I thank you all for making this transition a bit more bearable.

Some of the planes we get to learn on

Most Aviation Schools don't have the aircraft we have and thus we gain a great deal of knowledge from getting to work on airworthy and aircraft that could be made airworthy. Our Instructors are great and dedicated to giving us what we need to know.

Would You trust this crew?!?

We got to work on putting our electric kits together. Our little project is a multimeter that we add to our tool boxes when completed and checked for functionality. We got to get our soldering irons out and solder on all the resistors, diodes, and capacitors. The day came to test them out and only 2 of us made it to the end without having to do some sort of reassembly. I made it to the end with no problems.