Four Stripes of Cardinal and Gold!

Tomorrow, USC plays Penn State in the Rose Bowl.

And to all Trojans, Fight On!

So I passed the written...

I passed with a score of 88%. Not bad.

I feel good about the score. I'm happy. I know I had been beating myself up about not getting at least a 90% consistently, but I guess it helped. A little. Prior to this, I was consistently getting a firm score in the 80% range. 88% is okay.

But I passed, and that's what I was concerned about. I felt good about it going in. There are a few things that I need to work on, but it's all good, since you are given the pilot knowledge criteria of the answers you missed. I'll go over those before my checkride (hopefully sometime next year, as soon as I get all my required hours, and my CFI signs me off for it (I don't have a current CFI teaching me since I'm not flying, just my dearest friend and mentor, Holly, my first CFI).

I'll be getting back in the air soon. I know it. I feel it. I can taste it!

What a week...

After trying time after time to nail 90% on the Private Pilot FAA Written test that I've been practicing with my ground instructor, I'm getting a lot of the stuff.

"You're getting all the hard stuff done, but you're missing the easy things!", he tells me. And he's right.

I have flight planning down pat. As well as aircraft performance and weight and balance. I'm missing things like light gun signals, and regulations...things that I should have had down long ago!

Oh well. All of this will be decided this Saturday when I go for the biggy. I'll sit down, and see how the whole shebang goes. And I'll keep you guys updated. It's been tough, studying for the test, and dealing with work, which has been hectic lately due to the time of year. Let's just say, overtime has been abundant (and welcome, I could use the green, as I racked up a few medical bills for an elective surgery on my foot).

Condolences...

Andrew Marc Rossignol

A young flight instructor at ATP based in Stuart (SUA). His goal was to fly for the airlines, as his father did. Aged 21.

Stuart Brown

A young Jamaican flight instructor who desired to fly for Air Jamaica after getting his ratings. He moved to South Florida to work on his ratings. Aged 25.

Edson Jefferson

A Jamaican pilot based at North Perry Airport (HWO) south of Fort Lauderdale at Pelican Airways. He was performing instrument training. Aged 30.

Bryan Sax

A professional pilot from Aspen, Co., working on his multiengine rating with Rossignol, he was a national ski racing champion, bartender, restauranteur, and flight school co-owner. Aged 37.

Rather than judging their actions, as the media likes to do, I will do something different.

These men died valiantly doing what they loved. These men were pilots, through and through. And to not support them or their families in this tragedy is hurtful to them all who fly and share their love of flight. With folded wings, they sleep in death. But they will not be forgotten.

To the families of Andrew Marc Rossignol, Bryan Sax, Edson Jefferson, and Stuart Brown, I give my condolences as a fellow pilot. You are in my thoughts. Their lives will never be forgotten.

The NTSB is currently investigating the acccident.

Just like that song...

Just like that Aerosmith song, "I'm BAAAAACK In The Saddle Again!!!!!"

It feels great to be back!


Taking flight once again, embodying my life dream. Being at the controls of an airplane, flying, shadowing the earth lovingly with my wings of success and accomplishment.

This past Sunday, I went flying with some students from the ground school class I'm taking. After a group preflight, another student, and myself, were selected to fly first. From Boca Raton (BCT), we flew under the command of Kevin Formica, teaching student who was with me to Palm Beach County Park Gassaway Field (LNA). What a beautiful day to go flying. But it didn't sink into me until after we landed. We traded places, and I was at the controls on the way back. And what a flight. Kevin made everything fast for me (as it should be. I'm an Embry-Riddle guy, and I should learn at ERAU's standards). Although I had a little difficulty with keeping ahead of the airplane (I was just a little ahead), I felt good throughout the flight.



And I called Boca Tower! I guess I finally got over my fear of talking to a tower. I am happy!

I am happy. I am happy and very thankful to have flown. Especially after four long years of waiting. I'm glad to know that all that waiting was not in vain. I know that when I formally kickstart my flight training and hire an instructor, I will be able to learn fast and efficiently, and I will be able to complete my flight training on a set schedule. I will be able to complete my flight training to get my private pilot license. One hour at a time, learning, at my pace, and training with an instructor who loves flying, not just one who wants to build time to get hired by an airline. I'm going to learn to fly. I am resolute on completing my mission.

That's another thing that I noticed when I flew Sunday. I felt like I became a mission-oriented pilot. I did everything to fulfill the mission.



That day, I felt Aviation's love again. I felt her with me after the flight, and through the night. Again, I felt her love, after so long. Aviation has not forgotten me, just as how I never forgot Aviation. I felt the love of flying once more.

And it was beautiful.

To all my readers, blue skies and tailwinds.

Changes in Color...

For today's post, I will be moving from flying to something a little different.

Years ago, while I was still in middle school, my dad worked at the University of Southern California. There were days in which I would go with him to work, and just walk around the beautiful University Campus. I would see the world-famous Spirit of Troy Marching Band practicing, and their glorious thunder could be heard all across the campus.

Then the games were also an experience. Going to see Trojan Athletics at its best. Football, by far USC Athletics' strongest force in the PAC-10, is its largest venue.

I also remember a few of the events that we attended. Salute to Troy, for example, is a pre-season (football) event that we would go to. The football team was showcased, and were amongst the attendees, taking pictures, signing autographs, and having a great time with the families there. The Trojan Experience is something truly beautiful. And although I may attend Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, my heart stayed at USC.

This Saturday, USC will be playing against its cross-town rival, UCLA. And, in a move that has not been seen in over 25 years, both teams will be playing their home jerseys (USC will be playing at the Rose Bowl, thus being the visitors). This is how a game should be seen. In this game, all will see the full glory of the Cardinal and Gold.

Once the post-season ends for USC, the colors will revert back to their original settings, if not another color scheme.

Fight On, Trojans!

NIMBYs at it again...

Today, the Palm Beach Post (in my personal opinion, an excuse of a newspaper, but to each his own) put out an editorial against proposed and studied airport "expansion" at Palm Beach International Airport (PBI/KPBI). Now, my readers know my stance. People who move somewhere and ask (okay, maybe not ask, more like DEMAND) that an airport either edit its reason to exist, if not make it cease to exist, for their own personal benefit. I don't need to go over it again.

An airport that has been bullish in its growth should not stop. Airports should reach their full potential. Nobody has any reason to live close to an airport if they're just going to complain about it all day. Take the good with the bad, like everything else in life (good for me, I like airplane noise...it's comforting to me, and ask any pilot and they will agree).

So when people are trying to subversively fight against an airport, and try to designate certain neighborhoods near airports (that came into existence and grew into existence AFTER the airport was there), like the Vedado neighborhood trying to have the county designate it as a historic area (thus preventing the airport, or any other government entity for that matter "interfere" with the area), you know that they're up to something.

This "newspaper" also alleges that the airport reached its peak traffic level in 1990, but never went further than that. So, has it gone up or down? How much so? Enplanements, incoming and outgoing traffic, where are the numbers? Why won't you say what the FAA says? Because it's against your agenda! That's why!

Some will blindly say, they're trying to save their homes. But against what? Something that was already there from before they were born? Something that was there from before their houses were built? Something that already has eminent domain over them? It's like building a house near a mountain that is prone to avalanches and mudslides. Are you going to call the county and tell them they need to fix the mountain? Of course not! You probably would reconsider the build site, if even build AT ALL! That's the smart way to do things! But no, people like to bury their heads in the sand when they see that an airport desperately needing improvement is asking a helping hand.

Even Donald Trump, owner of the Mar-A-Lago estate in Palm Beach (about a mile from the departure end of PBI's Runway 9R), is making raucous about the noise. And he himself is a "contributor" to the noise! He flies his 727 into PBI all the time (and speak of the devil, when I drove to work today, I saw his 727 sitting at Jet Aviation in PBI. His jet isn't even registered in the United States. And his jet is an older one, with noisier engines that people especially complain about. He, of all people, should be the LAST to complain about it, because he has one of the largest private planes that fly into PBI, and one of the noisiest of all aircraft that fly there.

Remember. Ask not what aviation can do for you. Ask what you can do for aviation!

You can view the proposal from the FAA here.