Something or Nothing

Been a while (again)

2011-12-28T19:08:00.000-08:00

Been a long time since I've posted. Two reasons, really. I've been really busy, but I also kinda-sorta forgot I had even created the blog again. A little embarrassing I guess.

Since June:
Flight training over! Now the real learning can begin. After many solo flights, cross-country, night flying, simulated instrument and even (uniquely) an hour of actual IFR time without the hood, I successfully completed my Private Pilot examination back in August and can exercise all the rights and priviledges thereof. Since my funding for the training was used for the training, I haven't had as much flying time since then as I would have liked. A few more in the Cessna 172, then I got checked out on the Piper Cherokee Warrior (PA-28-161). Unlike the Cessna, the Warrior is low wing - instead of hanging from beneath the wings you are sitting on top of them. The view is great if you like looking at the sky, and from the front seats you can see the ground pretty good too, but passengers in the back get a nice view of a candy-bar looking wing. I have no problems with the Cessna, but I have enjoyed the few hours I have in the Warrior quite a bit. It handles differently, to me it feels more responsive, and sitting on top seems more comfortable to me. Also my landings, which were getting pretty good in the Cessna, are much better in the Warrior. I am better able to judge when to flare.

I actually have a bunch of flying photos in my Picasa Web Album, which has stuff from training as well as a little from later. Unfortunately the last photo right now is from October 23 which is the last time I managed to get out and fly. I had a wrist surgery that grounded me for a while and now that I'm better, I need to get an instructor to take me around the field for a few landings (club rules) before I can go out on my own again. No big deal.

I will be taking a trip home to Oregon in early January and am hoping to get a chance to fly while I'm out there. We'll see how it works out. Since my remaining time in the midwest is limited, I'd also like to take myself on a trip somewhere new. Maybe to Mount Rushmore or up to Chicago. Unfortunately that may not happen due to funding, we'll see.

Future plans are to do an Instrument course and go from there. I was going to do the Instrument course in late November at the Aero Club here, but my surgery forced me to put it off. No matter, if I do it when I get back to Oregon I can do it through the Community College, use my Post 9/11 GI Bill and do all the training for free. They will take me up to CFI. I enjoy flying so much, and it has enough of the high-tech geekery I enjoy, that I'm seriously considering trying to move my career into that direction rather than computers forever. I'm at the perfect juncture to make that kind of move since I will be uprooted from all things anyway in the next few months. There is some fear involved though, primarily how to make ends meet in the meantime, and also how to even get started after training, but all things seem to work out so we'll see where I end up.

More Life, and Flight!

2011-06-12T19:47:00.000-07:00

Been a few weeks since I posted on here. Some faster updates: Finished my three classes last term, which brought in another 9 credits and positively affected my GPA (two A's and a B, not bad for the first and last time I'm going to attempt 9 credits while working full time). Now I'm working on a Cisco CCNA class which I have essentially taken before in High School, but now with college credits included. I need to test for Security+, and will need to test for CCNA after this term. I'm still hoping to get into flying as a job later on, but it doesn't hurt to have a fallback.

On the flying side, I finished my ground school at the end of May and I'm now looking for some open time to take the FAA written test. I think maybe on Friday, but I have to see what the testing center's schedule looks like. I feel pretty confident for the test, the only things I may have issues on are some of the weather charts. I understand the charts, but the questions about them are a little abstract sometimes.

Otherwise, my actual flying has been going very well! Since my last flying post I have successfully done my first and second solo flights, and didn't even damage the aircraft! My Instructor did not spring it on me as a surprise, and for that I am thankful. I knew I was prepared by the time it came down to it, and she stayed in the aircraft for a few times around the pattern to let me warm up, so when she hopped out it was pretty much just doing the same thing without her in there. Of course, without her there I also felt much more in tune with the aircraft, and I noticed my mistakes much more thoroughly. Most of them involved the flare. I tend not to flare enough... I like having the horizon in front of me like a car instead of pointing the nose upwards... but I'm getting better at it.

My second solo was yesterday, due to weather preventing another flight I had scheduled earlier in the week. It was much more exciting, I think. The weather was beautiful, so the pattern at Plattsmouth Municipal Airport (KPMV) was busy compared to my first solo or even any time I have flown there previously. There are helicopters in the area doing surveying in preparation for some incoming floods, so one of them was flying around (though out of the way), then were were quite a few aircraft coming into the airport for fuel, doing touch and goes, one guy crossing the airfield at pattern altitude (both before my instructor hopped out and after - she was not happy with him), other aero club aircraft (we had three of our Cessnas in line for the pump at once while I was doing my pattern work), and then just the locals flying back from wherever. I cannot begin to explain how cool it is to be flying in the pattern with other aircraft. Looking out the window and seeing another airplane at the same altitude in front of you or off to the side coming in for a landing is so cool, because it reminds me "Hey, I look just like that guy... far off the ground!" Landing on the second solo was also much better than the first. One was a little flaky, too flat. Two were just okay, didn't flare enough. One was absolutely perfect... the stall warning barely chirped at just the same time the wheels touched down with barely a bump. That's the kind of landing I need to aim for more... and of course it was the one time I both waited to flare a little later than my instincts said, and flared enough with the nose actually up on the horizon. Altogether a good flight... I'm definitely seeing improvement.

For me a good sign I noticed towards the end of my second flight when we were both returning to the base, was that I hadn't looked at the attitude indicator at all during the entire flight (except for glancing during turns), and had still managed to maintain level flight just looking out the window. It was great. I was able to fly while looking outside, and actually notice things like the flooding, other aircraft out doing their thing, and landmarks in the distance that I've only noticed before when the instructor pointed them out with us nearly above it. I'm glad to be able to move my focus away from the cockpit and out into the world around, that's the exciting part about flying anyway.

Yubikey

2011-05-13T18:47:00.000-07:00

So on the flying side, I didn't manage to get in a flight today due to bad weather we've been having across the midwest. It was unfortunate, because my last flight was pretty amazing and I was looking forward to expanding on it, but I'll have another chance soon.

I recently purchased a YubiKey. Kind of on a whim, but mostly in response to the lastpass "possible" incident, though I also changed my master password. I was pretty thrilled when I saw the YubiKey VIP, because I've long used the Symantec/Verisign VIP credential on ebay and some other places, but carrying it around is kind of awkward. The YubiKey is convenient because I can just plug it in the USB slot, hit the button, then remove it again.

I've also created a second identity on the key which authenticates to the Yubico servers. This is used for the lastpass two-factor authentication but can also be paired with other services. Yubico provides an openID server so I can comment on discus with just the YubiKey for authentication, pretty neat. You can also get software to use it as a password replacement on the computer, but I don't like plugging in my keychain that much.

Flying

2011-05-06T01:18:00.000-07:00

For the past month or so I've been on leave from work. I generally don't take any leave, which is why I have been able to take so much (still have a week left), in this case it was just to get out for a while, but it ended up being quite the godsend.

Despite online taking online classes at the moment, I've found that three classes is probably my limit in order to do anything else at the same time. I'm about done with this term, but I don't know how I could have done it if I hadn't taken the leave from work. Not having to work has made procrastination more of an issue than it would have been, but at the same time I'm able to stop doing anything and relax, when I need to.

At the beginning of April I also began flight training. It's something I've wanted to do for a long time, but never had the guts to just go in and sign up. Part of it is a personal awkwardness with driving up to a fenced in area and calling for access, and also just not knowing anyone. Lately though I've been thinking of something I'd like to do in the future, and considering piloting. I was leaning towards helicopters, but then I looked into the job prospects, which are there but look difficult to get into. Anyway, a friend mentioned that there was a ground school starting at the flying club, so I finally pushed myself into going in and signing up, and once inside it was much less awkward than imagined.

The ground course has been very informative, as I've learned more about climate and weather than I have heard anywhere else, and it's also a very laid back place. I've been flying a few times now, I can take off unassisted and just started learning landings, still going over basic maneuvers. The flights are exhilarating but still new enough that I still feel nervous about it. It is a blast though, just in a strange way where I find myself just a little shaken sometimes when it's over. Adrenaline, not fear. My landings are firm, but better than controlled crashes. I've still got a long ways to go for my PPL, but I think I'm going to keep going with training afterwards. My education benefits will pay for flight training when attached to a school, so when I move back to the Pacific Northwest I think I'll start it up again. That's a great thing really, because the expenses would be quite prohibitive otherwise. Hoping for a career opportunity with it, much more exciting than the IT stuff I've always been pursuing. Of course, IT is still an option on the table, especially if I find getting a flying job to be difficult. Nothing says I can't fix computers and be a flight instructor at the same time, right?

Back Again

2011-04-19T18:42:00.000-07:00

I've created a new blog, same name as my ~~ancient~~ old one and we'll see if anything interesting ever ends up here.

I've tried twitter but couldn't really get into it. Too much too fast, not too much of substance. I've found I miss just linking to something and commenting, so here goes.