Post Oshkosh Let Down

I am a little let down by the loss of my Oshkosh spirit. It’s not really rational considering we had a wonderful trip out and back, along with a killer good time while we were there. I love every moment of that trip from the pre show build up, the euphoria of flying west, dodging weather, and navigating safely to a place nearly half a continent away. 

While there, we congregate with thousands of other enthusiasts who share a bond from having done the same thing.   Departing to head home using only our machinery, experience and guile to propel us along. Writing this now I guess its only natural to  feel a little down knowing that this accomplishment is in the logbook. It is truly the highlight of my year and now that it’s past I look at the balance of summer with the same trepidation a school child views the start of the academic year.   

I used to attend Sun n Fun yearly but since the economy tanked in December 2007 the economics of taking that trip became hard to justify. The fly in is only three months prior to Oshkosh but high fuel prices and tight flying money have kept us from attending regularly since. Surprisingly we are not alone in that, I was surprised to see that Sun n fun was no longer considered busy enough for the FAA to include on the Special Traffic Management Program (eSTMP).

I wish there was another event like Airventure that was spaced evenly around the calendar that we could get everyone to fly to. There is something almost magical about getting a couple thousand airplanes and pilots together that I find really uplifting. This is difficult to explain, but its almost religious in an evangelical sense when there is so much positive energy centered around general aviation

Perhaps if they moved Sun N Fun to the opposite side of the calendar from Airventure more people would attend again. Logistically it might not be possible. The past few Florida winters have been cold and camping in January and February probably isn’t as appealing as it is in April. Winter means icing too and most of us aren't flying aircraft equipped to deal with ice.

Regardless, I’m sure to snap out of my Oshkosh Post Partum once I get back in the groove of coming into work every day after having the last two weeks off but until then….

Traveling around the Country in a Light Airplane- Are New York based pilots any ruder than people from other areas?

Does being from the New York City area make you rude? I don’t think so, but whenever I am travelling I tell people that I’m from Southwestern Connecticut. Most folks only have a local understanding of their own geography so when we’re invariably asked about where in the world that is I’ll say we’re 64 miles by car or 39 miles by air from New York City. 

This past trip Judy asked me why people always tell us about rude people from New York when we tell them where we’re from. She was wondering if the people were telling us that we’re rude, or were shocked that we weren’t as rude as the stereotypical New Yorker. I said that I didn’t know which it was but it got me thinking about the thirteen years that I worked in Manhattan and the relative rudeness of people I encountered during that time.

I wouldn’t say that people from New York are any ruder than people from any other major metropolitan area. I’ve worked in Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, Washington DC, and Los Angeles and Portland Oregon and I’ve found that whenever there are a lot of people concentrated in one area they become intolerant of people who are not familiar with the way things work there.

Of all the places that I have worked I would say Boston and Philly were the rudest, but maybe that was my impression from not knowing the ropes of the community I found myself in.

iPad Aviation Classes-Motion Simulations is offering iPad/Foreflight Mobile Instruction

Classroom and Simulator Training

Classes to form weekly Wednesday evening between 6:30-8:30.

Weekday one on one sessions available

Course covers

·      Purchase Decision iPad2 vs. iPad3

·      Differences iPad1 vs. iPad3

·      Cellular Data + WiFi or WiFi

·      IPad initialization

·      Foreflight Installation and Subscription Activation

·      Which version is for me? Standard or Professional

·      Populating the chart database

·      Airports, Maps, Plates, Documents, Imagery File and Brief, Scratch Pad

·      Preflight Planning

·      Route Selection

·      Weather Avoidance

·      Flight Operations

·      GeoLocation

·      VFR Sectional and TAC

·      IFR Enroute Charts

·      Terminal procedures

·      AFD and Publications

·      Stratus/ADS-B

Simulator Training

·      Learn to use your iPad in flight.

·      Plan then fly one of our VFR/IFR scenarios in our Simulator

·      You’ll learn to utilize Foreflight Mobile with Garmin Avionics

·      Managing the technology

Dealing with route changes from ATC.

Our CATS Testing site is active as of 7/27/2012.

It was a long and arduous process spanning eleven and an half months.  Requiring an inordinate amount of follow up weekly via both email and voicemail but from what I understand we’re live now,

So if you should find yourself with a need to take an FAA knowledge exam we will be offering that service from noon until five Mondays thru Saturdays.

 https://catsdoor02.com/comira/cats/display.jsp?site=ABS06802