Endeesea’s Neighborhood

Folks,

It was a good flying day today: low winds, some puffy clouds but otherwise a lovely VMC (visual meteorological conditions) day for VFR flying.

Which meant that the airspace over Jandakot was busy. Coupled with the fact that there was an aviation tribute to the late Aussie aviatrix Nancy Bird-Walton at the Perth foreshore and there were plenty of vintage planes which flew in for that at 11am this morning, it did have an impact at Jandakot. Well, my lesson was at 1pm and by the time I was doing my second circuit, tower told us to do a full stop landing and hold short of Runway 30 while they sequenced a squadron of the oldies for landing. It was quite a sight to see 4-5 bright yellow Tiger Moths plus a few other classics coming in to land at almost standstill airspeed on final. Pity I couldn't grab some footage on my mobile as I was busy holding my position in the takeoff queue behind two other light aircraft.

The Good

Anyway, my pre-flights are getting faster and my taxiing has vastly improved. And being told to do left hand circuits on Runway 30 is actually great because it is a wider runway and the approach is less intimidating compared with Runway 24L. I joked with Min that I therefore had more room to weave since there was more room. She laughed, I did, too but deep down I have been cross with myself all week for not getting rid of this "yip".

So, a shorter flight log today folks.

Take-off roll outs were good. I managed to keep KMB on the centreline before pulling up at 65 knots.

In fact, I'm pleased with my progress up till about short final on the circuit. This is when KMB is about 150ft AGL (above ground level), engine power is down to about 1100-1200rpm and I'm probably 50m just shy of the runway piano keys. This is when the yips start.

The Bad

My final line-up is good but I am somehow just a tad too high or airspeed just that fraction too fast as I power down to idle rpm (about 750rpm on KMB) when I cross the runway threshold. So I go into quick correction mode: pitch down to lose the altitude.

The Ugly

But this means the airspeed picks up a notch. Then my eyes are fixated on the tarmac. Shit!!! Then I pull back on the yoke to flare, but now the attitude of the wings is starting to bank slightly right at 30ft AGL. So I work the left aileron to correct my attitude. All this while KMB is about to touchdown... my head's all in a mess as we have a somewhat heavy landing. Now I'm working the pedals furiously to keep KMB centred on the runway, retract the flaps, two trims forward of the wheel before whacking the throttle up to full power to take-off again on the second circuit.

The Plan

I know what has to be done. Min said I needed to fixate on the horizon more as I get towards short final instead of looking down. She's right. It's target fixation. This is what I learned riding motorcycles; you never fixate on traffic coming in the opposite direction or you'll invariably veer across. The same thing's happening here with me and landing the damn plane. I'm focusing too hard on the threshold and forgetting to prepare for what lies a couple of steps ahead. And this causes my workload to rush at me quickly (literally) and I'm not giving myself enough time to respond immediately on landing. This also explains why I'm having these annoying post-landing weaves on the landing roll-out and pre-takeoff. I reckon if I can improve my short final preps to gain an extra 3 seconds, the weaves will be a thing of the past.

I recall my struggles with Straight and Level Flying back in June, and the same feeling of frustration is too familiar. I know what I've got to do. Time and practice are what's needed; I can't fix this any other way. Flight Sim can get me some of the way there but it can't simulate the updraft turbulence that always happens on final approach. This is what causes the aircraft's attitude to get off the runway's centre, requiring more rudder/aileron/throttle coordination. And this is where time starts to condense and the cockpit workload builds. This is exactly the phase of my circuit session where I have to focus on.

I shared with Min that I was getting angry with myself for not getting rid of my yips, but she's cool with it. A quick Google around and I found that a lot of student pilots did anywhere between 8-25 hours of circuit training before being asked to solo. I checked my log and found that I've only done 3.6 hours of circuit training including today. Maybe I'm being unrealistic to expect miracles. Perhaps there's also a lesson here about safety in wanting to rush things along. Still, I'm just not built to accept something less than good when I know I can do this.

So, I've got a few more circuit sessions to go yet. I'm thinking maybe I should take a few days off work to go flying 3-4 days consecutively to really lock in my lessons. We shall see. 

Till the next instalment, clear prop!

Ninja 

Hot drinks

I'm still trying to minimize our posessions. Even my email box was horribly clogged. I had 124 emails on my private account. Most of them were from nonprofits. During grad school I did a newsletter signup frenzy. I must have been lonely or something!

I unsubscribed to almost all of them. Wow! What a difference. Our house is also filled with things we can't seem to say no to. Gifts from family, my mom sends me boxes of junk.

Last night I made a list of things I want vs things I need.

Need: Clothing, food, shelter. Medicine and cleaning products. Safety items (phone, flashlight)

That doesn't sound like a lot until you remember that clothing alone is shoes, shirts, fall coats, winter coats, boots, gloves, jogging clothes, agh!

Want: Art and supplies, amenities, furniture, books, cat toys, modest decor, some electronics. Girly things.

That is still a lot of stuff, and it doesn't even include sentimental things. Very hard to choose. On a somewhat unrelated note, I love this clothing site called Prana. They make great yoga clothes and they are partnered with Conservation Alliance, a wonderful nonprofit.

And they don't brag about stuff. I love that.

NewLooks_womens_fall_r8_c3

Green-tea-shaded

Going to my favorite semi-local market today. Finding products that aren't wasteful gives me a raging migraine. Companies brag about all sorts of things that are weak or completely meaningless. Like "made from sustainable materials". Says who? Oh yeah, the company who makes the product.

Fortunately, the Federal Trade Commission has finally decided to step in. ABC news had a good story on the matter. As they point out in the story, a few good labels exist already. Terrachoice mentions Ecologo and Green Seal.

Here's a quick and dirty eco-guide:

** Items that will be tossed in days or weeks are wasteful, period. The "biodegradeable" label is not regulated by law. Packaging should be minimal.

**Plastic is evil. The end. Try glass or metal.

**As our beloved Alton Brown says, we don't like Unitaskers. If you buy a glass bottle of milk, or whatever, think of ways you can Reuse the item. Put candies in it as a Christmas gift. That way you'll also avoid gift wrap for the holiday.

**Paper can be biodegradeable, but habitat loss and deforestation are, in my opinion, the most serious environmental problem these days. Buy used furniture, use a cloth bag. Be happy and dance.  

Which looks cooler, a Dunkin Donuts styrofoam cup, or these?

The other day, I stopped in at a fast food joint to get something to eat.  I gave my order to the person standing behind the cash register, who did not acknowledge the order in any way and made no move to enter it into the cash register.  Instead, he was looking around me, silently trying to get the attention of someone out in the dining area.  No customers were standing in line, so I figured it had to be someone already seated.  The person behind the register moved down the counter, still gesturing to some unseen person, extending a hand, but did not call out to whomever it was.  Nor did he say anything to me, such as "I'll be right with you."

Slightly put out, I waited as the person returned to the cash register.   Again, I gave my order, and again, the person ignored me, still looking around me at some unknown person.  Now completely pissed, I asked him, "Are you going to wait on me or are you going to talk to somebody else?"

Finally, the clueless clerk spoke.  "I was just trying to give him his change!" and showed me three pennies.  First of all, there was no "him" to be seen -- the ordering area had been empty of people the entire time I'd been inside the restaurant -- and secondly, you don't get that invisible person's attention by gesturing silently, however much you stare and wave your arms.

Thoroughly irritated by this time, I said, "Fuck it" and stalked out, getting my meal elsewhere, from a place where I was actually able to get someone to take my order.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/join-muslim-asia-or-perish-taliban/story-e6frg6nf-1225794873972

Folks,

I'd like to think of myself as a fair-minded bloke who doesn't mind having his eyes opened occasionally to better ideas and ways of living. Lord knows I'm the same dumb shit as I was the day I was born.

But when I hear that there are people out there who'd be arrogant enough to think that I HAVE to choose their way of life or die, that's when the gloves come off.

How dare these SOBs tell me in my own home how I should live or who I choose to worship??! Do I ever want to see Australia darkened by the rubbish we see happening in the backward townships across the Middle East? Do I want the female members of my family to forever be second-class citizens and have their life choices diminished because of their gender? Do I want to always be declaring war on people simply because they might choose to wear normal clothes instead of a maxi-kaftan? Do I want to force people to be carbon-copy fools because some bearded moron said so? And do I want all children to be forced to recite the Koran from sunrise to sunset, and forget what it means to be nice to our neighbours of all persuasions? HELL FRIGGIN' NO!!!

I also think these imbeciles forget that many amongst us left Islamic countries to come to lands like Australia because of that very reason - we DO NOT accept Islam (or any religion for that matter) to be the guiding ideology that underpins the proper running of a fully-functioning democracy. The laws of this land are what makes us tick and gives us the right to pursue everything within our powers to make a decent life for ourselves, our families and our community - without fear or favour, no matter who you are. We accept all comers to this country - even some who really should be booted out without a second glance. But we are fair-minded and decent folk who happen to believe in a fair go. But there is a limit to that compassion, especially when threats are issued such as the one from the Taliban.

So if the Taliban thinks that they can push little ol' me and my mates in Oz around, they're sadly and badly mistaken. Very terribly mistaken. I used to understand why there was so much bitterness in the Middle East. I still do. But that all changed for me in July when I very nearly became a stat to the indiscriminate Islamic-based hatred that we see around the world. No more. Gloves are off.

Ninja

Roses blooming outside my window. Birds nesting and singing outside my window. Grass and clover growing outside my window. Echidnas and stumpy tail lizards strolling outside my window. Must be Spring, hooray.

But unlike the chirpy weather presenters on television I don't say "hooray, Summer is coming". That lovely thick grass that is creating contented fat sheep will soon begin to dry. I will watch as the hillsides go from green to brown, leaving just a fine network of green lines along the gullies; and then from brown to yellow with no green lines. And just down the road, last weekend, billowing clouds of smoke from a neighbour's paddock gave me an awful scare until I realised that the number of fire trucks meant it was a training exercise burn. Fire season underway in Victoria, and Queensland has had major bush fires already. And the snake in the grass is climate change, the warmer and drier it gets, the more, and more severe, bushfires we will get all over southern Australia.

If stumpy tails are strolling on my door step then snakes will soon be slithering over it, and a few days ago I saw the first one hurrying over my driveway. Always seems to be the way with farming - rain gets the pasture growing but also can lead to worms in sheep and will certainly lead to long dry grass that can be a fire hazard. Warm weather brings on the growth of flowers but also brings the snakes out of hibernation.

Is it just me that dreads summer? Maybe it is, maybe the whole population of Yass would be cheering on the Sydney weather presenter who in the record high temperatures a week or so ago strolled on to Bondi Beach, wriggled her high heels firmly into the sand, and proceeded to tell us how wonderful it was that it was already hot enough for the beach and Summer couldn't come fast enough. Funny isn't it that these people always present the weather from the beach on these sweltering days and not, say, from a bare paddock on the hills around Yass.

Come to think of it, isn't it funny that the climate change deniers (of whom my one time favourite National Barnaby is now sadly a leader) always make their pronouncements about how there is no such thing as global warming from the air conditioned environment of parliament house in Spring, and not from that same bare Yass paddock in Summer? Same reason I suppose.

Look I know Winter can have its down side on the southern tablelands. What's that you say? "Grim"? Well, yes, it can be grim. But you can always dress up warmly, stoke up a fire, close the curtains early on a dark evening, eat a roast hot from the oven. And Spring and Autumn can also have miserable windy and wet days. But those nine months don't have you watching your step for brown snakes in the long grass, or wondering whether one is visiting the shed to hunt mice around the feed bags.

And they don't have you anxiously scanning the horizon for columns of smoke, don't have you wondering whether you can smell smoke, don't have you feverishly reading weather bulletins to see how high the danger levels are going to be. Summer is tension for me, digging my fingers into the yard rail, not digging my toes into Bondi Beach, and I don't relax again until well into Autumn, endlessly grateful that the bush fire brigade people are hard at work on our behalf.

I bet they hate Summer too.

All David Horton's writing is on The Watermelon Blog.

http://youngestround.blogspot.com/

Folks,

Follow young Jess as she makes her way around the world in her tiny boat.

Ninja

Last night I gave my mother her Christmas present -- two tickets to a live Mannheim Steam Roller Christmas concert in Philadelphia. The concert is on November 14th, which is why I had to give her the tickets now. When I handed it to her last night I told her it was a time-sensitive Christmas present, which is why it wouldn't be under the tree for her on Christmas day. She was thrilled to get the tickets! She has almost all of the Mannheim Steam Roller Christmas CDs in her CD collection, and she's talked about loving their music for as long as I can remember. When I saw the commercial advertised between Judge Judy episodes, I knew it would be a perfect Christmas gift for her.

Poor Alyssa. The kid that never gets sick, and if she does manages to shake it within 1-3 days, is sick, and has been for almost two weeks. For the first week or so it was just the sniffles, a somewhat runny nose, some coughing. A few days ago it escalated to major coughing, a constantly runny nose, a sore throat, and a wet, raspy cough accompanied with nasal and chest congestion (she looks and sounds so bad that I haven't sent her to preschool this week). Since she wasn't getting any better, despite plenty of rest, fluids and childrens' cold medicine to ease her symptoms, I made an appointment with the doctor. They diagnosed her with a bacterial infection and sent her and Dan on their way with instructions for plenty of rest, fluids and OTC medications for treating her symptoms. Grr. I mean, I know they don't want to just start handing out medication like it's candy, because too much medicine can cause bacteria to become resistant to it. But at the same time, she's been sick for two weeks. If they diagnosed a bacterial infection, why couldn't they give her a little something for it?
I was out while Dan had Alyssa at the doctor, and when he called to let me know what the doctor said, I stopped in Target for a humidifier, some Vicks VapoSteam, and some more medicine. She sounds a lot better this morning, so I think the humidifier helped to loosen her up a bit. She's in the living room right now, but I think I'm going to put her back in her bedroom with the humidifier. She's also become a fan of "toasted" blankets, ever since she saw me tossing blankets in the dryer to warm them up on chilly evenings. ;)

Amazingly, I am not sick. I say amazingly because Dan is also sick. He isn't as bad as she is, but he has something. Considering we kiss and sleep together, you'd think I would be half-dead by now, since I'm getting an overload of germs from him and Alyssa. Normally they bring germs to me and get me sick, while they stay healthy. Not this time! *knocks on wood* Maybe it's the decent sleeping routine + vitamins?

While out driving on Halloween the other night, I drove through a neighborhood in full trick or treat mode.  Though a minority of older kids walked from house to house, most kids were driven by their parents to each house, getting in and out of the vehicle (mostly ubiquitous minivans) ever 25 feet or so.

This meant that the road was clogged with pausing and slow moving vehicles, which made it very difficult for through traffic to drive down the street.  It also made it more dangerous for drivers like me because it made it harder to see kids on foot, and made it more dangerous for the kids, as it made it harder for them to see through traffic, and because of the unpredictable movements of the minivan parade.

I don't know why the parents of small children just didn't park their vehicles and get off their lazy asses and walk with their kids to each house.  And the parents of older children should have been home giving out candy and let those kids travel in groups to trick or treat on their own.  It seems to me that if you're ten or eleven, having to spend the night getting in and out of a car with your parents there the whole time would suck all the joy right out of Halloween.

Halloween is totally different now for kids than it was when I was a kid trick or treating back in the sixties and early seventies.  For one thing, only the smallest children had parents going with them to trick or treat, and even then the parents walked with their kids, they didn't drive them from house to house.  And from about the second grade onwards (age 8), kids trick or treated on their own in groups in their own neighborhoods and the parents stayed home to hand out candy to other kids. 

I lived in a huge subdivision where nearly every house participated.   My mother would give me a king size pillow case and I'd fill that up, then return to get another one to fill.  Trick or treating typically began at dusk, and continued for a few hours. 

It was a lot more fun for us than it is for kids nowadays and I kind of feel sorry for kids now because they won't experience Halloween like most Baby Boom era kids did.

Folks,

It's not for the horses that I stop on the first Tuesday of every November. Rather, I stop and enjoy the photos of the aftermath of the race when the beautifully coiffed and dressed ladies on race day display their totally au naturelle look when the alcohol finally takes its toll.

I miss the displaced hats, the unkempt hairdos, the smeared lippy, the vomit-stained dresses and legs akimbo next to the toilet block in drunken stupor. Oh where, where art thou????

Sorry, was I too forthright? Yeah, the blokes are no better, too.

Ninja