November 16, 2009

Knew it was goin' to be a non-flying day.  The forecast was callin' for crappy weather, and well, what do ya know?!  They got it right.  We have a pretty slow low system hangin' over our heads here.  Clouds were low (1500 feet) and weren't expectin' to lift more than 4000 the rest of the day.  On this project, we need to fly at 5500 MSL...

So what does a guy do on a day off?  Well, today consisted of...

Waking up at 7:30.  Checking the weather.  My roomie and I headed out to the airport to do a little work on the airplanes.  And by a little, I mean A LITTLE.  I had purchased glass cleaner yesterday, and I was about two weeks overdue for my windshield.  I had seriously destroyed bugs from Daytona Beach to Fort Worth.  No prisoners taken.  I figured I might as well reduce the number of "airplanes" I see when Traffic Control calls one out to me...definitely not as much fun, but probably quite a bit safer.  Anyway, it took me all of about three minutes to wash the windshield...and it was cold, so I was ready to leave anyway.  Texas went from mid-60's down to the 40's.  Not cool.  Yes, it IS November, and this Illinois boy is more than used to cold temps in November, but what can I say, I'm a pansy now...I've tasted the south in the winter, and I'm lovin' it.

Went out to eat at some local restaurant.  I love doing those.  Actually, that's a fairly regular routine for me.  I do chains, but I try to do the local stuff first and most.  Nothin' but business folk on their lunch breaks.  Matt and I ate, then just sat and talked.  We had absolutely NOTHING to rush for.

Went back to the airport this afternoon.  Just to talk with other locals, really.  The only person there was the FBO lady, so we chatted for a bit.  Headed back to the hotel after that.  Stayed there a bit, almost went crazy, so we looked for somethin' else.  Well, it turns out that Walls has an outlet store across the street from us.  It's pretty much Carharrt-type stuff...so we did that for a bit...and then...

Went out to eat at Golden Corral tonight.  We had no idea, but it was "Veterans Eat Free" night.  Needless to say, the place was packed.  It was pretty sweet, though...I hold those men up in a pretty big honor.  Most were old (all but one), but it was still pretty humbling to be amongst so many veterans.  Loved it.

Went back to the hotel, but again, I couldn't stand to be there.  So I went out tonight...stayed out for a few hours.  Came back to the hotel and goin' to bed at 11:30.  Tomorrow is looking promising for flying.

This marks Day 2 of not flying.  Really, that's not bad at all.  I've seen much, much worse.  As I tell the newbie, you learn to appreciate your days off.  Because when you do fly, you may never know when another break is coming.

And frankly, that type of flying kind of sounds nice right about now...

Hard to Beat...

Well, I'm officially in Season Two.  I started exactly two weeks ago (November 1, 2009).  I spent the first few days at company headquarters in Daytona Beach.  I basically just hung out at the airport all day.  I did a couple of flights in the airplanes, made sure the cameras were up to specs, and trained the new guy that is going to be on the road with me.

Actually, that's what officially started Season Two...the flying part anyway.  I was asked to train a new guy, and so we did just a couple of training flights in Florida.  After a couple of hours, we landed, and then we were told to get out of there!  It was already 6:30 P.M.!  Ah, I love this company.

So the new guy and I headed for Texas where we had a project waiting for us.  A quick stop in Jacksonville for charts, then to Destin, FL, for a hotel.  The season had begun.  Of course, that was all at night.  We woke up the next day, flew over the Gulf of Mexico a little bit, then started our northwest flight towards Dallas.  One fuel stop was all it took...somewhere in the middle of Alabama.

All in all, it's been great.  I've been "on the job" for 15 days now...but only 11 of those days have been "on the road," and I've already racked up 40 hours.  That's hard to beat.  Plus I flew along the coast of the Atlantic Ocean...and along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico...and now I find myself just south of Fort Worth.

The new guy is pretty easy to get along with.  He's a real smart guy...and very methodical...which can be good (and safe) in aviation.  I'm takin' off, and he's still makin' sure his plane is in order...charts and all.  That's not a bad thing.  I think we've flown 6 out of the 11 days...a pretty good ratio if you ask me.  I'd be happy to keep that throughout the season.

And Texas is the place to start.  We fly a lot when we get the Texas projects, and so I'm thrilled to start out this way.  We've already finished Palo Pinto County, and we only have an hour and a half's worth of work on Parker County.  We just found out yesterday we'll be stayin' in the area...mapping two more counties south of Dallas.  So we'll stay here in Cleburne, Texas.

Two weeks.  Flown halfway across the United States.  40 hours.  Numerous new friends.  And even a free ride in a Cessna 120...I'll have to share more on that later.

This job sure is hard to beat.