Thursday, May 4, 2017

The Big Update

Well, it's been almost 2 years since I last wrote in this blog.  So what's been happening?

In the Summer of 2015, "D" passed his private pilot test, and soon afterwards, so did "P".  And not long after that, in the late fall of 2015, I lost my job.

So for the next 4 to 5 months I flew most days, and also taught some ground school.  By Christmas of 2015, I went over 1,000 hrs total time.  In the spring, I had another 200 hours under my belt, when I found a consulting job, working for a start-up company in the Seattle area.

I also started working on adding multi-engine to my commercial license.  I began in a Beechcraft Baron, but the instructor (and owner) had a difficult schedule, and I switched to a different school with a Beechcraft Duchess.  I took my commercial ME checkride between Christmas 2016 and New Year 2017, and failed.  A couple of problems, one was clearly my fault, the other I think was my instructors fault.  But either way it was a failure (first ever), and now I'm about to get on the horse again and finish. Especially since I'm going to need a BFR - I prefer to get more ratings instead!

In March of 2017 I sold my Cessna 150 - to the insurance company.  A spring TX hail storm broke the canopy and dented the wings and horizontal tail, and the insurance company wrote it off.  Fortunately they are reselling it and I hope it will fly again.

D moved to Cincinnati OH, and tomorrow I'm flying his 172 from TX to OH, and with luck and fair weather, getting to visit the USAF museum in Dayton on Saturday.

Of course, a lot more than this has happened, Thing 1 finishes college in Arkansas next week, and Thing 2 just accepted an offer to attend college in upstate NY.  Our dog died and we got 2 cats.  Still have the Bonanza, thinking about adding ADS-B and a bigger display.  But that's for another time.

2 comments:

Gary said...

Glad to see you post! It's been awhile but obviously you have kept busy. Good luck on the multi commercial, I'm getting ready to schedule my SEL comm.

Good to see you're still flying the Bo. Look forward to more updates.

Chris said...

It's good to know you're well after what sounds like a tumultuous couple of years, though it sounds like you've added a respectable amount of aeronautical experience. Congrats on the kilohour! Best wishes getting back on the horse for the check ride. I feel your pain. When I busted my instrument check ride because of a stupid mistake, I was really devastated. I was fortunate to have an instructor and a DPE who were very supportive and encouraging and I earned the rating two days later.