Ground School Almost Over

Finished the Systems exam today. So nice to come back to the hotel room and *not* have to study. Two more days of performance training in OR and its back to Denver for the sim (with a few well deserved days off in between). I realized that tomorrow I'll have been gone for 4 weeks; I'm ready to go home.

I took that picture last week, never did find the pot of gold...

Ground School Update

Everyday on the way to ground school we drive by the 747 outside the museum complex where our class is held.

Today we went out to the airplane with our instructor, walked around it, and actually got to go inside. Its pretty impressive, and it kind of hit me that I'll be flying one of the largest airplanes in service. Granted, its 1970's technology, but its still pretty darn cool.
There were no stairs to get to the main deck door, so we had to climb up an exit hatch behind the nose gear, to get in via the electronics compartment in the lower deck. From there another ladder took us to the main deck and up another ladder to the upper deck and cockpit. The main deck is really, really, big and it was easy to imagine it full of cargo pallets. The upper deck and cockpit are the "hump" on the airplane where I expect to be spending lots of time in the near future


Looking forward from the First Officer's seat, the view from three stories up is going to be very different than what I'm used to. I think the landing flare might take a while to get used to. Everyone was excited to be in the airplane, and we really enjoyed our "walk around," then it was back to class to finish learning about the fuel system.
Here's some pictures of my class mates Chris, Edul and Kevin in front of the #3 engine.
James "JB" Brown in the cockpit
Jason picked Edul up by his leg, (ok, actually Edul was doing a headstand and Jason was trying to "steady" him.
Me in the cockpit
Chris "let's go swimming" Farina

It's been a while, I've been a bit busy

Let it be known that my attempts to blog might be random and inconsistent.

I'm in McMinnville, OR and I should be studying. A lot has happened since I last posted, I've been busy! I flew my last trip with Mesa, went home for my brother's wedding, and am now through my first week of ground school at Evergreen. Life is moving fast!

My last days at Mesa went well, and it hasn't quite hit me that I'll no longer be flying the ERJ. I'm a little sad to leave Mesa as I've got some great friends there that I'll miss seeing on a regular basis. But I didn't shed a tear on my last day. I'm excited for what lies ahead for me.

After a quick stop in Denver to change out the suitcase, I left for CA and my brother's wedding. I arrived in CA to great weather and I can't remember seeing that much snow on the mountains ever. The skies were clear and the grass green, winter really is the best time of year in SoCAL.

Not just because he's my brother, but in all honesty, the wedding was one of the best ones I've been to. Big props to Jen for putting together such a classy celebration. I didn't get too many pictures, but I'm sure there are a lot around. The wedding was in a 100 year old church in downtown Laguna Beach and the reception at a super cool restaurant/night club up the canyon. Here's the wedding party and Jen's Dad giving a toast.


It was a great time, and a great party, and I was sad to leave. Not enough time with Debbie, not enough with my family, not enough to de-compress before heading north to OR. We stayed right on the water in Laguna Beach at a great little hotel right on the beach. Here's a picture of Debbie on one of our walks along the coastal path:

And one of my cute nieces, they really do grow fast!

I've been in McMinnville a week now, and the weather has been typical NW cloudy/rainy for most of the time. Yesterday, however the weather was fantastic with nice temps and no rain, blue skies even! We drive by this 747 on our way to class every morning. I still can't believe I'll be flying such a big airplane. I realized that this summer it will be 10 years since I left Seattle to go to flight school.

I've made some new friends and feel lucky to have some great guys in my ground school. One, another Mesa guy, is a yoga instructor. He gave me some yoga instruction this morning; it was the first time I had done any in a while, and he said I did well. He's very good, and was able to coach me into doing my first headstand! (sorry I didn't get a picture, may be tomorrow?)

I'll try and post more often, but to be honest it might be a while until I'll be able to update the blog. With systems starting on monday, I'm going to be very busy studying, but I'll do my best. Until next time here's a nice picture I took in Laguna.

Be well.