Have you ever written an exam paper only to forget to save it and when you go print it off, you can't find it? Weeks ago I wrote an entire post about flying IOE and starting to fly on my own at Seaplanes only for it to not get saved and then lost forever. Writing the same thing twice is dreadful […]
Travel
New Arrival
Look who showed up... Kelli made it up here after us being apart just over two months. She flew in Tuesday June 4th at 9:45 after a little delay in Ketchican. I picked her up at the airport and she met Northern Light for the first time about 10:00. I took the next day off work so I could show her […]
Settling In
My early 20s (and mid-20s) was filled with lots of moving. I moved from home to Arizona for college at 18, back home, then into a farm house where I worked, into a single-wide mobile home next to my parents, off to my sister's in Truth or Consequences, NM, then to Leadivlle, Colorado at 24, Avon, […]
North - Part IV
Day three I awoke early, made breakfast and coffee, and took a look at the manual for the autopilot. There was a magnetometer calibration procedure I wanted to try. The magnetometer is the electronic compass the autopilot steers by. I looked through all the settings in the autopilot, fiddled with […]
North - Part III
I woke up to a nice morning still anchored where I dropped the hook by Whitney Island sometime near 6:30. Being new to everything still, I wasn’t sure how good of a spot I picked but it seemed to be good enough as I hadn’t drifted at all. The standard anchoring protocol is to put out seven times […]
North - Part II
My flight from Seattle to Petersburg on Alaska Airlines is referred to as the "Milk Run." It makes multiple stops along the way at small airports and several places you just stay on the airplane rather than getting off. We stopped in Ketchikan and Wrangell before stopping in Petersburg […]
North
Big changes. I'm sitting in a little cafe a six-minute walk from the harbor I'm living in. My laundry is tumbling next door in the local laundromat. My location is Juneau, Alaska. How did I end up here? So, I've been thinking about a change in jobs for a while and applied for a medevac job close […]
Long Distance Travel
I have realized the past couple days that traveling with a woman changes things a little. Please understand that my wife, Kelli, is a resilient woman. I don't have to struggle to keep her comfortable; she is able to do that for herself. What I mean is, I used to hop on a motorcycle with little to […]
Smiley Creek UBCP Fly-in 2019 Days 3 and 4
I forgot to mention that I had to get fuel July 5th (the night of day 2). I wanted to do more flying and I didn't have fuel access in Smiley Creek so I decided to take an evening flight to Challis (KLLJ). The weather was decent and I left with enough time to get back to Smiley Creek before dark. I […]
Smiley Creek UBCP Fly-in 2019 Days 1 and 2
July 4th weekend the Utah Backcountry Pilots Association hosted a fly-in at Smiley Creek airstrip in Idaho (U87). I had the lucky chance to break from my normal schedule and get up there and join the fun. I had not yet taken my airplane to a fly-in so this was the maiden fly-in voyage for me and the 120.