New Kitty

Im gonna name him Siggy

Incredible

Amazing Russian Helicopter

Cool

Took this during an airboat ride. Notice the hiss coming from the gator.

I Made it!

I passed my Check Ride! Im an official private pilot! My flying buddy passed his test too. Here are some pictures of the two of us with our instructor. He was so nervous today. And when we both passed he was like a proud father.

Next Stop...Private Pilot

I passed my Stage Check today. So the next thing is the official check ride with an faa examiner.
-curt
ps. this is interesting.

Stage Check

Ok...
So finally I'm getting my stage check with an advanced pilot. I have to do that before I can have my check ride with an FAA examiner. I have been waiting for 6 days for a pilot to get time for me. But after tomorrow I will be ready for the big test. So hopefully this weekend or for sure on Tuesday I will be a private pilot. Then it is on to doing some of the commercial requirements and learning to fly a different helicopter. I am also planning to get my fixed wing add on as well. The school has a Cessna 172 for training purposes. So depending on the next few weeks, I might start learning to fly that too! But I will cross that bridge when I get to it.
cj
ps. the weather here has been in the mid 70's in the day and 60's at night. sunny and light wind. It sure doesn't feel like December!

Qualifying Cross Country

Did my long solo cross country flight today. 4 hours. Flew down with a fellow student. We were each in different helicopters but left at the same time doing the same thing. It was really fun! He has been my flying buddy cause we have the same instructor and we both progress at the same rate. So we have done alot of solo flights at the same time. He is from norway. Here are some pictures from our first stop.

Busy Busy

Howdy howdy.
Gonna be an official private pilot soon. Taking the written test on monday, then the check ride on the 8th or so. I need to pile up some hours first. I need about 10 more before I can do the check ride. I got a 2 hour flight tomorrow and a bunch of little ones after that. So with a little concentration, in 2 weeks I will be a private pilot beginning to work on my commercial solo requirements and my Robinson R-22 conversion.
Chao
cj

Little Vids

Sorry for the shaking. I didn't realize the camera was taking Videos.

All I can say is... Wow.

Some Pictures

Hey everyone,
Here are some pictures.

It's my birthday, And I'll fly if I want to!

Im 23 today! Yay for me!!! No, seriously, I cant really enjoy it yet cause I have to study for a test I gotta take at noon. Then after the test I have to study for the final, which is tomorrow. But once the final is done, I can enjoy it.

Solo!!!!!!!

I soloed for the first time today! It was totally awesome! I flew a pattern around the airport with my instructor so he could evaluate if i was up to it. Then I set down and he got out. I picked up to a hover did a pedal turn, called up the control tower for clearance and off I went. I did 4 patterns then landed, instructor jumped back in, and back to parking we went. Everything went great during the flight, the only issue was a flock of birds riding a thermal at the end of the runway that I had to dodge every time. But other than that it was amazing. Here are some pictures my instructor took. Enjoy.
Ps. Im not mad, just concentrating. I didn't want to do anything stupid on camera :)

Solo Stage Check

Well I had my solo stage check today. In essence it is a test by a senior instructor to make sure I know what I am doing. I did mine this morning an passed with flying colors so if all goes well, I will solo tomorrow. This is also the last week of the ground school so I got 1 normal test and 1 comprehensive final. Once this week is over I will be doing a ton more flying. I am currently at 18.4 hrs and I need 40 for the private level. I am hoping to complete the Private by early December. Then on to instrument training, which I hear is really tough. But I will cross that bridge when I get to it.

The Rogerssss'

The newly married couple dropped by my neck of the swamp today. Good to see them. They said they had a good time.... Im sure.... (i think i saw a hicky on ben's neck) i gave them a bit of a tour of the airport, but it was dark so i couldn't show them everything. aparently ben got lost while trying to find the airport. the florida freeways usually have at least 2 different names, sometimes more. so he got pretty confused. but he finally made it and we had a good dinner.

Just An Observation (Late Night Rant)

Never Mind

Training Wheels

Well I had my first flight in 2 weeks today. At first it was like i was learning all over. And it was manuver after manuver keeping me on my toes and my adreniline pumping (180 autos are exciting) so i was exhausted when i got back. Im up to 14.3 hrs total and will be going solo around 17.5. I dont feel ready, but the instructors tell me that is normal. Im not worried about crashing the helicopter, im actually quite good with it, it just feels like when your dad takes off the training wheels on your bike. He hands it to you and says, "Go for it!" Right now im at the stage where there arn't any training wheels and the instructors are running beside me holding the seat. But come saturday, it will be up to me to ride it all by myself. I know I will be fine but I am a bit nervous.
Hope you all are good,
cj

Achmed!

Maybe

If all goes well, I will be going solo on saturday! I have a stage check, which is a test flight with a senior instructor to check my skills, on friday. SOOOO if i pass (which i will :P) I will be going solo on saturday.
cj

Boring Week

This has been a real bummer week in regards to flying. That hurricane missed most of florida but it created some nasty winds and patchy rain clouds. However the week hasn't been without its entertainment. Two students in my class hooked up on friday and then rather publicly broke up on monday. And we as a class got see the fall out. Gotta love alcohol fueled romances!

New Apartment!

Ok so finally got settled, got my internet, tv, food, bed, guitars... im set. here are some pictures. I am supposed to solo this week but the weather is getting nasty. gonna catch a hurricane coming up the eastern side of the state in the next few days. so no flying. ok im sleepy, heading to bed. take care,
cj
ps. the dude shaving is a Norwegian from Svalbard who lost a bet on a ufc fighter. he had to shave his beard over it!

Just Moved....No Internet

Hey everyone,
I just moved into my new apartment. It is awesome except I dont have internet. So as soon as I get that worked out I will continue the blogathon. Everything is going really well. I am one of the best pilots in my class. I have caught on to flying the heli much faster than my peers. Im not setting any records or anything but I'm doing quite well. We have been working on learning in 5 days what mietorologists take 4 years to learn. Pretty tough. Especially when the avaition industry still uses the same codes they used back when weather was transfered over telegraph.
Well I gotta run.
Take care,
cj
ps. shuttle launch tomorrow. will try to take some pictures.

Hotel Echo Lima Lima Oscar!

Hello!
Tough day today. We were learning about some of the specific aerodynamic dangers of flying helicopters and then I had a tough day on my flying lesson. I was getting excited cause I was doing really well with my flying but today my instructor had me do a few things that I just couldn't get right. It made me frustrated. But it is ok. I only have 2.6 hrs total in a helicopter so I cant expect to be doing perfect.
We were also learning about how the wind can really mess up the helicopter if you are not paying attention to what direction the wind is coming from.
http://www.griffin-helicopters.co.uk/videos/playonevideo.asp?videokey=1611
This is a link of a helicopter pilot that got himself into a phenomenon called "Settling With Power" or "Vortex Ring State." Basically it is caused by the helicopter descending into its own downwash. It is started by trying to hover/land too fast with the wind behind you. The wind pushes your downwash in front of you and you settle down into it. The rotors are not as effective in turbulent air and as you can tell by the video it can be potentially "hazardous." The mistakes this pilot made was coming in too fast with a tail wind and he did not correct correctly. He pulled up the collective, which would normally cause the helicopter to rise, but because the air was turbulent, it had no effect (the warning buzzer you hear is the low rotor rpm horn.) Once they hit the ground the pilot fails to lower the collective (the lever on the left side of the seat) and the helicopter leaps back into the air. Then it hits turbulence again and hits the ground multiple times before finally stopping. This pilot is very lucky he didn't roll the helicopter on its side.
I also got to watch a rocket launch tonight. It is about 8 miles away and is relatively small compared to the shuttle. People told me that the rocket is only 10% of what the shuttle launches are.
cj

The More Moving Parts... The Safer I Feel

Here are some pictures of the flight line and one of the helicopters. The engine is a horizontally opposed flat four (like the ones that are in the old beatles and like the ones that subaru uses.) However they are much bigger. They are a 5.4L engine that has 350lbs of torque and pulls 180hp @ 2700 rpm. The engine redlines around 2800 so we pretty much keep it at 2700 the whole time when we fly.
Oh and that little armadillo was outside my door last night. It was rummaging through the bushes. I thought about grabbing it but I decided to let it go.
Take care,
Cj

One Week Down

I made it! Sorry for not posting but my week is rather busy. I will update at least once a week but will shoot for two or three times a week.
So last week I went to the Kennedy Space Center. It was really cool! The most interesting thing, in my opinion, was the Saturn rocket exibit. That was the rocket that was used during the Apollo missions. The main rocket engine type they used was called the J-1. It was and is still the most powerful rocket engine ever built. One J-1 provides more trust than 230 F/A-18 Hornets. And the Saturn rocket had five J-1's! They said when the rocket was fully fueled that the expansion and contraction from the super cold fuel made the rocket sound like it was breathing. While launching the closest you could get the rocket with out being seriously injured or killed was 3 miles and when fully fueled it had as much explosive power than the atom bomb that hit Hieroshima. So needless to say that I enjoyed my visit.
I started school on Monday and had my first flight on Thursday. It has been a very fun very busy week. My day conisists of waking up at 6 (coffee is a life saver) shower, eat breakfast, class starts at 8, class ends at 12, quick lunch (if possible) then flight lessons from 1-4ish, dinner, home to study, and asleep by 11.
You might be wondering what it is like flying a helicopter. Well... it is amazing! Flying a helicopter as compared to a fixed wing is like comparing driving a V6 rear wheel drive drifting car with stick shift on ice or driving a front wheel drive 4 cylider with an automatic on a one way street with no traffic :P. So if you want it easy, fly a plane, if you want to have more imput on your machine, fly a helicopter (Mason! GIve in to the dark side!)
I will update with some pictures of the choppers and the facilities tomorrow.
Take care.
Cj
Ps. The middle picture is of the saturn rocket and those engines on the last picture are the J-1's, each one is about 30 Ft wide.

SHARK!

Acutally it was a dolphin! I was out on one if the piers near my apartment taking pictures of the kennedy space center across the "river" and i heard a strange sound. I looked around and didnt see anything. then i heard it again and then saw a grey fin dip below the surface! I grabbed my camera and started scaning the water and then saw it again. i got off a shot and then realized that it was a dolphin! it was about 20 feet away from me. i watched it for a little while and realized that it was looking for food. it would swim straight for a little bit then would start turning really fast doing cirlcles.
I didn't get a chance to check out the space center today. gonna do it tomorrow.
take care
cj
ps. dont go swimming in the river!

I Made it!

Sorry for not updating but ive been pretty busy the last couple days. So lets catch you up! I left Lafayette on monday morning and drove down to New Iberia to check out the helicopter companies down there. Both Lafayette and New Iberia are beautiful cities. From what i could see Louisiana is a big marshland, especially close to the gulf. There were huge stretches of highway that were on bridges that spanned over the marshes/bayous. I drove through New Orleans and for the first part of it i couldn't see much damage but on the east side of the city I pased through a area roughly the same area as from herndon to shepherd and from blackstone to first. it might have been bigger than that but that is all i could see. it was completely devastated. walmarts were all boarded up and abandoned, i saw abandoned/destroyed houses and apartment buildings. it was pretty sad.
On a lighter note, the drive from lafayette across lousiana, mississippi, alabama (mobile is a beautiful city,) and florida was awesome. It reminded me of driving in oregon and washington but with more rivers and with a warmer temperature.
Downtown Jacksonville reminded me of Darling Harbour in australia. Lots of lights and pretty buildings surrounding the water. Titusville is a sleepy little town of about 30,000. Not much to do, but it is near the kennedy space center and 45 min from orlando.
I was offered a spot in the october class and i took it so i will begin training on monday. I got my first book and have been reading it. I will try to finish it this weekend. Im gonna go see the kennedy space center tomorrow so i will be sure to take some pictures for you all.
Take care.
Cj

Texas is German for Endless Miles!!!!

First off I have a word of advice... NEVER stay at the Econo Lodge in Fort Stockton, TX!!!!!! NEVER!!!!! Ok now for the story. I rolled into town around 7pm and the first 5 hotels I hit were full or crazy $$$$ so when I rounded the corner and saw vacancy at the econo lodge I thought to my self, "Hey! That looks ok. Ill stay there tonight." The first thing I notice is a man wearing a cowboy hat standing in the planters. It kinda took me off guard until I realized that it was just a statue, like the ones at bad buds. Then I get to the room.... It smelled like rotten pine sol (if that is possible,) there were little black bugs on the wall, and to top it off, I found a syringe sitting on top of the vanity lights in the bathroom. And guess what, I stayed anyway! Yeah yeah I know, I should have just gotten my money back and found a different one but by the time I saw the syringe it was 10pm and i was already unpacked. I slept on top of the bed comforter and used my own blanket. I didn't even want to guess what was on the bed sheets. I woke up at 515am on my own and decided to get the heck out of there.
I drove all day, saw some cool stuff, saw lots of open land, discovered that Houston is a pretty city and that Louisiana reminds me of Australia. BTW Cajun food is amazing!!!!! I had this for dinner Catfish Catahoula: Fresh filet, stuffed with shrimp, crawfish & crab. Baked & served in crawfish & Tasso cream sauce. Served with dirty rice and corn macque choux.
It was amazing! Well Im tired. Got a long drive tomorrow.
cj

Cross Country!

Well... Two days and 1,259 miles down. I left on Friday around 830.
Saying good bye to family was tough. I have to say that my family is the best in the world!
But other then missing my family, things are going well! I went from Fresno to Phoneix. Took me about 10 hours or so. Sleept well and got up early to get moivng.
Now Im in small city in Texas called Fort Stockdale. It is a medium sized town about the size of madera. Being a saturday night, all the young adults were on the town, and being a small town there isnt much to do. The "In" thing it seems to be bumping your gangsta rap or your mariachi music from your 4x4 while cruzing the "strip" ie. making circles around the sonic parking lot and the darie queen. Lol! I got a good laugh at that. Well its late and I gotta get up early.
cj
Ps. The first picture is of the sunrise in pheonix and the second is of the sunset in texas.

Feelin' Good... Feelin' Good

Hey hey! Just sitting here contemplating my next move.... Lets see.... Watch an episode of "Lost" or go to bed.... Watch an episode of "Lost"..... or go to bed..... Well, entertainment over rides the need for sleep. So "Lost" it is!