Flying Away

I'm a Graduate - again - and almost an A&P

I have officially graduated from LeTourneau University with a BS in Aeronautical Science Suma Cum Laude.  I didn't walk because I did that the first time around but my name was in the program.  This all happened on Saturday May 2.

So what is happening now that I have graduated?  Right now I am still flight instructing.  I had three students to finish up and therefore worked almost 40 hours with those students last week.  This next week will involve finishing my last instrument student.  Then two days off and then flight instructing full time through the end of June.

I also passed my orals and practicals to get my Airframe and Powerplant Certificate.  I still have to take three written exams which will hopefully get done this week.  Once I pass those, I will be a certified aircraft mechanic.  If only I could find a way to use that certificate to build some experience before doing my technical evaluation at the end of this summer.

For those of you that have been keeping up with our family on the other blog, then you know all about all things Blue.  Hopefully, birth mom and dad will not appeal the jury's decision to terminate and we will be able to move forward with his adoption.  If that works out, then I will go do a technical evaluation at MAF in July or August.  If I pass, then we will probably stay in Texas until the end of the year and start with MAF in January.

I hope you enjoyed the update.  We have a new newsletter coming out soon so look for it in the mail.

For those of you still supporting us, just know that we really really appreciate it.  Everything we are receiving now is going to paying off school debt which is just above $20,000.  So every dollar you send is still helping us get on the mission field faster and with less debt.  Thank you very much.

Night Flight

Last night was my first long cross-country as an instructor.  We flew to Dallas-Love, then to Corisicana, then to Tyler, then home to East Texas Regional here in Longview.  

Overall it was a pretty uneventful trip - except when we got to Dallas.  You would think it would be easy to see a really big airport in Dallas - wrong.  With all the lights everywhere, it's actually quite difficult to see the airport.  It gets even scarier when there are about 8 airplanes flying all around you into different airports - arriving and departing.

There was one cool part while we were still out a ways when a Southwest 737 flew directly over us at about 800 feet higher than us and on the exact same flight path.

I took a short video of downtown Dallas and I'm going to try and insert it.  We'll see if it works or not.  Tonight I get to go on the exact same trip with a different student.  Hopefully tonight I'll actually be able to find the airport.

Kevin

Pleasure Flight

Today I took up my cousin, Jaclyn, and her husband Jonathan for a little pleasure flight. Jaclyn is interested in flying so I thought it would be a nice birthday present. Here are a couple of pictures from the flight. The second picture is of our house from the air. Ours is the middle house on the top row.

Midterm

Well it's about halfway through the semester and things are going well. I have 1 student working toward his Private Pilot Certificate and 3 students working on the their Instrument Rating. I haven't been flying much because the instrument students have been in the simulators since the beginning of the semester but we will hopefully start flying some approaches starting this week.

I took some pictures while flying with my private student this evening. The first two are in the air and the third one is after we landed. I'm going to try to start posting more regularly with pictures - when things are pretty.

Kevin

School has started

this is now the second week of school and it is not quite insane - yet. i have 16 hours of class with three labs - so that alone would keep a normal man busy. but what about adding four flight students? sure. i found out last week i have one private student and three instrument students.

so my schedule during the week will be from about 8 in the morning to about 8 at night. at least i get saturday and sunday off. originally i was also given three students on saturday.

needless to say, this is going to be a busy semester. unfortunately i am not standardized yet so i can't actually start instructing until some time next week. and that's assuming this crazy texas hurricane doesn't hang around for a couple of days ruining some good flying time.

this might be my last post of the semester because on top of all that class time and instructing, i still have to study and do homework. woe is me.

Pay Me

This post is a week late but we have been in Germany for a week.  Faydra's maternal grandmother lives over there so me, Faydra, Kaden, and her mom flew over there for a week and just got back last night (Sunday).

The Thursday before we left, July 10, I took my last checkride.  I am now a full on flight instructor.  I have my CFI (Certified Flight Instructor) certificate for single and multi-engine airplanes.  I also have my CFII which is for instrument instructing.  I will not be paying for flight training at LeTourneau anymore.  What a glorious feeling that is.

Based on my course load over the next two semesters, I will also be instructing.  I have 16 hours this fall and so could have up to three students and then have only 6 hours in the spring.  There aren't really any more milestones with respect to flying until I graduate in the spring. 

Field trip

Last week our summer school class went on a little field trip to Dallas and then on to Fort Worth.

The first stop was at Air Salvage of Dallas. This is basically a junk yard of sorts for aircraft. Any time there is an accident nearby, that plane is taken to this place and they aid in the investigation. They also sell used parts - but that is a whole different business than with cars. Every part must be tracked back to its original owner and have the paperwork to back it up if it is to be used on another airplane.

After the visit to ASOD, we went to Lockheed Martin in Fort Worth. This is a hugemongous manufacturing facility that has been making airplane for 50 years. They currently assemble F-16's and make parts for the F-22, which is assembled at their plant in Georgia. The main thing we talked about though is the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF). This plant in Fort Worth will within a couple of years be cranking out 1 plane a day - which is really amazing.

The trip to Lockheed was really fun. Besides the fact they are built to kill people, fighters are pretty cool. This new plane will have the radar signature of a small rain drop. And one of the models, the F-35B (STOVL), will be able to land like a helicopter and take off in less than a 1000 feet.

It was also nice to miss a full day of school and not have to make up any of the work.

Summer School

So what has been going on in summer school? i am taking two classes - Powerplant Troubleshooting and Assembly and Rigging.

The schedule is this - 7:30am to 11:30 is lab. Then a 1.5 hour break for lunch. Then two hours of class.

The only thing worth talking about is lab. For the first three weeks of the summer I am in the Powerplant Troubleshooting Lab. The classes are real laid back - much different from during the regular semesters. We have some engines on test stands that we get to use for practice. The instructor puts simulated problems in these engines and we have to troubleshoot them and figure out what is wrong. It's really good practice.

We also get to work on special projects. My group's main special project was working on the fuel tanks of a Beechcraft Baron (B55). This is a light twin engine plane with bladder tanks. This means the wings have bladders in them that the fuel stays in. We had to drain the fuel and then condition the tanks by sticking our hands up through some access panels and rub the inside completely with oil. It was a good real world kind of project.

Next week we get to go on a field trip to an airplane salvage yard in Dallas and then to visit Lockheed Martin where they make the Joint Strike Fighter (F-35). I'll post more about that once we get back.

I'm a Flight Instructor

As scary as that sounds, it is true. I had my flight for my flight instructor certificate on Friday and I passed. So if any one wants lessons in a multi-engine airplane, feel free to give me a call. And that is correct - I can currently give instruction only in a multi. The single-engine part will be coming later - hopefully in a week or two. I'm taking this week off from flying but then back to the grind next week.

The flight went well. It was just over one hour with the oral that was last Tuesday being about 2.5 hours. The only thing I did poorly on the ride was that I didn't take the airplane away from the examiner while he was performing steep turns. He purposefully did the really bad trying to get me to take the plane away from him.

So for this week I can concentrate on my classes and then I will get to work on my last two flight instructor ratings.

Half way there - sort of.

I passed my MEI (Multi-engine Instructor) oral exam today. The weather was too bad to do the flight part so that will probably get completed on Friday. So I am half-way there for that instructor rating and then just two more to go - Single-engine Instructor and Instrument Instructor. I will probably be able to finish those a couple of weeks later.

School is killing me right now - with my classes and flying it is a lot. Just five more weeks.