http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/01/24/plane.crash.ap/index.html

Sad times up there at Palomar. It’s always saddening to know when an fatal accident occurs, but more so when it involves an aircraft. Perhaps it is the thought of me in their position and or the reality that pilots deal with everyday situations such as these. I like to think that we are one great family. I pray for the continued safety for all those that are up in the air to know when to go around and try again for another approach. Going around is definitely one of the hardest things to do with fuel and time knocking at your door. Condolences to the families of all those onboard.

RANT: Of course, there are people out there who still think that we get paid “too much” and don’t realize the continued training that we go through nor the responsibilities that we carry every time we are planning and are at the controls. There is the other reality of first year pilots only making ~$18K to ~$22K varying on airline. Wage increases don’t happen that frequently or abruptly either. But that’s all knowledge that the common travelers don’t care about really. They don’t realize that the cheaper they want their fares, that maintenance is cut and so is safety. Just remember to say hello to your flight crew and be nice to them.

Before you go on, I just added two posts total. This one and the other about my LOFT the past weekend. Check it out!

So, I have about 48 hours left to cram whatever I can into my head before heading into the ATP test. It’s going to be an exciting next few hours trust me. Red Bull, Coffee, salads I guess. Any other nutritional ideas for me people?

Today for lunch, Manoj and I headed to Burger King (rememeber that there isn’t that much of a selection around Flagler) and I ended up spending $8.01! That was for the Angus Burger Medium Meal (much better taste of meat and bun selection) along with a Resces’ Pie. I should have just gone to Subway or tried to find something else. Is it me or are fast food places getting to be just as expensive as TGI Friday’s?

I read that there was a new Burger Joint that opened in San Diego called Tommy’s. It’s one of the more popular places in the LA area and this is the first for SD. The Chili is what sets it apart from all the others. I have never tried it before and am looking forward to giving it a shot when I get back. So far though, you can’t go wrong with In-N-Out or Islands for sit down burgers!

Back to studying…

Last Saturday, Ryan and I decided to take a DA40 to Wilmington, North Carolina. We still have quite a few hours to burn in the DA40 so these long trips always help out with taking care of those. It’s all about building hours from now on. I just wish that we could get a couple more Multi-Engine time. I’m so close to 100 hours (89.1). I had my first real life diversion which occurred around Charleston, South Carolina. Bathrooms are an amazing thing in airplanes, but these little buggers give you no choice but to land. We got vectored around a landing DC5 and felt just a little bit of his wake turbulence but stayed above the path the entire time. It was a huge Air Force Facility with large heavy aircraft lined around the airport.

Passing Myrtle Beach was a first. The view from above definitely led us to believe that they are that nice. The sand was bright white and the water was a lighter shade of blue. Looked pretty neat. It even looked like there was quite a few tourist spots along the way. We encountered only a few cloudes and I got to log .1 actual. That’s always fun. We keep each others count pretty accurate using a timer in the plane. It definitely feels like a lot longer when you are in the clouds.

We got to the Air Wilmington and they had a crew car available for us to take out. We chose the Jeep Wrangler over the Chevy Tahoe and as far as I can remember, it was my first time in a Jeep. It was stick too! Had some good power but was definitely fit more for an offroad drive. Coming out from the airport down 23rd, we passed by a place that was reminicent of Forrest Gump’s home town. Brick houses and trees along larger than my normal plots of land. It was homey I guess you can call it. Southern is probably a better term. The real estate definitely gave you the feeling of “experienced.” I don’t know a better adjective at 12:37 in the morning. I just know that I have to get back to studying. But I’ll keep writing just a little bit more. Here’s a pic of a house on Midway just at the end of 23rd. Pretty quaint eh?

Oh yeah, we ate at another place that was #1 in 2005 for BBQ. That was the 2nd time Ryan and I tried a place that said they were the best. Never again and we’ll leave it at that, or not. I’m just glad that I didn’t let it out on the way home. I was ready though with the sic sack at my side just in case. It was probably the banana cream that pushed me over the edge.

On the way home, we had to stop by St. Augustine to refuel because we would have landed below our reserves. That was a quick flight and fuel. Ryan caught the women punching in wrong numbers into the machine to charge us. She almost rang us up for 49 gallons. If you didn’t know the DA40 only holds 40 max! It was a little fishy and we got it corrected. So, make sure that you verify all the time how much they are charging you.

Studying hard for my ATP exam with my Bose QC2s and my video iPod from Lisa! Thanks babe!

North Carolina baby! Wilmington, NC

Yet another new addition to the Nicolas Family. I had no part in the naming process, but we have to call I Snowball. It was my mom's gift to my dad for Xmas!

The FMS system is such a great way to navigate in a jet, that is once you understand all the qwerks about it. From inputting, calibrating the IRUs to just setting up your route is a small pain at first, but I’m sure it’ll all come together soon enough.

You have to love that CBT (computer based training) lab that we have for the MD90 FMS system. “There are alphanumeric keys on the MCDU. You have Alpha keys on the right and the numeric keys on the left.” Seriously, that’s what it is. You can’t speed up nothing either. But you do learn a lot. It just drags quite a bit. CAPT really needs to move the MD90 CBT to Flagler.

Today was the first day that we got to sit inside the sim and actually punch in numbers and “execute” navigational commands. I got to rotate and actually even land the plane. It was an KLAX 24R Departure followed by an ILS back in. We programmed the FMS for the KLAX Loop4.Dagget route, etc, but didn’t really need to fly the path so we just turned around. Landing was pretty neat, but once I disengaged the autopilot, the corrections that I made were too much. I wasn’t on centerline and I started to oscillate a little back and forth. All of this plus the fact that I was below glideslope the entire time. The landing was that smooth, but I got it down without a bunch of shaking going on. I’m sure that it’ll get better with practice. I didn’t red screen the thing, so, so far so good! I can’t wait to actually learn more about flying this airplane.