I don’t think I’ve posted photos yet. Stolen from the web.
Archive for the ‘Flying’ Category
Here Berck talks about learning to fly, a topic that seems to interest more people than any of the other uninteresting things he has to ramble about.
On to the sims!
I’m done with Dash 8 systems class, CSI, and I passed my oral exam yesterday. The best part about that is I’m done with Phoenix for awhile. I’ve got today off, and I head to Vancouver tomorrow to start simulator training. Since Verizon will charge me a million dollars to use my telephone in Canada, I won’t be bothering to turn my phone on. I hope the internets at the hotel are good. Fortunately, the USD is worth more than the Loonie again.
I spent awhile today working on callouts with Jonah. I’m a bit worried about the simulator because I have serious doubts about my sim partner’s abilities, or his willingness to study. Even with a competent sim partner, the Dash is going to be a lot tougher than the jet. It’s going to involve a lot of those instrument skills I haven’t really used since I got my instrument rating. It’s going to be fun.
Simulating in Vancouver!
I just got my simulator schedule. I’ve posted it to my Google Calendar. I’m going to be in Vancouver from March 15 – March 30. Sims will be late at night, so I’ll be doing a lot of sleeping during the day.
My written test is tomorrow. Then boring nonsense until Friday. I get to go home, then come back for a few days next week for CSI and oral.
They figured out I’m a geek.
Apparently I was asking far too many detailed questions about Dash systems in class. I like to know how everything works, but everyone else in the class is busy struggling with the basics. This is nothing new in life.
Yesterday, my instructor spontaneously and with no obvious provocation turned to me and asked, “What’s Avogadro’s number?”
Without missing a beat, or really thinking about it, I spouted out, “6.022 x 10^23”. A split second after I said it, I realized that the question had nothing to do Dash 8 systems, at least in any obvious sense. “Why?” I asked.
“I just knew you’d know it,” he said and laughed. So then several other people in the class got confused and asked what he’d asked me. He just said, “It’s a chemistry thing,” and then they all joined together and laughed at me.
Sometimes things never change.
Berck Update
Berck hasn’t been very talkative, but this seems like the most efficient way of letting everyone know things.
He’s got his favorite instructor, so not much to complain about there.
His roommate moved out, so he has a whole house to himself. Unfortunately, he has to share it with a myriad of dead crickets on the floors and the occasional gigantic roach that shows up.
His bed has wheels on it that makes it move across the floor whenever he turns over.
He talked the driver who picked him up from the airport late Sunday night to stop by Wal-Mart on the way home. His house has a fridge and a kitchen. He eats sandwiches and drinks Newcastle and Bass.
His house is about a mile and a half from the classrooms. He walks it instead of waiting for a shuttle. It takes him about half an hour.
His class is between 10 am and 7 pm.
There are 8 people in his class, including three females.
His instructor gave them Dash 8 patches for MS Flight Simulator, so Berck can practice at home. He spent all of Saturday morning doing so. He hadn’t gotten to the electrical system yet, so it took him a while to figure out how to turn it on.