Solo (not Han)

Can you remember the first time you took a drive in a car...without one of your parents in the passenger seat? The feeling of freedom and shear terror as you release it's all you. I can remember those early first days....pulling into the gas station and worrying about somehow causing the place to explode...or the dreaded parallel parking. I think the worse thing for me was driving in downtown Portland (I still get a little nervous). Ok, so think about that for a minute.....keep thinking....now, imagine you are 700 ft off the ground moving at 75mph and you need to hit a target on the runway...and there is no one in the passenger seat to help you if you panic or for some reason forget what you are supposed to do. Yikes! With respect to flying, this going it on your own for the first time is called soloing.

From a legal standpoint, Federal Aviation Regulations say that the term "solo flight as used in this subpart means that flight time during which a student pilot is the sole occupant of the aircraft." A common industry definition says, "solo is any flight time during which the pilot is the only occupant on board;" the difference is that the regulation specifies student but the term really applies to any certificated pilot. Definitions aside, your first solo flight is an important milestone in your training and a moment worthy of celebration. It's an experience you'll always remember as among the coolest things you've ever done.

To make sure the soloing flight is successful, you have to train and practice a lot. Think about how much you have driven car since you started back in the day...how many of the actions you need to take to drive are down automatically with you really having to think about it? (Most of them probably) Using Microsoft Flight Simulator and spending lots of time in a real airplane with a trainer is the only way to gain this flying "instinct".






Anyway, it is a day I am looking forward to. In the mean time I’ll be spending my time in the simulator. My next purchase is going to be something like the CH Yoke and Rudder Pedal controls. With these I can get extremely close to what it is like to really fly an airplane.

Diversions

Well, this year is really off to a quick start. Over the holiday I spent a lot of time talking with some buddies of mine from work. We saw a huge opportunity to develop applications for mobile platforms...so we started our own business! I'm in the process of doing the filing and other work requires to setup an LLC. For the time being we are focusing our efforts on Windows Mobile, BlackBerry and the iPhone. It's a chance to make some extra money, so it take presidence over spending time on flying or building a plane. The new company is called Three Jacks Software. We already have our first project started...I'll add a post about it once it gets closer to completion.

Another diversion is that I am helping my friend Jayanthi Alphonse create a non profit. Her initial mission is to raise $3000 to add a toilet and a couple of small rooms to an orphanage in south India. Once this mission is accomplished she would like to identify other needs around the world and in our own state. I'm really excited to be a part of something like this.

And then finally, I am teaching again this term at OIT. I've added a lot of content to the class, which means more work for me. I think the students are getting more from the changes. The class is Software System Testing....lots of stuff on unit testing, test driven development and automated testing.

Welcoming in 2009

I can't believe it is actually 2009. Twenty years ago I would have been 16, dreaming of joining the Air Force, playing Falcon 2.0 (jet fighter simulator),programming on my 286 Packard Bell and loving my 1965 candy apple red Ford Mustang. I remember thinking at the time, that by 2010 we'll be driving cars that can fly....everyday Joe Plumbers will be going into space...and I could have the power of my 286 computer in the palm of my hand. When you think about it, a lot of those "dreams" of the future have come true...and many more. Private companies are forming that will allow everyday people the chance to go into space. I now program on smartphones that have so much more processing power and capabilities than my old 286, that it isn't even funny. Still not much progress on that flying car. Hunter and I agree that a flying car would be soooo super sweet. (Maybe that will be our next project!)


For Christmas I ended up getting a great shirt from Kari that says, "Got Aviation?" I'm taking that as a big sign that she is behind my desire to fly. (I never doubted that she would be) Brandy got me a cool book on common mistakes that pilots make. (I'm not sure what she is trying to tell me.) I thinkAlso, I used some money I had gotten to purchase Microsoft Century of Flight.



There are some really cool features in this version. Thre are all kinds of historical planes to fly - Wright Flyer, Spirit of St. Louis, and the Boeing 747. The software also comes with a flight school. I completed the first lesson which had me take off, make some manuevers and then land the plane. I'm looking forward to using this as a tool to gain more experience flying...in a super cheap fashion. Once I purchase a yoke and rudder pedals control for the computer I will have the complete experience.



Here is one view of the from with the game...considering this game is a fews old, the graphics are still pretty amazing.

So for now...in this dark and wet days of winter, I plan on staying inside, reading and flying the simulator. I should be in good shape for my first couple of real flights come sprint. Something to look forward to!