The Aviation Thread

[Donica]

I'm just getting music? and a pause every few seconds?

[KatieP]

Try going to https://www.liveatc.net and then in the upper left search for KLAL. When that page comes up, click on one of the green Listen buttons.

Or at least, that is what worked for me...

:-)

Kate

[Donica]

Thanks KatieP. That link is working.

[KatieP]

Thanks KatieP. That link is working.

And, to clarify for others, you do have to scroll down a bit to the Paradise City channel if you want to hear Stephanie talking...

It IS fun to hear you, Stephanie!! You are VERY knowledgeable!!

Kate

[steph2.0]

And, to clarify for others, you do have to scroll down a bit to the Paradise City channel if you want to hear Stephanie talking...

It IS fun to hear you, Stephanie!! You are VERY knowledgeable!!

Kate

Thank you Kate! Really tired now but I'll write more when I can. In the meantime can you critique my voice? An honest assessment would be appreciated!

Stephanie

[Donica]

I have been reading a fairly new book that came sometime in 2017 that I think everyone here may like. Some of you may already know about it. It's called "Shadow Life, Aerospace, Love and Secrets" by Jenna Ware, a trans women that transitioned many years ago. It's a true story about her love and trials of transitioning with a well known aviator Joseph Fulton Ware Jr. A lot of the story takes place in my own back yard. I worked for some of the people Joe worked for (Lockheed).

Check it out! It's a good read. You'll have to read the book to find out who Joe and Jenna was, if you don't already know.

Hugs!

[CynthiaAnn]

Our oldest daughter had her first S.E.S. (special endorsement sea) training this week and it went terrible. The instructor was short with her, and was barking commands at her, and left her feeling put down after she left. She did get 1 and half hours of flight time in her log, so it was not a total loss, but she needs to find a new instructor / flight school. There was a bit of irony as she was doing the pre-flight at the docks, a duck came up to her and was being cute, quacking, and friendly, and the instructor just barked at the duck "what do you want ?", that was a serious clue as to the temperament of this guy. We are looking at other schools for her now, looks like we might just go with "Kenmore" here, they have a solid reputation and good people.

I remember when the Santa Paula Airport restaurant used to be called "Logden's" (90's), we ate there many times. My father in law had a nice place in that town up on the hill to the north and we could overlook the airport there, and we used sit on his balcony and watch all the activity at that airport on the weekends, what a busy airport it is....

C -

[KathyLauren]

Hi, @CynthiaAnn.

Sorry to hear that your daughter's instructor is not so good.  A good instructor can make such a difference, as can a bad one.

I remember having one instructor for formation flying who used to yell at me a lot.  Some sharp corrections are necessary at the beginning of formation flying, where you are only a few feet and a fraction of a second away from hitting the other aircraft, but by the time you are ready to solo, a more gentle approach works better.

Anyway, this guy was being such a pain in the butt, unnecessarily, that I reached over and switched his intercom off!    He wasn't impressed, but he did get the message.  When we got back on the ground I asked for a different instructor.

I resolved never to be like that when I became an instructor.  I like to think that my calm demeanor helped a few problem students to get through to graduation.

I hope your daughter finds a better instructor.

[Donica]

Sorry your daughter had to go through that. There certainly are few bad seeds out there. None of my instructors were like that. I would have looked for someone else too. It's not a good environment for learning something that requires a great deal of attention.

I hope you a able to find a better instructor. This one obviously doesn't like his job and I think he should be reported. He is creating a dangerous environment.

[KatieP]

I remember when the Santa Paula Airport restaurant used to be called "Logden's" (90's), we ate there many times. My father in law had a nice place in that town up on the hill to the north and we could overlook the airport there, and we used sit on his balcony and watch all the activity at that airport on the weekends, what a busy airport it is....

C -

I have been to Santa Paula airport dozens and dozens of times. The restaurant was fine, but the real attraction was walking up and down the rows of hangers and seeing the incredible aircraft hiding in them. You didn't want to be rude, so you didn't talk to the people in the hanger until they talked with you. And about half of them were recognizable faces from the SoCal entertainment business... Every strange and famous GA aircraft ever is likely in at least one of the hangers there. It was a shame when flooding took out part of the runway there...

Kate

[CynthiaAnn]

Hi all,

@KathyLauren, thanks for sharing some of your experience here, much appreciated ! You are correct in finding the right match student / instructor is so crucial. Our daughter now is more than 7 years into her training and certifications, she has had some really good contacts so far (FATPNW group). We hope to find encouragement and mentoring from those she chooses to work with.

@Donica Thanks for your kind and supporting response, she was convinced at the last air conference she attended that this outfit was worth a try, it was closer than Kenmore, my wife found some additional comments from others later, I think we will simply move on.

@KatieP Seeing that airport mentioned in these thread brought back old memories of our daughter (~25 years ago) and her grandfather walking those hangers after dinner at the cafe, and all the really neat aircraft we spotted back then, I can only imagine what it's like today ! Her grandfather was close friends with owners of that restaurant back then and we always went there when we visited. We had a special booth we were seated there, kinda like the "locals booth"  we sat and the owner would come and chat a lot with her grandfather during our meal, it was a thing with him...

Hugs

C -

[Donica]

Yes CynthiaAnn. Santa Paula airport (SZP) has a lot of interesting aircraft there. The café is now called The Flight 126 café. The food is still great. We have breakfast there every first Sunday of each month with a couple that own a hanger there.

This is the homebuilt Mr. Mulligan that is currently hangered at Santa Paula. The owner calls it Mr. D because his name starts with a D. It's an awesome aircraft and fast too. It's top speed is around 350kts. He did a high speed pass right over our heads two months ago.

                                 

[CynthiaAnn]

@Donica - thanks for sharing this...

350 knots !! how cool, look at that...I had our daughter come look at the pic too, she was impressed...

Glad to hear the food is good there too at the cafe, perhaps we may revisit again someday !!

Cynthia -

[Donica]

Cynthia! If you do ever come back for a visit, try to make it on the first Sunday of any month for the monthly SZP open house. We usually have breakfast at the Café at 9:00am before heading to the hanger. I'm sure my friends would love to meet you. If the weather is good, most of the hangers will be open. everyone is very friendly and they love to talk about their aircraft. There's always a lot of things going on. You know how we all love the hanger talk

[RachelB]

Thankyou for the invite Kathy !
I started flying in college in the old C-150 then with license in hand began renting an old J-3 cub to build time.
Flew for CAP for many years and the USAF for 20 years, then a bush pilot here in Alaska in the old DHC-2 Beaver floatplane. Still flying my own homebuilt aircraft now which I am on my seventh build currently, a Zenith Cruzer.

I will be watching this thread daily.

[JanePlain]

Is anyone here going to Sun-N-Fun? If so, look for me in the Light Plane area. It used to be called the Ultralight area, but we've improved our runway, and have Light Sport and other light planes like Cubs and Champs, along with rotorcraft, flying there now. The semi-official name of our home there is "Paradise City."

I'll be doing the announcing, along with my co-host Paul, for the aircraft flying off the runway, as I did last year. And just like last year, the commentary will be broadcasted on the PA system alongside the runway and on the local radio station, along with being live-streamed on LiveATC.net. I'll put the link here when I get it.

Last year was my coming-out to all of the people I've worked with at Sun-N-Fun over the last 30 years or so, and it was stressful, to say the least, despite the wonderful outcome. I've grown so much over the last year, and am so much more comfortable with myself and the way I interact with others. Last year was fun, but with my reduced anxiety levels I expect this year to be awesome.

Look for me in the wooden shack next to our runway. I hope to see some of you there!

Stephanie

Oooh!  I took flight instruction in a champ.  I was a magnet for crazy things happening and flying that trail dragger that could do all sorts of crazy stuff and not fly apart is probably the only reason I'm still around.  It seems like a lifetime ago (or two)

[Lisa89125]

Our oldest daughter had her first S.E.S. (special endorsement sea) training this week and it went terrible. The instructor was short with her, and was barking commands at her, and left her feeling put down after she left. She did get 1 and half hours of flight time in her log, so it was not a total loss, but she needs to find a new instructor / flight school. There was a bit of irony as she was doing the pre-flight at the docks, a duck came up to her and was being cute, quacking, and friendly, and the instructor just barked at the duck "what do you want ?", that was a serious clue as to the temperament of this guy. We are looking at other schools for her now, looks like we might just go with "Kenmore" here, they have a solid reputation and good people.

I remember when the Santa Paula Airport restaurant used to be called "Logden's" (90's), we ate there many times. My father in law had a nice place in that town up on the hill to the north and we could overlook the airport there, and we used sit on his balcony and watch all the activity at that airport on the weekends, what a busy airport it is....

C -

I'd like to give that old dog a coal shovel and order him to shovel 6 tons of coal an hour into the belly of a steam locomotive working hard on a long up hill climb. Let's see how tough he really is. It's a physically demanding job and not one many people can stand to do. The fun is being the engineer and working the engine extra hard to make his life miserable.

Lisa

[CynthiaAnn]

I'd like to give that old dog a coal shovel and order him to shovel 6 tons of coal an hour into the belly of a steam locomotive working hard on a long up hill climb. Let's see how tough he really is. It's a physically demanding job and not one many people can stand to do. The fun is being the engineer and working the engine extra hard to make his life miserable.

Lisa

That's an interesting analogy Lisa 

For the sake of this thread, our daughter is no longer going to that flight school, and we learned our lesson, moved on. We now have her SES training sessions booked at Kenmore starting in Sept (earliest opening), it's a bit further to drive but will be worth it. Since that training is going to be delayed, she has now changed focus on obtaining her "Multi Engine" FAA endorsement this spring and summer, and had her first lesson, with a great instructor that flew combat in Vietnam, years of experience (he is in his 70's) and he has turned out to be very encouraging and mentoring.

Cynthia -

[Lisa89125]

Cynthia, I'm happy all is well for your daughter. Me, I always wanted to be a flight attendant. I've never flown yet and don't know if I would like it or be scared out of my wits? I'm sorta afraid of heights.

Lisa

[Donica]

It was another wonderful SZP open house yesterday. Breakfast at the Flight 126 café and lots of folks roaming the airport. You ladies and gents in SoCal should plan a day of family fun, Lots of hanger fun, great car show and good food.

I got a little stick time in my friends Super Cub. Definitely a sweet flying aircraft. A little rusty on the rudder peddles but I got the hang of it.
   

   

Check out this bad ride at the car show at the other end of the airport. It's not an Allison, Merlin or a Griffin. It's a Ranger V-12 aircraft engine in a boat tail roadster.