A Pilot's Journey

Last night at 20:00 hours local time I became a member of the US Coast Guard. I swore in and became an E-2 in the inactive reserves and received my orders to report to the Coast Guard Academy in New London Connecticut on January 8 2009 at 07:30. Once at OCS I will take the oath again and immediately be promoted to an E-5. Once I complete OCS I will receive my commission as an O-1 (Ensign) and then hopefully be on my way to Pensacola for flight school. Today I will be heading off to Branson MO to spend Christmas with family and to leave some of our stuff with family while I am gone for 17 weeks. After the Christmas break, I will have 3 more days of work and then the following week I head off to OCS. This will probably be the last post I write until I get to OCS and I will not have computer access for a few weeks once I arrive. Till next time, fly safe...

So I got word back that my blood pressure work was fine and I am officially in. I received a letter from the Coast Guard telling me I made it and have also received a letter with a report date and time for class. I am still waiting on the official Orders which I need to break my lease on my apartment. Hopefully I will get those this week as I am gone all next week for the holiday. I submitted my resignation last week and will officially be done at my current job on Dec. 31. I am running everyday and doing push ups and sit ups to try and get ready for OCS and the physical training that I will be going through. Yesterday I took the Aviation Selection Test Battery which is required to get a flight slot. I scored well above the minimums and have that step out of the way. I am looking forward to the experience and will do my best to try and get a flight slot. Till next time, fly safe...

Well, A while back I mentioned that I was looking into some other career options. One was as an air traffic controller, I had applied with the FAA for that and recently was invited to take the test to determine if I will get an interview or not. I scheduled the test for Dec. 12 in Oklahoma City and have purchased my airline tickets to get there and take it. Sometime later, I decided to submit my packet to the United States Coast Guard for Officer Candidate School and pursue a career as a Coast Guard Aviator. Yesterday I received a call from my recruiter to inform me that I had made it in, I have been accepted into Officer Candidate School. It is contingent on some blood pressure results, apparently when I had my blood pressure taken for my initial physical it was borderline high. They requested I have my blood pressure taken twice a day for three days and send the results. I am on my last day and so far everything looks fine. I should be swearing in next week and reporting to the Coast Guard Academy for OCS on January 8. I am still going to fly to Oklahoma City and take that test so I have a backup plan in case my blood pressure should be a problem (though I am positive it will be fine). I am also now scheduled to take the Aviation Test Selection Battery or ATSB on Dec. 15. This test is used to determine if I can qualify as an aviator in the Coast Guard. Getting aviation is not guaranteed but I figure I have a pretty good chance given my background. I plan on continuing this blog and relaying my experiences as I go through OCS and then hopefully as I am going through Coast Guard flight school (The flight training is actually through the Navy). I know it has been a long time since I posted last, but I had a lot in the works that I did not want to make public yet. When I get to OCS it will be a while before I will be able to post again as I will not have internet access initially, but I will post as soon as I can. Till then, fly safe...

Now is not the time to be thinking about going to the airlines as they are furloughing pilots and cutting their fleets and routes. It is also probably not the best time to go into Flight Instruction full time as most students are probably discouraged with the outlook of the airlines right now. I am about 3 months away from being able to leave the company I am working for but the things I was really hoping to do are not viable options at the moment. I will continue with my flying and get my instructor certificates and will most likely do some flight instruction on the side but not full time. So I am starting to look at other options for work. I have been burned out on writing code for the past couple of years and I definitely want to move out of that as soon as possible. I have a couple of ideas for other jobs I could pursue, one if which I have applied for already. I will not give any details as to what it is as I do not want to give that away just yet, some people who are closer to me already know what I am referring to. I will just say that it is in the aviation industry and leave it at that until I have more details. Till next time, fly safe...

As most people are aware the airlines are in a serious situation right now due to high oil prices. Most of the major airlines are cutting back capacity and dropping routes as well as furloughing a fair number of pilots. Due to the actions of the majors, many of the regional airlines are suffering as well as they usually fly code share for the majors. Now is not a good time to be trying to get a job with an airline as most are probably not hiring now. The airline industry is a very cyclical industry with ups and downs. The best time to get in would be on an upswing and try to get your seniority secured before the next downswing so you are less likely to be furloughed. I am still a year or more away from looking to the airlines so I am hopeful that they will be starting an upswing by then. I have not been doing the type of flying I did last year to get my ratings completed, but at this time with the state of the airlines I am no longer in a huge rush, I will still continue and complete all my ratings and start instructing, but I may only instruct part time at least until I get a feel for whether or not there are enough students to warrant going full time. In the mean time I will continue to work away in my secure little cubicle and fly whenever I can to finish up my ratings and perhaps someday I will escape this box forever to dash around the skies during better times. Till next time, fly safe...

Due to the high price of gas I have been looking for the past couple of weeks for an alternative travel method. I have seen a lot of little 50cc scooters around the area as gas continues to climb higher. I have ridden motorcycles in the past and decided to start looking for another one. I expect to get around 50mpg with a motorcycle and in doing so save a lot of money over getting 16mpg in my truck. After watching Craig’s list like a hawk for a couple of weeks I finally found a great bike for a great deal. I bought a 95 Kawasaki Ninja ZX6 E3 for $1500. I should be able to make that back in gas savings in a short time. In the past I owned a Honda shadow cruiser so having a sports bike is new to me and I never thought I would like the way they sit, but after checking it out and test driving it I found that I am not laying over the gas tank as I thought I would be. The only problem with the bike is that it was laid down by a previous owner and the right side has several scratches, I might get new fairings and fix the damage at some point, but for know I will just have to live with it. And now for a picture, this picture is of the good side which has not been laid down.

I finally called the Chief Flight Instructor and had him assign me a new flight instructor. I am scheduled to fly Friday afternoon as long as the weather holds up. I am just planning on running through all the commercial stuff and getting some feedback from my new instructor. Hopefully just a couple of flights will be all that is needed and then I can take the checkride then start on my CFI. Saturday I fly out for Washington DC to spend five days there on a business trip. I get back on Thursday evening then fly out again on Friday afternoon for Branson MO to visit family over Memorial Day. Once back from that trip I have a free weekend that will most likely be spent packing getting ready to move to a new apartment. We move on June 7, after that date my calendar clears up a bit and I should be able to do more flying or studying depending on where I am at that time. Till next time, keep the greasy side down...