Lisa on “At new house” (3 Jul 2009 (Fri) @ 9:20 AM (PDT))	Haha! At least we don't have to stress about the c...
Lisa on “Scenes from a flight” (27 Jun 2009 (Sat) @ 7:34 PM (PDT))	Nice! I'm there.
Lisa on “Working morning at the house” (27 Jun 2009 (Sat) @ 7:32 PM (PDT))	I didn't realize how big that thing was going to b...
Lord Cheese on “Olympia Air Show” (22 Jun 2009 (Mon) @ 10:44 PM (PDT))	Very cool
Lord Cheese on “Long cross country done” (18 Jun 2009 (Thu) @ 9:44 PM (PDT))	Well done sir!

So hot, working and moving around the house is miserable. School (real work) has been neglected, so much to do around here. Still have stuff at condo that needs to be moved. The old deck has begun to be removed and the new deck will be put in soon, we think in time for the housewarming party. It would be easier to do more if it wasn’t so hot and sunny...

all photos

Hound enters yard


Mountain is out


Hound explores yard




Deck tear down




This looks safe

First night at new house. Washer connection failed, plumber coming out tomorrow. Car trouble (I joked about this to Lisa a few days ago and now it’s coming true, will inspect more tomorrow). Very high stress. Two water bills.

After some evaluation, we decided the entire deck needs to be replaced. So this will be another significant extra expense. Don’t know if I can handle it well.

Tomorrow the movers are coming; this marks our transition of primary residence from the condo to the new house. There will still be a few things for us to move, but soon the move will be finished.

Also, tomorrow is the due date for the first mortgage payment.

Transplanted strawberries today.

While at the new house, I saw that the hottub is leaking again, not the same leak it had before. This leak may or may not be coming from one spot... So I started to think, sure, I could have the hottub guy come out again and look at it... But how many little tiny leaks are there/will there be and how many times (=$$$) does he have to come out?

So now I’m also considering alternatives ... like installing metal flashing under that part of the hottub and setting up a little drain so that it can drip leak all it wants and the deck boards will remain protected.

Managed to strip and prime the hot tub supply housing and take down the entire dead vine, fold it up (!) and take it to the dump.

First the vine is chopped and tipped over so it is hanging down instead of resting on top.





Then we took the entire thing off, folded it in half, and hauled it away.

A gyrocopter. It’s 50% ultralight, 50% helicopter, 100% death-is-imminent. Strangest thing I’ve ever seen. My comments: “There’s some kind of vehicle on the runway” ... “WHAT” ... “Let’s see your airworthiness certificate, pal.”

On the next trip around the pattern...
Steve CFI: “I don’t see the gyroplane. He took off right behind us.”
Me (thinking): “It probably crashed.”

On another trip around, same airport...

Plane taking off in front of me: “Junk plane ... departing runway 23.”
Steve CFI: “What kind of plane is that?”
Me: “Looks like a 182 maybe.”
Steve CFI: “What’s its call sign?”
Me: “Junk plane something or other?” (I’m thinking refuse transport here, although that doesn’t make any sense)
Steve CFI: “He said ‘Jump Plane’. Call and ask if there are parachuters on board and when they will jump.”

It was, there were, and they did; shortly after we departed the area. Never knew there was a skydiving center in Toledo.

Today begun the final phase of flight training ... checkride prep. We’re doing ground and air work to prepare for the checkride. I also scheduled the checkride, currently for July 13th.

Lisa and I visited the air show over the weekend. Saw some stunt planes and took a short ride on a helicopter. Only my second helicopter ride ever and Lisa’s first. It was a lot of fun.. helicopters have much better visibility than fixed wing and they can just up and go so it’s much less ground time. I wouldn’t want to fly in one regularly, though, I can’t shake their inherit aerodynamic properties of a brick with a prop on the top.

photos











Interleaved roters that turn together like gears:



This big twin was taking people for rides .. at $350 a pop:

Normally these would be much straighter lines except for weather and traffic intervening.

full size

Small size:



Other note: There’s a private airport called “Grayland Intergalactic” near Westport.

Wow, what a milestone. Today I did my long solo cross country. This requires a 150 mile trip, with a minimum of three stops and a leg of 50 miles or more.

The plan was to fly from Olympia west to Hoquiam, then south to Astoria, then east to Kelso, then back to Olympia. However, when I got to the airport today I found the weather not so good. Overall, the conditions were about minimums with some other ominous indications around. I talked to one of the instructors and after some consideration and getting reports from people who were out flying, I decided to go for it, ready to turn around if needed.

I filed all my flight plans... (Weather briefer: VFR not recommended. Oi.) And off I went. I felt I may have to deviate around some hills due to the clouds, but a full deviation was unnecessary. I found that clouds along my route were not too bad; but as I went west, there was a wall of clouds to my south from near the surface to several thousand feet. What would I find when I tried to turn south after Hoquiam?

As I arrived in Hoquiam, I was unable to raise the flight service station to close my flight plan. So I finally did my landing and take-off, and flew west to be close to the station. Then I was able to make contact. I opened my next leg to Astoria, unsure if I would actually be able to use it.

Winds were out of the west from over the ocean; over the water the skies were mostly clear, but as the warm moist air passed over the raising hills, it quickly condensed into clouds. I was able to pass down a narrow corridor at the edge of the shore. At one point, it was quite scary, to my right was open water, direct in front of me was the beach, to my left was a solid wall of clouds.

At that point I was unsure whether to continue or turn back. I tuned in Astoria weather and it sounded promising (few 4000); but then again Hoquiam said clear, but that’s just because there was a little patch of no clouds right above the airport.

So finally as I arrived near Astoria, I saw the clouds were breaking at mouth of the river. Another concern was that the Astoria flight service radio was out of service, so the next closest radio was Kelso. I wasn’t sure if I could climb high enough to reach them without getting into the clouds.

After several attempts I was able to contact them and close the flight plan.

Astoria had some traffic so I have to maneuver a little bit but ultimately did my stop-and-go and was off again.

This leg, Astoria to Kelso, was by far the most beautiful.

The Columbia spanned magestically with lush green islands and interesting roads and settlements. To either side the hills rose a couple hundred feet before disappearing into the clouds, which formed a “cloud canyon” down the river (although I could see they broke all together within about 20 miles).

I really wish I had brought the camera for this leg; I know I had planned to but forgotten in the end.

Very nice, and a section I would love to fly again.

The only issue was these little clouds which were invisible again the overcast backdrop that would “pop out” without warning uncomfortably nearby.

Descent into Kelso was uneventful, save a medical helicopter nearby. The return to Olympia was normal, with nearly clear skies, but a bit of turbulence.

On the way back I noticed a couple small grass strips that I had never noticed before. I’m getting better at these things.

As I turned onto to final to land in Olympia, the tower informed me winds were 220 at 16, which for runway 17, was a nice 6 knot crosswind. No problems though.

All in all, a envelope pushing but fun flight.

Electrician came out today to install our new ceiling fan and smoke detector in the house. Later, a new fridge was delivered (the old wasn’t holding temperature)... Under the old fridge Lisa found a dozen old cat toys; remnants of the previous owner and her cats.

Working on a summer project and I realized that an implementation of a complex multi-thread waiting routine was flawed.. It waited recursively on each child thread, but did NOT ensure that, while waiting on a later thread, work wasn’t given to an earlier thread it had passed. I spent an hour or so trying to devise the test case needed to prove it was wrong... Finally, I was able to create a test case that failed.

I knew what a solution was, but going through the work of making a test case that failed clarified for me exactly in what situation the flaw would appear.

Of course, putting the fix in and having the test case go from fail to pass is always nice too.

My parents came over and helped prep for the fence by trimming back some bushes. Now there is a ton of debris all over in the yard which we’ll have to work on bit by bit, but the way is ready for the fence to be put up.

Breaking ground with my grandfather’s shovel:

One thing I wanted to do on my last solo X-C was to compare the fuel consumption. The book gives very specific fuel flow numbers; BUT, these are for a brand new engine with aggressive fuel flow management. If that’s not you, the numbers aren’t valid.

I had the tanks filled (40 gallons total) before departure. The book calculations called for a total round-trip consumption of 13 gallons. At about 7 gallons an hour book-wise, the 30 minute reserve requirement meant I legally needed to have 17 gallons of fuel on board.

Upon return, I sticked them and found 22 gallons remained, for a total actual fuel usage of 18 gallons (almost 50% higher than predicted!). Notice if I believed the book and took my legal minimum, I would have actually run out of fuel on the return!

Fuel exhaustion is a major source of aviation accidents; probably one of the reasons is pilots who believe the fuel flow numbers in their POH are valid on a 20 year old airplane with an engine that’s 1500 hours since overhaul. Clearly, that’s not likely.

Today was my second solo cross country. This one was a little further, to Everett, and also involved travel through busy airspace (below Seattle’s Class B) and to a towered airport I had never been to before. I was pretty nervous because Everett (Paine field) is a busy airport, busier than Olympia, and Olympia was my only experience with towered airports.

I arrived early but the weather was not cooperating so I had to wait. Finally the weather barely met minimums (3000 ft ceiling), but was much better to the north and predicted to improve, so off I went. Navigation was a breeze – I had the VORs tuned in (slightly incorrectly, as it turned out) but didn’t need them as I was easily identifying my position visually.

The first twist occurred when Seattle approach directed me to “remain west of Bainbridge island”. Well, I don’t know where Bainbridge island is. So I said I would and then feverishly studied my map, figuring it was somewhere ahead. Nope. It was right in front of me, and I was on course to the east. So “remain” didn’t quite have the meaning I associated with it. The deviation around Bainbridge turned out to be a minor deal.

One thing the instructor (not Steve, a different guy) who signed me off warned was that the passage over the sound was a very busy area for Boeing field arrivals and so I should be sure I was on flight following. So I felt good about this, because ATC was clearly busy but seemed on top of things. Then, just as I arrived at the Sound...

“Cessna 40TP, Radar service terminated...”

So I just watched and everything was fine.

Paine field has two north-south runways, a large runway (almost twice as long as Olympia’s runway) and a short runway. I had anticipated, because the instructor told me, that I would be assigned the large runway. Instead, the tower controller assigned me the short runway. For just a takeoff or landing ,this would be no problem ... But I intended a touch-and-go, so I was a little nervous. The tower was VERY busy and had me switch frequencies while I was on final, which added to the hectic situation.

Radio #2 was also acting up again and making it hard to close my flight plan.

So I did my touch and go, and sweated as the buildings at the end of the runway loomed large, but everything was fine. Then I realized I hadn’t prepped the noise abatement for this runway and I wasn’t sure where to go. As I turned around to return south, a big twin overtook me from behind, a couple hundred feet below me rapidly climbing and passing above me. So that was a bit spooky, especially since the tower hadn’t said anything about it.

As I returned to Olympia, everything seemed fine. I was having a lot of fun and the scenery was great. When I called to open my return flight plan, there was some static on radio #2, but I swear I heard “Olympia convective sigmet in effect”.

There WAS a “convective outlook” (possibility of thunderstorms) before I left. The weather briefer had indicated the airmass was unstable, but the clouds did not show significant vertical development and there were no reports of thunderstorms...

When I got on Seattle approach, the controller immediately said, “Contact me when you have Olympia information Alpha”, instructing me to get the Olympia weather. This was unusual so it increased my concern that something very bad was happening in the Olympia area.

I switched to Flight Watch and asked for Olympia conditions, waiting to hear something like “Visibility 1 mile in hail. Lightning reported.” But the conditions sounded benign. I couldn’t actually pick up the official ATIS report from so far away though.

As I was cruising along, another surprise... Flight following will tell us if they notice another aircraft nearby, but they don’t usually tell us to do particular things, except when it relates to staying clear of certain airspace... So I was a bit shocked when out of the blue (i was cruising at 2,000 feet)...

“Cessna 40TP, immediate climb to 2,500.”

So I punched and looked around frantically. There it was – another big twin barreling down on me. This one passed under me a few seconds later. Thank goodness for flight following!

The visibility wasn’t so good coming back in, not as good as I’m used to, and I got a little disoriented because I knew I was passing through the practice area but I couldn’t see the airport like usual... (at this point the airport was about 12 miles away)

My final approach into Olympia was uneventful and another solo cross country was done!

This one was more work than the first due to juggling all the frequencies – Seattle Approach switched me multiple times in both directions, plus the two control towers (one of which also switched me on final) and the flight plans. But, I felt really good about my pilotage navigation. I had all the VORs tuned in there and back but didn’t even bother with them other than to see I was generally lined up because I was able to clearly see what was what on the map compared with the surface.

Went by the house today to see if I could hook up the watering system for the lower garden plots. It quickly became apparent that the irrigation system is in significant disrepair. I took some parts of the front irrigation system (rendering it even more useless than it was) and tried to repair the back system with those, but ultimately it was too much. The irrigation system will have to be a significant project rather than a quick fix.

So for a quick fix I dug up a hose and got it in position for one of the beds.

Also, I found a hose buried underground that went from the garden area, up the property line, and across into the neighbor’s property, where it disappeared, underground, into a bed of ivy. I couldn’t see anywhere where it came out and it was firmly placed so it must have continued for some distance.

This morning we picked up a ceiling fan, compliments of my parents, and are arranging for an electrician to install it, also compliments of my parents.

Nothing like a long string of back-and-forth and then a light bulb comes on.

Thank you for the excellent explanation of how the arrays and functions work. ... But now that you helped me see how to use it I have search online for a reference ... I know what this is doing with the array now. ... I didn’t put this together without an understanding - I could have totally missed this learning experiance. ... I’ve worked with arrays in the past (Java class) but really never understood them fully as I do now.

Met with another instructor at a coffee house today to discuss a potential project. There’s no money or timeline involved, it’s an unusual artsy project, but there’s enough details to actually do something with it AND it’s pretty interesting.

After that we segued into background stuff and I found out that he was one of the two people who built the Olympia Zen Center and then later left after the monk there became excessively controlling in his life. Overall it was quite interesting and I would have liked to discuss further but I had to head to my class.

Went to the house to move some more stuff. I investigated the hot tub and found we will have to call a person to come look at it ... nothing jumps out at me as a fix.

We got some plants and put them in the ground. Found the very front was unsuitable for any significant plants as there appears to be an old sidewalk about 6 inches down. Also, I hit one of the watering lines and now, without a patch, we can’t really use the front drip water system. Also not the end of the world as I expected mostly we would use the rear lower drip system.

Someone found my blog searching for “gas panic roppongi spiked drinks”

Well I’ve been to the Gas Panic in Roppongi, and if someone had spiked my drink, it might have actually made for an entertaining evening.