Happy Halloween Everyone

Happy Halloween to Everyone out there. Pretty sorry I didn't get really any good pictures of Cole tonight. Oh well, maybe next year.

Keeping Up With Tradition

Well Steph, Cole and I would have loved to have been part of the Smith Family Tradition at your place. Plus if Cole and I were there I would have been warned by several people that if you carve a pumpkin too early you will be throwing it away before Halloween. Where were you on that one Rich? Since the competitive nature doesn't fill all of the Smith children I decided not to compete in this year's annual pumpkin carving contest. However if I were competitive I would be tempted to maybe post pictures like the one on the left. Or maybe toss out insults to my fellow competitors during the competition like..."Nice clothes, did your mommy lay them out for you?" But since this horrible characteristic doesn't run in my veins I am not going to do any of that. However Cole and I will continue to sharpen our skills for when that day comes. I will post pictures of Cole's pumpkin when he finishes it. We ran out of time before he had to go to bed.
<-------------This is the picture of the second pumpkin I carved this year. The first one is below in another post. I do have a third pumpkin that is scheduled to go under the knife sometime this week.

I thought I would put up some new pictures since I haven't in awhile. On Monday I finished up my solo time by flying the exact same cross country flight that I did on Friday, why make it difficult, right? And yes Jen you would be surprised that the plane really flies itself once you trim the controls out. If you look at the first picture you can see my hand on still on the "steering wheel." The second picture is of the clouds, I know it isn't a very good one but if you look at it, it sort of looks like a hand that is curling its fingers inward. (Fingers are on the left). But as for flying, I am two flights away from being let lose on my own for good. That should scare some people.

Lately I have been trying to get Cole interested in cooking and making things. I figured it would be a great idea because he is always interested in what dad is doing. So I thought I would let him make his own pizza. I took some video so that he can tell you what he made in his own words. You have just got to love the serious face he makes at the end of the video. For some reason it makes me laugh every time. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3aTMnhexN4

One more Step

I just finished up a flight today that consisted of a few hours in the air by myself. This was my longest cross country that I have ever flown alone. I flew from Grand Forks to Fargo to Park Rapids and then back to Grand Forks. I was in the air for 2.8 hours. This is one of the last steps that I needed to get my license. Now I just have to build about another 2.5 hours of solo time, a 1.0 hour final flight with my instructor, a ground briefing, and then my final check ride. I will let everyone know when I get my license and I will also let everyone know where I am at if I am flying so that they may avoid the area at all costs.

PS - I did get a couple of pictures that I might post later on. The weather wasn't very good so I didn't want to divert my attention for very long.

It is that time a year again

Here are some pictures of Cole playing guitar hero. I tried to get a good picture of him playing the guitar with my glasses on but he caught me off guard by putting them on. It is really cute while he plays, every so often he will say "Rock Out."

I thought I would get Cole a pumpkin this year for him to help carve since last year all he did was color on some small pumpkins with markers. I cut open the top and Cole didn't want anything to do with putting his hand in and gutting the thing. He did how ever pick out the pattern we used and spent about 10 minutes helping dad cut the thing out. He lost interest in the pumpkin until it was all done and dad put a candle in it.

I feel the need...the need for speed! (going really fast, not the drug)

Update: I am not sure who Jusgirl is but the question was posted about what type of plane I fly. It is a four seat piper warrior. Here is a picture of one. http://flightops.aero.und.edu/airplanes/warrior.asp

Well I finally got to get back into the air today. I had to do a cross country with my instructor that was to three different airports and back. The weather was a little windy but good enough to proceed. We flew from Grand Forks to Fargo to Crookston and then back to Grand Forks. It was a pretty event less flight. We took off burned some fuel (money) and then went home. I was going to go on my long cross country to night but found out that I didn't have the correct number of night landings to be considered current to fly at night. You have to have 5 (UND policy) while the FAA only requires 3. Well I have my 3 but couldn't go. The flight was also on the border of my limitations because of the cross wind component. Oh well, rescheduled the flight and I am now looking forward to next week.

Flying out of Grand Forks you don't get to see many commercial airplanes or airplanes that are not UND's. Here is a couple of pictures of a Citation Jet that ATC decided to cut me off with. The last picture is of Grand Forks at about 4,500 ft. I love loving in the winter because the haze appearance with be gone when it gets colder outside.

Warning the propeller in the videos doesn't appear to be moving really fast because the camera isn't high tech enough to pick up the speed of it so it looks as if it is standing still at times.

This first video is a Stop and Go at Crookston. There is a heavy cross wind blow us to the right

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1QbKyMsRf8

This second video is of my landing at Grand Forks after everything is said and done.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGYQ0yBzlq8

If you listen closely you can actually here me "grease the tires" on the runway at about 3:44 on the right side and 3:45 for the left.

Term of the Day: Greasing the tires is aviation slang for having a really soft landing that the tires spoil up really fast as you gently touch down.

High Alert

I feel like Owen Wilson in the movie Behind Enemy Lines. At the beginning of the movie there is an alarm and everyone on the ship scrambles to the area to launch two fighter jets. The planes are in position and the engines are blasting at full throttle. You see Owen looking out the cockpit window at the guy on deck with the trigger to release the catapult. And then you hear the alarm to stand down.

I was all set to ago on a quick cross country flight this morning. The weather the previous night was a little rainy and I didn't have any real worries for this particular flight. I get ready for bed, place all of my flight gear by the door. I make some last minute corrections for the route of flight. I watch the rest of the Angles game ( they won in 12 ) and proceed for bed. I look at the clock and set the alarm for 6:40. I roll my eyes realizing that I have to be out at the airport at 7:45 am. That is way too early for me.

The alarm goes off and I hit the snooze button. As you can tell I am a real go getter early in the morning (yes anything before 9 is early in the morning). I finally get out of bed at 7:15 after calculating the exactly number of minutes it will take me to get ready, shower, eat, and drive to the airport. I glance at the weather channel to get a quick idea of the weather. I check my phone and noticed I had received a text message from my instructor telling me that it was dual IFR conditions until noon.

I spend the next hour or so getting back into bed and trying to fall asleep. What a let down to be ready for a flight just to get cancelled because of weather. This is like the third or fourth flight in the last two weeks.

Despite the fact that I had to cancel my flight today there is one thing for sure. The sunset after a rainstorm looks pretty cool.

Here are a couple of pics of Cole from last week. For some reason he wanted to watch 101 puppies (as he calls it) in his room on his rocking chair. Something very different from the norm with him.

Late Night Vistor

I woke up last night to hear somebody in Cole's room at 2:30am. By the time I got there who ever it was had already left and Cole was scared and crying. You guessed it just got a visit from the puke fairy. They came, they left a little something, and vanished not without leaving a trace. Need less to say I was up with Cole for the next hour and half and an additional hour doing laundry. It amazes me that puke can get in so many different places. I had to wash his pillow case, sheets, blanket, two sets of PJ's (I was smart enough to put another pair on him right away), bath room rugs, and several towels. What a night. And without even setting the alarm somebody wakes up at 8:00 am. Where is the justice in that?