Everest Asserting Itself....Again

I’m awake…it’s 4:10am. The alarm is set for 4:30. I try to sleep a few more minutes since I fell asleep about 1:00am, but no use—too excited, too many things start rushing through my mind…oh well, might as well get an early start. It’s all dark and quiet in the house….our cat Mary Ann is startled and confused to see me stumble into the kitchen for a quick piece of toast and a Coke Zero. While eating I check the weather again….forecast when I went to sleep was perfect, zero percent chance of rain or clouds here in the STL area and almost as perfect in Pittsburg, KS—my destination for a breakfast flight with my Dad and almost 90 year old grandfather…but…but when I check the radar, first thing I notice are magenta dots at the local airports—LOW IFR!! What the $#@*? I click on the dots….just fog at low lying airports near the rivers…ok, that will lift soon enough probably…then I pan out…NOOOOO!! A big, severe storm bearing down on Kansas City and headed southeast to intercept my flight path. Of course. I was banking on a relaxing easy flight. Well, now I was going to have to work harder…starting with the go/no go decision. Well, I figured, hoped that surely this time of year that storm will fade away before it makes it far enough south to cause me trouble…and forecast along the route was not calling for storms…so I went ahead and brushed teeth, shaved, got dressed and grabbed my good luck pieces. 

I arrived at the Festus Airport about 5:15…still pitch dark, with just the slightest hint of light in the east and sure enough, the field was covered with thin layer of fog…about 5 feet high…beautiful really…but I knew it was going to delay my planned departure of 6 am. Oh well, nice to have some time alone at the airport to fuel the plane, pre-flight, organize my charts, iPad and turn on my trusted Garmin handheld GPS —that I call Yellowjacket. While I watched the fog gradually lift, I thought about the tough school year ahead…lots of changes this year and only a few days left in which to brace myself…hopefully it wasn’t just being tired or the optimism of watching a sunrise by myself before an adventure, but soon I felt much more confident to handle the school year that is quickly approaching. 62 degrees, a bit chilly for us for early August, so I hopped back in the plane to warm up a bit. Nothing quite like the smell of a cockpit and having grown up around airplanes, it is a familiar and comforting smell to me.  Old Pipers seem to have a unique smell compared to Cessna’s for example…I like them both, most probably don’t like the smell… OK, enough nostalgia, meditation and tempering the steel...I notice the fog lifting. I check the weather once more…maybe I will get stranded in Kansas, but I am confident…sort of…that I can get there ok at least, so I activated my flight plan on my iPad, buckled up, took a deep breath, took out the check list.

“Clear!”

The peaceful silence is broken by the noise of the engine firing up and vibration all around. The wash off the prop slowly dries the dew off the windshield enough for me to taxi out to runway 1-8. 6:30…I am wheels off….the Piper Warrior climbs quickly in the cool morning air with only one passenger that is me…the pilot I should say.

Air is calm, but visibility is terrible and hazy…but just good enough, barely, I can’t remember if this is even legal for me as a VFR pilot…but I keep climbing to the West. I flip the radio over to St. Louis Approach to ask for Flight Following. A really, friendly, sexy female voice is happy to help me and soon gives me a squawk code for my transponder. I enjoy listening to her and the airline pilots that I hear talking to her all are enjoying her company for sure on a quiet Sunday morning, but too soon, she advises me that she is passing me along to Kansas City Center and wishes me a good morning and a good flight. 

I am really straining to see the horizon or any landmarks up ahead…but I usually can find some glimmer of sunlight sparking off of a pond and use that to cue in on, while continuously checking and rechecking my GPS’s, my iPad, the gyro compass, the attitude indicator and the turn coordinator. Hard work this is at my level of experience, but good experience for sure…the stress makes time slow down to a snail’s pace but, eventually I see the the little sombrero radar hat of the Vichy VOR and I change course slightly to the southwest. A good time to switch fuel tanks, adjust the mixture again, run the carb heat for minute…check all the gauges…everything is in order.  

The soup is getting thicker, but still just good enough and I can see the ground below me easily and I can still barely make out landmarks ahead on which I can focus. KC center then passes me along to Mizzour Approach and then 20 minutes later to Springfield approach. Springfield is busy, but I find a time in which they are not so busy and ask them about the weather and storm up north…the controller was good…he told me it was all fine along my route at the moment and that I should have no problems making Pittsburg…it is nice to have someone to talk to that has a real radar in front of them…wish I had the money for subscription to Nexrad radar…oh well…the controllers are helpful. Soon enough I am over Stockton Lake and the haze breaks up and I get a fairly nice view of the lake…not many boats out, a great view…but, I am working on this trip too…even though the weather is improving, I double check my triangulation from the Springfield VOR on head 2 to confirm that the needle is centered….perfect….VOR’s are yesterday’s technology for sure, but I really like to watch the needle swing to the center right on schedule to confirm that you are really on course. I used to watch the VOR’s as a kid up front riding along with my Dad…they were mysterious and looked WAY too complicated for me to ever really understand…so I felt very good about getting this right. 

Once more I was passed along to Kansas City again and soon enough the VOR needle was swinging to the middle again and that meant Lamar…15 minutes to landing…and soon I would start my descent…time for pre-landing checklist—so switched fuel tank again, mixture rich, checked carb heat again, switched 2nd radio over to the Pittsburg AWOS for weather, then to Pittsburg Unicom to try to listen for local traffic and to tell what runway was in use. No local traffic, but winds favored runway 1-6. Kansas City Center called me for and told me to squawk for VOR and to have a good day. I was on my own now.  Soon I swooped in over Pittsburg, it looked small, but familiar nonetheless and it should have, I grew up here until I was 13 and had flown over it as a kid many times…airport in sight and enter downwind for 1-6. …wow that is a big, wide runway compared to Festus…have to remember not to flare too early….but that is exactly what I do…but with 5500 feet I had all day to add a little power and float and ease the Warrior onto the 100 feet wide concrete…landing smooth, but nothing I am too proud of…oh well. 

I taxi to the terminal that I grew up with where Dad had his FBO when I was a kid. Nobody there yet, but soon the fuel truck pulls up and tops off my tanks and a minute later Dad zooms up in his black Corvette. 

“Son, looks like those storms are getting closer. Let’s skip Harry’s Cafe and just meet Papo (my 89 year old Grandfather) at MCDonald’s and get you back on your way before you get stuck here.”

I eat a quick breakfast with Dad and Papo. Papo asks if this is my longest cross country so far, I tell him that is right it is…Papo was a Flight Instructor also when I was a kid. I wish I had more time for a leisurely breakfast, but better to get going rather than getting stuck.

Soon enough after a few pictures and Papo loading some sweet corn and tomatoes in the back seat, I am airborne and headed back east. I climb to 5500 and notice the haze is even thicker than this morning and I can see thunderheads building to my north. I hope I can go quickly enough along my route before the storms intercept me so I don’t have to divert my route to the south. I call KC Center and set up flight following for my return trip. The haze is thick and over Stockton Lake the storm angles its closest point to me…looks like I am home free from here unless something new builds….a stressful flight watching what little horizon I have in this haze and hoping things don’t get worse….after Rolla I have clouds directly ahead at my 5500 altitude. I advise Center that I will need to descend to 3500 to stay under clouds…but wow, was it bumpy down there…I do a good job of staying at 3500 feet, but now it is harder to stay directly on course…going to be a bumpy brawl the rest of the way home to Festus. Soon enough I have the rock quarry behind Festus in sight…St. Louis approach advises me about skydivers waiting for me to clear the runway before they jump and releases me back to squawk VFR again…I am exhausted and struggling in the pattern to get things set up as normal…I finally approach the runway, but I float a good distance and finally touchdown, but I stop in plenty of time even on our short runway….but I wasn’t happy with the less than perfect landing….I struggled to put the airplane away by myself in the heat and humidity…thought I would have to ask for help, but finally I roll the Piper back into her hangar. 

I did it, but I am completely spent. 4.5 hours in challenging haze with the storm threatening from the north, then the hour of fighting the turbulence at the end with 3 hours of sleep the night before…but I’m back. I grab a diet Mt. Dew from the office and head for home. Not at all the easy relaxing flight I had counted on, but I learned a lot. And just in case I had forgotten, I had a good lesson reminding me that this is still my Everest and that it is going to fight me every step of the way. Can't imagine a day where this will be routine or easy, but I had the privilege of another day up on top of my personal Everest.

Arch Tour!

Last September I dedicated myself to maintaining my foothold on top of my Everest as best I could within the limits of my budget and lifestyle. That meant flying one time per week for .5 hours in the Cessna 150 (a 2 seat trainer) based at Festus. That plan worked well and usually I practiced landings in the pattern. I figured that was the best way to get the most bang for the buck.  Each time I flew I became more proficient (well, most of the time that is...always setbacks on your Everest) and each time I flew I learned something new...sometimes the hard way, but luckily not too hard...no damage to the plane or injuries to myself!
I achieved my Everest in October of 2011 (that is passing my check ride and becoming a licensed pilot), but an Everest being an Everest, I wasn't sure what to do after reaching the summit.
This summer, I have borrowed my Dad's Piper Warrior (4 seat) and this has given me the opportunity to really get a better toehold on my Everest in a shorter amount of time as well as take some family trips.
2 weeks ago today, we took a family Arch Tour! That is we flew up the Mississippi River from Festus, contacted ATC (St. Louis Approach on 126.5) and for the first time I used Flight Following. I felt like a real pilot hearing calls to Southwest Airliners interspersed with calls to our small Piper. I was a bit nervous to use it, but the controller was very polite and forgiving of my novice radio skills. I just made sure to keep ATC advised  in clear language of what I requesting and what I was doing and it worked great! Also, for the first time ever, I leaned the engine during cruise flight...which saves fuel and improves efficiency. It is just a bit nerve wracking to use at first because that is how we shut down the engine after a flight...by starving the engine of oxygen...so doing it while you are flying (even half way) certainly will get your attention...but I did as my Dad had told me....leaned it slowly until the engine started to run a bit rough, then pushed it slightly forward again to smooth it out.
So a lot of first on this trip and Sue and Teddy really enjoyed themselves....after a smooth landing and a congratulatory handshake from Randy (one of our local instructors with whom I had often spoken about this trip), we put the Piper back in her hangar with all of us eager for new adventures!

Top ten books for Pilots

Simply the Best

One of the first things I recommend doing as soon as you realize that you have an "Everest" and have decided to climb it, is to learn about it and become inspired by reading the best books that you can find on the subject. To climb your Everest, you will need many mentors and a great book can serve you well in that capacity.  For aspiring and student pilots (and even career pilots), I recommend the following books. I have been reading aviation books since I was 19 and so far these are the only books that I have earned a place on my Top Ten. To qualify for my top ten the books must be entertaining, educational and really help you achieve your goal (in this case becoming a pilot) either by helping you talk the talk (which builds confidence), learn the new vocabulary of your new "Everest World" you have entered, show you honestly the struggles and mistakes that they made and most importantly to inspire you to another level spiritually in your quest.  

1. The Spirit of St. Louis -- Charles A. Lindbergh

Quite simply the best book on Aviation, Aviating and Flying ever written. I have read it multiple times. Lindbergh was also a flight instructor here in my home town of St. Louis before he became famous and in many ways he was one of my first "instructors". Unlike many pilots I meet who "never make mistakes" and like to put themselves above other pilots by criticizing them constantly (typical behavior of many pilots I am afraid), Lindbergh has none of that insecurity and will help you by his humble and honest stories and how to learn from some of his mistakes which he readily admits. Lindbergh was the simply the best. Click this link for a longer book review on my History Hangar blog.  

2. Wind, Sand and Stars -- Antoine De Saint-Exupéry

"I walked around my ship, stroking her wings with the back of my hand in a caress that I believe was love."  

Essential reading for anyone who truly loves the air and airplanes. Saint-Exupéry is certainly the best pilot/writer/poet/philosopher of all time. This book is the template from which so many lesser aviation books have stolen and copied ideas, but of course they never approached his greatness. Click this link for my full book review. 

3. The Right Stuff -- Tom Wolfe

No book captures the sense of how pilots view themselves or hope to dare to view themselves and how they often behave than the Right Stuff. I real psychological study of the pilot's psyche and ego. This book is essential reading for anyone about how pilot's talk and think. The book is very well written and very funny throughout. 

4. First Light -- Geoffrey Wellum 

The recently discovered memoir of the RAF's youngest fighter pilot in the Battle of Britain. Wellum is very honest and humble about how difficult it was to learn to fly, details of which he goes into in great detail. Any pilot or student pilot who has ever struggled (as I have) will appreciate this book. I loved how he would be in a dogfight in his Spitfire, then still worry about getting his landing right! This book is essential for all student pilots or anyone thinking of becoming a pilot. 

5. Fate is the Hunter -- Ernest K. Gann

While this book has a few flaws, it is so fundamental and such a template for future books on flying that it earns a place easily on my top ten. In fact, I have heard so many pilots unknowingly tell stories and anecdotes using Gann's style, that he undoubtedly, single handedly shaped the culture of the future pilot community. A very exciting and funny read too. Click here for my full review. 

6. Piece of Cake -- Derek Robinson  

One of the best novels that I have ever read and right up there with War and Peace or Catch-22. Sometimes fiction gets at the truth better than the supposed truths of non-fiction and this book is a good example of that. You will never look at fighter pilots in WWII the same way after reading this book and you will certainly feel like a member of "Hornet Squadron". 

7. Bomber Pilot -- Philip Ardery
Again, this book is foundational. Any historian writing about bombers in the European Theater always use this book as a source. Before being sent overseas to the most challenging and deadly missions of the war, Ardery was a flight instructor for the Air Corp. Even now...several years since I first read this book, I often read his comments about student pilots. He said his life as an instructor was very easy and that the least thing he could do (and this was not normal Army procedure) was to "get all my students through." He "believed there wasn't one boy in a thousand" who had completed the basic flight instruction course that he couldn't help pass the basic flight training course. His "only question" was whether he would "have the patience to concentrate on the slow students to keep them up with the rest". His confidence was justified. No doubt I would have been one of those "slow" students and would have been eliminated had I not had the good fortune of having a superstar instructor like Ardery. As I tell my fellow teachers at school...anyone can teach the gifted kids, but the challenging students are where the good teachers show the "right stuff". Click here for another review I wrote for this book.

So, this is really a top 7 list so far. I have read dozens of books that have been recommended to me, many I would put on my top 20 (such as the Red Baron's Autobiography, Baa Baa Black Sheep or North Star Over My Shouder), but I am still searching for 3 more books to round out my list. I have read and rejected probably 30 books in the last few years, that were highly touted in the Aviation Community, but just weren't that good in the end. So, if your Everest is learning to fly...read these books. If your Everest is something else, find the 10 best books on the subject and read up....remember if your goal is really your Everest, it WILL NOT be easy and you will feel insecure and fail multiple times, so you will need reinforcements and books can provide that foundation. 

New Developments

Through a stroke of good luck I am flying a lot lately and for the next 6 weeks or so. I have borrowed my Dad's Piper Warrior. It was a little overwhelming to get used to Pipers and low wing aircraft again, but I did take my check ride in a Piper Cherokee, so I do have some experience. Yesterday, I went up and practiced 5 landings with Teddy, the first of which is posted above. It was a bumpy day with winds around 8-10 kts, but it was not a problem for me and helped my confidence a lot. I am proof that if you stay focused on your goal of Climbing and staying on top of your Everest, it can happen....right now I have 95 hours total time and I am looking forward to celebrating my 100th hour very soon!

Staying on Top

Once you climb your Everest, in my particular case with my particular Everest anyway, it is hard work to stay on top...that is to maintain my skills and improve my skills. Last October, after watching my skills and confidence erode due to not flying enough the previous two years since passing my checkride, I decided I would rent the Cessna 150 once a week for 0.5 hours and work only on skills, mainly landing and pattern skills. So for $46 dollars a week, the price of a meal out basically, I could maintain and improve. Even as a high school teacher, this is something I could afford-- so long as I was careful in other areas of our budget. Another way, that I was able to get more "bang for my buck" is using my goPro camera that I received for Christmas. I film each flight/landing and then go back and study what I did right and what I did wrong. Sometimes when I think I have made the perfect landing, I go back and then find there was something embarrassing I forgot to do (like apply carb heat) or on the flip side, sometimes when I think I really blew a landing and go back, I see that it really wasn't that bad after all. Then there was the time in April when I looked back after a bounce and go-around and decided it was time to get a tune up lesson with my instructor, which really paid off by the way.  The video above is from last Sunday afternoon. I felt really good about some of the improvements I could see--keeping things more square in the pattern, keeping correct distance from RWY on downwind, turning base at exactly 45 degrees past the numbers and keeping more altitude on final (above the trees) for increased safety. I made and recorded 4 circuits around the pattern and flew for 0.6 hrs. I did notice room for improvement and that would be to hold the nose gear off longer on touchdown. So that is my next goal. An Everest isn't easy to climb and they are not easy to maintain either, but technology when properly and strategically used, can really help and be a nice ally for us on our climbs.

What is an "Everest"?

     To use a cliche about goals or smart goals or whatever people are calling them right now--an Everest, like many types of goals is definable. You know when you have summitted your Everest. Clear examples include my Everest (the Pilot’s certificate), running a marathon, starting your own business, finishing a degree, achieving your goal weight or actually summitting a mountain such as Everest itself. 

     But an Everest is no normal goal. In many ways it is unique. I can say for sure that Climbing Your Everest is something that has not and will not come easy for you. A true Everest involves multiple failures.  If it comes easy for you and you don’t fail and struggle along the way….then guess what? It was not your Everest! It was a nice, maybe even really difficult goal that you achieved, but it wasn't an Everest as I am defining it. 

     Why is your Everest more difficult for you than for other people? Because the path is strewn with psychological baggage usually from your childhood or young adulthood. 

    Another aspect of a true Everest is that you must achieve it or do your best to achieve it or you will regret it on your deathbed. Achieving it is something you want to define and brand who you are, what you are about. The Headliner on your Bucket List. 

    Also, an Everest will be risky. It might be expensive, dangerous or difficult for important people in your life to accept....probably all three and more, but you are compelled to do it anyway.

     Finally, an Everest often has its roots in a childhood dream. Sometimes it is given to you (as in my case) or it finds you, or maybe it is a dream in your head since childhood that is always on your brain and you can't shake it. 

     --Do you have an Everest? Does everyone have one? I didn't know I had one until my late 30's! Are you not sure what your Everest is and you want an Everest? Please comment below! 

My Everest and Your Everest:

On October the 15th, 2011, at the age of 42, I earned my Private Pilot License and finally summitted my personal Everest. It was an intense struggle to climb my Everest and it has been a difficult task to stay on top of my Everest...but if it had been easy, it wouldn't be my Everest. An Everest is never easy and involves multiple failures and setbacks to summit. I have learned so much that I want to share with others who have an Everest so that they can learn what they can from my struggle to help them achieve their dream. It is my goal that this blog will be a source of mentorship and inspiration for you. My Everest was my pilot's license and much of this blog will be directly addressing that specific goal and helping people achieve that goal, but it is also my goal to ensure that this blog is targeted to everyone who has an Everest in ANY field of endeavor and I am confident that many of the lessons I learned the hard way are universal and will help you in your climb.