The Old Dominion and some complex time
On Wednesday afternoon, I got a voice mail from the Director of Admissions at the University of Virginia Darden School of Business.
"Big Country, please give me a call. I'd love to speak with you."
Was this what I think? Was I accepted? A few minutes later I spoke to the Director who, in fact, offered me admission to the MBA program at Darden. I think I screamed "WAHOO!", only to realize later that the Wahoo is the mascot for UVA.
The Chief Photographer and I are excited about moving back to the Old Dominion. When I informed her that I had been accepted, her response wasn't "That's great dear" or "Congratulations," it was "We're going home!!!" She told me the rest of that later, but we will definitely be glad to get back to the land with four real seasons and sweet tea at the restaurants.
On Thursday, to celebrate my (upcoming) birthday and my admission to Darden, I decided to get some complex time with a CFI. J, who instructed me through my solo, volunteered, so off we went. We took a 172RG and went from NZY to CRQ where I did some pattern work on power settings (I have to set RPM and MP?) and on remembering to put the gear down (and check it, and check it again, and check it a few more times for good measure).
Once he was comfortable with my pattern work, we headed across the big water to Catalina Island (AVX), an old airport carved out of two mountains with the gap filled in. Long overwater flight, but great for VOR flying and finding a new airport. After a brief stop to pay the $20 landing fee, we were back in 96V and heading east, back over the water, then up into the mountains to Big Bear Lake, a strip at 6800ft in the mountains east of LA. This was the flight portion of my "mountain flying/high density altitude airport" checkout. We stopped for about an hour to check the fuel in the plane and refill the pilots with some Chinese food, then a brief 1.1hrs home back to NZY for a night landing. Gear down, landed on the tires instead of the belly, kept the MP below the RPM, and all was right with the world.
I'm heading out tomorrow to the EAA's Sport Pilot road show at SDM. It should be interesting to see what it is all about and maybe get a few demo rides from some guys trying to sell me an airplane.
Until later...
"Big Country, please give me a call. I'd love to speak with you."
Was this what I think? Was I accepted? A few minutes later I spoke to the Director who, in fact, offered me admission to the MBA program at Darden. I think I screamed "WAHOO!", only to realize later that the Wahoo is the mascot for UVA.
The Chief Photographer and I are excited about moving back to the Old Dominion. When I informed her that I had been accepted, her response wasn't "That's great dear" or "Congratulations," it was "We're going home!!!" She told me the rest of that later, but we will definitely be glad to get back to the land with four real seasons and sweet tea at the restaurants.
On Thursday, to celebrate my (upcoming) birthday and my admission to Darden, I decided to get some complex time with a CFI. J, who instructed me through my solo, volunteered, so off we went. We took a 172RG and went from NZY to CRQ where I did some pattern work on power settings (I have to set RPM and MP?) and on remembering to put the gear down (and check it, and check it again, and check it a few more times for good measure).
Once he was comfortable with my pattern work, we headed across the big water to Catalina Island (AVX), an old airport carved out of two mountains with the gap filled in. Long overwater flight, but great for VOR flying and finding a new airport. After a brief stop to pay the $20 landing fee, we were back in 96V and heading east, back over the water, then up into the mountains to Big Bear Lake, a strip at 6800ft in the mountains east of LA. This was the flight portion of my "mountain flying/high density altitude airport" checkout. We stopped for about an hour to check the fuel in the plane and refill the pilots with some Chinese food, then a brief 1.1hrs home back to NZY for a night landing. Gear down, landed on the tires instead of the belly, kept the MP below the RPM, and all was right with the world.
I'm heading out tomorrow to the EAA's Sport Pilot road show at SDM. It should be interesting to see what it is all about and maybe get a few demo rides from some guys trying to sell me an airplane.
Until later...
posted by Big Country at 9:40 PM
4 Comments:
Congratulations on the admission!
Thanks! I have to give up the sunny flying of SOCAL, but at least I'll be able to afford to buy a house.
I lived in McLean, VA for 3 years before coming out here, and before I got my pilots licence - what is the flying going to be like over there? Any clubs you can join?
There are no clubs in the immediate area, although there is are military flying clubs in Quantico and in Hampton. I'm still researching, but it does look like flying in VA is going to be more expensive than flying in SOCAL, probably due to the great number of VFR days we get here every year.
Imagine that, SOCAL is actually inexpensive on something! Who would of thunk it?
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