Author: The Flying Dutchman

I am a man who loves Christ, loves my wife, loves my family, loves my church, and loves aviation. In that order.

An Aviation Safety Seminar You Can’t Fly To

On By The Flying DutchmanIn Aviation, Opinion2 Comments

I’ve been a private pilot for about 23 years.  For almost all of that time I’ve been a member of the Aircraft Owners and Pilot’s Association (AOPA).   AOPA is basically a group that lobbies for rights of pilots and aircraft owners with lawmakers and also puts out a magazine on all things airplane.  I’m no longer an AOPA member because they don’t represent me as an ultralight pilot but I still get their emails.  Even though I’m not into general aviation any longer I still like to keep up with what’s going on out there.

Well, this morning I got an email from AOPA for a safety seminar they would be sponsoring at Moffet Field in Sunnyvale, CA.  Moffet Field started out as a Navy blimp base just prior to WWII and was a Naval Air Station for years and years.  The Navy has since pulled out and turned oversite of the field over to NASA as they were still flying their variant of the U-2 spy plane called the ER-2. Eventually other government agencies joined in the fun and now it’s Moffet Federal Airfield.  A huge barely used airport in the heart of Silicon Valley in the San Francisco Bay Area.

It would seem the most logical way for pilots to attend a safety seminar at an airport would be to fly in.  However, you can’t fly in to this big beautiful airport.  You must drive there, check in at the gate, and proceed as if it were still an active military base.  Which, technically it really isn’t.  I mean, Google is allowed to operate their airplanes there.  But not you or I.

Look, I’m sure Moffet has some great meeting facilities and the gate guards will be super friendly and helpful but to me that’s not the point.  I just think that all groups that are about promoting anything with aviation and pilots specifically should plan for their events to be held at a field were pilots can fly their planes to the event.  I know, in the grand scheme of things it’s probably nothing.

Walk-On Trailer Ramp Springs Part 2

On By The Flying DutchmanIn Powered Paragliding, RepairLeave a comment

What a life I must have when I get excited about springs!  If you’ll remember from two posts ago (not that far back to remember is it?) I added a spring to the ramp on my walk-on trailer that I used to haul my PPG trike.  The ramp is just heavy enough to cause me much groanage when lifting it back up to close it.   So I added a spring to help with the lifting.  While this did help, it didn’t help to the extent I wanted.   So…  I added another spring!  And this has helped tremendously!  If anyone has one of these trailers, I highly recommend adding a couple of springs to help lift the ramp.   Even if you have a strong back.

Here’s some video with some blathering…

Back To Spam School

On By The Flying DutchmanIn HumorLeave a comment

I’ve received two emails now from the same spammer.  I wish I had kept the first one because it was even funnier than this one.  He’s apparently working on his spelling but still has a way to go.  I give you… someone pretending to be PayPal!

“Dear svanarts@yahoo.com,

We emailed you a little while ago to ask for your help resolving an issue with your PayPal account. Your account is still temporarily limited because we haven’t heard from you

What’s the problem ?

We noticed some unusual log in activity with your account, Please check that no one has logged into your account without your permission. Take a momment to change your password and security questions and riview your account information and recent transactions for changes or unknown payment.  If you see a payment you don’t recognise, go to the Resolution Centre and report it by clicking “Dispute a Transaction”

How you can help

It’s help us with this and to see what you can and can’t do with your account until the issue is resolved, log into your account and go to the Resolution Center

Confirm your account now

Sincerely,
PayPaI Inc.”

Okay Mr. Spammer, here’s a little lesson in grammar.  Under “What’s the problem”, you write “We noticed some unusual log in activity with your account.”  The correct way to say this would be, “We’ve noticed some unusual activity on your account.”  Also, “moment” is spelled with only one “m”.  “Riview” is spelled “Review”, and “payment” should be plural.  To make the word plural simply add an “s” to the end of the word.  Since I am in the United States we spell it “Center” not “Centre”.   Finally, in your last paragraph please delete “It’s help us with this and”.  Simply start your sentence with “To see what you can and can’t do…”

So there you are Mr. Spammer.  My little attempt to make the world a better place through better grammar.

Walk-on Trailer Ramp Spring

On By The Flying DutchmanIn Powered Paragliding, Repair3 Comments

It seems like the ramp on the trailer I used to transport my PPG trike gets heavier and heavier each time I have to open or close it.  To save my back I attached a spring to one side.  However, that only helped a little.  I’m going to have to attach another spring on the other side.  Here are some moving pictures that describe what I did…

Thursday Morning Flying

On By The Flying DutchmanIn Aviation, Powered ParaglidingLeave a comment

Since it’s supposed to rain this weekend I decided to get in another flying session this morning.  Besides, I really need the practice.  My launch was not as good as yesterday’s launch but much better than the launch video I posted a few days ago.  All but one of my touch and goes were great.  Here are the highlights of this morning’s flight.

Are You Sure You’re Autistic?

On By The Flying DutchmanIn OpinionLeave a comment

I just got done reading a blog post from someone claiming to be autistic.  She was very eloquent in her description of how “neuro-typical” people treat her and how she acts around them.  Now, I don’t know what it’s like to be autistic but I sure know what it looks like.  You know, just because you’re socially inept that doesn’t mean you have autism.  I mean, you could just be really annoying.  You know?

I always explain autism this way, and I could be wrong but this is how I see it.  Imagine you have been abducted by aliens.  They come and grab you in your sleep and whisk you off to their planet.  They dump you off right in the middle of their society and leave you.  Now what do you do?  They communicate in ways you don’t understand.  They do things that make no sense to you.  They get angry at everything you do because everything you do is considered wrong in their society and you are incapable of learning to do what they do.  I ask again, what do you do?  How do you get along?  How do you react?   Do you turn inward?  Do you become frustrated and then angry?  THIS is autism.

I don’t know whether that blogger is autistic or not.  Autism is a spectrum disorder so one can be mildly or severely affected.  That being said, being rebellious is not autism.  You can’t start acting anti-social and then just declare yourself autistic.  My son is autistic and he hates that label.  I don’t look at him as autistic.  He’s just my son, and he’s pretty cool.

Lazy Wednesday Morning Flight

On By The Flying DutchmanIn Aviation, Powered ParaglidingLeave a comment

Since the weather was going to be as perfect as it could be this time of year I decided to sneak in an early morning flight before work today.  I had originally wanted to work on taxiing my trike.  This is where I would just drive along the ground with the parachute canopy (wing) inflated and practice steering it.  However, the winds, such as they were, were not aligned with the runway and I would be taking off crossways.  I made a deal with myself to quickly kill the engine and start again if the wing got out of control and set up again.  As it was the wing came up perfectly.  I throttled up and when the wing came up, I throttled back a bit letting it stabilize and steering to stay under it.  The wing looked nice and stable so I slowly squeezed the throttle and felt myself lifted into the air.

There was none of pendulum-like rocking I experienced on my last flight.  Just a nice stable ascent.  I climbed up to about 500 feet and levelled off.  I must have had my anti-torque strap adjusted correctly because I also didn’t experience any right turning tendency like usual.  I was able to stow both brake toggles and fly with my hands in my lap.  The brake toggles are what you steer with; pull the left one to go left, pull the right one to go right, pull them both to slow down before you land.

Sadly I did have work to do so I headed back to the field and landed.  Total time: 30 minutes exactly.  It was a practically perfect and peaceful morning at New Jerusalem Airport.  Something I very much needed after the recent news I received.  So how far can you get in a PPG going 25 mph?  Here is a map showing my ground track:

 

My Own Domain

On By The Flying DutchmanIn OpinionLeave a comment

I’ve seen two blogs in two months convert from wordpress.com to wordpress.org and lament about losing data, users, whatever.  If the point is just so you can have your own domain then you can keep your wordpress.com account and just purchase a domain name.  You don’t have to change anything.  At least, I didn’t.  But then I’m not selling anything and I don’t engage in any kind of intracate web magic.

All I did was purchase a domain name through a web hosting provider that allows me to retain ownership of the domain name.  Some providers will assist you with purchasing a domain name and setting up your blog but as of the time I first set mine up several years ago, the web hosting provider retains ownership of your domain name.  It’s usually free as long as you retain their services but if you ever want to change providers…uh oh, they own your domain and will sell it to you for whatever amount.

That happened to me with my old domain name: airprayer.com.  So I set up a new domain name: airprayer.net and had the hosting provider simply point it to the web address of the wordpress.com blog: airprayer.wordpress.com.  This way I can take advantage of the security and features provided by wordpress.com.  Now, I don’t know how things work if peopel are trying to monetize their websites.  I’m certainly not.  I’m kind of old school in that regard.  I’ve still got the mindset of the web being a free exchange of information.  Though… I’m a dying breed.

So if you just want a personalized domain name that’s one way to do it.

Behold, I Am Doing A New Thing

On By The Flying DutchmanIn Faith, Opinion3 Comments

The title is from Isaiah 43:19.  Don’t worry, I’m not going to get preachy (but if you would like to hear about Jesus just ask me!)  My wife had some dreams last year where she kept hearing these words, “Behold, I am doing a new thing”,  “Look, I’m doing something new!”   After those dreams, our life started to change.

I’ve been an avid pilot my whole adult life.  But since I’ve been convicted to scale down our lives I decided to sell my airplane and get into a more affordable type of aviation.   I couldn’t sell the plane no matter how much I lowered the price.  Then I crashed.  Not a bad crash mind you, in fact, I crash better than anyone I know.  (With apologies to Mel Gibson in Air America).  Only the landing gear was damaged but it was damaged beyond economical repair so the airplane was totaled by the insurance company.  I got more than I could have sold it for and with the sale of my hangar, I was able to retire all our consumer debt and put a sizable chunk away into savings.

“Behold, I Am doing a new thing”

Over the Fall, my autistic son became more violent.  To the point we had to call police and take him to ER multiple times.  Eventually we had to throw up our hands and turn to the county regional center who were able to find him a home to live in (because we couldn’t handle him any more).  This gave my wife and I the breathing room we needed to think this through.  I’m leaving a lot out for his privacy’s sake but bottom line is my wife was able to find him a new psychiatrist and get him on some medicine that actually works instead of making things worse.  He is now living in a group home about 2 miles from us and seems to be doing much better.  He wanted to move out anyway.  Now he has and we have respite from 23 years of raising an autistic boy and man.

“Behold, I Am doing a new thing”

Last week I get news that I am being laid off in 4 months.   Not just me, not just my group of 6 network admins, but the entire IT division in our corporation.  All of us from managers on down are being let go.  We also “get” to train our replacements in India.  But the silver lining is we also get a severance package so I should have full pay until mid-October some time.   This news would have been so much harder to take if my son were still living here, if I were trying to figure out how I was going to sell the airplane and hangar still.

“Behold, I Am doing a new thing”

Since my wife’s dreams all of the pieces of life have aligned to put us in a stronger position relative to losing my job.  A stronger position relative to pursuing my dream of living a full time traveling lifestyle.  I’m at a crossroads in life.  Do I do Life 2.0 and “do a new thing?”  I’m already applying to jobs that are in the field I’m qualified for.  But there is something nagging at the back of my brain to work with disable children and adults.  Do I do what I’ve always done and wait for that job to lay me off?  Or do I do a job that will really make a difference in someone’s life?

Maybe it’s time to do a new thing.

Almost Blown Takeoff

On By The Flying DutchmanIn Aviation, Powered ParaglidingLeave a comment

I decided to get in a quick flight before church this morning.  I made my way out to New J and found a couple other PPG guys out there and a hot air balloon.   Should have been a nice easy takeoff but it was a little crowded.  I should have moved farther down the runway.  I should have oriented more into the wind.  I should have a lot of things.  Don’t worry, nothing bad happened.  My pride got a little bent but nothing else.

As I was taking off my wing started to oscillate.  Rather than slow down and dampen it properly I fell back on my fixed wing roots and gave it full power.  I got off the ground but it wasn’t pretty.  So I need to go back to New J and just do some taxi practice.

If a picture is worth a thousand words then a video is worth a million…