Hello everyone, welcome 🙂

Did I mention I am a captain? Yes, a private pilot. Not an airline pilot, just of the single engine type. I like flying like a bird, heading towards the sky. Looking down upon the earth like an eagle in the heights.

Here I am in my captain’s uniform ready to take flight!

Here is a picture of the instrument panel of my trusty Cessna 182. You can see the plane’s id number on the top left of the panel: November niner three foxtrot sierra. On the top right of the panel, the second instrument to the left, is the altimeter. You can see that I already took off and am flying at an altitude slightly over 1,500 feet.

If any of you are interested, I would be more than happy to describe what each one of the instruments is for. Please feel free to comment, especially if you think I missed something.

From August 15th through August 29th 2008, Tropical Storm Fay hit the Florida panhandle four times. It destroyed property and lives. Thirty six people were killed and it caused more than 560 million dollars worth of damage. A lot of the damage came from the tornadoes it left in its wake.

Here is a picture of Tropical Storm Fay:

One of the tornadoes hit North Perry, my mother airport. Here are some pictures I took of the damage a couple of days later when I went there for a solo flight. You guessed it, all flying was suspended until further notice.

All I can say is that if something like this happens on the ground, your insurance will take care of it. If it happens in the air… You’re in trouble buddy!

Here are a few pictures of the North Perry surrounding areas and of me attempting to land the plane:

Wait a minute, I think I see the airport in the distance…

Yes, there it is…

I’ve been cleared to land on 18R or 18 right. Let’s start aligning with the runway… I’m a bit high as you can see from the two light PAPI (precision approach path indicator). When the two lights are white you are too high. When one of them is red and the other white you are on the correct glide path. When they are both red – danger, danger, danger – you are flying too low! It’s always better to be up than to be down 🙂

There, I landed the plane. That wasn’t so difficult now, was it. Before concluding this blog post I would like to mention that I also like hang gliding…

If all of these pictures didn’t manage to convince you that I am, in fact, a private pilot. Here is a copy of the back of my license:

I finally got my license on May 29, 2008 after almost three years and slightly over 100 hours of flying time. I was only able to fly while on vacation in Florida and they were short and spread apart. They also kept changing instructors on me. About halfway through my schooling, I met Nissan – an Israeli jet fighter pilot who was masquerading as a flight instructor. He was tough and also a bit crazy. But he got me through the difficult times and helped me reach my goal. Thank you Nissan.

I had my share of hair raising experiences during flight training. If any of you are interested I wouldn’t mind telling you a tale or two. Please let me know.

Until next time…