Sunday, November 24, 2002

Learning. I'm really tired right now.  I've had an exhausting day, doing just one thing -- being out in airplanes.  My lesson started this morning at 8am, which means leaving my place by 7am, which means getting up at 6:30.  Too early for a Sunday, I think. The real adventure happened afterwards -- I went with a friend to Cape May.  On the way back we had a hell of a lot of haze, and we were flying straight into the sun.  Our altitude was around 4500...outside air temp was 2C.  The experienced pilot will recognize that this is a carberetor icing situation, and that's exactly what happened.  We noticed the engine RPM steadily dropping...time to apply carb heat.  It was a bit nerve-wracking because it happened over the Chesapeake Bay.  I'd say that with the sun it wasn't the best day to fly.  I need to buy some sunglasses that are going to cut that glare and make it more pleasant.  The flight made me think about the consequences of screwing up when you're in the air.  If I continue to fly, I better do things right -- no exceptions.  There isn't much margin for error. 11:10:52 PM