Lately I have been flying, but significantly less frequently than usual. Less flying in winter is no surprise, but it is worse than in other years, and started earlier.
Reasons for less flying this year include maintenance, work, weather, and the construction project I have going on downstairs. These are the reasons for the rust that has set in, and I’ll talk about what I’m doing about that in a follow-on discussion.
Maintenance: I had an oil change with a deflated oleo main strut taken care of. That took a week or so to schedule and accomplish. I was delayed getting to go fly, and when I did, it was right around Thanksgiving. That’s when I found that my airplane had developed a 4″ crack in the windshield. I think it happened as a result of the re-installation process when the interior was refurbished, but I needed it inspected and stop-drilled before it got any worse. By the time this process was over – a month of inactivity had set in, interrupted only by a few SR22 flights (Thanks Mike!)
Work: Lots of demands from my work are keeping me traveling and occupied. This is certainly not a bad thing. I love what I’m doing with PHI and do enjoy the successes we’ve been seeing. It is causing me to fly less, but I’m staying focused on aviation by reading ‘Redefining Airmanship’, by Anthony Kern, during lunch and while I’m at the hotel.
Weather: Then there is the cold, ice, and weather. You can have all that mess. Short days mean that by the time I get home it is cold, dark, and a bit more difficult to go warm up my engines and get moving.
Construction: Finally – Scot designed a sim room out of my basement and we’re getting ready to put that into production in the next month or so. It looks great, and I’ve been prioritizing that over flying a number of days. Not tonight though. I have two actual aircraft seats, new custom desks – built for the Elite BATD simulation system, a new 60″ plasma TV, and many other goodies. I’m excited to complete that project and use it to stay current in Jan/Feb while the winter misery continues.