The Surly Bonds of Bloghood...

Well, after months of thinking about it, I've finally gone through with making this blog. I'm not expecting hordes of followers or international press with it, but I hope it can provide some entertaining stories and little-known facts to anyone who takes the time to peruse it. Like virtually everything else created on the internet, I welcome comments, questions, and criticisms, so please speak your mind!

This blog is going to be based around my core passion: aviation. If you know me in real life, you've most likely listened to me drone on about things like the 737's newest engine variant, the issues with our Air Traffic Control infrastructure, or the fascinating force and simplicity of Bernoulli's principle for...well....hours! Well, now I get exactly what I have needed: a chance to talk about planes even more!!!

That all being said, I am hardly a one-track type of person, so don't be surprised if other topics pop up here and other. My other passions include, but are certainly not limited to, music (I play the cello, and dabble in composing and electronic mixing from time to time), video games and technology, politics, animal rights, and foreign languages/cultures. From time to time I might upload songs I composed, or share my opinions on the psychological flaws of our current education system. Just keep an open mind, I'll try to keep it interesting for all types.

Ok. That last paragraph was taxing. I need to start talking about planes again before I experience a renal failure. I guess a good place to start would be a personal history: How I got into planes, and why they still fascinate me every day.

After racking through memory lane, I would have to say that my first aviation-related memory is one with my father. Unlike most of the pilots I meet, I don't have some deep-rooted family history with aviation. As far as I know, no one in my entire family has had anything to do with it. But that didn't stop me from dragging them into it! During one trip to visit my dad (I think I was about 5 or 6), he bought me a toy airplane and one of those floor-mat airports. I remember how angry I became when I realized that the plane was 1/5 the size of the runway, and would CLEARLY require about 3x more runway to get off the ground. So I dragged my dad's ass over to the nearest hardware store, and got the makings to extend all 4 runways. Good times.

"Susie, how the HELL am I supposed to

capture the glideslope when your

sitting on the goddamn ILS transmitter???"

Like most boys, I was really just drawn in by the size and the mystery. Something about the smell of jet fuel, the specific colored lights, the oddly shaped cargo trucks, the radio chatter....all of it was so huge and frantic and unfamiliar, it felt like a completely different universe, which I yearned to understand and participate in. In the summer following my "graduation" from Union Elementary School in Montpelier, I discovered "Operation Red Flag" and "Combat Flight Simulator 3," two PC flight simulators taking place in Iraq and WWII, respectively. I soon realized I was paying more attention to how soft my landings were and how neatly I could taxi, then actually killing things. What a strange kid I was.

So then I bought "x-plane" (http://www.x-plane.com/), a simulator designed primarily for civil aviation flying. This led to me buying "Microsoft Flight Simulator X" (FSX). Despite all these simulators, I was still pretty terrible at virtual flying, but that didn't keep me from trying. Over the years, the complexity and depth of my simulator experience grew. I continually upgraded the computer (another hobby of mine) to handle more trees, AI aircraft, pixels, etc. I bought a joystick, yoke, throttle quadrant, switchboard panel, and rudder pedals. In seventh grade, I bought a Boeing-certified FSX software addon that simulates the Boeing 767. Within a week, I had read and re-read the initial 150-page manual, and operated it from "cold and dark" in Vancounver to a shut down in San Francisco. I joined several online networks, such as Flight Simulator Multiplayer (FS-MP) and Virtual Air Traffic Simulator (VATSIM)

(http://www.vatsim.net/) where I received guidance and even lessons from real pilots and controllers.

I would be lying if I said I wasn't jealous.

In short, my love for aviation grew in such a way that could not have been possible before the 21st century. By the time I entered high school, I could (hypothetically) fly a 747 on a complicated instrument approach through a monsoon. I could read and dissect a VFR sectional chart (the type which makes up this blog's background), communicate fluently on the radio, and even control aircraft from inside "the tower". Through 9th and 10th grade, I continued to learn the ins and outs of various aircraft and fly for different "virtual airlines", albeit at a dampened rate due to the ridiculous workloads Vermont Commons School loved to impose. But in the fall of 2010, I started taking real flight lessons at Shelburne Airport (this blog is named after it's aviation code, VT8).

Since then, my love for flight has done nothing but grow exponentially. My instructor, Paul Potter, has constantly challenged me, both as a pilot and an individual. As of this past weekend, over 60 hours of flight time, logged on two faithful Cessna 150's, N11839 (November One One Eight Three Niner) and N7828z (November Seven Eight Two Eight Zulu). My experiences have included a temporary engine-failure, severe wind shear, and a close call with a Jetblue Airbus (I'll elaborate on these later). I've met all sorts of incredible people, from pilot's who fly $85 million corporate jets, to oldies who have flown in this region since WWII.

Ok, that's a lot for one post. Props if you got through it all (pun intended)!

Next time, I'll cover a personal favorite of mine: The myths and surprising facts of commercial flying, alongside some interesting info that might help with fear of flying.

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I’ve climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
of sun-split clouds, — and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of — wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov’ring there,
I’ve chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air....

Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue
I’ve topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace.
Where never lark, or even eagle flew —
And, while with silent lifting mind I have trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
- Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.

-John Gillespie Magee, Jr.