I have no idea what happened to August. It's already September and the big winter project is looming: the Glastar is going to the barn for several months while its instrument panel is upgraded. While it's there, I thought, I might as well replace the on/off fuel valve with a four-position valve (on/L/R/off) which will allow me to manage the gravity feed from my wing tanks. As it is, my tanks don't feed evenly and that makes me nervous. Apparently it's a Glastar thing. Oh, and while I'm there I might as well replace the old Whelen nav/strobe/position lights on the wingtips with new LED lights. That will save me some weight and with Whelens being pricey I might be able to sell my old ones and make that particular upgrade at minimal cost. I dream a lot.
Hmmm .. what's new?
I decided to allow my CFI certificates to lapse at the end of August. I did not renew. This is the first time in 42 years (if I have that right) I have not been a flight instructor. This came after quite a bit of agonizing over the decision. On the one hand, I earned those certificates (Airplane, single and multi engine, instrument) ... on the other, I haven't really used them in years. In June, I signed off my last student for his instructor certificate and he passed his checkride. Not a bad way to go out. He earned it; I did very little. One last flight review in August and I was done.
Touched base with old friends in the flying community .. that was nice. Some I haven't talked with in years. They ask sometimes if I miss the jets .. no .. I don't, but I do miss the places I went and the people I met. Once in a while - a great while as it turns out - I am on an airport ramp where a turbine engine spools up and I catch a whiff of burned kerosene .. that's when the nostalgia kicks in, but only for a moment.
I'm happy, flying little airplanes and having breakfasts and lunches in the hangar with a good group of people. And the mountains ... don't forget the mountains.
