Flying Again

I had to take a hiatus from flying for a bit to tend to the biz side of things this last year. I just recently started again and it immediately felt like no time had elapsed since I was back in the cockpit. Knowing better I went back to basics and have been doing a lot of ground school. The amount of information to process and the knowledge base with which to process it is staggering. I have talked my friend and biz partner James into taking it up and he seems to have been bitten. It makes it much more fun and encouraging to have a flying partner as you are working through your hours, the ride out to Republic is a well used hour of prep and we can run through scenarios and practice radio work.

Have been planing cross country trips and finding interesting airports to explore in search of the perfect $100 burger. Makes each trip worth the effort ten fold.

If man can build it, I need to know how to steer, drive or pilot it.

Flawed Motos are OK

When driving, flying or boating, I believe lack of perfection makes the journey more interesting. I had an '86 Alfa Romeo GTV6 which was a ball to drive and work on but left me in a few predicaments.

One time going north on the Westside Highway heading north out of Manhattan the accelerator linkage decided to take a vacation. I thought the engine had stalled at first but the tach was still at about 800 rpm. I had my little sis in the car and we were heading uphill up to the elevated section of the highway near 57st in heavy traffic. I quickly pulled over to an inch of the mirror on the right and popped the hood to take a look. After about 15 seconds I found the linkage problem and had to ask my sister for a barrette that I quickly fashioned in to a lever and C-clip. In under two minutes I was back in the car and we were rocketing up to 90 mph again. Pure bliss.

Another time I was at almost the same place heading south into the city and lost the engine; this time the distributor cap cracked. Super glue got me home.

Yet again lost the headlights on a long night drive. Ate up two fuses fiddling with it and found a short because of missing insulation. Fixed that with a piece of chewing gum and used the foil wrapper for the fuse. Good stuff. I learned that 95 percent of things could be fixed with a rock, screwdriver, duct tape, zip tie, gum and a Gerber.

Don't buy old classic motos if you do not like to fiddle... it's the best part of the journey.