Kind of Flying Solo

Flying the Mooney was such a great experience that I wanted more. This time I flew a Boeing 747 simulator. All I really know is that it's a huge airplane. If I remember this correctly the airplane itself weighs 300,000 pounds, when it's topped off with fuel it's now 600,000 pounds, and with cargo it's about 900,000 pounds. Keeping that in mind when flying this airplane it was a lot harder to move the controls. Luckily I didn't have to worry about adjusting any knobs, my copilot did that, but trying to keep an 1/8 of an inch box in the middle of two cross hairs is the hardest thing I've ever had to do. The simulator moved around realistically with a very complicated hydraulic system. It had ample energy being pumped into the machine to make it run. The cockpit was pulled from a pre-existing Boeing 747 and rewired to fit into the simulator. The outside view is pulled from Google earth. And there you have a very sophisticated and very expensive simulator. Pilots are trained on it and have to pass a test before they are allowed to get into a real airplane. An interesting fact that I learned is that pilots put on autopilot as soon as they take off and can land with it. What an easy job right? But since this is the new normal for young students learning to fly they don't have that much experience flying the plane manually. Basically they suck at flying. On the other hand it's becoming harder for older pilots to fly because all the new planes are installed with advanced touch screen technology. Flying is completely safe. Besides that my favorite part was the night time flying it looked like star wars.

Dave Milne (left) was my copilot, Serge Cote my dad, and Robert Keegan (right) ran the simulator.

Outside of the simulator.

The extensive hydraulic system and electronic hookups underneath the simulator.

All of the blue boxes run the system for the simulator.

Entering the cockpit.

Behind the pilot seat, the person who sits here is the flight engineer. He watches and controls fuel, pneumatics, electric, hydraulics, and auxiliary power.

View from my seat.

I've Been Wrapped

For one of my experiences I wanted to include my mom, Deanna Cote. I asked her if there was anything she always wanted to learn but never was able to get around to it. We narrowed down the list to jewelry making. She has had a huge box of beads stored away in the attic for years and never used them. Now was our chance. There are so many styles, materials, and methods to making jewelry to choose from. My friend suggested wire wrapping, it's the hot new thing to do. So after a few Youtube videos and hundreds of Pinterest pictures we decided on a few necklaces. We picked out our beads and wrapped them with wire. It's as simple as that. Anything hands on I usually pick up quickly and I found that I really enjoyed wire wrapping. After just a few hours I felt like an expert. I kept on going after the first one and wrapped a Petoskey stone. What I liked about this project the most was the freedom of creativity. Just go with the natural flow of the stone and wire, somehow it will always turn out nice.

My mom's necklace (left) and my necklace (right). We hammered the main piece to flatten it, found beads to fit between the wire, and used a smaller gage wire to attach the beads.

The Petoskey stone wrapped with different gage wires and small beads.

Flying Solo

My dad, Serge Cote, has been working with airplanes most of his life. Growing up we would go to the air show every summer and see all kinds of airplanes show off their stuff. I would sit inside the cockpit and wonder why in the world do they need so many buttons and gages. It must be a really hard thing to do, fly a plane. These machines are too sophisticated for me but it looks like fun. That's what I thought, but this experience changed my mind. Going into this I wasn't sure how I would react I knew that I was scared of heights but I can handle commercial flights. I also love to drive cars and boats, would an airplane be any different? Actually not really. We took off the runway and up into the air. Climbing to 4,000 feet we were just below the never ending sheet of clouds that covered the sky. The pilot, Wes Shartle, adjusted a few things and took his hands off the controls. I was flying. At this point I realized this is too easy. The airplane was moving straight into the horizon. All I had to worry about was rolling the plane left and right with the aileron. If I turned around a total 360 the plane would gradually get lower to the ground, and going past 360 the plane could eventually spiral down to the ground, not good. To get back to the right height I had to roll out and ascend. Next my gage knowledge was tested by Wes placing a map in my view so I wasn't able to see outside. All I had to do was make sure the plane was flying on the horizon line. I had to be careful with controlling the elevators, flaps on the back of the plane, because quick movements made the plane drop or rise fast, giving me that strange stomach feeling. The only other control I had to worry about was the foot pedals, they controlled the rudder turning the plane left and right. Wes was a great instructor and he told me I did very well for my first time, encouraging me to get my license. One of my favorite experiences so far.

We flew a Mooney, it's a small plane built for speed.

Serge Cote (left) and the pilot, Wes Shartle (right).