First Flight

Although the forecast high for today was 100 it turned out to be a great morning for flying. We met at 9:30 went through a thorough pre flight inspection before taking off. Once we got up we climbed to 5,500ft ASL(Above Sea Level) which is about 3,200 feet AGL (Above Ground Level). To start off we just flew around so I could get used to flying again and get a feel for the controls. As we progressed through the flight we did more turns as well as climbing, and descending turns. My instructor then added in steep turns, these are turns at a 45 degree angle. Once you get a feel for them they are not that hard but there are several things to remember when turning. Due to your angle of flight no longer being straight and level you have to "pull back", the steeper the turn the more you have to pull back. If you did not do this your nose would drop and well that is not the goal of having a nice level, coordinated turn. This was the most difficult maneuver of the day for me, thankfully after a couple of attempts I started to get it down pretty well. To finish the flight we descended down to 2,500 ASL and practiced tracking along roads on our way back to the airport. Flying this way is jokingly referred to as IFR or I follow roads. For those that don't know IFR officially stands for Instrument Flight Rules which is a special rating you have to get in order to flying in IFR conditions. This maneuvers also allowed me to get a little more familiar with the area we will be using as well as the area in general since I am fairly new. Overall we logged about 1.5 hours. We are going back up tomorrow weather permitting, it is supposed to cool off (down to 90!). There are also a 40-50% chance of storms tomorrow so we will see what happens. Dinner is almost ready and I have some studying to do before tomorrow. Thanks for reading and let me know if you have any questions!

Flight Training

So it has been some time (years) since I have done this. While sitting at work today I figured this would be a good format for keeping family and friends up to date on my experience and progress on earning my private pilots license. Which I start this Friday June 14. For those of you who don't know this is a life long dream of mine. My father and grandfather were pilots so I have grown up around aviation. This is also a reason why I wanted to work in aviation. For those of you who don't know I am a Project Integrator (PI) at Bombardier Learjet in Wichita. What it comes down to is I am in project management working with the forward structures engineering groups on the new Learjet 85, my main project is the doors for the plane. I really like my job and it has already allowed me to contribute in a big very visible way to all levels of management inside and outside of the company. Back in April I traveled to Manchester, England to visit our supplier. Anyway back on topic. I feel very blessed that the stars have somewhat aligned and I will be able to use my aunt and uncles Cessna 172 Skyhawk to do my training in. I hope this blog will best allow friends and family to stay up to date and share with me this process and milestones I will come across. Some weeks I may fly and update more than others so just hang in there. Let me know at anytime if you have any questions or comments about what I am doing, the plane, or how to get your license!

Week One...

Here we go college football season is upon us again. Camp has come and gone, classes have started, everyone is testing all their tailgate equipment and starting to set things out to pack up their car and head to their respective schools. If you think you have been anxious and waiting in anticipation of the season starting you don't know the half of it. Those of us that work for a football team and their respective players are more than ready for the season to start. The players are tired of hitting each other, and the staff is ready to focus on game planning. In case you didn't know I work for the Iowa State Football team basically as a video guy, for practices I go 60 feet in the air on a boom lift and record practice for the coaches and team, same kind of deal for games except no lift. This season I will use my blog to express my thoughts and predictions for Iowa State, Iowa, and to a lesser degree UNI...I do have to go to work and class after all.

So to start it off here we go...Iowa State hosts Northern Illinois on Thursday September 2nd. I love thursday games but hate how this last week and through next weekend our weekly football schedule is different from what day of the week it actually is. Northern Illinois is a very tough very physical team, from what I have seen they run a more traditional offense than what most college teams and especially we run. Overall they are a good team however I do not think they will have the athletes to match us for the whole game so I think the second half will be a very different than the first half. That being said I am excited to see how our veterans mesh with our newcomers in a game situation, there are several guys that have looked very good in practice that I think will surprise a lot of people...I like my job so that's all I'm going to say. We NEED to score more points this year and that will be a key...my prediction 32-17 Cyclones.

On to Iowa...now to address the first point. I do think Iowa will have a phenomenal year, they are stacked, they have a fairly favorable schedule, and well they are Iowa and always seem to come out on the lucky end. I don't know anything about Eastern Illinois other than they will get steam rolled...no score prediction other than that. As I said the hawks will have a great year I don't know if I can put them at 10+ wins currently but the chance is there...that being said they may only get eight wins. Good luck this week.

That's all for now...have a good week! Stay safe and remember responsibility and to represent yourself and your school in a first class manner! GO STATE!!! GOD BLESS!!!

Underage Drinking...

SOOO...it has been a LONG time since I did this but I am going to try and get back into the swing of things for football season with my predictions. The first of which I will have posted early this week due to our game on Thursday. That being said I want to tackle an issue that has been rubbing me wrong way for some time.

Let me start off by saying I'm not trying to be a hypocrite, I drink this is not about underage people drinking I do I know thousands that do. I am also going to base this off of the fight currently going on in Iowa City that surrounds the topic of underage individuals being allowed in bars, I am not attacking the University if Iowa or the City of Iowa City just simply stating my point of view. Feel free to read on or stop now.

I go to Iowa State which as we all know (well anyone that's smart and does their homework knows) is in Ames, which does not allow underage individuals to be in bars period no matter what the time is. There is still an abundance of bars and a good bar area on Welch Ave as well as other scattered around town. They are successful and it is a very active area, those that say people in Ames don't drink or have fun are just ignorant. That all being said there are also house parties and quite a few of them if you know where to look, this brings me to my first point involving the fight in Iowa City. There are many people that say that shutting underage individuals out of bars will just drive them to these big bad house parties where they will be more inclined to binge drink. Your right it will I go to house parties I drink there, personally I don't drink a ton but that's because I know I have to get back across town to my apartment as do many others. These house parties are also very well self patrolled meaning everyone looks out for each other there are always's DD's, and if you are smart and responsible you know how to conduct your self and to watch out for yourself and your friends.

My second point is the argument that the ticket if you do get caught in a bar and are underage the ticket is too much (I believe it is more than $700). Okay so your you want to break the law then just get told to leave or something? If you chose to go to the bar underage and somehow get in that is your RESPONSIBILITY and the chance you take at getting caught...if you don't good for you I don't support it but it's your decision not mine. If you can't afford the ticket then why are you there, if you can't take the consequences then don't do it! It's part of being an ADULT which you all want to be called. You want to keep that $700 bucks go to a house party or drink in your room or apartment but keep it under control, the extra $700 should be enough to buy more alcohol for awhile and if it doesn't well then you do have a problem and there is help.

I am not saying you aren't adults, I know you can go to war that's another issue entirely that I will agree with you on. All I am saying is that if you approach the entire situation as an adult you will be just fine not going to the bars and will be perfectly safe at the house parties, it is done at thousands of other universities across this country there is no reason for Iowa City to be any different. If you approach everything and are responsible you will be just fine. GO STATE!!! GOD BLESS!!!

VEISHEA

The biggest and best tradition at Iowa State is VEISHEA. It is the longest running and largest student run celebration in the country. Many alumni and friends of the Iowa State community come back to campus for this yearly celebration. However due to riots it's image is tarnished so I wanted to provide some information on what VEISHEA actually is and what it's all about.

Here is a link that has the entire history of VEISHEA

http://www.isualum.org/en/traditions/traditions_of_iowa_state/traditions_and_history/veishea.cfm

and here is a link that has information on everything going on this week/weekend from the campus barbaques to the parade and concerts and other performances.

http://www.veishea.iastate.edu/

GO STATE!!! GOD BLESS!!!

Letter from Pollard

March 23, 2010

Dear Cyclone fans,
Over the past several days, many of you have read reports about the Board of Regents proposed policy to substantially reduce or eliminate state funding for college athletics at the University of Iowa, the University of Northern Iowa and Iowa State University. The purpose of this letter is to share several important facts related to this proposed policy change.
The proposal will actually have a minimal impact on our athletics program because we have already reduced our reliance on state funding significantly in the past five years. As you can see in the chart, we have reduced our state support from nearly 12% of the total budget ($3.4 million) in 2005 to 3.7% of the total budget ($1.6 million) in 2010. In addition, we plan to continue reducing our dependence on state funding further in the next several years.
Despite the significant reduction in state support for our athletics program the last five years, we have been able to increase our overall annual athletics funding during that same time period from $28 million to $42 million. We have also invested more than $50 million in new and renovated facilities and have significantly improved our overall academic and athletics competitiveness. These positive gains are a result of your continued support of our institution and athletics program.
On behalf of all 450 Iowa State University student-athletes, coaches and staff, we simply say thank you for your generosity.
Go Cyclones!
Sincerely,
Jamie Pollard
Director of Athletics

here is a link to the chart

http://media1.mm.ticketmaster.com/iowa%20state%20university/email/BUDGET-GROWTH.GIF

and a link to the discussion on CycloneFanatic.com

http://www.cyclonefanatic.com/forum/general-discussion/85795-pollards-statement-state-funding.html

GO STATE!!! GOD BLESS!!!

Rant coming...

Sometime in the next week after I get through some tests and such next week I will get some research done and have a rant for you...stay tuned!