Andy's Blog

Today was a great day in aviation. You had the first A380 landing into ORD - a monumental day. Then...drum roll please...I scheduled my first intro flight!!! Now, I am not sure which is actually a bigger event.

For those of you who read my blog, you will say, "what the heck, I thought you started this back in September." I did. But then I freaked out because I thought I might take a job in San Diego, and decided not to pursue it and pay off my student loan instead. Well, at the end of March, I will officially have paid off my $11,000 student loan (which I'll blog about later when I actually officially pay it off). This frees up about $900 a month, so I decided now is the time to FINALLY do this. After four years of teaching myself everything I could about aviation, the time has finally come, and I am stoked.

Honestly, I would be doing this flight on April 1st if it weren't for my trip to Japan on April 3rd. I get back from Japan on April 14th and on April 18th, I am taking to the skies, my first logable hour in the cockpit. I am hoping I can pass my written and medical exams before my trip to Nepal on June 1st and my trip to LA on June 11th. So then from July to September I'll hit the sky and rack up my 40 hours required by the FAA by visiting friends and family at Hilton Head Island, SC (HXD), Montgomery, AL (1A9), and of course, Huntington, IN (HHG).

I don't really have a point to this blog, and this is a rare post that is really just about what is "happening" in my life. But if I were to make a point, I think it would be this. We all need passions in life or else I think we will drive ourselves nuts. Sure they don’t have to be as expensive as a pilots license, but we need something. For the past two years I have done relatively little besides working very hard. Even my old "interests" (i.e. web production, video production, Bible studies, etc...) have all become my "professional interests," and frankly, as cool as it is to enjoy what you do, I think if I were to reflect I would admit that it has been hard not to have "non-work" interests. Sure I have done a lot of traveling (which is my fav), but at most that takes like 7 weeks out of my year. Leaving 45 weeks to "just work." But that all changes on April 18th. And April 18th changed because of today: a great day in aviation.

P.S. The photo is of me flying over Mt. Everest (in Nepal!!) with my flight simulator. I know I am a nerd.