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Showing posts from August 14, 2011

Worst Weather in the World

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I flew up to Maine to see my sister and cousins for a few days. As part of the trip we went up Mount Washington in NH. We went up on the Cogged Railway. It's A unique old vehicle system that only uses a large cog underneath the engine hooked into a ladder type of rack on the tracks all the way to the top. The modern engine uses a 600HP John Deere driving a hydraulic pump which in turn drives several hydraulic motors turning the large cog. Mt Washington is known for the extreme cold and highest wind in the world. Yes, the world. That was not the case when we went up. The winds were 3 MPH and the temp was 62 degrees. the highest ever temp ever recorded was 72 degrees and a 3 MPH wind is generally unheard of. So, the weather was quite kind for us.
This study has come up through the wires (many different wires). It makes perfect sense to me. http://newsinfo.nd.edu/news/25416-flying-bosses-new-study-highlights-why-ceo-pilots-make-good-leaders/ Study http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1785413
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Flying was fun last weekend. It was very gusty. The Metlife blimp was in town for the PGA thing. It couldn't fly because of the winds. There was a special NOTAM regarding the airship at the end of the runway. Between the airships, banner towing, and small jets Gwinett County airport it is a great place to maneuver as a new pilot. I was in Jacksonville, FL. Monday with my Mom and Sister. I flew down for the day.
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I walked the next section of the Appalachian trail. I am doing what they call "In and Out Hikes." That means I hike, turn around and go back where I started. There are no downhill or uphill hikes when you do it that way. This hike was a bit extreme. It was really too much, but I feel good today. I hiked about 15 miles with lots of vertical in about 7 hours. There were lots of squirrels and I almost stepped on a decent sized snake. Even after I drank 5 liters, I almost broke out my reserve liter of emergency water.