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Showing posts from March 19, 2017

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.
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Angie and I were in Florida for a couple of days. I was intending to fly an ICON A5 aircraft for a test flight. I got the word less than 8 hours before my flight that there were some mechanical problems. As a pilot, if the mechanic or someone else says there is a problem (mostly including me) it is easily heeded. So, a bit disappointed, I didn't fly the ICON A5 --yet. There are many hills and mountains to climb in aviation. On to the next one in near reach. There are many. I flew the drone in Florida. I feel like a skateboarder with the drone. Flying the drone is not a crime! Even though I am operating legally and safely and (way over that) I am a federally licensed remote pilot (in addition to my regular pilot license) it puts me on the defensive when some one comes up to me and asks you if you are the drone pilot. It does not have the same glamour as when I arrive at a strange airport and I step out of the aircraft that I flew there. There are two pics here of me performing ...