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Showing posts from May 23, 2021

Honshu and Okinawa

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I am back. I spent 10 days in Japan, 5 days for work on the main island of Honshu and 5 days of solo adventure in Okinawa. Travel is so invigorating dispite the uncomfortableness. Jetlag, anxiety, crowds, and other discomforts aside, it is mind-expanding and rewarding. Work went well. I flew a new airline (Skymark) from Tokyo to Naha. I am always wary of strange discount airlines and all the traps they set. However, I had a great expereince with "Sky". I was actually shocked. Super easy checkin at the airport, no extra fees even with extra luggage. The primary mission in Okinawa was to visit the Peace Park and the suicide cliffs of Okinawa. From what I understand, at the end of WW2 the inhabitants were encouraged to commit suicide rather than surrender to the Americans and get tortured and eaten. Besides other types of suicide, they jumped off the cliffs at the Southern end of the main island. If you have seen the original color footage taken at the time, I am sure you ...
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I went flying again this weekend. I flew up to Anderson SC. They built a whole new terminal since I was there last. It has to be the best General Aviation (GA)terminal I know of. The plane is so much better equipped than years ago. It has an autopilot, ADS-B, and other avionics upgrages including a G5 MFD. With a Garmin 430 and deluxe engine analyzer, it was good before, but now it is excellent. Using the autopilot to help handle the workload really helps in learning the new avionics. It is very impressive seeing the other airplanes overlaid on the chart on my iPad. The boat isnt in the water yet. I will be working to get it in the water on Memorial day at least. It has some very cool LED lights now.