Bend, OR from the right seat of a C-172

Ok, so I can't log PIC time since it's not my airplane (and I'm not PIC for this flight anyway)...but that's ok because 3:00 flying sure beats 8:00+ driving from Northern CA to central OR. Besides, the view at 10,500 MSL is much better.

Another benefit of today's flight is that it served as a warm-up for next week when four of us cram into the Arrow and head for Oshkosh for AirVenture 2006. 30+ hours of flying, six days camping next to the plane, basking in all things aviation related, and time to meet up with a bunch of friends I've met there over the last three years...I can hardly wait.

One word of caution about Oshkosh/AirVenture. Once you go, plan on pretty much doing it for the rest of your life. It's a gathering like none other in the aviation arena. Part air show, part aviation convention, and thousands of aircraft.

Hmmm, only my second post and I managed to get on the same Oshkosh theme...

First posting

So, I've been following folks like John over in Freight Dog Tales (now Aviation Mentor), Flight Level 390, and a couple others and figured it was time to start my own flying blog. I have no idea how often I'll post nor how exiting you'll find the subjects...but figured why not see how it goes.

A bit about me...well, at least the flying stuff. I'm a private pilot, instrument rated, co-owner of a Piper Arrow, and fly out of the Sacramento, CA area. I fly to/from the SF Bay Area fairly often, have been to Bend, OR, and love the cross country trek to Oshkosh.

In addition to several folks that blog here about aviation, another great source is the Usenet newsgroups. Specifically, I'd recommend rec.aviation.piloting, rec.aviation.owning, and rec.aviation.student. There's a fairly high signal to noise ratio in those groups and I've personally met several members (all of which are great people). The funny thing is that I wound up meeting many of those folks personally at Oshkosh. Hmmm, how come that word keeps coming up? :-)

Speaking of Oshkosh...a small glimpse of what it's like from camping in the North 40...