The Slingshot

I recently saw the documentary Slingshot and found out how little I knew about what's happening in the world. The film was about Inventor Dean Kamen, who I hadn't heard about, although I was familiar with his invention, the Segway.

Slingshot is not captivating as a film but is a must watch because of its content.

His TED biography describes him as,
"Dean Kamen landed in the limelight with the Segway, but he has been innovating since high school, with more than 150 patents under his belt. Recent projects include portable energy and water purification for the developing world, and a prosthetic arm for maimed soldiers." However, its more interesting to hear him speak.

I've always thought that there has to be a methodology to generate clean water in a cost effective manner. What I did not know was that Dean had solved the problem in teh previous decade. The Slingshot.

Save money, without thinking about it

A huge problem, in my opinion for today's Gen I, is savings. They are smart, hardworking, earn well, but end up saving very little. There are several reasons behind it, the primary one in all probability is their parents outlook on savings.

And so, when I recently came across a company that allows you to do just that, I found it very interesting. The company is Digit and what they do is super simple and super smart.

"
How does Digit work?
Every few days, Digit checks your spending patterns and moves a few dollars from your checking account to your Digit account, if you can afford it. Easily withdraw your money anytime, quickly and with no fees.
"

Do check it out. Who knows, you may actually end up saving a few thousand dollars, which otherwise may have gone to Starbucks.

Steal like an Artist

My daughter Reia does not like reading books. Actually, she does not like reading, period.

As part of her college English course, she had to read "Steal like an Artist". And she loved it, and asked me to read it. I loved it too.

I think its something you should read too. Here's a preview of what you can expect.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Private Pilot Check-ride

This Monday was my Private Pilot Check-ride. This is the FAA exam that decides whether or not you are allowed to fly a plane. Alone and with passengers. The weather was not looking good. 30 knot winds, gusting to 40 knots were forecast. Ideal condition for a check ride would be calm weather with no winds. 10 knots would be okay. Anything more than that would make the exam progressively more difficult as in addition to the nerves of displaying your skills, you would be fighting the weather.

My check ride was to begin at 7 a.m. This was so that we had a chance of completing the exams before the wind made the conditions beyond the specified limits of flying for the aircraft. The Cessna Sky-hawk I was flying was demonstrated for a 20 knot crosswind. And this demonstration is by a test pilot.

I left my hotel at 5, so I could reach Hurricane airport, the home base of the airplane I was using. I got there by around 6 after grabbing a much needed hot cup of coffee from McDonalds, one of the few places open that early. At Hurricane Airport, Dave the primary aircraft owner had already pulled the plane from the hangar and filled it up. He gave me the aircraft logbooks that form part of the check-ride and explained all the maintenance and checks that were done and check-ride the currency of each of the log books.

 Dave, the aircraft primary owner

A little while later, Eric arrived. I pre-flighted the plane and we were all set to fly to St. George where I was scheduled to give my check-ride. It was short 20 minutes flight and I had my first test landing with Eric watching me closely. I had a good landing and I felt relieved. We parked the aircraft at the FBO terminal building and walked in with 2 minutes to spare.

Dan the FAA appointed examiner was already there. I was introduced to him, and he asked me to set up my material in the conference room. As part of the exam, the examiner had given me a cross country to plan. I laid out the plans, charts, notes and other material I had prepared. I also kept my documents, logbooks as well as the aircraft documents. The examiner started on time and quickly went through all the documents. He was quick but thorough. Once he was satisfied that everything was in order, we completed the paperwork for the exam. All of it was online, including me signing the required understanding of the exam and the required waivers.

At 7.45 my examiner was ready to start. He briefed me about the exam, how he would conduct it, the ground rules, made sure I understood and was comfortable and we were ready to start. As you can imagine I was super nervous. This was my first orals after my Masters Orals in Shipping which was 2 decades ago. As the questions started flowing, I became more and more comfortable and was able to answer most with reasonable ease. Since it was scenario based, and involved understanding rather than knowing exact rule nos., it went well. At the end of a little over an hour, the examiner let me know that he was ready to move on to the main event, the actual check ride. I was relieved. One step closer.

After a short water break, we went out to the aircraft. I went through the pre-flight and we were ready to taxi. At every stage of the process, the examiner was quizzing me. He was gauging whether I knew and understood what I was doing, as well as other areas I was supposed to know. He addressed all of these in a nice, gentle manner that made you comfortable, especially if you knew the stuff. All of my reading and practice was coming to good use. And fortunately I did not hit a blank spot.

Once we started taxing, he went through each and every one of the requirements which were part of the PTS. (Private Pilot Test Standards). He mixed them around in scenarios, so that they had a natural flow. I continued to be nervous, but was able to carry out all of the tasks. I had no idea of how long we were flying when he asked me to fly back to St George. There were over 20 tasks we had completed. And I thought I was done. But that was not to be. I got a failed electrical scenario, so a no flap landing to do.

Back to being nervous. Although I hadn't practiced this specific landing, especially considering I was given an area within which to land, my training itself gave me sufficient inputs to be able to plan for it. The wind had started picking up and there was a slight cross wind from the right,

I came in for the landing a little high, and had to use the forward slip to be on the right glide slope. As we passed the numbers, I did the round out and landed within the specified landing range. We taxied back to the FBO terminal building, went through the final checklists, shut down the plane, and got off.

As I was tying down the plane, the examiner said, "Congratulations, you've passed". It suddenly hit me. I had finally fulfilled a life long dream. I was about to get my Pilots certificate. We went back to the terminal building where the examiner debriefed me. And then for the main event. He printed the certificate. I was still nervous and it took me a few minutes to find the area where I had to sign.

Eric, my flight instructor and the person responsible for my PPL

We flew back to Hurricane, and I flew my first flight as PIC with Eric, my flight instructor, now my passenger.

Flying Crash Course

I've wanted to be a pilot since I was a kid. Life had different plans and so I ended up being a Captain in the Merchant Navy and then in Advertising and then Software. Yet the thought of wanting to be a pilot was always there in the back of my mind.

I had a couple of flying lessons in San Francisco when visiting and then 1 in New Zealand. When I was posted in the US a couple of years back, I thought maybe its time to do this.

I started taking lessons a couple of times a month when the weather, availability of an instructor, a plane and myself all aligned. I also did the written part of the FAA exam. This has a 2 year validity and was expiring in November 2015. I realized in September that there was no way I was going to be able to get a license the traditional way. And so did what I've done all through life. Look for a crash course.

I actually found one. The first sign that they may be legit was the name. Since a crash course in flying sounds ominous, they smartly called their training, "Accelerated Flight Training".

I wrote to them and they were extremely prompt in responding and in answering all my questions. I didn't really think this was possible in 2 weeks, but since it was a life long dream, decided to take a chance. They trained across the country but availability was an issue. And I was in a hurry.

Luckily, they had an opening in St. George, Utah for the week startng Oct. 19. Its now been 2 weeks and it was everything they said it would be. Eric my flight instructor had only 1 job and 1 student and that was me. His plane was dedicated to me. And it all revolved around Eric training me to get my private pilots license.

He was very professional and it was a delight to see him work. Thats when I wasn't flying and on the receiving side of his instructions. Each of the FAA requirements were neatly listed, planned for, crossed out when completed, re-scheduled when things didn't go exactly as planned and reviewed on a daily basis.

Eric would meet me at 8 at the hotel for breakfast and even that was a training session. He would go through the plans for the day, the theory I needed to know, answer questions I had from the previous day, quiz me on stuff I was supposed to have read up on, ... Most days ended up as a minimum 12 hours day and sometimes more.

What I found most interesting was that while the end goal was the private pilot certificate, the main goal was a safe and good pilot who could use his skills in the real world. As an example, I needed to do a cross country solo flight of over 150 miles. I picked up a route that complied with the rules and took me to places I had been to with Eric. I though he'd be pleased. On the contrary, he looked at me and said, "Why would you go to places you've been to. Pick up places we haven't been to". And nervous as I was, his confidence gave me the confidence to plan such a flight and then execute it.

Today is a holiday when I've been told to relax. Not being able to do that I've been going through my notes and preparing for my FAA exam which is tomorrow. The reason for writing this blog today is that, the result is immaterial. Eric and the folks at AFIT have done everything to enable me to take the FAA check-ride. Whether or not, I get it now, is completely up to me. They couldn't have done a better job.

For anyone who wants to get a flying license, do evaluate the AFIT option. It works. And is far more effective in terms of time invested, time taken to complete as well as costs that its almost a no brainer.

I could go on, but I better get back to my books and allow AFIT to tell you their story through their website.
http://www.afit-info.com/