School, shuttles, and sub zero weather.
OMGosh it's gotten cold. It doesn't normally get this chilly for at least another month. I'm going to be in Tampa for the next few weeks and the forecasts there are for 1C. One degree above freezing! That's at the coast which is usually a little warmer than the interior of the state. Ya'll up north must be frozen stiff.
Why am I going to be in Tampa? I'm going to be attending a two week cram course from the National Aviation Academy so I can finally get my airframe and powerplant license. This will enable me to be able to get a job inspecting and repairing civil aircraft at whatever airline or airport that is foolish enough to hire me. This has been something that I've been wanting to do for a number of years now, and since I now have the time to go to school I'm going to take advantage of it. I've got to take three large multiple choice tests on general principals (Electric theory, fluid properties, basic maintenance, stuff like that), airframe specific, and engine specific questions. I then have to pass an oral test, and a practical exam giving by an FAA inspector. I'm guessing that I'm probably going to have to preflight and troubleshoot somebody's Cessna. Since there are a number of airports within an hour's drive of my house I'm considering this my fallback plan if nothing materializes after college is done. Plus it gets me past the first round of resume filtering over at the rocket ranch if anything over there starts back up.
Since the shuttle Discovery has been slipping a lot this past month I was a little bummed that I was going to miss it's final launch. Unfortunately, now I may not miss it because it's slipped to February. They are finding a lot of cracks and issues with the external tank. Cracks that are in the foam, and in the metal structure itself. The technicians have been working the issues on the pad, but that's a lot of work and a difficult area to do it in. I haven't checked to see if they are planning to roll it back to the VAB to look everything over.
Once I'm done with school I've got a few days before flying to my Sister's for Christmas.
Why am I going to be in Tampa? I'm going to be attending a two week cram course from the National Aviation Academy so I can finally get my airframe and powerplant license. This will enable me to be able to get a job inspecting and repairing civil aircraft at whatever airline or airport that is foolish enough to hire me. This has been something that I've been wanting to do for a number of years now, and since I now have the time to go to school I'm going to take advantage of it. I've got to take three large multiple choice tests on general principals (Electric theory, fluid properties, basic maintenance, stuff like that), airframe specific, and engine specific questions. I then have to pass an oral test, and a practical exam giving by an FAA inspector. I'm guessing that I'm probably going to have to preflight and troubleshoot somebody's Cessna. Since there are a number of airports within an hour's drive of my house I'm considering this my fallback plan if nothing materializes after college is done. Plus it gets me past the first round of resume filtering over at the rocket ranch if anything over there starts back up.
Since the shuttle Discovery has been slipping a lot this past month I was a little bummed that I was going to miss it's final launch. Unfortunately, now I may not miss it because it's slipped to February. They are finding a lot of cracks and issues with the external tank. Cracks that are in the foam, and in the metal structure itself. The technicians have been working the issues on the pad, but that's a lot of work and a difficult area to do it in. I haven't checked to see if they are planning to roll it back to the VAB to look everything over.
Once I'm done with school I've got a few days before flying to my Sister's for Christmas.