Post Holiday Ramp-Up

PlanningGreetings fellow aeronauts, intrepid adventurers, and aviation enthusiasts,

The holiday season is a busy time of year for just about all of us. With all of those family, friend, and work related events and engagements that need your personal attention, not to mention all of the holiday shopping for food and gifts, its a miracle we get anything else done! And after all of that is over there is still all of the after-holiday sales which have become such a big part of the seasonal consumer madness that seems to afflict us all.

For years now my family and I do our best every holiday season to stay clear of the holiday shopping blitzkrieg as much as possible.  We trying to keep pretty much all of our shopping to a minimum from just before Thanksgiving until after the New Year. One thing I did brave the wilds for was to get over to the home drome and my favorite local pilot supply emporium The Airport Shoppe at Reid Hillview Airport (KRHV) here in San Jose.

Remove Before FlightI have been in need of some reference materials for the hanger bookshelf and over the course of several visits this the month I managed to gather together a few of the important ones. AC-43.13, the 2011 FAR/AMT, the 2011 FAR/AIM, and all three of the aircraft mechanics handbooks, General (FAA-H-8083-30), Powerplant (AC-65.12A), and Airframe (AC-65.15A). I also picked up a new Remove Before Flight key tag, my old one was getting a bit rough around the edges.

Another acquisition over the holiday was a licensed copy of AutoCAD 2011. Autodesk has a great student license program that grants a three year license for several of its products to enrolled students. Now, I don’t have a clue about using CAD software, but I do know I want to reproduce my aircraft plans in a CAD format. With the plans in an editable digital format it will be a lot easier to produce accurate notes and diagrams for any changes that may come up as well as keep track of individual component parts, assemblies, and materials for said parts and assemblies. There are some AutoCAD classes that I can take at SJCC or Evergreen but my class schedule is full for this term so I will have to see if I can get into a summer or fall semester class. Knowing CAD would most defiantly be a boon for my build projects, and it certainly won’t hurt my educational and career goals ether.

Next on the list of things to do is actually getting some materials and start making some sawdust. Depending of how this years tax return works out, I just might be able to make a trip down to Corona in February for a plywood and spruce shopping spree. I just need to scrape together enough materials money to make the seven hour road trip worth while.

Until next time, blue skies and tailwinds!

~FlyBoyJon