Downwind For 17R, and Summer Updates

Greetings Reader,

    Summer has come upon us, and with July on the horizon so will the festivities! This past month has been busy, with a lot of work being put into getting my Private Pilots Certificate, as well as a short trip home. Now with the trip having passed and my flying slowly coming to a close, what remains is my check ride once my records are cleared by UND.

    During this time of waiting, I took the time to return to painting, and in which have started to do more aviation related works (being in Grand Forks lends me many subjects to paint!) the latest, is a Piper Archer that I first solo-ed in the airport I am based out of. 

Downwind for 35R, N817ND

    With my Check ride coming up, each day lends to more pressure building up, whether it be for the flight or oral portion, I know I will have to bring my A-Game, and study for sure. I'll probably try and remember to make a post later this month given my check ride goes through!

N50405, Landing on 17R.
My first completed work with an airplane.

    Aside from that, this summer has turned out to be a bit more... slow outside from flying. I've moved into an on-campus apartment (goodbye dorm-life!), and it turns out the entire apartment is all pilots! With the total 4 between 2 bedrooms, 2 (including me!) are working on their Private Pilots Certificate and the other 2 are doing instrument training (what the airliners do!) 

    Now despite all this pilot talk, I've also started to work at a park across the river in Minnesota with my roommate. More details to follow in the totally awesome Nathansworld summer post!

I hope you enjoyed my flying ramblings, Thanks for stopping by!

My Initial Solo!

 Greetings everyone, and happy November!

Its almost Christmas season (Unless your me; then its now)

Just yesterday, I was able to solo around Grand Forks International Airport. To say it was thrilling was an understatement. 

We initially flew 3 laps around the traffic pattern with my flight instructor, who then after I dropped off, watched me from the tower as I taxied back out to runway 17R (The big airliner runway here in KGFK)

Getting out was exhilerating, as the silence inside the cockpit grew bigger by the second, I realised that I had finally been given total control over a plane, and it was all up to me now. Upon taking off, I actually had been given a callsign 'green' for UND students soloing locally, and was in the middle of a group of 2 more green's that where also soloing.

My plane, N817ND was actually the same exact plane I flew on the last flight out of the 123 we currently have (according to Wikipedia)  To say Ive flown better in the fleet is a understatement, as the first leg of the journey our radios where on the fritz! I could barely understand ATC amid the fuzz it made, and I was so focused listening to my callsign overshot my pattern altitude by 400 feet on my first lap, but by the second I had really felt how it was to fly solo, and im proud of my pattern on the 2nd.

Im so grateful to be given this chance and knowing my family has been supporting me has kept me going despite all the bad weather and how hard this school can get. 

As for lately, School at North Dakota has been great! The buildings on campus are awesome to walk thru, its all sci-fi looking as the Aerospace complex was made thru the 80s and 90s with everything from atriums to many Skywalks inside and outside the buildings.

As for outside the Aerospace complex, the buildings here range from the 50s to now, and is a really pretty campus to walk around in, sometimes I cant believe I made it all the way to college.

Welp this was not the frequency that ive wanted to make these blog posts, but I will try my best to get out there and take more pictures and write more stories down.

Until next time!

Leaving Home

 Happy August!

Today, I have flown from the coop, and currently am on the way to Grand Forks ND to start the fall semester of Aviation.

As I am writing this, my flight (Delta Airlines 2191) is climbing at 25,000 ft! and at a speed of 564 Mph over the deserts of California.

Leaving San Diego, with the coastline getting more far by the minute

Now as we get farther and farther, one thing that comes to mind is the reality of leaving your folks, because if you really think about it, the next time I will see my room will be just to visit, which feels weird.

But thats life, and it will happen sooner or later to everyone that inhabits this rock in space.

Aside from that, the flight has been good, for the first time in years im able to get food on a airplane! (the last time I was able to get food was 6ish years ago? I think at least)

All this thanks to my parents, who have rewarded me with first class! and who I will miss dearly alongside my family and friends. But I will be back in december to visit.

My seat neighbor has also been very nice, and gives me hope that this world isnt so bad as the news says, which I think at this point everyone knows that it just serves to scare us all.

I think thats all for now, I will hope to update this post throughout the flight.

July 2024

Hey yall, its been a minute or two,

Sorry for not posting, Ive been really busy but heres some quick updates, Ive gotten jobs to try and earn my keep until I ship out to University. 

Ill leave out specifics but its retail. And a lot of it at that.

Time keeps moving, and ive only got 5 more weeks till I leave (or 5 more fridays to me!)

It sounds cliche, but it really feels like I just graduated yesterday and yet im about to leave!

Aside from that this summer has still been fun but I have to learn how to make time for friends and family, even at the end of the day with all the money I could have you still need people to keep in good company.

I'll try and update this blog more often, until then I will see you later.

May 2024

As the month begins to close, so does the school year and my time in High School. Hard to believe that 4 years have past, yet so much has happened. I have met and said goodbye to my fair share of friends, both old and new, that is the way of life.

The campus I spent 3 years at and proud to be leaving soon

Following this, I will spend my final months enjoying the calm weather of California before taking off (pun-intended) to North Dakota for the next 4-5 years. 

a big step that was going to happen at some point!

Some Quick Maths (A metaphor)

Say you live 83ish years, and that life is a day.

Since the moment you where born, it is around 5 o-clock in the morning. 

People (yourself included!) have just begun to wake up, some later than others but we all wake up at some point to leave the house to go to our lives post graduation. 

There is still a day ahead of us! and we all are just beginning to live it

My point is, it is never to late to change ourselves, we still have a long day to go, filled with memories and adventures for us to take with into our afterlives, and it is up to you to make your change.

 

A picture taken years ago; the sun begins to rise over Hawai'i

Memories then and now will follow us to the steps of the stage for graduation. Our lives are about to change for the better or for the worse, and whatever comes next is up to you. We only live once.

What will you do with YOUR day?

April 2024

Greetings, and welcome to my (kinda) first  blog post.

Instead of working on my poli-sci essay (due tonight!) I have decided to go back to my old and abandoned blog and update it.

This months been a blast and as of writing this, we have only 5 more weeks until graduation. 

Talk about a end of a era.

After this, I plan on moving to the great state of North Dakota to start my next 4 years of flying (if I can afford it)

It feels weird, as San Diego has been my whole life, and now im going to be hundereds of miles away in a new state. Theres also saying goodbye to many good friends I have met over the years, but thats life.

I plan on updating this blog throughout the next years and weeks in order to have something to do, and also document my life during college.