Back to flying again

Tomorrow we get back to the business of flying again. It has been almost a week as we had new rules recently more strictly enforced about using no contract pilots in our company. It's on everybody's books but seldom enforced until this week. Now, we are going to need a copilot for the Excell really quickly as Dhaka, who flies the CJ, is the only legal copilot we have right now. He was on vacation all last week and so I went to Mumbai and PASSED my FAA physical. Someone asked if there was any doubt and I have to say at my age there is always a lot of doubt about what might happen in these doctor's offices, and especially if you are in a foreign country where there is an undercurrent of getting the ex-pats out. I had always wanted my life to be settled down and somewhat boring but it seems like that always eludes me, just when I think I have it in my sights, a new challenge erupts. My stated goal is to stay in India for 4-5 years and then retire but now the DGCA, Indian Aviation authorities, may have a sayso in my future here.

I won't be losing any sleep over it but it does affect how Karen and I plan our stay here, with a somewhat less permanent feel to it than it had last year before I knew all this stuff.

I am going to a famous Hindu Temple tomorrow in Tirupati, India. It is THE most visited temple in India and therefore will be crazy busy. My co-pilot, Dhaka, called today and asked me to go the Temple with him. I said I would and then he explained that if he just went alone to pay homage, there would be a several hour wait, but since I have the white skin color and the "tourist" appearance I would be given preferential treatment to the FRONT of the line and that I could include friends to go with me. So, tomorrow I will be using my appearance to break into a line at a Hindu temple for my friend, so he doesn't have to wait. And, it's at this point that I realize that I am not in Kansas anymore, Toto.

Here's a pic with my favorite lady from church today and she didn't even know it was halloween, I bet.

Dan

Working Out

The last couple of times I was in the gym, when they saw me come in they switched to American Music for the time that I was in there. It was fun because I was working out to 'N Sync, which always reminds me of my daughter, since she was a huge fan when they first came out. Then, they put on the theme music from "Top Gun" and the "Breathless" song, just as I was feeling that way on the treadmill. I guess Tom Cruise's idea of Breathless was a little different from mind, riding the treadmill on an uphill grade at a pretty good pace. Then, it switched to the theme music from "Titanic" which Celine Deon does so well. Again, it brought back a flood of memories while I was passing the time.
The gym manager keeps asking me to take his picture and print it out since he doesn't have internet. I have become a full time photographer for him.

Mumbai here I come

Time for the twice yearly flight physical for my FAA license. I am flying to Mumbai tomorrow afternoon which is a 1:45 minute flight from Delhi. There I will be picked up by a hotel courtesy car and driven to this very nice 5-star hotel that is near the airport. From there I will have a transport of some kind, probably a taxi to the doctor's office in Mumbai. After the physical exam, it will be time to return to the airport and fly back home. All of this is paid for by my employer in order to keep track of my fitness to fly. This will be my first airline flight within India's borders so I am anxious to see what this is like and to be able to look out the windows more as we travel across this big country.
Looks like my next company flight is next Sunday and we have just had a new rule implemented that we cannot use any contract pilots for our company as per the India government ruling so now we are quickly trying to hire another captain who will possibly fly both the Citation XLS and the new Challenger 300 that is coming on line soon.
Will try to take some pics and put them up from this trip.
Dan

Happenings at the office

This week I have been at home and working in the office. The CEO is out of town and our chief pilot has been on a trip to London in the Global Express so yesterday the Executive Assistant in charge of Aviation called me to the Airport Office and said she wanted my opinion on helping her get the boss ready to make an informed presentation to the DGCA in India to help promote General Aviation and safety in India. We spent about 5 or 6 hours in the office preparing remarks and cleaning up the information so that what he says will have some relation to reality and will make sense. It is a rare opportunity to help get something done here, as sometimes I think they are stuck in the 20th Century. While I was in the office Roopali (who went to Rollins College in Orlando) and I spent quite a bit of time talking about the direction and movement within our own flight department. It was a scary time as they put so much emphasis on anything that I say and again there may be some personnel changes as a result of things that I said. I am so much less tolerant of incompetance since I have recently lost friends in a crash. But, along with those judgments, I realize that there are lives and families being affected. Fortunately, I also got to be involved in a job interview yesterday, where I was able to suggest some things that might prevent having to hire and remove someone for unsafe practices. Screening and flying with someone before hiring seems to be a foreign concept here, but now it will become a standard practice, as well as making sure that manufacturer approved Sim Training becomes a regular part of every pilot's training regimen. I just don't understand the thought process behind buying a multi-million dollar airplane and then trying to save $10,000 on the pilot training when that is the key safety element to the whole process. Somehow, the record skips on that groove, but then, I am dating myself terribly.
I am scheduled for my flight physical in Mumbai on Friday morning. My last company in Pittsburgh wouldn't even pay for the physical itself, the first company I have ever worked for that didn't do that and now in order for me to get an FAA physical, this company will fly me for 1:45 on a commercial jet, put me up overnight in a nice hotel, pay for transportation and for the physical itself, then fly me back to Delhi the next day. Kind of a nice little break and mini-vacation while visiting the good doctor. These guys get their FAA certification for doing medicals and then they serve the American pilots abroad by doing our physicals in a foreign country. I am less worried about this one than some others since I have been exercising and working out regularly, but I have no idea what my Indian diet has been doing so it will be interesting to see.
I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop, but things have been going so well and continue to do so that I am just enjoying life immensely. I saw a sheet yesterday with a summary of all of our pilot information on it. I never realized it, but I am the high time pilot in the company. Our chief pilot is 3 years younger than me and since we have both been professional pilots most of our adult lives, I have him by a few hundred hours. Our retired Indian Airline pilot has about 10,000 hours. I had never really talked to these guys about their hours so I was surprised. I guess all that means is that I am getting OLD.
Go out and make it a good week. No new pics to send but I have some on my camera that will come along when I get a chance to download them in the next day or so.
Pets have been dropped as an idea because we might only be in India until next July or October, no one seems to know for sure. Karen decided it was foolish to attach ourselves when it might be for only 8 or 9 months. Probably a good idea but it will be lonely with no torturers in the house.
Dan

Pets

I misunderstood my copilot's message. He is on a vacation (called Holiday here) in Singapore and wants to bring me any kind of dogs and cats that I want. So, this morning he messaged me from Singapore and said to tell him what kind I want and he will bring them. Now, THAT'S a friend (who will bother to buy you some pets while he is on holiday) and bring them to India for you. So, I didn't really know what to say about the kitties - I just told him maybe a Russian Blue (which is a gray colored cat) and a white one with black spots. That is what the cats we had looked like and it would remind us of them. As for the dog, I didn't know what to say so I told him a Toy Poodle or a Yorkie or a Pekinese. I would like a Bichon Friese again but I don't know if they have them in Singapore. We'll see what he comes up with. He said he would keep the animals for us when we leave India - WOW! I guess bringing them from there is much easier than from the USA and especially for an Indian family. Now the housekeeper will have something to do!!!

Talk to you later.............Dan

Week in review

It's been an interesting week, I will have to say. We started out by flying over the weekend and then again on Monday. I had my friend in town and then after one day off it got busy again with a long day and then an interesting day. Friday was a trip to Chandigarh, which is a joint use military base and always requires lots of radio communication in order to get in there. I had a contract pilot for the day but he is retired Indian Air Force and used to be base commander here so he was talking on the radio to all his buddies in their language. Once on the ground we went to visit one of his Air Force buddies and his family. The son is quite brilliant and had one year of study at Stanford University in the USA all paid for by scholarships and grants. He now works for Barclay's bank out of London and is in the process of being transferred to Tokyo. He was home for Diwalli for the first time in 7 years and is only 24 years old. Really nice kid and fun to talk with. The airport was supposed to close at 8 p.m. we had been told we would be spending the night in town if we weren't airborne by 8 so that's what I told my boss. We had brought in the Chief Minister for the Indian State of Haryana, along with Mr. Jindal and they were going to a political meeting so when I called at 7:45 to see how they were doing I was informed that they had put in a special request and the airport would remain open until we left, thank you. I am learning quickly how India really works.

I went to the Gurgaon SDA church today for the first time and it's really just a home church that takes place at the ADRA (Adventist Development and Relief Agency) headquarters, which is a lovely, big home in a nice section of Gurgaon. I had first visited here only a couple of weeks after I first arrived in Delhi with Richard from the US Embassy, when we went for the drive in his car, exploring all over the place. Interestingly, they are looking for a pastor and tried to recruit me on the spot but I had to tell them that I would not be there half the time and it would just be very disappointing after I let them down so many times when I was out of town. I imagine it will provide some very good teaching and preaching opportunities if I do decide to attend their regularly. There is Paulo Lopes and his wife from Brazil and Carlos Lopes and his wife from Portugal, so the place should be having services in Portuguese but they do it in English so the rest of us know what's going on. Paulo has a 13 year old son who goes to one of the schools here in Gurgaon. When church was over the Portuguese family offered me a ride home and I told everybody that I needed someone who spoke Hindi to talk to my taxi driver and let him know what was going on. This 13 year old Brazilian kid takes the phone out of my hand and speaks perfect Hindi to my taxi driver. I was SO JEALOUS. I wish my mind could absorb and learn like that.

Our flight department has been kind of quiet for the last two weeks as our new American CEO is in Canada and America for a month, taking some class and seeing about the delivery of our new Global Express 5000 that is coming in November I am told. My boss asked me if I would like to fly this plane, which of course I would, but it may not be possible in India as they require that captains have at least 100 hours of Pilot In Command time before being certified in India. I could get about 10-15 hours in the Simulator which would count and probably about another 20 flying to India, but that still leaves me short so we'll see what comes of it. Kind of frustrating to have everything in place and then the Indian government steps in to stop the program.

It is getting scary here because I have stopped taking pictures of the cows and other animals in the road already. I knew this was going to happen!! It's also scary because my India flights are getting routine, which means that I have adjusted already to a very messed up ATC and government program. In 5 more days I will have been in India for 4 months and I still don't have my airport pass so I am treated like a passenger on my own flights. It's in someone's drawer, waiting for rupees.

Karen has me on a pet purchase program and I have one of the pilots who called and says he has kitties and a dog for me so I may go get them in the next couple of days. Now the housekeeper will have more to do!!

Later - Dan

Back to work

You remember that let down feeling after company leaves?? Well, it's worse when you are living alone overseas. My friend Ron was here yesterday and we really made a day of it. I took a taxi up to the Shangri-La and enjoyed their amazing breakfast buffet. I met another crew member from his Continental plane that is an SDA and lives in New Jersey. That was very cool. We took the time and I got permission with the help of my support staff to go to my airplane at the Delhi airport and take a tour. There were a few rupees that changed hands to keep everybody happy but this is the first time that I have been able to take someone to see the plane. Security is so tight and it's such an operation to go there that I don't try this often. After the airport and airplane tour we made our way down to my city, Gurgaon, and went out to a nice TGI Fridays that they have there. Then on down to my apartment, where we could both get a nap. Poor Ron comes over here and tries to stay on his West Coast USA time schedule so he stays awake all night and tries to sleep in the daytime. Now that I live in Delhi, I am always trying to get him to do something entertaining while here. I even got him to go with me to my small group from the Sunday church that meets on Tuesday night. He had positive things to say about that after we were done and he got to see a very international Christian group last night. After the meeting I went in his taxi back to Delhi to take him home and then back to my place. By the time I got home last night I was really tired of riding around in a taxi all day long. These are not big, comfortable SUV's or anything so it's quite a ride sometimes.

I have had several families or people approach me at the airport in my flying uniform and ask me how I like India. I am always positive and tell them that I really like the nice people and the beautiful countryside and bright colors. I like the food and then I tell them that the roads are awful and they look at me like I must be nuts or something. I guess if this is all you have ever had, you cannot understand an Interstate that you can travel at 70-75 MPH on for hours at a time without dodging cattle, people, scooters, bumps, large road repair projects, etc. My friends from the US Embassy just got back from their European vacation and said the part they enjoyed the MOST was just taking the rental car on the open highway and driving without fear of car destruction by many different processes. I can't wait to see Karen's reaction when we take a taxi into Delhi and experience their wonderful roads and traffic. I am going to have to put her in handcuffs so that the taxi driver lives to see another day - ha!!

I flew on Monday and then tagged around all day yesterday with my uniform in the trunk in a a suitcase in case the cell phone rang but we got away with a whole day off and now today I am also able to be at home and relax. Nice.

Our aviation CEO is in Canada or America and our chief pilot is in London via Abu Dhabai and Beirut so we had a couple of issues that needed their attention and I just had to deal with it. Sometimes, international flying is just an adventure, that's all you can say.

Here's a pic of our day. Chat soon. Dan

After Diwali

This will be very short. We have been flying a lot recently, this is like the holiday season in America here. I had a nice, longer trip to Ranchi, India again today. Then, I got a message from my friend Ron, who flies for Continental and he is getting a couple of extra days this time so I am going to eat breakfast with him at his nice hotel in Delhi and then bring him back down to see where I live and work here. Should be a great day. I will sit down and add some pictures and thoughts again after things settle down.
Got my Internet working only with a cable tonight. Someone set something on my wireless and it won't pick up at home now. I'll get it figured out. But, at least I can chat with Karen again.
Taking lots of pictures everywhere I go so you will start to see those really soon.

Dan

New Camera Toy

After years of putting it off because of educational bills and lots of other expenses, I have broken down and bought a new Canon 1000D Digital SLR camera. It's not a professional format camera but it has lots of features and 10 megapixel clarity, along with the ability to attach lots of different lenses and to do all the things that you digital camera buffs know about.

Just over 10 years ago I had gone to a hawk shop in Billings, Montana and bought a nice Mamiya SLR with lots of lenses and attachments, a motor drive and all. It takes great pictures and puts them right on your choice of film. That was okay 12 years ago but I have always wanted a nice SLR digital since they first came out. Now everything dad and I used to do together in the darkroom out in the garage, plus a whole lot more, you can do sitting in full daylight on your computer screen. I am sure dad would just be amazed if he were still here.

I will attach a few photos here but I have sent out invitations to my Picasa web album and this new camera is going to send a lot higher quality and that means more memory and bigger files so I won't send as many on my blog since I know many of you are still getting stuff via DSL phone lines. That's all I have here and so I feel for you, especially coming from Pittsburgh, where we had cable internet that was pretty fast. Some of my friends have fiber optic and I guess I have envy about that, too. You can get internet garbage so quickly that way - ha!!

Karen is back home, feeling lonely since the cats have gone to Tennessee with her son, Jeremy. He called to say Jupiter was already exploring and since I know his photographic memory, he will be upset as soon as he programs the new house and somebody has the audacity to move anything. Jeremy was setting up the Cat Tree, which Karen insisted had to go with the kitties to give them a familiar sense of home and something to climb on. He got it set up quickly and things are going fine. Apparently Marsy has been shortened to Mars and so it will be Jupiter and Mars. She likes women and always favored Karen, except when I had kitty treats or when the laptop was on my lap and then she slept on my legs. Maybe it put out heat, I don't know. But, after a couple of days of hiding under the bed, she has climbed out and slept under the covers with Teresa, Jeremy's other half. I knew when she got hungry or thirsty enough she would get over her separation anxiety and form up with somebody. Kitties are getting happier now, Karen is missing the meowing under the bedroom door each night and then the constant attention demanding by all the animals. As my friend Roy said, "Dan, this is a BIG MOVE."

Yesterday I found out that the DGCA, the civil aviation authorities in India have decided to rescind my ability to fly the CJ2. This is because it was originally registered under the wrong company. I think it was an honest mistake but it may have been intentional because they really don't allow ex-pat pilots to fly for more than one company at a time. Our Citation XLS is registered to our parent company, Jindal Steel. That's who my original license (called a FATA) was done with. When we added the CJ a month or so later, it was done under Jindal but then our company called for an Argus Audit and they found out that our CJ belongs to IndiaFlySafe, which is our charter company. This meant that my FATA had to be redone and I went in to the DGCA last week to make application for this. A committee met sometime and decided to reject having me fly for two companies since this isn't really allowed here. So, my life just got easier, flying only one jet, but the company isn't really happy about the government decision. If it stays like this, they are going to have to take one of the copilots from the CJ and assign him to me on the XLS because right now Dhaka is the only other CJ captain and he was flying a lot with me on the XLS in order to get certified as a captain on it. He needs 100 hours of supervised flight with a qualified captain (me). We were looking forward to this but now that is trash since if I am out on the XLS, he will need to be here to be ready for CJ flights.

There is still debate in India Aviation government circles as to when they are going to kick all the ex-pat pilots out of India. It was supposed to happen next July, 2010 but now I have seen a letter which said they were having a meeting on the 14th of Oct, where the topic was going to be discussing this issue and a recommendation to have us all gone by October, 2010. No one bothered to explain this to me when I was thinking about coming over here. So, after all my plans to be here for 4 or 5 years and retire, I may have to come home in one year from now. I hope that this all changes, as I am settling in and enjoying it here. Who knows what the outcome will be and I can't worry about it because it just takes all your energy. As Dhaka told me the other day, "Dan, if you can fly in India, you can fly anywhere, because they make it so darn difficult here."

I want to take a moment and put in a shameless plug for my cousin, Dr. Kenneth Clifford. He is a dentist in Northern California. He has taken that Clifford mechanical ingenuity and applied it to dentistry in a very interesting way. He has helped push the development of a Fixed Bridge Denture Replacement System or Mini Dental Implants. Please go to his website: http://www.kenclifford.com/ and see if you might have a patient, friend or relative who could benefit from these. Ken and my father never met a mechanical challenge that they weren't up to. I remember my father sitting at the dining room table with his Leica camera spread all over the table and mother remarking that it would never shoot another picture. Dad took it apart, cleaned and lubricated it, and put it back together. It worked for many more years. He never knew what was wrong but fixed it anyway. I have seen Ken's father, Larry, with Volvo's and VW's spread all over the garage. Cool mechanical ideas can work in dentistry, too.

Here's some photos.

Dan

Wednesday, October 14

I am home in Gurgaon today and have already had breakfast, worked out in the gym and am contemplating whether to try an outing to the camera store or not. Yesterday when I went to the Plaza Mall, where the Canon store is, I was told that the mall didn't open till 4:30 p.m. I was amazed at that but you have to remember that it's Diwali (pronounced Divalli) season here, which is the Hindu equivalent of Christmas, with lots of parties and lights and celebrations. I have been told that the actual day this year is Oct. 17th, so things should settle down a little bit after that. I will take some pictures of the lights just from my apartment balcony, it does look a lot like Christmas and the company driver that picked me up yesterday brought what I guess is the corporate Diwali gift for the year of a new set of sheets for my King Size bed and a very nice blanket to help make it through the cold weather months just ahead. I have to admit that I am loving the weather here this time of year, the nights are cooling off a little and the days are very nice until mid-afternoon, when it still gets quite warm. I can wait outside for my company driver or taxi without melting down into my shoes like last July.
Yesterday we flew up to Hisar again, where my boss's mother lives and where she just ran for re-election to political office. I don't know what the outcome is yet, but she should do just fine, I believe. She is a very humble and kind lady. I thought you guys would get a kick out of the little ambulance that waits at the airport each time we come and go. If we actually did need an ambulance at the airport I am not sure I would want a ride in this thing. I think they would have to fold you in half just to get you to the hospital and the ride on India road would surely do more damage than the accident itself, but this vehicle and the fire truck come rolling out every time we come in. There are always lots of people at the airport and it makes for an entertaining day to go in there. There is the tea/coffee guy bringing drinks to the pilots, the local flight instructor who comes out to talk with us and the bright eyed flight students who are overawed by this private jet flying into their airport.
Got a call, gotta go do a taxi test after maintenance. Talk to you again soon. Delhi Dan

Pele's Going Away Party

So, there's the party photos. Not very good, but hey a Blackberry's all I got right now and the flash is very weak. What I couldn't show with this little camera is the beautiful top balcony that has a lawn on it and the awesome view from up there. Everyone was so nice and it was just a great group of people to hang out with for an evening. We feel so isolated and alone, a few Christians from around the world in India, surrounded by a culture and religion that seems so different and intriguing.

The Sunday flight involved just flying for about an hour to Hisar, India and back. We were there only long enough to have lunch and relax at the company guesthouse for a couple of hours. They always treat us like VIP's so that is so different from the USA where pilots are treated like Chaffeurs. It is so nice to have help in the back of the plane to interface with the passengers, whether they be charter customers or our own people. It just makes things go smoother.

Flew yesterday and am flying tomorrow so some economies are doing well.

Sunday Flight

I should know better than to answer my phone on the weekend. Early out on Sunday for an all day trip but at least home tonight.
Had a nice day at church yesterday and a relaxing afternoon. Didn't get to see any kitties and for a sad reason. Edgar, who was just here with me, had an accident with the Caravan in Raigahr, where he has been based for the last year. I haven't talked with him yet but at least no one was even hurt, although the Caravan now has no landing gear or belly pod. For one thing, they should have given him more rest here before he was asked to fly.
The investigators have gone down to see about it all-so hard because Edgar just got his contract renewed and was looking forward to this next year of flying. Since Dhaka was going to fly the investigators down there, that cancelled our visit and look at kitties plan. I am just so thankful no one was hurt. Airplanes can be fixed and replaced-I have lost enough friends to last a lifetime, although I don't blame airplanes any more than you would blame a car for a friend's auto death. We accept certain risks because of the convenience that comes with it. If we didn't, we would never get out of bed in the morning.
Karen said to communicate that she would be doing better with everything but we are biochemical beings and chemistry is sometimes who we are-like it or not! By the time you read this the animals should be riding happily in the car to McMinnville, Tennessee, where they will live until we get back. Jeremy loves cats more than I do and they love him so they should be happy-especially since he has a nice salt water aquarium full of fish!
My power supply for my modem quit so we'll see how long it takes for me to find one. Until then---this off my Blackberry.
Dan

Looking for animals and cameras

This weekend is going to be dedicated to finding some kitties for the house and a good camera for Dan. A friend says there are some kittens that I can go look at. If they are cute enough, they will have a new home. And, because I need a NICE camera and have had camera envy for the last few years since the good SLR digitals came out, I am now going to make the investment.
Stayed home this week as we had several company meetings and one of our planes has been down for maintenance. That made it easy for me and it's a good thing because I had a pretty intense cold there for a few days. It's mostly over now and I am feeling much better - and, it wasn't the swine flu - ha! Interestingly, my son in California has a cold at the same time, must have been a genetic cold.
Had a going away party with my Tuesday night study group for Pele from Australia. Just a great guy and one of my favorite people since I came to India. He says I have an open invitation to come see him in Brisbane!! Karen and I actually have Australia on our list so we'll be there eventually!
The weather is getting so much nicer here. Just amazing how much better it feels in the early morning especially, but the going away party last night was on the roof of our friends very nice home. What a place - it must have at least 6000 sq ft and the terrace up on top has lots of yard and a hedge. I asked Cindy about the mowing up there and she admitted they are a two lawn mower family so they have one for the real yard and one for the yard up top. Anyway, last night looking out over the skyline of Gurgaon and the beautiful sky was really a nice evening and the temperature was perfect.
Back home Karen tells me that when they went into town to register the car, the notary place they went was the same guy who answered the AAA call the other night when she was stranded and out of gas. He said the story of the "crazy woman" who was out putting out yard sale signs at 2 in the morning and then ran out of gas (although she thought it was other problems at the time) had been making the rounds in the local businesses and bars. He did admit to falling back asleep after AAA first called and that's why it took over 2 hours for her to be rescued. So, not only did she sit in the truck from 2-4 a.m. but she had to go potty the whole time and now she finds out the guy just fell asleep and then came back and told her story to the whole town. She is just loving Western Pennsylvania at the moment. I thought it was pretty funny so it's good that I am 9 and 1/2 time zones away so no bodily harm occurs on this one.
I did have something new and funny happen this week. I have a nice little mall about 5 blocks away from where I live and its and easy walk through a pretty nice neighborhood to get there but when I first come out of my apartment complex, there is a dirt road that crosses an open field and there are usually construction workers and animals, etc, as I cross this field. On this day there were also several large cows that were just hanging out, eating the grass and looking for whatever food they could find. I had gone to the store for groceries and was walking back across the field towards my apartment carrying several bags of food when one of the smarter cows started moving in a triangulation move to cut me off before I got to the gate into the apartment complex. At first I thought it was just an accident then I saw this cow really cornering me with her nose headed right for the grocery bag!! When the natives standing there working in the field saw their cow headed for me and the food they began to shoo the cow away from me but it wanted FOOD and was not going to be dissuaded. I was laughing so hard at this industrious cow I almost dropped the bag, but these Indians were seriously yelling at the aggresive cow and I had to hurry through the walkthrough gate holding my bags high to keep that large, wet nose from invading my grocery bag. It was a hugely comical moment for me because I just never imagined in this life that I would be protecting my new groceries from a cow in the field who apparently knew exactly what was in the bag and wanted it worse than I did. See what an adventure I am on, I can't even get from the store to the house without an aggresive cow trying to grab my groceries. And, the people that were yelling at the cow were several men and women working on moving some dirt and bricks for construction. The men were doing nothing while the women were putting huge loads of dirt and bricks on their heads using a round platform that's about two feet across and balanced on their heads using a cloth donut that helps them keep it balanced. I can see the look on Karen's face the first time she gets over here and sees the guys loafing and the women working heavy physical labor like that.
Us American men have just sold ourselves out I guess, not really sure what happened - ha!!

Karen's battles

While I am enjoying the cooler weather and the house help at my nice apartment in Gurgaon, Karen got left behind to take care of all my stuff. There has been a lot going on at home and she gets to do it all by herself. She says its probably a good thing that I am half way around the world so that I cannot be hurt. She says hormones are part of what is making her feel like doing physical harm to me! A regular move is stressful, you can imagine what a move to the other side of the world is like.
To further clarify the yard sale idea, the paper never did get the information right. First they had messed up the street and then they didn't correct the date, so it was messed up from start to finish. Because she had to rent the pavilion twice to do the sale, she worked a deal with the lady to do some weedeating around the pavilion after it was all over instead of paying another $100. This turned into a major operation with her being given a large, heavy weedeater and this 7 foot tall ornamental grass was tough and hard to get at. Three hours later, with a sore back, sore legs, sore arms and not being used to physical labor and completely exhausted, she was done. But that night she woke up in the middle of the night with her fingers so swollen she had to hurriedly take her rings off and her fingers are still misshapen!
On the positive side, we had a hearing a couple of weeks ago about my filing for unemployment after my employer cancelled my health insurance at the beginning of the last month that I worked there. I thought that was uncalled for so I filed unemployment and got paid for the last two weeks of June, during which I had told him I was around and available for trips but didn't get called. They sent our dispatcher to the hearing and Karen thought it was going to go completely against us because of the questions and attitudes of the hearing officers but then we got a letter saying that they had ruled in our favor - yahoo!! Now she is thinking about investigating their cancellation of my health insurance for my last month of employment. I know times are tough but this seemed like such a petty thing so if it was illegal, that might come into play.
She just heard from her son who has arrived in Pittsburgh and will be around for the weekend. The animals are feeling the impending changes mightily. They are all clingy and demanding more than the ordinary amount of attention. Their lives are about to change for awhile.
My friend Edgar got the welcome back to India treatment today. First, they made him get up at 3:30 a.m. to catch an early flight which is to a city where they have to fly a private plane in to pick him up for the last little flight to our private airport near the steel mill in Raigahr. I got up and saw him off this morning and he caught his flight and then waited all day for them to come pick him up. He was supposed to be doing test flying today. So, he was at Raipur all day just waiting for transportation when he could have been up here in Delhi catching up on his sleep at my apartment and relaxing instead of just killing time waiting for a ride. Sometimes, it just amazes you the ways that things can get messed up over here.
His driver has called me twice today because he thinks my phone is Edgar's phone. I had to check with dispatch because I thought I might have a flight when the driver called saying he was picking me up quite early this morning. Of course all of this is conducted in HindiEnglish with lots of repeats and misunderstandings. Then, after explaining it all this morning and giving the driver the correct phone number, he called me back this evening saying he would be picking me up in the morning again. Learning is not occuring here!!! Edgar was fit to be tied when I called to tell him that his driver kept calling me. The flying is fun - the rest of this stuff can keep you challenged at times!!
One of my best friends from Bible study group on Tuesday nights just quit his very good paying job and is returning to Australia because his boss told him he couldn't talk about Christianity at the workplace. Being a principled guy, he was quite emotional last Tuesday as he shared that he made the decision and was walking away in faith!! Pele, you are the man!

Meetings and Yard Sales and Edgar

Went to the office today for a meeting with all the staff. Lots of new stuff happening. I also had to go the the DGCA (Director General of Civil Aviation)'s office today because my license for the CJ was done under the wrong company. I work for Jindal Steel and they own the Excell XLS but the CJ is owned by our charter subsidiary and its called India Fly Safe Aviation Limited. So, in India the ex-pats have to get their license only for the company that you have an employment agreement with. My whole application for the CJ was done wrong and I have basically been flying it in violation without even knowing it. We discovered the error and turned ourselves in. It is just do different here because of course a type rating in the US is good for any company that you want. Took a 5 minute tongue lashing over that one for the team but walked out with my new license so I guess it was a minor victory.
Karen's son, Jeremy, is coming up to Pittsburgh to get the Kitties and the Doglet. Not big enough to be a full dog, you understand. The kitties will live with her son and the doglet goes to her daughter, both of whom live in Tennessee. Once the animals are gone and she is alone, I think she will be getting fired up about coming over here.
I have had a minor cold this week which has almost run its course but is in the hacky cough phase today. Karen laughingly says its the swine flu but I never had the first ache or pain, other than the regular stuffy nose, etc. I think tomorrow will be a whole new and better day.
Looking forward to getting back in the air after all this paperwork and administrivia. Will definitely be here for at least a year now, I know that. Hopefully, longer.
Weather is cooling off a lot. The evenings and mornings are pretty tolerable now - yahoo!!
Edgar is here from Los Angeles. He flies the Cessna Caravan for us and lives about 2 hours South of Delhi by jet at a new company base called Angul. Just left his fiance for another 6 months so he can come over and make some money and pay some bills. He has one of those wonderful Southern California mortgages. So glad I don't have a big mortgage!! Anyway, we celebrated by stopping by KFC and picking up a bucket of chicken. Big celebration, I know...
It's nice to have company even if just for a night- he is headed back to location tomorrow early.
Karen says I messed up part of the yard sale story. The paper that got the address wrong the first time, didn't change the date the second time so the add never was right. And these people are in the paper business!!!

Amritsar and the Pakistani border

Had a trip up to Amritsar this weekend where I was able to do what they call the Waga Border where Indian and Pakistani soldiers march and open and close the border each day. I was also able to see the Golden Temple-a must see for you India visitors-the whole top half of the temple is made of gold-amazing. I have a new photo album on Picasa so look there and I will get them on the blog soon. Dan

Dan's blogspot Post #1

For those of you who have been following my emails and photos, this is my first attempt to do a blog and then you can see my more frequent updates and photos anytime that's convenient for you.
I have been waiting for over two weeks to hear whether I passed my written exam in India. Yesterday (Thursday, Oct. 1) they called and said that I had cleared my exams. I guess that is Hindi English for saying that I passed. Now I can proceed to fly without having to spend a lot of my spare time studying the Air Regulations for India. There have been several pilots over the years from foreign countries that have come to me in America for help in getting their US pilot's licenses. It is so much simpler and only requires that you fly with them very briefly to establish that they can do what they claim. Based on a short flight, you can take them to any FAA Flight Standards District Office and get their USA pilot's license issued. It takes all of about an hour. I have spent more time than that just filling out applications and turning in passport photos and fees to qualify for my Indian pilot's license. In fact, this whole thing is still just a temporary license that lasts a couple of years. They say that if I want to fly permanently here that I will have to take the complete Airline Transport Pilot's License Exam, which is very, very hard to pass here and that still expires every two years. Someday, I think India will be forced into the 21st Century. For now, they are still playing with leftover British rules from the 30's and 40's and they like it.

Had several trips this week and again flew some High Ministers from the Indian government. It's always amazing how many people are following and getting in on the action with these individuals. Always a good show to watch. We were again able to make this person very happy and so they should fly again with us soon. My boss is getting very excited about the possibilities of all the charter flying that we are tapping into. He has proposed to the Director General of Indian Aviation that I become a check airman for our company on the two Citations that we operate (CJ2 and Excell XLS). He is also asking that I be given permission to give type checkrides in India in both airplanes. It's rare for ex-pats to be given this type of permission so we'll see how it plays out. Once I do get approval, it should give me a chance to really help train and qualify local pilots to do a good job and to be safe in their operations.
We did fly to a new place this week - Ranchi, India. It's down towards Kolkutta and was about a 90 minute flight from Delhi. We did get a brief glimpse of the Himalayas over on the horizon. That was fun but the best part was when we were driving around town I saw my first Indian Elephant on the road. He was huge, too. I had always thought that the Indian elephant was not as big as the African elephants I used to see while working in Botswana, but this one was built for work and he looked like he could move a building if necessary.

The XLS continues to be a great airplane. This one is very healthy and works very well. No lingering issues like there are on the CJ2, where we have grounded the plane because of intermittent issues with the Anti-skid and Angle of Attack system. They are both acting funny and so, after some evaluation, I talked to the other captain and we wrote it up so it will get some much needed attention and hopefully will be working better in the future.

Many changes taking place in the airport office. Stay tuned.