Surprise!! I had no idea I was going to be flying two airplanes again in India. The DGCA voted to allow ex-pat pilots to fly more than one type of aircraft again. Some of you will remember that I was flying both when I first came over here but then, in October, they took that privelege away. Now, after companies were begging them to relax the rule, I was asked again to fly both but this required a longer stay in America as I scrambled to schedule and get to a Sim training center with a CJ2 or CJ3 Sim. Our particular aircraft that we have in India is a CJ2 but the Sim can be used for both aircraft with a differences class that is taught onsite. This was actually very good news to me as I had wished to visit my daughter in Portland, Oregon, to see her white coat ceremony at Pacific University. It was a great program and I was just so proud of her and her intelligence, good looks and the amount of discipline that it takes to get through any kind of medical program. I remember graduate school and the tests, book reports, quizzes, reading, learning, TESTS, and it is definitely a program for young people, although Shayna has a man in his 70's in her class.
This visit I got to spend time with Brad, Jess and Sadie in Loma Linda for several days. I also got to spend some quality time with Judy Winters, Jess's mother. She is such a delightful lady and I certainly enjoyed getting to know her a little better as we both shared the experience of being new grandparents. She is retired from teaching nursing at Southern Adventist University and was a highly loved and recognized teacher there. What a nice surprise it was to have a little bit of overlap time with the new parents and the genious and gorgeous (and quickly growing) granddaughter. Grandpa was super happy after he got her to laugh. FUN can be so simple!!
With the parents both working and going to medical school and taking care of a new baby (when does sleep occur??), Judy took me to the nearby Ontario airport for my trip up to see Shayna, Keith and Portland, where my cousin Dixie picked me up at the airport. Dixie asked me if I wanted to drive and when I deferred, she called me a wussy!! I had been driving around Los Angeles for several days and I actually enjoy being driven around Delhi, so it was nice to have her do the driving and to pick me up at the airport, which is about 45 minutes from where my kids live in Hillsboro. From there, it was straight to Shayna's program and I so enjoyed visiting with the many proud parents and grandparents who had come from all over America to see their kid's proud moment of accomplishment. My cousin Dixie spent many of her growing up years in North Dakota and my mother comes from South Dakota. At the white coat program it seemed like most of the people sitting around us were from the Dakotas and Iowa. Such nice people and everyone was so kind. I took the kids out to Shayna's favorite, Olive Garden, for a celebration dinner. Shayna, Keith and I did manage to get to a miniature golf course and a bowling alley. I could not believe how rusty my skills were. I was leading the golf game, much to Keith's disgust, when I had a blow-out hole with a score of 6 that put me one stroke behind with not much golf left to play. My bowling score was in the two digit range so strikes and spares were rare. We all had a blast, though, and I think Keith will proudly frame the golf score card and hang it on the wall as one of his proudest moments in sport, and that's fine with me!! Fun day for sure. Shayna displayed her continuing talent in the bowling alley as she blew us out. Great fun. One of the pics above shows, Keith, Shayna, Dixie and me on the lawn at Pacific U for the ceremony.
From Portland, it was on to Wichita, which had called and fit me into a last minute class for the CJ3 so I headed for training there. I hadn't been to training in Wichita since I last did my Citation Excell Initial class there exactly 10 years ago. Everything is so convenient there and the mid-west hospitality is so refreshing. I was amazed by the uncrowded highways and the amount of open space, as well as the very cool (for me) temperatures, which were ranging in the 60'sF and low 70'sF. It was a wonderful little respite. Just drinking the water from the faucets and fountains was such a treat.
Well, I am back and have already done a flight. Yesterday we were at Barmer, in Western India near the Pakistan border. The temp when we got ready to depart at 4 in the afternoon was 52C, which is somewhere around 126F. This is by far the hottest departure I have ever had. Both windshield overheat lights were on as the ambient temps had pushed the windshields past their 145F temp limit. A couple of circuit breakers required resetting because they had popped due to the ambient temp in the cockpit. Our fuel temperature, which is measured inside the tanks was 47C, so that is some hot fuel. Thanks to Uncle Clyde (Clyde Cessna was the founder of Cessna Aircraft back in the day), we had no issues and were so thankful for the APU to help us precool the cabin and make a pretty normal departure. Operating limits for the Citation are 54C so we were within two degrees of the maximum. Cessna probably had to go to Death Valley, California in the summer time, where the airport is named Furnace Creek, to find those temps, we were oh so close. Wow! A long ways from Wichita, that's for sure. We were also flying from a military airport where there are bunkers with Mig's of all sorts underground to go against anything developing to the West. Can't take pictures of this, but would love to send Cessna a picture of their beautiful airplane parked on a Fighter Jet base in Western India with ambient temps running near record limits. I am amazed at the adventure that is my everyday life.
Please pray for my friends Don and Peggy Williams in Paradise, CA. Their beautiful, young daughter with two kids, aged 3 and 5, was killed in a tragic auto accident a couple of weeks ago. Words cannot express my sorrow and I cannot imagine having to bury your young daughter while her kids and young husband and parents are left to deal. I love you guys and pray for you every single day. They are on my email list and so receive my letters everytime. Some day we will be in a better place, that's for sure.
Until next time,
Dan
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