Karen's back

Hi everybody,

Karen is back and so life is getting back to normal around here. I got up at 3:30 a.m. on Tuesday morning and went to meet her flight. It was as this point that I realized that it was going to be over 2 hours late. She had tried to notify me but there is no communication from Abu Dhabi and that's where her flight was coming from. Neither of our cell phones have worked in that place. But, we finally found each other at the new Delhi airport, at the new terminal 3. They have just completed this whole, new international airport complex in time for the Commonwealth Games and it is nice. The sad part is, they won't let you go inside to wait, even for a cup of coffee or anything, because of security concerns, so we waited outside. When I say we, I mean that my driver was somewhere waiting for us to call him that we were ready and I was waiting alone, with about 500 other people, for relatives to come through the door and then, for them, the trip was over.

Karen was amazingly chipper and well-rested, probably due to first and business-class travel this time on Etihad Airlines, which does a wonderful job. The sad part was, after a very nice breakfast at the Leela Kapinski, the nicest hotel in town, we had to go home, change clothes, and then head immediately for the Ministry of Home Affairs to renew her visa. I knew this would involve a lengthy wait in the heat and without really knowing what was going on. It did manage to take most of the day and then, about 1:30 they told us to come back around 5 p.m. I had gone through this before. They finally, about 6 p.m., hand out a bunch of sealed envelopes that you cannot open, but must take over to the Foreign Regional Registration Office, this most hated of Indian government offices, as it involves long and complicated waits to get served rudely. So, after our first full day of standing outside in 100+ degree temps, we headed out for our second day of waiting in long lines at the FRRO. I had two checkrides scheduled for this day at 11:30 a.m., so I had to go in my uniform, which was very hot. We stood outside in line for almost 2 hours and then, finally, just before a total meltdown, we were allowed inside, where there were more lines and finally, the dreaded man at the front desk. He was satisfied with our paperwork, except for the fact that I hadn't realized that they took all copies of Karen's passport and visa at the Ministry of Home Affairs the day before, so he needed those. I literally ran across the busy street with Karen in tow and we got the three copies needed for 3 rupees (6 cents) and headed back across the street, handed in her papers, and were told that everything was fine, we should return for her visa extension on Monday, the 6th of September. What a relief!! Only two days in the burning heat and she could now go home and relax and try to get into the right time zone, which is always more difficult coming this direction, I think.

Meanwhile, I had these two looming checkrides, so the driver hurried me to the airport and dropped me off, while Karen went home to catch up on her sleep. To try and describe what has been happening since I became an examiner on the Citations in this country is difficult. The director of aviation for another company had called me and asked me if I could just charge them the money and sign the guys off without flying with them. This is so much the local attitude, but of course, I explained that I couldn't do this and we should schedule the two checkrides, which could be done together but still needed to be done. It was explained to me that the chief pilot for this company was related to someone at the DGCA, so if I needed any help with issues or had problems, it would be a good connection to have. I appreciated this, but it still didn't negate the checkrides and so, after dropping Karen off, I began my first ride in someone else's airplane since I came to India 14 months ago. The whole process was interesting because I was treated like a King by this company since they needed my signoff to continue flying here. They even sent a person to personally walk me through security to make sure there were no glitches and then, to my surprise, when I arrived at the airplane, their air hostess was onboard, just to serve food and soft drinks to me. All of my requests and questions were treated with the utmost respect and attention, it was just so interesting. We flew to Jaipur, about 30 minutes away and then did a full ILS approach, with the captain losing the autopilot and flight director just as we intercepted the localizer (too bad). The landing gear was a little recalcitrant but the copilot finally coaxed it down and we landed and taxied back. I explained that we would be taking off and then losing an engine right as the gear came up, but would continue and fly to a holding pattern, then followed by the engine shut down checklist (engine still running) and completing a single-engine approach and landing. That all went well until we attempted to lower the landing gear and this time it would not come down. I have been flying Citations for 25 years and this was the first time that we were going to exercise the emergency gear extension for real. Once the captain figured out how hard to pull the emergency gear extension handle, the gear came down and we blew the bottle to lock it into position. Three green gear lights looked mighty pretty at this point and we were still flying the Instrument Approach, so it was a busy time but the pilot handled it well. Now, we had to send one of the crewmembers up to the tower to pay the fees for landing here and for ATC, so we sent him up and while he was doing that, I got fed again. Then, we had to fly our fixed-gear Citation back to Delhi and try to fit in with all the big jets while having our landing gear down and locked. To make matters more interesting, there were a lot of thunderstorms around and so we ended up circumnavigating a lot to get back. It's amazing how much extra air noise there is when the gear is down for the whole flight. We got back and turned the aircraft over to maintenance, who had the same thought I did, that the landing gear switch itself had decided to quit on this day. So, checkride was completed and two pilots were very happy, while I was very tired and just glad to be back on the ground with wheels - yeah!! I went home and found Karen had been sleeping most of the day because she is 9 and 1/2 time zones out of whack and it just takes time to make this up. I always find it easier to travel West towards America then it is to travel East back to India. My body clock has always been this way and I think I would function better on a 25 hour day because it just works well for me. Going East, I always feel like a zombie for a few days, no matter what I do. Anyway, this was my first month of giving checkrides and since I am the only Citation XLS check airman in India, I think just that part of my life will be very busy. The guys I have been giving rides to are always so nice and they love that I have flown this aircraft for so long and understand the systems and the navigation boxes. They say that typically the DGCA guys don't know anything about general aviation jets and so much of what they talk about isn't relevant. So far, my boss says I have been getting rave reviews of my checkrides and cover material so that really makes me feel good. I never dreamed that I would be doing this but it does make me feel like I am making an important contribution to aviation safety, as it relates to private jets, in India.

Again, I never know how long I will be allowed to stay here. The expat pilot conversations vary from don't worry about this at all to there is a pilots union that is working very hard to remove all the expats by next July and it could happen earlier. So, I have resolved in my mind to enjoy this for as long as I am allowed and realize that it could be short term. The pilots I flew with yesterday were of the opinion that this would not happen for years because there just aren't enough general aviation pilots in India and since there are so many planes coming to the country there will be continual issues for years and so expats will be required, and by the way, do I know any pilots from America who would be willing to come over and fly. (Which, of course, I do). India is just such a different economy from America right now. There is growth and development everywhere and everything just has this feel of success and expansion. Of course, part of the problem is that it takes so long to develop a core group of pilots who are qualified to fly these airplanes. Our company has just recently hired two ex-Indian Military pilots, both of which I will be responsible for training, one in the CJ2 and one in the XLS. Both seem to have great attitudes and willingness to learn. I only hope that their flying skills are what I need and that this process will eventually lead to them both flying here, safely, for years to come and I won't have to try and make something work that really shouldn't. I have tried to get them to do some flight evaluations before hiring here, but it seems so foreign to them that ex-military pilots might not have flying skills. I have seen and heard about a few over here so I have high hopes and I realize that it is an awesome responsibility to do this, even while giving checkrides to dozens of other Indian pilots as these Citations become a very popular aircraft here, too.

I continue to be very thankful for such good health. As I get older, I realize that life choices make a big difference and now I am able to enjoy life, to a certain extent, because I have taken care of myself. I don't take anything for granted, though, and I do continue my workouts in the gym here at our apartments, which includes a cardio workout and then some weightlifting to try and keep my body from becoming a big saggy sack of flab!! Now we recently found out that the DGCA is going to make expat pilots take the hated and dreaded Indian flight physical, which is a 3 day rigorous test which includes everything from EKG's to MRI's and chest xrays and extensive hearing and eye tests. So, that should be interesting to go through. Some of my friends here think that it is going to be a way to exclude the expat pilots and that they will do anything they can to keep us from flying here. Who knows. I have retained good relationships with the Canadian handling company that brought me here and should India go away, I will try to find another international location, as they are just so intriguing right now. My hope though, is that this will be my last job before retirement. But long ago I realized that there are things I can control and things I can't and those shouldn't get mixed up or it will just cause stress.

Karen got a fresh prescription of her relaxant pills which she has humorously called her "No kill" pillls. I love this description, as, if you are on this medication, nobody gets hurt, but with all the frustrations of living in a very foreign place, if the pills run out, it might get dangerous.

(Just kidding, of course) but still a great description of a prescription.

I will include a picture of my friends from the Delhi SDA church, Richard and Tammy Jackson. He works at the US Embassy. They are already bidding for their next position and job. How nice is that, you can kind of choose where you want to live. I think they are leaving next June, so another year and they will be back in Washington, DC or some island. They say Delhi has been a very challenging location for them, and they were in Mexico before this. I will also include a picture of Ulyana, our friend from Ukraine, as she was able to bring her baby to church last week for the first time since he was born in mid-June. Just imagine setting up a new home and baby and living in India, thousands of miles from home, while doing all this. I admire people like this, my mom did the same thing!!

Drop me a note and let me know you are doing okay. News from home may sound mundane to you, but it makes my day to hear from you all.

Love,

Dan