Kaylee says that they're doing okay over there, that they have orientation today. She said one more difficult thing is that the language barrier is larger there, there are fewer people who speak English, and they don't always have a translator around like they did in Thailand. So she feels outside of the loop more, more "outside" what's going on. She also accidentally ordered a shrimp omelette, and she hates shrimp, but she pretended like she meant to do that and ate it anyway so as to not be rude. That's my girl. ;)
Yesterday one of our small hangar doors was closing when the flywheel at the top that runs the cable through it came FLYING off, and hit the spinner on the 172. There were two guys standing there too. We are Super lucky that this huge flying piece of heavy iron only hit the spinner, and didn't hit anywhere else on that airplane, or one of the people standing there. The door came busting down a good 5' too, which reiterates my angst at people leaving the airplane under the door for stuff. This Stuff Happens. Stay out from under the door.
So anyway, the one 172 had a dented spinner and was unairworthy until we inspected it. Meanwhile, the other 172 was scheduled for a checkride this morning. Except when Steve started it this morning, it had a dead mag. Now we had no airworthy 172s and a checkride oral going on. So all the hands were on deck, and we took the spinner off of KS and put it on 26F and the checkride went on, in a plane he hadn't been practicing in. Same model, but every plane has its own personality, and he doesn't do well with things out of the norm. He knew all this was going on and tried to focus on the oral. Then they come in to do their takeoffs and landings, and the airport closes Runway 23 out of the blue while they're in the pattern, and tells them to use Runway 14. Which is a crosswind, and the winds have picked up. Another quick change. He did a go-around on a landing early on, did another one when they switched runways, and then later on went to do another go around, and the examiner said he'd have to fail him if he couldn't make the landing, that he couldn't do more than two go-arounds. So he failed on a landing for needing to do another go-around. It is his fault too, for not settling in and focusing, he's capable, but he let everything rattle him. But one thing after the other messed with him, and he was getting it done anyway. Doing go-arounds if you're not feeling stable or right on shouldn't be grounds to fail, as long as you're doing them safely and properly. By the same token, you can't take multiple tries to get one landing down and leave a person with confidence in your abilities, either. So anyway, he's done minus one short field landing he has to make next time. Next problem is that the examiner wants him to do it at Muncie or it'll be at least 3 weeks away. But Muncie is a towered field, and he's not comfortable at towers. So either we spend time and money going to Muncie to see if he can get comfortable enough to do a checkride recheck there, or he spends another month waiting to get his checkride redone here at Kokomo. *sigh*
While he was up having trouble, I was in the Champ with someone who did the preflight, and didn't get the oil cap back on properly. So when we landed, we had oil all down the side of the airplane. Fortunately there was still plenty of oil in the engine, so nothing was hurt, just messed up.
It was 92 degrees today. My next person was supposed to be a Pinch Hitter flight. But she cracked a rib the other day, and can't hardly walk, or bend over, or cough, and she's in a lot of pain. So we canceled for today and tomorrow, just stood outside and talked, and hopefully it'll start feeling better soon. I then had three more flights in a row. I was sweating like crazy, and the heat was getting to me. I don't think my Discovery Flight had as much energy as I normally have. The last guy of the day, he's talking about how sweaty he is, and he is, and how hot and tired he is, and I was like...dude...this is your one and only flight, for 1.3 Try doing this from 9 am on. Tomorrow is supposed to be worse as far as temps. Then it's supposed to cool down. I don't want it to get cold, because I don't want winter. But I'll pass on this 92 to 95 degree heat wave too. Whew.
The lady in the Champ also had trouble. She was real close to being done with the tailwheel endorsement--until today when she was flailing around, not pinning her tail, not seeing the light crosswind at the time, it just wasn't her day, and I felt bad because it was also her birthday, and the day she'd hoped to be signed off for her endorsement. Instead, it was a struggle, ending in me ending it early, and then us finding oil all over, and sweating some more.
So, like I said, it was a long, hot day, where a lot of things didn't go right. So hopefully tomorrow is a better day for everyone!
Line-up on the ramp of the four of us doing the fly-over
What the spinner looked like after the hangar door broke and fell on it. Good thing it wasn't someone's head. Or the prop. Or the windshield. Or...anything else.
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