It's Been Too Long

Wow!  I have let way too much time pass since my last post.  There have been many things that were worthy of a post, but I just didn't make the time.  So, in bullet form, here's what's been going on since my last entry:

• Jack applied to 7 colleges: Rochester Institute of Technology, Drexel, SUNY Albany, Champlain, University of Hartford, Ithaca,    The only one he was really excited about was RIT - he applied early decision.
• Lizzie made the JV volleyball team as a freshman.  The entire team improved dramatically throughout the fall.  See has also joined a league team, Downstate Volleyball, to continue to practice and play throughout the year.
• In December, I was approved as an Angel Flight pilot.  This means I can fly humanitarian aid missions in the Northeast with my airplane.  It's mostly taking people in remote areas to urban airports so they can get treated at the better hospitals.  I've flown 4 missions so far and it is very gratifying to be able to help people in so much need.  It's one of the reasons I wanted to become a pilot was to do this type of volunteer work.
• Lizzie made the JV basketball team as a freshman.  See started every game and she always defended the other teams top scorer.  She would usually shut them down and she never fouled out of a game.
• Kelsey was accepted into a prestigious summer internship at the Mianus River Gorge.
• Jack was accepted at R.I.T. as a Digital Cinema major.  We was also accepted at all his other schools except Ithaca were he was wait-listed.  Impressive.  He has committed to R.I.T. and leave August 31.
• In January, Mary Beth's mother fell on ice in a supermarket parking lot and fractured two vertebrae in her spine.  She is currently wearing a full upper-body brace, has limited mobility and is in tremendous pain all the time.  Mary Beth has been doing a lot to help her parents out.
• Our February ski trip took us to Jay Peak in North Troy, VT this year.  Fantastic glade skiing!  We had a ski-in/ski-out condo and had a great time.  It's Official:  Jack is a better snowboarder than me on both the soft-boot board (has been for years) and the alpine board (surpassed me this year).  He just rocks!
• In February, Mary Beth's younger sister Kate had her first child - a girl named Zoe.  In March, MB, Kelsey and Lizzie flew to North Carolina for a few days to visit with Kate, husband Jason and Zoe.  They did not want to return!
• In March, Kelsey received word that she had been accepted into the EcoQuest program at UNH which will take her to New Zealand for her spring semester next year.  This program is the most competitive of all the semester abroad programs for science students and she is thrilled she was accepted.  Congratulations Kelsey!

That's a recap of what I should have been writing about.  Now I hope to get back to a more regular updating of this blog.  Thanks for your patience and understanding.

Alumni Rubgy Weekend

I made it back to Middlebury, VT this past weekend for the third annual Alumni Rugby Game.  I attended the inaugural Alumni Rugby Game in 2008, but was unprepared to play. My hip surgery was too recent and I was not mentally prepared to step onto the field. This year was different. I'd found out that in addition to Brian Napack, a classmate that attended and played in 2008, 4 other early '80 teammates would be attending and 3 would be playing.  I decided I had to give it a try.

Obviously I survived, but more than that, we actually thrived. As a unit, my '80's era alumni teammates played well together and for a few brief moments we were transported back to our glory days.  I loved stepping onto the rugby field with these men then and I was honored to do so in the present.  Tremendous bonds are formed playing violent, team sports like rugby -- it requires a swarming style of play to be successful -- and these bonds run very deep.

The other nice discovery of the weekend is that many of our traditions endure and are even being enhanced by the current members of the team.  They are all SO YOUNG, but they understand the history of the game and the history of this team.  They were marvelous hosts and it made for a fantastic weekend. I want to make this an annual tradition.

There is more detail on the weekend at the Middlebury Rubgy Blog.

Go West Young Man

As readers of this blog may remember, I attended a "fly-in" of Socata airplane owners from the East Coast back in May. On the trip, I was joined by a Socata owner from California, Vince Chambers, who just happened to be in New York that weekend. We'd had such a good time together, we agreed that I should try to attend the West Coast fly-in scheduled for October.  Since I usually travel to California 4 or 5 times a year anyway, and I had 4 months to work on my itinerary, it was not too hard to schedule a business trip around the same time as the West Coast Fly-in.

The plan was for me to fly to Santa Rosa airport (STS) in northern California via Seattle out of JFK on Friday, October 1st.  Vince, with wife and youngest son aboard, would fly from Chico, CA to Santa Rosa to pick me up. From STS, the plan was to fly about an hour south to Monterey, the site of the West Coast fly-in. Since Monterey usually fogs over in the early evening, I was Vince's back up plan.  He is only halfway through his instrument training and is not able to fly into IFR condition (i.e. fog), therefore, I was going to be PIC to ensure we could land at Monterey on Friday evening.  On Sunday, I had arranged to catch a ride to L.A. from another Socata owner who was flying up to Monterey from Redlands, CA. and my business trip would begin on Monday morning in Los Angeles.  What a great plan: a weekend with pilots, a chance to fly a different airplane, a private ride to Los Angeles and all this combined with a business trip which helped keep my expenses low.  What's the expression, "the best laid plans of mice and men........"

The weather on the Thursday evening prior to my trip was conspiring to ruin my weekend.  It was pouring rain and the wind was howling and gusting to over 50 mph. As I went to bed on Thursday night, I was resigned to not making it to the fly-in and having to reschedule my commercial flight directly to LA on Sunday evening. In the morning, I left the house by car service at 5:45am trying to catch an 8:15am Delta flight to Seattle.  I was surprised the flight was still listed as "on-time" and even more surprised the driver had made it to my house on time in spite of the continuing rain and wind storm.  As we left the driveway, I still had very low expectations of making to the airport in time for the flight as I was sure there would be downed trees or closed roadways or severe traffic that would prevent us from getting there, but I was up already, so why not try. We indeed were delayed for about 10 minutes on the parkway with massive flooding causing a single lane of passage, but to my surprise, we arrived at 7:15am for the 8:15am flight. Check-in was a breeze and I found myself at the gate at 7:25am and the gate agent assured me the flight would leave on time and we would be boarding shortly. Holy smokes, I thought, this may actually all work out. Hope was beginning to replace dejection.

During our taxi out to the runway, the pilot advised us of a potentially bumpy ride up to altitude, but then surprised me by saying we were #2 for departure! No ground delay at all! The climb out was indeed bumpy, but when we leveled off at 38,000ft the ride was smooth and soon the movie began. We'd left on time, I had a 2 hour layover to make my connection out of Seattle, the weather on the west coast was perfect -- for the first time, I said to myself "Wow, this is all going to work out great!" At that moment, the captain interrupted the movie with the following announcement, "Ladies and gentleman, we're experiencing a slight issue with the #2 engine so we're going to land in Syracuse and check it out. Stewards, please prepare the cabin for landing." WTF?? Landing in Syracuse?? How badly do we need to be on the ground for the captain to want to land a fully loaded 767 in Syracuse? This is not good!! Damn you travel gods -- why would you head fake me like this?

The landing was made onto a runway lined with fire trucks and reverse thrust and hard breaking was employed to keep us from running off of the end.  It was 9:15am as we deplaned in Syracuse -- I quickly realized my connection was never going to happen. Delta said they were sending a replacement plane and it would be in Syracuse by 1:30pm. There were later connections for Santa Rosa, but Vince could not wait. I now needed to get myself to Monterey. The replacement 767 was now due at 3pm. I decided to get out of Syracuse in favor of a Delta hub, so I booked myself on the 3:30pm flight to Atlanta and then onto the 7:15pm flight to San Jose arriving at 9:45pm local. A very nice west coast Socata owner who lives in San Jose offered to pick me up and drive me down to Monterey.  Originally, he was not going to go until the next morning, but he was kind enough to collect me at the airport and head down Friday night.  We arrived in Monterey at about midnight local (3am by my body clock) so I'd been traveling for 22 hours straight.  What a day!!

Vince was also affected by my travel delay because he was unable to land at Monterey airport due to fog and had to divert to Salinas airport (SNS) and rent a car.  This had a knock-on effect for Sunday's departure because Salinas was hosting a large Airshow and the airport was closed to traffic from 11am to 5pm.  Since Vince wanted to leave around 2pm with the rest of us, we needed to reposition his airplane to Monterey before 11am on Sunday. The weather was an overcast layer at about 1,400 AGL, so he couldn't do it himself, so I went with him and got to fly my first TB-21.  The extra power from the turbocharger is fun, but the plane basically flies just like mine.  20 minutes after departing SNS and climbing up through a layer, I was shooting the ILS10 approach into Monterey in N20FR.  We followed the ILS down below the clouds and broke out to find the runway right ahead of us and I made an acceptable landing.  There was a treat waiting for us on the ramp at Monterey.

The star performers of the Salinas airshow, The Thunderbirds, were staging at Monterey prior to their 3pm performance. WOW is all you can say.  Everything about them, the planes, the pilots, the ground crew, are all awesome.  They do everything with military precision and perfection. I had a blast on the ramp checking them out!

It came time to leave, but Vince had another problem.  The cloud layer had not lifted, so he could not leave to fly home. The prospect of a 5 hour drive home without the airplane was not very appealing, so the Socata owners huddle to come up with a plan.  We knew the cloud layer was only on the coastline and that 10 miles inland the skies were basically clear.  We decided that I would fly N20FR with Vince and his family out of Monterey on an IFR departure plan, as would the other plane that was taking me to Los Angeles, and we would land at King City, CA (KKIC) for me to switch planes and continue south while Vince would take control of his plane and fly back home in VFR conditions. The plan came off without a hitch and 30 minutes later, with 0.5 more time in a TB-21 in my logbook, I was climbing into a 1986 TB-20 to make the 2 hour flight down to Santa Monica, CA. The 2 hour trip south was beautiful - California coastal topography is so different than what I'm used to on the east coast.  It is inspiring.

My business trip began Sunday night with a dinner with a customer and his wife and the rest of the trip was uneventful, but the chance to experience G.A. on the west coast and make a few new friends in the pilot community was well worth the difficulties that plagued the start of my trip.

Oshkosh 2010

For the second time in two years, I went to EAA's Airventure in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.  It was fantastic!! Airventure is the largest gathering of airplanes and pilots in the world.  It is always the last week of July and since 1974 has been held at Wittman Regional Airport in Oshkosh, WI. What makes the experience so special for me, other than seeing every type of airplane in the world and seeing every vendor of pilot supplies and seeing every big-time airshow performer, is the people.  Everyone at Airventure "gets it."  It is the only place where I don't feel like I have to explain why I fly small planes; where everyone stops talking and looks up when they hear an aircraft engine; where the entire population (this year estimated at 535,000) is just as crazy as I am about general aviation.  It's my Mecca.

Last year, I camped with my aircraft in the "North 40" at Wittman Field.  This year, a group of Socata owners got together to rent 2 adjacent houses in a nearby neighborhood.  Having a private home instead of a tent as my base of operations made this year much more pleasant. As readers of the blog know, the Socata Owners Forum is a very active web site with members from all over the world.  Well this year at Oshkosh, I got to meet many more of them from around the globe.  Five of our Australian owners came as a group and three members from the United Kingdom came as well.

The Aussie's are a raucous bunch -- both on the web site and in person.  They love to laugh and are quick to start ribbing each other or anyone else they encounter.  Much alcohol was consumed, many stories were told and all the friendships were strengthened. One Brit came by flying commercial to Washington, DC and then joining a DC member in his TB-21 for the flight to Oshkosh, but the other two Brits had an extraordinary adventure getting to Airventure.  These two flew their TB-20 from Nottingham, England to Oshkosh, WI via Scotland, Iceland, Greenland and Canada without any ferry tanks!! That's 5+ hour legs over the open Atlantic Ocean!! What a tremendous testament to their piloting skills and to the capability of the Socata TB-20 aircraft. You can read about the entire trip at www.nottinghamtooshkosh.com

My own trip to Oshkosh was not nearly as adventuresome but was still a thrill for me.  I left White Plains airport around 8am on Tuesday, July 27th with my friend and fellow pilot Rick Felty. Our flight plan took us northwest across New York to Dunkirk and then directly across Lake Erie into Canada.  We proceeded across Canada, flying over the southern tip of Lake Huron and then into eastern Michigan where we landed in Marlette.  The trip to Marlette took 3:20 were we got some fuel and some lunch.  We then took off heading due west over Michigan towards Ludington and crossed Lake Michigan at 8,000 feet into Wisconsin.  Our arrival into Oshkosh was made in marginal VFR conditions so since we were on an instrument flight plan, we were able to proceed directly to the airport and land.  Rick is a professional videographer and photographer and had all his equipment with him.  Below are two links:  The first is Rick's pictures from the week and the second is a video of our arrival into OSH.  He used three separate HD cameras and an audio recorder to capture the arrival and then edited the material all together into an extremely professional video.  I hope you enjoy watching as much as we did being there!

http://rickfelty.squarespace.com/oshkosh-2010-pics/oshkosh-2010/

http://bit.ly/9SX9hP

A Trip to Washington

I spent the weekend in Washington, DC with a group of Socata owners. As I explained in my last post, there is an active web site for owners and once a year they try and get together. There are 4 meetings annually; one in Europe, one in Australia and two in the United States; a West Coast and an East Coast Fly-in. This year, the East Coast Fly-In was planned for Washington, DC. Since Vince was in town, he came with me as did my favorite co-pilot, my cousin Ken Wellington. We made the southbound flight to Fredrick's Municipal Airport in Maryland on Friday afternoon and the trip was beautiful -- warm, clear air and no turbulence, but a killer headwind. I'd filed to fly down at 6,000 ft AGL, but Air Traffic Control assigned me 8,000 ft. to keep me above the arrivals into Teterboro and Newark airports. At that altitude, we were fighting a 50 knot headwind!! That meant we were traveling at 95 knots over the ground or only 2/3 of my normal speed. I asked for lower and the controller paused prior to his response, "Yeah, I guess 95 knots in a Trinidad is not too good, I'll have lower for you in 5 more miles." Once at 6,000 ft AGL, the headwinds were a more reasonable 20 - 25 knots and we made much better time.

We rented a car and drove to our hotel in Bethesda, MD. Dinner was within walking distance of the hotel at Positano's. We had a wonderful Italian dinner and were serenaded by Vince our very own pilot / opera singer! He is a marvelous singer and everyone enjoyed the performance. Saturday we traveled as a group to the Udvar-Hazy Center of the Air and Space Museum and were provided with a 3 hour private tour because one of our members is a large supporter of the museum. The aircraft on display are simply awesome. It is a worthwhile trip out to Dulles for this unique aviation experience.

Saturday's dinner was held at a DC landmark, Clyde's of Gallery Place. A few of the local Socata owners also joined us and "virtual" friends became face-to-face friends as the mask of the Internet was removed. It was wonderful to actually meet so many people that I'd been conversing with for the last few years.

The group met for breakfast at the diner on the field at Fredrick's and following breakfast we had a seminar on glass panel installations by Landmark Aviation. Informative, but not in my current budget -- I guess I can dream. The trip home was made with a few more clouds and haze than the trip down, but offered a nice tailwind to speed our return to White Plains. It was a fun weekend with nice people all of whom are just as crazy as I am about airplanes.

More photos of the trip

A Visitor from the West

One of the reasons I felt comfortable buying my airplane was because of an owner's web site with forums that discuss all the issues of aircraft ownership and the peculiar nuances of the Socata line of planes. It's a wonderful resource and one of the additional benefits is it gives me friends from all around the world. I've never met most of these online friends, yet I feel like I know most of them very well. Occasionally, you do get to meet in person some of these online pals.

A standing rule on the site, is that if one of the members is visiting your area, you give them a ride in your airplane. I got the opportunity this past weekend. Vincent C., an opera singer from Chico, CA is in New York for a few weeks to work with his voice coach and go on a few auditions. Vince owns a Trinidad TB-21, the turbo-charged version of my plane. This past Saturday, we went for a ride in 242GT down the Hudson River.

It was a fantastic day -- visibility was unlimited and Vince and I had a glorious time heading down the west side of the Hudson, over the Statue of Liberty, across the Verrazano Bridge, a slow turnaround over Raritan Bay, and then a return up the east side of the Hudson.

It was good to meet a fellow forums owner and put a face to the name and online personality I've known for a while.

Jay Peak

This past Friday was one of those perfect days. Everything came together to make a memorable experience that will stay with me forever.

Previous to Friday, I had not been flying since Jan. 31 when I spent 1.4 hours with my CFI getting signed off on my required Bi-Annual Flight Review (BFR). As the name would imply, the government requires all pilots to take a BFR every two years with a certified flight instructor to demonstrate competency. There are two parts of the exam; first is an oral testing on the rules and regulations which lasts about an hour and then a flight portion where the CFI asks the pilot to engage in a series of manuevers which must be completed to the FAA mandated "practical test standards." Basically, the CFI attest to the government whether you are a knowledgeable and capable pilot. I passed with flying colors!!

February turned out to be a "no-fly" month for me. I had a few trips planned, but bad weather and forecast icing conspired to keep me on the ground. Itching for a flight, last Tuesday I noticed that the weather forecast for Friday and the weekend were to be outstanding and that conditions at the northern ski resorts were forecast to be fantastic. I left a message for an old friend, Joe R, that I hadn't seen in a while to ask if he was available Friday. He finally called me back on Wednesday and I pitched the idea of taking Friday off to head to Jay Peak in Vermont for a day of snowboarding. Joe loved it, but was not sure he would be able to get away for the day. He promised to let me know the next day.

Joe and I met in 1994. I actually hired him as a broker trainee while I was at Smith Barney and he was a superstar from the beginning. He has been extremely successful and now has a big time job there. Back in the day, we spent a lot of time together, but then I moved on to the Cape for Smith Barney and ultimately left the company, yet we have always stayed in touch. Joe is the type of friend that I only talk to a few times a year, see only once every couple of years, but when we do get together, we seem to pick up right where we left off and just laugh our asses off! It's always great to see Joe.

Now my experience tells me that when someone does not immediately say yes to an idea like this, but rather tells you they will let you know the next day, it never happens. To my surprise, I received a text message the next morning from Joe that read, "I'm in! Let me know details."

We met Friday morning at 6:15am at the airport. We departed at 6:45am into a low overcast on a VFR flight plan as I'd hoped the weather would improve and the clouds would lift as we flew north. Unfortunately, the weather actually started to get worse and I was no longer comfortable flying VFR, so we called up ATC and air filed an IFR flight plan to Newport State Airport (KEFK) in Vermont. The flight plan had us climb to 7,000ft which put us in and out of thin, whispy clouds. Within 30 minutes, the clouds had dissipated and we were flying in beautiful sunshine. The only problem was a 25kt headwind slowing our progress. We landed at 9:00am exactly after having to make room for a Pilatus PC-12 that was desperate to land before we did. The PC-12 was full of 5 guys with the same idea we had -- skiing at Jay Peak.

Our driver, Richard met us out on the ramp and we were quickly on our way to the mountain. Joe is a snowboarder also, and our abilities were very evenly matched which made for a great day. We tried to experience as much of Jay as we could since it was the first time there for both of us. Jay Peak is a fantastic ski resort with great vertical drop, a lot of difficult terrain and more glades than any resort I've been to in the East. They have a new lodge at the base with two new restaurants, one of which provided me and Joe with an excellent lunch. More boarding in the afternoon under tremendously bright skies with no wind and a temperature near 35 degrees -- it could not have been nicer.

Richard picked us up right on time. It was back to the airport and a quick departure by 4:15pm. The headwind during our flight north was now a beautiful tail wind for our trip home and we were on the ground at 6pm. What a day!! Friends, flying and snowboarding -- a most excellent combination.

Christmas Break in Canada

We’ve never really gone anywhere over Christmas break. Our typical family routine has been to hang around the house and play with our new stuff. Mary Beth usually takes some time off from work and I will usually take the day before or the day after Christmas, but never the entire week. Our big traveling family vacation has typically been during the February school holiday or occasionally the Easter break.

This year was different. Because Kelsey is now in college, she has a different school break schedule than the local school system which makes vacationing as a family challenging. Perhaps because our trip to Mont-Tremblant had been so much fun last year, she wanted to go again with our entire family and her boyfriend’s family as well. Our only option for this was to go over the Christmas break. I found a house big enough for all of us – again using the greatest realtor in the Laurentian Mountains, David Coderre. We planned to leave Saturday, the day after Christmas and stay until the following Saturday, Jan. 2nd; spending the New Year holiday with our neighbors to the North.

The weather was a major challenge to this year’s trip. It rained in Tremblant on Christmas Day and was forecast to rain on both Saturday and Sunday as well. Our Saturday drive to Mont-Tremblant should have taken 7 ½ hours, but ended in Plattsburgh, NY after only 5. David Coderre called to tell us the roads around Montreal and up into the mountains were becoming impassable due to freezing rain and we should not continue over the border. Better to wait until the next day. We found cheap accommodations at a Days Inn, ate at Applebee’s, bowled 2 games at the local lanes and caught the 9pm showing of The Blind Side. We were on our way again at 6am on Sunday and arrived at the house by 9:30am. We skied Sunday afternoon in a light rain and fog. Monday brought temperatures 25 degrees colder with sub-zero Fahrenheit wind chills at the top of the mountain. The conditions were fair, but 1/3 of the trails were closed due to the rain and the glades were all closed off. The weather stayed very cold and overcast for the next 3 days. By Thursday, it warmed a little and Friday was the nicest day with temperatures in the mid-twenties. The drive home on Saturday was relatively uneventful, but part of it was made in a snow storm.

I learned a few things from this trip:

• The week between Christmas and New Years is 40% more expensive than February
  
• In February, U.S. schools have one of two different weeks off and Canadian’s aren’t on break, which helps dramatically with the crowds.
• Reservations at restaurants and activities are nearly impossible during Christmas week.
• A larger crowd makes skiing easier because groups of equally capable skiers can split up without leaving anyone alone.

We skied 5 days, took 1 day off to go snow tubing and went on an evening 2-horse open sleigh ride. In all, it was a good trip but I don’t think I would do it again. For me, February is the best month to be in Mont-Tremblant.

Videos:
The house in Canada
Base Lodge
Snow Tubing 1
Snow Tubing 2
Snow Tubing 3

UCAP Meetup - Nashua, New Hampshire

Had a great time on Saturday with some old and new pilot friends. There is a podcast I listen to religiously called The Uncontrolled Airspace Podcast (UCAP). It's 3 knowledgeable aviation guys sitting around discussing interesting topics weekly. The show has a fairly large audience and the web site also has an active forum community. This has lead to a number of gatherings of the listeners to the podcast with one or more podcasters. One such meeting took place this past Saturday. We had 10 listeners and Jack Hodgson, the moderator of the show, who lives in New Hampshire.

This is my second such gathering, but what made this one special was being joined by my new friend and newly minted pilot, Rick Felty. I met Rick at the first UCAP meetup just prior to his taking his PPL checkride. I follow him on Twitter (@rfelty) and have enjoyed his many videos posted on Youtube. I agreed to fly to Norwood, MA (KOWD) and pick Rick up and he agreed to photograph and video the entire adventure. Since it's an hour up to KOWD from my airport, I asked another new pilot, Michelle Judice to ride along. Michelle is also a budding video maker, so I thought she would enjoy meeting Rick as well.

Here is Rick's record of the day: http://jhwellington.shutterfly.com/513

A video of our trip from Norwood, MA (KOWD) to Nashua, NH (KASH):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHepdOdeTGI

And a video of our landing at Norwood, MA:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdnP1XsNzc0

A Ride in a G550 - This Ain't No Simulator!

My friend Milt H., the Director of Corporate Aviation at my Fortune 500 company, sent me the following e-mail last Wednesday:

Just got the G550 out of maintenance and need to take it on a check out flight. What are you doing Friday?

My immediate reply: Taking the day off, of course.

Readers of this blog might remember, Milt is the friend who got me the ride in the G5 Simulator, but he had always said he would take me in the real thing if he had a chance. Well, true to his word, the chance was this past Friday and I jumped at it. All I can say is, "Awesome!!" Just the three of us in a $60 million jet that can hold 16. Thirteen minutes to 37,000ft -- we were past Albany in 15 minutes. What a ride!

It was a great way to start the weekend.

The Eagle Has Landed

After weeks of preparation and many levels of approvals and signatures, my son Jack began his Boy Scout Eagle Project a few weeks ago and we completed the construction phase this past Sunday. A Boy Scout Eagle Award Project must benefit a non-profit organization and be permanent or sustainable -- it must provide on-going value.

Jack's project is to winterize an outdoor kennel for our local Adopt-A-Dog shelter. The director wanted to cover the opening between the roof-line of the kennel and a surrounding fence by installing removable roof extensions. By covering this gap between the roof and the fence, it formed a wind barrier which they believe will raise the temperature in the kennel by about 20 degrees. This will allow the center to use the outdoor kennel year-round. These extensions need to be removable so the kennel will not be too hot in the warmer months of summer
Boy Scouting tries to teach leadership and communication skills to teenage boys. The purpose of the Eagle Project, in addition to it's community service benefit, is to give the Eagle candidate the opportunity to demonstrate effective leadership and communication. The scout can not perform any of the work on the project himself, but instead must plan the entire thing, organize a group of volunteers to help, show them what needs to be done, and then guide them through the process. It's quite a lot for a sixteen year-old to handle.With the construction now complete, Jack must next finish the fund raising to pay for the materials used. That should happen in February and March. Then he must write up the entire project for a review by a Board of Adult Boy Scout leaders. The hard part is behind him, but the next two parts are not without their challenges.

Click here to see photos of the project.

Quest for the Blue Tuxedo

My daughter recently attended her high school prom. She looked beautiful in her blue dress and her date wore a white tux and tails. Kelsey had been anxious because Dave's outfit was a surprise and so she was nervous as to what he might be wearing. I told her that it couldn't be worse than what I wore to my prom -- a powder blue, polyester tuxedo including a ruffled shirt. Of course she laughed and asked to see a picture, but unfortunately, I didn't have one.

At the same time as all this prom business was going on, I received an invitation to my 30th high school reunion in Lewisburg, PA. I only went to LAHS for my junior and senior years of high school and my family moved back to the metro NY area shortly after I graduated. I had a great time there in my 2 years, but since my family no longer lived in the area, I've never been back -- not ever in 30 years. I stayed in touch with only one person from LAHS, Mary (McKeegan) Norman and she called me to ask if I was going to attend. We got to talking about our prom and how much fun it had been and about my blue tuxedo. Mary did not have any pictures of me in the tux, but she was in touch with my prom date, Heidi Wulcyzn and would ask her for one. Within a few days, Heidi had written back to Mary with the following:

John did not wear a blue tuxedo to the prom, it would have clashed with my dress and his hair. He wore an off-white tux and I will bring a picture to the reunion to prove it."

This stumped me for a while as I know I wore a blue tuxedo to a prom, and then it hit me: the junior prom. My date to the junior prom was Kimberly Kirkland and I was able to find her on Facebook. I sent Kim a note explaining my situation and asked her if she had any pictures of me in the blue tuxedo. After a few anxious days of waiting for a reply, I got the following:

Hey John:

I can confirm for your daughter that you wore a blue tux, but unfortunately, I did not record that fashion faux pas for posterity.

Kimberly

So the quest had come to an end, but all the activity got me excited to go to the reunion and a picture of me in a white tux would have to satisfy Kelsey's curiousity. I arrived in Lewisburg around noon and met the Norman's (Mary and her husband Chuck and their two children Irene and Chas) at the children's park in town. Mary's parents were there as well and it was great to see them after so many years. We had lunch together at our favorite high school hangout, La Casa de Pizza -- Za's for short. The food at Za's tasted EXACTLY the same as it had all those years ago!

After lunch and Mr. & Mrs. McKeegan's departure, we walked around town. Lewisburg was as quaint as ever, but somehow seemed much smaller than I'd remembered. Many of the shops were the same, but a few were new. After an hour or so, the Norman's retired to the hotel and I decided to walk down South 3rd Street to see my old house. It looked about the same, yet again, smaller than I'd remembered. I didn't have the courage to knock on the door and try to get a look inside.

Next it was back to the hotel for some serious studying of Mary's yearbook (I couldn't find mine) to try and remember my former classmates. Heidi Wulcyzn arrived a few hours later and presented me with the following:

Spring of 1979 - What were we thinking?!?

The three of us left for the prom leaving Chuck in charge of 3 kids -- his two and Heidi's son -- thanks Chuck! We were all a little concerned how everyone would look and if we'd recognize anyone, but all that was quickly put to rest. We had a FANTASTIC time! Most people looked remarkably similar to their high school pictures and it was easy to tell who they were. Years of no contact melted away in minutes and soon we were all enjoying each other's company and getting caught up on each other's lives. As I am telling the group my story about the quest for the blue tuxedo photo, another friend, Lori (Sholley) Bechtel says to me: "John, I only brought two pictures from high school with me tonight and you're not going to believe this one. I have no idea why I picked it." And there it was -- a picture of my best friend junior year, Bud Schuster, his date Lori Sholley and Kimberly Kirkland and me:

The trip had all been worth it. I was able to visit Lewisburg after 30 years, re-connect with long lost friends, and share with my family a period in my life that had for them been a mystery. We've all had great laughs over the pictures from my high school days and my kids find it amazing that I was once their age. I've never been much for reunions and I don't think they mean much if they are less than 20 years, but I do recommend everyone attend all reunions that are 25 years or greater. Life is about friendship and relationships and I've been blessed with many good ones -- sometimes you just need to be reminded.

Mary Norman, Christie Pyper, Heidi Wulcyzn, me and Lori (Sholley) Bechtel

Craig Adams, Doug Fero, Craig Harley, Tim Snook and Tom Naugle

My favorite airplane

I am one lucky guy! Let me explain. As a relatively new pilot, I am forturnate to own my own plane, but of course that's not enough for me. Any one that knows me won't be surprised by the fact that I spend a lot of time looking at other airplanes. Bigger, faster and unattainable airplanes. I spend hours looking through the online aircraft sales sites, pouring over makes and models that I will never be able to afford -- but a guy's gotta dream, right?

Well, my favorite single engine aircraft is the TBM850. It is made by the same company that makes my plane, Socata, but it is a HUGE step up. My TB-20 is a 6 cylinder, piston engine airplane that cruises at 150 knots, has a maximum altitude of 15,000 feet and is unpressurized. The TBM is a turbo-prop airplane that cruises at 300 knots, has a maximum altitude of 31,000 feet and has a quiet and comfortable pressurized cabin. It's truly night and day. Many of my Trinidad-owning friends lust over the TBM, but alas, all we can do is look. Except one of our brethren actually "transitioned" last year. He traded in his TB-20 and bought a brand new TBM850 -- to us, he is a god!

Now to why I'm so lucky. Tonight, "God" flew to Westchester airport and took me for a ride in his TBM850. In fact, I took the controls for 20 minutes and flew that bad boy!! What a ride!! "God" a.k.a. Guilherme, has business in New York occassionally, so he flies himself in from Minnesota. On this trip, even after a 3 1/2 hour flight alone, he was gracious enough to invite me to go for a ride. We flew to Albany and back. The weather at Westchester was Low IFR with ceilings right down to minimums. Below is a link to the video. Thank you, Guilherme -- this was my most memorable flight to date.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lm5TIcbKZZE&feature=channel_page

A tough year for the Knuckleheads

As I wrote a few posts back, one of the Knuckleheads passed away suddenly a few weeks ago. It was unexpected and tragic, but apparently not all that the Knuckleheads would have to endure. At the funeral, we found out that one of the older guys, Don Ryan, the sixty-ish father of two of the charter Knuckleheads had discovered 3 lesion on his lungs that needed to be biopsied. The results of the final tests are still pending, but we already know it's cancer which will require chemotherapy and radiation treatment. We are all now assuming that Don will not be able to play in the tournament in June, so we will need to find two alternates to round out our group of 12. Well maybe 3....

I found out yesterday that another Knucklehead has been hit with tragedy. Jim McAllister has participated in Seaview for the last 8 or 9 years. He is a good friend and contemporary of Don Ryan's and is also in his sixties. I've always enjoyed Jimmy's company. He is a jovial Irishman that's quick with a smile and is easy to talk to. He owns a business that sells, delivers and assembles wooden sheds of various sizes. He has been married for over 30 years with three grown children. I've never met his family, but we've often discussed his children and Jim's frustration that neither of his two sons have any interest in joining him in the business. He's always spoken very proudly of his daughter who is a med student in Boston.

That's right folks, Jimmy's daughter is Megan McAllister -- yes, THAT Megan McAllister! Jimmy, Megan and the family are holed up in his home in New Jersey. The media attention has been brutal -- TV trucks have surrounded his house and they are now captives in their own home. I can't imagine what they are going through, but I've got to believe they feel lucky that the wedding never took place and that they dodged a huge bullet. Only time will tell how this all turns out, but one thing I know for sure, Jimmy's life will not return to normal for quite some time.

They say things come in threes, so perhaps the Knuckleheads are now in the clear, but it has been a difficult time for this group of my friends. Please keep Don and Jim in your thoughts and prayers -- they both have some difficult times ahead.

Whale Watch in Provincetown, Mass

On Saturday, Lizzie and I flew to Provincetown, Mass (KPVC) to join a group of my flying friends for a cruise on the Dolphin VIII for a whale watch. This time of year the whales come in close to the eastern shore of Cape Cod to feed. It makes for wonderful whale watching.

In all we saw 12 - 15 different whales and an entire school of White Sided Dolphins. It made for a wonderful day and I highly recommend it to others.

Pictures of the trip: http://jhwellington.shutterfly.com/332

Losing one of the Knuckleheads

A few months ago, the father of one of my friends died unexpectedly. The friend, Scott Nelson, is part of a group I affectionately refer to as "the Knuckleheads." This is a group of mostly high school friends that get together several times a year to play golf, drink beer and make fun of each other. It's very immature behavior and the older I get the more I cherish my time with these guys. We've been getting together 3 or 4 times a year for 20 years. As I drove to the funeral, I lamented to myself, "I've entered that phase of my life where the parents of my contemporaries are beginning to die."

I lost my mother when I was 11, but that's unusual. Being born in 1961, my contemporaries parents are mostly between 68 to 85 -- so statistically, they will begin to pass away soon. It's a sad, but also a natural part of life. Mr. Nelson's death was sudden and painful for his family and scary for us, Scott's friends, because we all knew it could have been any one of us at the head of the receiving line at the funeral home. A discomforting and sobering reality.

The only good part of the funeral was it gave the Knuckleheads a chance to get together. They came in their suits and some brought their wives -- two rare commodities at a Knucklehead gathering. We pulled together and closed ranks around our grieving friend and as a group, we tried to help. I'm sure some of the others harbored the same fear I did -- will I be next? Will I be the next to bury a parent? None of us could have have imagined how misplaced our fears were.

Rick Becker came to the Nelson funeral with his wife Dawn. I've know Rick for 20 years, yet I'd never met Dawn. It was nice to finally meet her. I hadn't seen Rick since the previous June. He looked the same as always -- the only difference was that he'd quit drinking in an attempt to lose some weight. Ricky is not fat, but like all of us, he could stand to lose 10 - 15 pounds. We spent 10 minutes getting caught up and discussing our upcoming annual golf trip to Seaview in June. Then we all left -- back to our lives.

On Monday, March 2nd, I received an e-mail from one of the Knuckleheads saying that Rick had experienced a seizure over the weekend. While at the hospital, another seizure occurred. He was admitted and a series of tests ensued. Rick was diagnosed with stage 3 or 4 melanoma. An undetected growth on his back had metastasized and the cancer had already spread to his brain and liver. The top melanoma specialist at Sloane Kettering was engaged and a new experimental drug therapy was begun on March 9th. All the Knuckleheads were hopeful we'd see Rick at Seaview in June.

On Sunday, Rick was admitted to the I.C.U. at Valley Hospital in Ridgewood, New Jersey. In two weeks, the tumors in his brain had grown 5 fold and were restricting the flow of blood to his brain. By Monday morning, he had slipped into a coma. Today, he died. Dead at 42, leaving a wife and 2 young children. Dead in less than a month from the original diagnosis. It's not supposed to happen this way -- this is not one of the phases everyone must go through. We should not have to bury our friends this early. And yet, the Knuckleheads will gather at another funeral -- this time to bury one of our own. It's just so sad.