Weather for Pilots - absolutely the best website.

So you are planning a trip in your aircraft, eh? Don't you just love DUATS with the raw format for METARS and TAFS? No! Neither do I.

There's a gentleman called Dan Checkoway who felt like I did, that the so-called decoded plain language text version of the weather observations provided by DUATS are hard to read. You might just miss something critical!

Over the years I've been a supporter of Dan's service, called Weathermeister I've been amazed at how it has improved. It's so good, that Dan has put weathermeister.com up for what is called Qualified Internet Service Provider (QICP) with the FAA. See FAA QICP


Want to read more about Weathermeister? See this link: About Weithermeister

Want to see Weathermeister on Facebook? Click Weathermeister on Facebook

American Smooth Jazz Awards.

Hey readers!

If you like my Pandora Smooth Jazz radio station....Click Here to Hear It

You will like the American Smooth Jazz Awards. There will be some top performers attending. The event is in Chicago, check out this website, or their own web page.

Richard Elliot, performing at the event
photograph from www.americansmoothjazzawards.com

Time	October 29 at 7:00pm - October 30 at 12:00am
Location	DuSable Museum, Chicago, IL

A Father's Influence - two events that changed my life.

Greetings, readers.

I was thinking about what motivates me the other day. Why, for example, do I so enjoy the company of emergency medical people, firemen, policemen, or any other first responders? For one thing they all do what they do because of their own sense of duty. I remember a quotation from Robert A. Heinlein's book, "Time Enough for Love", "Do not confuse "duty" with what other people expect of you; they are utterly different. Duty is a debt you owe to yourself to fulfill obligations you have assumed voluntarily. Paying that debt can entail anything from years of patient work to instant willingness to die. Difficult it may be, but the reward is self-respect."
See Wikiquote

So I am comfortable in the company of duty driven people who possess that self-respect. Why? I do remember the hurricane in 1954 called Hazel. We lived in Philadelphia and the six of us were huddled around the gas stove with no electricity during that storm. A large tree crashed down on the roof of the house next door. I remember being somewhat scared, and became quite upset when Dad put on his "oilskin" raincoat and grabbed his utility flashlight. "Don't go out there, Dad, it's dangerous," I said. I will never forget his words, "I have to son, our neighbor needs help." Nobody asked him to help, and for sure as frightening as it was out there, nobody argued with Dad after he said that. His influence on me, by example, has remained all my life.

Photograph taken four years after Hurricane Hazel

The second event was about a year earlier. I remember we drove for what seemed like hours from our home in Charlotte, North Carolina, to the beach on a cold and windy day. I couldn't understand why we were standing on a wind-swept sand dune. Dad picked me up and said, "John, this is where man first flew." Is it any surprise I became a pilot?

Dad and me

Rain, wind, presage of coming autumnal weather?

Greetings readers,

I love weather. Good or bad, it is a constant reminder that we are small. Who was it who shouted at the waves? I know of a prayer which says, "Do not listen to kings who shout at the waves."

An understanding of weather, a study of forecasting in particular, leads me to a fascination for the phenomena which occur daily. I always consult the public discussion page of our local National Weather Service office in Buffalo. In spite of the old-fashioned way of writing in upper case letters; a throw back to the days of teleprinters, there are some gems to be found there. Click Here to read the current discussion. If you read your own local page daily you will get to know the forecasters personally, as their comments reflect their art, their thought processes, and in the case of one particular forecaster in Buffalo, his wonderful way with words.

The discussion is hyperlinked, with any word appearing in their glossary showing up underlined.

Here is the current discussion:

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BUFFALO NY
303 AM EDT MON AUG 23 2010

.SYNOPSIS...
-- Changed Discussion --
DEEP LOW PRESSURE WILL SETTLE SLOWLY SOUTH FROM CENTRAL NEW YORK TO
CHESAPEAKE BAY BY TUESDAY...CIRCULATING SHOWERS BACK ACROSS
OUR REGION FOR A TIME TODAY BEFORE DRYING WORKS IN FROM THE NORTH
TONIGHT AND TUESDAY. A WEAK COLD FRONT WILL THEN CROSS THE LOWER
LAKES WITH A FEW SHOWERS LATER WEDNESDAY INTO THURSDAY BEFORE HIGH
PRESSURE SETTLES IN FOR A LONG DRY AND WARMER PERIOD THROUGH NEXT
WEEKEND.

Notice the red? That's changed discussion from the previous version. Notice the word "FRONT" is a link, click it!

So it's colder, windier, cloudier, and wetter than previously this summer. Perhaps the days of swimming in the lake are soon to end. Perhaps it's time to think about getting boats off the water. Perhaps the trees will turn soon. Whatever.... I don't like wishing my life away, as every moment is important, but I do look forward to the change of seasons. How beautiful fresh snowfall is! How awesome new growth in spring! How fascinating the blaze of colors in the fall.

Enjoy the weather, whatever it brings.

Click that "Next Blog" Buttton

Greetings, oh so few readers.

Wondering what to say? What to write? Well, out of curiosity I clicked on the "Next Blog" button. This opened up a new world for me. I'd like to recommend in particular this blog. "Wild Life in the Woods" Why? Simply because the author, Susan, writes well, speaks her mind, and inspires many. As she says in one of her blogs, "COMMENTS: HAVE I MENTIONED HOW MUCH I LOVE YOUR COMMENTS??? They are absolutely the first thing I check every time I come here. I love to write, but the only way I have I of knowing if something I have said has resonated with you is if you TELL me so!!! So, PLEASE, leave me COMMENTS!!! I hate to beg...but..." How true that is. My two (?) readers sometimes write an email to me when I've blogged, which is all too infrequently.


So, if you're reading this, do leave a comment. One of the useful bits of information you could share is how you found the blog!


So onto a different topic.....


Float Planes and video camera error!


I was most grateful for a phone call the other day. Barry, the owner of a Widgeon who I met at Rochester Airport Wings day. He told me that there was another Wednesday fly-in at the north end of Conesus Lake. Now talk about small worlds, one of my facebook friends once popped a status up saying he was flying onto the lake! Talk about small worlds.


All the pilots seemed to know me, and all expressed gratitude for a flight I flew in June. Their good friend, pilot, Jim had crashed the Curtis Museum's Hudson replica on one of its first test flights. We are all glad to report that Jim is doing fine, going home shortly to continue his recuperation.


So these gentlemen of the air all wanted to say hello and thanks for something quite routine in the EMS world, flying a patient to hospital! Oh well.


I took some videos of them departing, all great stuff, but somehow managed to let iPhoto delete them off the camera before I'd had a chance to load them into iMovie! One of these days computers will be idiot proof!


Suffice to say, the stills below were the best you're going to get!


Thanks for reading, and PLEASE comment, if only to say hello.

Open Street Map. A great idea! Join the Fun

So you have a GPS, yes?

So you use maps online, such as Google, Yahoo etc.?

So did you know that there are copyright limitations on the use of those maps? How about public domain mapping? As a keen user of ForeFlight on my iPhone I read that they make use of map tiles from the Open Street Map (OSM) project. This is similar to a wiki, but allows anyone to contribute to the map, adding features, called nodes.

You can use your GPS to record tracks, then pop them onto the map adding information such as street names etc. You can add amenities, points of interest, just about anything.

Check out the map, have a read, and if you're a geek like me, join the fun!

Check out my Open Street Map Page and follow the links there.

If you'd like an excellent application to make use of your iPhone, check out lLOE - iPhone Little OSM Editor

And if you'd like an example of a node I uploaded using the iPhone iLOE app, click here

Another aviation crash, loss of a good man.

I am saddened by the loss of an FAA inspector, Mike Wheeler, last week.

News Story

I met Mike for the first time last month. We flew my annual check ride in an EC 135 helicopter. I was impressed by Mike's passion for flying, his depth of knowledge, and his flair. On first impression he appeared to be one of aviation's gentlemen of the air.

He will be sadly missed.

Another aviation crash, another statistic.

Another airliner crashed on April 10th. The world's press are, of course, very interested because of the added tragedy of who was on board, including the Polish president, Lech Kaczynski. Speculation as to the cause may not be accurate, may be too early, but I feel motivated to comment.


This accident appears to be yet another example of controlled flight into terrain, or CFIT, as it's called in aviation. I feel for those pilots because they were under so much pressure to land in spite of the poor weather. It yet again reinforces the safety argument that it doesn't matter who is on board, the decision whether or not to land an aircraft rests solely with the pilot in command.


That pressure was reflected in a comment by the former commander of Air Force One in a documentary where he actually stated that they did not have the option of diverting when the US president was on board! WRONG! You always have to option to fly to an alternate airport, regardless of who's on board.


This applies to all flights, especially my own, emergency medical helicopter operations. When I was flying search and rescue, it was true then, too. It does no good to become part of the problem when a rescue is underway!


Remember the Titanic? That captain was put under pressure by the owner to maintain a high speed in the face of iceberg risk, simply because of the need for speed! Commercial considerations overrode common sense, and so many deaths were the result.


Should the Polish pilots have attempted a landing? Perhaps not, but there is nothing inherently unsafe about an attempted approach in bad weather provided they go around at decision altitude and then fly to the alternate! In a helicopter we can always land, almost anywhere, and send for an ambulance to take our patient to hospital. I'd rather that than become another CFIT statistic, thank you very much!


Accident investigations, regulatory bodies' recommendations, and lawmakers have, over the years, added technology and regulation to try to minimize human factors in accidents. Ignore Terrain Awareness and Warning System (TAWS) alerts at your peril, pilots! I would hate to think the last thing I would ever hear would be the words "WARNING, TERRAIN" in my headset. Ironic that the last words of a Spanish speaking pilot in reply to a "PULL UP" warning was "Shut up, Gringo!" just before he crashed into high ground near Tenerife.


The irony, the waste, the loss of life is just so wrong, so avoidable. To me, and I believe to all pilots with integrity, the loss of any life is a tragedy, whether a VIP or just an ordinary person.


Come on, boys and girls in the cockpit, don't become yet another person about whom we ask, "What were they thinking?"

Photo from www.sott.net © EPA

Nice new layouts. (and a picture of Rudi getting shaved!)

I like the new layouts that blogger have made available.

Here's Rudi getting shaved early this year so that he could have an x-ray of his poorly shoulder. He's got arthritis, poor lad!

The Axe man and the Saber-toothed Tiger

Once upon a time there was a Stone Age village. The men were all hunters, and every day they would go out to hunt saber-toothed tigers. One of them, Ugh by name, always seemed to have the best axe. His father had taught him and he seemed to have the sharpest edge, the best handle, and his axes really lasted. So one day one of the other hunters, Grunt, asked Ugh to make him an axe. He did, and everyone noticed how much better a hunter Grunt had become.

It was not long before others began asking Ugh for axes, and pretty soon he was spending all his time making finding flint, chipping axe heads and making handles. He became very hungry, as he had no time to hunt. So he arranged with all his hunter friends for them to pay him part of each kill, provided he kept them supplied with axes.

Now his reputation grew and grew. People from distant villages came and asked him for axes. He began to be overcome with orders, and although he had more than enough to eat, he could not keep up with demand. So he hired a friend, who was good at making handles, to assist, giving him part of the payments of meat. He took on an apprentice flint chipper too!

His business went from strength to strength. He had more meat than he needed, so he would barter meat for, say, eggs. Now the elders and tribal chiefs began muttering in their long-house. “Ugh is rich. He has too much meat and eggs. This is not fair.” So the chief, named Ubamu, came to him and said, “Ugh, you have to make baskets.”

Baskets? Ugh didn’t know anything about baskets, but he knew if he didn’t comply the marriage between his son and Ubamu’s daughter would not take place. The chief was pleased with the baskets, and gave each family one basket each. “More baskets”, he informed Ugh. Soon Ugh’s axe business began to suffer as he struggled to keep up with the chief’s demand for baskets to give away to the villagers.

Ugh began to starve. He fired his flint apprentice, his handle maker, and concentrated on baskets for the chief to give to everyone. Hunger forced him back to hunting, and soon he fell short on his basket payments to the chief. The marriage was cancelled, Ugh grew hungrier, and finally the chief banished him from the village.

Ugh died trying to survive on his own.

So the moral of the story? Socialism didn’t work then and it doesn’t now!

Genealogy - a fascinating hobby!

Greetings,

Well, I've been re-infected with the family history bug. It all started back in the late 80's, I think. One of my late father's friends passed away. Dad was so depressed, saying things like, "They're all dead!" So Mom went onto the international directory enquiries and asked for a friend of Dad's by name. They offered her twelve or so numbers for that name in the whole of the USA. The first one she dialed was the right one, so she handed the phone to Dad. I can't remember the name of that friend, but it cheered up the old man considerably.

At the same time Mom handed me the "Family Tree", a large paper handwritten one begun in the 30's by cousin, James Picken. At the time I was working in Aberdeen, Scotland, thus popped into the Aberdeenshire and North East Scotland Family History shop to see what they could do for me. My task was to try to find a living relative of my Dad's in the UK. Well, I failed miserably in that goal, but was delighted to meet a charming lady, one Olive Murray, at that shop. She asked what I had so far and became very animated and excited when she saw the name Picken. She rushed off to view some microfiche or other and then turned to me and shook my hand. "What's that about?", I asked. She explained that part of her life's work had been to research the families of the "Covenanters" and had always wished to meet a living descendant from the signatories of the document.

Ashamed to say, I was a little lost. "Don't you know your Scottish history?" she asked. Well I didn't.

Here's a little about the Covenanters...

The Covenanters, Who Were They ? A snapshot view.

The history and the changes that occurred in Scotland - and subsequently in Ireland - through the 17th and early 18th centuries are highly charged by one word: Covenanters. So who were they and why were they so influential?

It is easy to say that they were the Scottish Presbyterians who in 1638 signed the "National Covenant" to uphold the Presbyterian religion, and the "Solemn League and Covenant" of 1643 which was a treaty with the English Parliamentarians. The Covenanter's made a stand for political and religious liberty that led to almost a century of persecution and their widespread migration to Ulster and the American colonies. But their role in history was not as simple as that, as they were the children of the Protestant Reformation in Europe and sought to have the church of theirbelief, according to the Scriptures. Above all, there was but one Head of the Kirk - Jesus Christ, and they refused to accept the King in that role. From this opposition to the king arose all their troubles.

http://www.thereformation.info/covenanters1.htm

Well I'm not sure who my ancestor was who signed back in 1638, but quite possibly one of the Stewart family ancestors as listed. Check the link if you're interested.

As for now, using ancestry.com and some computer software, collaborating with family members, both my own and my wife's, I now have 786 names. I know there's many an error, as blind acceptance of other people's family trees do lead to some errors. A true genealogist would look up original records.

However, there are a few facts that fascinate.

1. Great Grandfather, Henry Beam Piper, lost his leg in the war between the states.
2. Burke's Peerage (google it!) lists some of our ancestors as members of the peerage. See William Murray of Tullibardine, Perthshire. (http://thepeerage.com/p2408.htm) That's a fascinating website in its own right! Details of the nobility back as far as the 14th century!
3. Although I never did find a living relative on my Dad's side, I have, to our surprise, found a living relative on my wife's father's side in England. Not only have I written to him, and await an answer, but my niece, Semra, lives in the same town.
4. Bought a book which is a biography of H. Beam Piper 1904-1964 who is my 1st cousin once removed. He wrote science fiction, and there's a small but enthusiastic "cult" of followers.
5. Finally, beware! This hobby can absorb you for weeks and weeks. Those little leaves on ancestry.com which have ancestry hints can take you deeper and deeper into the subject. Trying to decipher photocopies of old handwritten records hurts the eyes. Trying to decide if the German speaking clerk in Pennsylvania decided to change the spelling of names (for which he is famous in genealogical circles) baffles. Trying to track down stories of relatives WILL produce surprises.

Enjoy.

The most amazing cathedral on the face of the planet.

Writer Bill Bryson wrote in his book, Notes from a Small Island, that in his opinion Durham Cathedral is the most beautiful cathedral on the face of the planet.

Or so he says.

IMHO I agree. When Gail and I visited, she said there was an amazing spiritual feeling there, to which I replied, "Nine hundred years of loving prayer does that to a place."

Click the links above.

Family History

Well, I've resisted the advertising for Ancestry.com for ages, simply because they want lots of money. I finally bit the bullet and started. You may have seen their leaf advert on the TV. Well, I put myself in, and immediately got a leaf - an ancestry hint - and found my birth certificate in North Carolina. That lead to me adding my Mom and Dad, who I then edited with what I know. Soon it was like autumn in New York, with those leaves popping up everywhere.

That's when I discovered that my cousin Andrew had already done a lot of work on the Farrar and Picken family lines. I grabbed all sorts of ancestors off his public tree. Then discovered a relative I don't know had done years of work on the Stewart family tree - all of which matches stuff I already knew. So now I'm back to 1382 with my 12th Great Grandfather....

All rather absorbing.

However, as this post is somewhat of a review of ancestry.com, let me say that it's rather expensive. Some of the ancestry hints are for British records. If I want to access them from here in the USA, I have to pay $25 per month. Not going to do that, will rather collaborate with Andrew, let him look up the UK records, and I'll continue on the local price doing the USA records.

Fun, fun, fun. As if I wasn't already busy enough.

Check out the Kirk Family Tree