Special

Just four hours ago, I was considering the words to my next post to be something to the effect of "I just don't feel like posting now, so i'm just going to make a list of what i've been up to and call that good."
Fortunately for my avid (haha!!) readers, the recent hours have turned around my passiveness, and now i have something interesting to write. My spring-break-only student Matt and i went flying this afternoon to work on his instrument skills-but not only his; mine too because the airplane we were in was our Garmin 1000 equipped new Skyhawk. Information is presented differently on this instrument. Instead of six clock-shaped "steam gages" that each present a separate piece of flight information, the G1000 is a single screen displaying a picture-in-picture style rendition of the plane's altitude, heading, airspeed and attitude. In teaching instrument flight using the G1000 to my student today, i was able to learn many very handy shortcuts, if you will, to reading and interpreting flight information on the system.
I was just jealous that HE got to be the one to hold uninterrupted attention to the pretty 10 by 8" screen.
As soon as we took off, we noticed that the clouds and mist in the sky were lower than reported, and though we could see the ground easily from 3,500', we could barely see the horizon. It was VFR still, so we continued. About an hour through our lesson, i was demonstrating the use of the VOR when we saw the clouds illuminate dimly. The rainfall also intensified, and now we were relying solely on the GPS to determine what our position was. I couldn't see more than two miles of ground below. So we are on the edge of an incomiong thunderstorm, it's raining and we can barely see. Time to go back!
Returning to the airport was interesting. Again, barely two miles of ground was visible, and Matt was over there under his grey hood trying to hold the altitude and heading i was ordering, and however unsuccessful he was to get both tasks correct, he was still flying the plane and enduring this experience bravely.
On our "TV screen" we watched our little white airplane making its way toward the runway, and that was all we had for orientation; i had no idea where we were by looking outside. I flashed the radio over to ATIS to get the current info on visibility and ceilings because they may be too low to legally fly into GGG's class D airspace. Information Alpha reported 6 miles and 4000, and that's legal, so we proceeded onto final on runway 35 and continued making the radio calls. Matt took his hood off and identified buildings and lights close to the runway, and though we could see them we couldn't see the runway though it should be within two miles away. Finally about a mile out, we noticed the VASI and runway threshold and lined up with the runway. Just then i had a thought I thank God for! I knew that the visibility was way below 3 miles, and here we were making a VFR approach. Although the current ATIS said 6 miles, the next info was sure to be different, and if i am discovered by ATC to have landed below minimums, nothing good can come of that. With about 200' of altitude to lose, i got on the radio and said "Tower, Skyhawk 97A, just to cover myself, i'd like to get a Special VFR clearance into class D here." As if the controller were anticipating my request, he replied immediately, "Skyhawk 79A is cleared Special VFR into East Texas Regional airport, cleared to land runway 35."

This experience was quite intense for my young student, as it was for me! We lingered in the airplane for about ten minutes letting our hearts rest and minds relax. When i got the new ATIS, it reported 2 1/2 and 4,000 - greater than what i expected but confirming of my suspicion to request a Special.

I praise God for another exciting flying adventure to add to my memories!

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As for the rest of the week, i've been helping Tim and Sarah Medin paint and move into their new house, which is, strangely enough, across the street. I went to their house Monday thru Thursday and worked long and was fed well, and they were planning on being done with moving by this afteroon. But given the heavy rain and cold, they may put off that goal another day.
Speaking of Tim, the other Tim from Peru has called me a few times after a month's silence to talk about the claim that I filed with the Ill. Dep't of Labor. The Department is researching my case, and they've engaged Tim's company already and he's not liking it. I was flying during each time he called, and that's good because Mom knew what was happening before I did, so she advised that I not talk to him.
I got my first paycheck yesterday! It's not a big amount, but i'm encouraged because the next paycheck should be more than double this one. I'm thankful that i may be able to live off my own income soon. We'll see what God has in store.