Charisma, Canada, and anywhere but home...
I'm confessing to having writer's block right now. How this is possible, i don't know because i have so much i need to get down in my web-journal that i ought to be able to write a small booklet by noon. I suppose that rather than trying to recap what's been happening the last week and a half, i'll just give the basics and let the rest fall into place.
My very second week of work at Dynamic i got to come up here. It was so early in my employment that i had just spent one night in my new apartment! We're here to conduct confidential surveys with confidential equipment for a confidential purpose. I'm sorry i have to be so vague, but that's how i have to be right now for the customer's safety. I am a first officer on a Beechcraft KingAir 90, which is a twin-turboprop plane. it's between a prop plane and a jet plane, in effect. The type of flying we do requires coasting at low-level between 100-200' above the ground. for the surveying, we also have to fly the plane in a straight corridor 60' wide while keeping speed of about 160 MPH. This is very challenging and mentally fatiguing flying and requires absolute attention to what one is doing. All of one's senses are functioning at peak capability, and any distraction of thoughts or any crossfiring of the brain to tell the hand what to do results in slipping out of the corridor quite expeditiously. It requires absolute focus on the part of both pilots, and it is so far the best skills-honing flying i've had to do. As a pilot, i feel much more refined, as i feel i'm doing the most demanding kind of flying i've ever had to do. Forget flying IFR for hours. I'd find that easy relative to this. Nowdays, after enduring these extremely demanding exercises, i can cruise back to the airport and maintain 2 deg of heading and 20' with just half a brain cell of thought. We've flown for four straight days on this project so far, and i've logged 22.7 hours in that time. One of my goals is to attain captain status by Christmas, and to do that I need 100 hours of Kingair time. In just four days, i'm 1/5 the way there. Praise God!
So many parallels between life and flying are especially apparent now days. I wish i could just have the chance to pause a flight every now and then to write down in the moment how "wow, that's a lot like life..." For instance, flying an airplane at 150' off the ground at 160 MPH in a 60' wide imaginary corridor certainly resembles the 'straight and narrow' path that we are walking as Christ-followers in this world. There is only one Way to heaven and a good fellowship with Him, and He gives us the way that we should go. Only when we let our mind and heart wander, or let the world distract us for even a second, the great ship of our lives gets off-course. Living well requires great discipline and focus, forward thinking and quick corrections to little upsets. There are times when i need to correct the plane from going the wrong direction, yes, but there are also times when i have to correct my own thoughts from going in the wrong direction because then they aren't helping but rather take away from my goal.
The same applies for my relationship with Charisma. Just recently we've written up a 'covenant' between us to define our strengths, personal goals, and how we intend to keep ourselves physically pure, spiritually committed, and emotionally secure in our relationship. It's been written with the blood and tears of experience, so we're definitely not shooting in the dark with this one: If we stay on this course that we have covenanted to keep, our relationship will doubtless proceed happily and blessed.
Charisma and i are doing great, despite the long distance. Our time apart has confirmed the feelings we have for each other, and i think that we have actually grown in maturity as a couple since we've been apart. It's definitely affirmed in my heart who she is to me: the only girl in the world i want to consider being with for the rest of my life. I miss her so much, and the more I do, the more beautiful she becomes to me! Somehow, even when i was with her, she got more beautiful every week, so i can't wait to see her again! I may have the opportunity to in a month, so please pray that God will bring me there!
As far as the flying project goes, the next step is to fly the plane to Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, for an inspection that will last for a few days. Then once we finish flying the rest of the survey zones here in Nunavut, we're to head somewhere in Quebec for some more.
Prayer requests of mine are that the package my parents sent gets here in time, for Charisma's letter to get here in time, for our safety, for the flawless operation of the plane, and for my spiritual maturity to grow as i spend time away from 'home.'
Radar
My very second week of work at Dynamic i got to come up here. It was so early in my employment that i had just spent one night in my new apartment! We're here to conduct confidential surveys with confidential equipment for a confidential purpose. I'm sorry i have to be so vague, but that's how i have to be right now for the customer's safety. I am a first officer on a Beechcraft KingAir 90, which is a twin-turboprop plane. it's between a prop plane and a jet plane, in effect. The type of flying we do requires coasting at low-level between 100-200' above the ground. for the surveying, we also have to fly the plane in a straight corridor 60' wide while keeping speed of about 160 MPH. This is very challenging and mentally fatiguing flying and requires absolute attention to what one is doing. All of one's senses are functioning at peak capability, and any distraction of thoughts or any crossfiring of the brain to tell the hand what to do results in slipping out of the corridor quite expeditiously. It requires absolute focus on the part of both pilots, and it is so far the best skills-honing flying i've had to do. As a pilot, i feel much more refined, as i feel i'm doing the most demanding kind of flying i've ever had to do. Forget flying IFR for hours. I'd find that easy relative to this. Nowdays, after enduring these extremely demanding exercises, i can cruise back to the airport and maintain 2 deg of heading and 20' with just half a brain cell of thought. We've flown for four straight days on this project so far, and i've logged 22.7 hours in that time. One of my goals is to attain captain status by Christmas, and to do that I need 100 hours of Kingair time. In just four days, i'm 1/5 the way there. Praise God!
So many parallels between life and flying are especially apparent now days. I wish i could just have the chance to pause a flight every now and then to write down in the moment how "wow, that's a lot like life..." For instance, flying an airplane at 150' off the ground at 160 MPH in a 60' wide imaginary corridor certainly resembles the 'straight and narrow' path that we are walking as Christ-followers in this world. There is only one Way to heaven and a good fellowship with Him, and He gives us the way that we should go. Only when we let our mind and heart wander, or let the world distract us for even a second, the great ship of our lives gets off-course. Living well requires great discipline and focus, forward thinking and quick corrections to little upsets. There are times when i need to correct the plane from going the wrong direction, yes, but there are also times when i have to correct my own thoughts from going in the wrong direction because then they aren't helping but rather take away from my goal.
The same applies for my relationship with Charisma. Just recently we've written up a 'covenant' between us to define our strengths, personal goals, and how we intend to keep ourselves physically pure, spiritually committed, and emotionally secure in our relationship. It's been written with the blood and tears of experience, so we're definitely not shooting in the dark with this one: If we stay on this course that we have covenanted to keep, our relationship will doubtless proceed happily and blessed.
Charisma and i are doing great, despite the long distance. Our time apart has confirmed the feelings we have for each other, and i think that we have actually grown in maturity as a couple since we've been apart. It's definitely affirmed in my heart who she is to me: the only girl in the world i want to consider being with for the rest of my life. I miss her so much, and the more I do, the more beautiful she becomes to me! Somehow, even when i was with her, she got more beautiful every week, so i can't wait to see her again! I may have the opportunity to in a month, so please pray that God will bring me there!
As far as the flying project goes, the next step is to fly the plane to Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, for an inspection that will last for a few days. Then once we finish flying the rest of the survey zones here in Nunavut, we're to head somewhere in Quebec for some more.
Prayer requests of mine are that the package my parents sent gets here in time, for Charisma's letter to get here in time, for our safety, for the flawless operation of the plane, and for my spiritual maturity to grow as i spend time away from 'home.'
Radar
posted by Radar | 6:13 PM
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