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Week 5. probably my most eventful/uneventful week thus far. An amazing journey, and I have only made it across one state. Well, after my previous blog post, a whole 5 days ago, so much has occurred, crazy stories are you ready?
Tuesday, there was a break in the clouds and the potential to get out of this town and move the planes to columbus was hopeful! Kimmy and Manny packed up and headed out, but alas, my lil red rocket decided to spit out the beacon circuit breaker at me numerous times, and seeing that my plane has a history of electrical fires, (thank God kimmy was able to manage that mess last year in that plane) I was summoned back to Rome for our mechanics to take a gander. I decided, spite a windy day, that I would attempt to get our last project done alone while the others journeyed off. When I flew to the shooting site, I experienced the absolute scariest flight thus far of my flying career. More experienced pilots would laugh at this story, but this is my "coming of age flying practicality": so not only could I NOT fly straight and level, I was being tossed around like mother natures toy. the winds were ghastly and the turbulance made the skin on the wings of my plane warp back and fourth like a sail in the wind. I wanted to land at the little airport just below me but the cross wind component was ghastly at a wopping 25kts gusting to 30kts. I was packed and ready to just continue on to Rome from that flight area but could barely handle the controls. I made the best decision possible and headed back to Rochester where there were more runways, wider and longer,nto choose from. coming in on the final approach, I knew obviously I had to land but I truthfully wasnt sure if I could land without damaging the airplane. I was gaining and losing 150-200ft of altitude pretty low to the ground. mind you the entire TALL city of Rochester is just under the approach course for the runway that best suited landing into the winds. I touched that baby down with the winds at 30kts gusting to 45kts! I could barely breath as the plane rolled to a jolting stop and the winds started pushing me off the slick, freshly rained on runway. after that experience I sat alone in the FBO just stairing outside. wondering how on earth I got on the ground safely (Gods grace is the answer of course). before I could dwell on it too much, the second the winds died down I pulled that aircraft back outta the hanger and headed to Rome for maintenance. It was as if God granted me peace with a gorgeous sunset on the flight at dusk with calm winds and smooth sailing. and so I was back in Rome for the night.... again....
The next day was much more productive and amazingly awesome! Plane was "partially fixed" and I was headed out alone bright and early to finish the project. I had to land and fuel up at Pen Yen airport, a lil tiny thing in the middle of "hills" just between the finger lakes. self serve fuel was physically taxing, especially when your short and ya gotta climb ontop of the airplane. taking off from that airport was a breath-holding experience simply because there was a 400ft hill just across the lake on my climb out route. thank god I was so good at short field takeoffs during flight training. It was jsut a short hop skip and a jump over to Batavia NY where my plane sat in the avionics shop for its final sign off on the beacon issue.
I was persistant to end my day in Buffalo NY in hopes of being stuck there for thanksgiving so I could enjoy the day at Niagra falls. but NOOOOOO I was forced back into good ole Rochester! God had sent me there for a reason tho! while I was exaustively paying for the hanger and fuel for the night, two striped pilots approached me and struck up a conversation about flying, of course mistaking me for a flight attendant they seemed very intrigued by my job and wanted to know more so they offered for me to attend dinner at Chiles with them. it was astonishing to find out they flew a Falcon out of Waterford MI, they were my previous job (Aerdynamics Inc's) rivals from Pentastar! they were from home! it just gave me a calming feeling in my heart to be enjoying a much needed meal with fellow Michiganders. God set this dinner up for more than one reason. the night before a lonely thanksgiving, I was able to enjoy good company, (a free meal ticket) and making awesome contacts for future job offers! come to find out Bob and Bob (yes they were both named Bob ironically enough seeing that I just lost my friend Bob) knew of an air ambulance company out in Utah that flies Kingairs. They will be coming back to Rochester this weekend to meet me and bring me some contact info on hooking me up with this air ambulance. I dropped the gentlemen off at their gate in the crew car since they were being airlined home for the holidays and as profesionally as I could, I stuck out my hand for a firm farewell handshake but they both squeezed me goodbye in a jolly huge hug stating that they feel like I was already family in our small world of aviation. I cant wait to meet up with them on Saturday seeing that I will most likely be here still.
Thanksgiving day was a mix of emotions for me. I woke up early to check the weather in hopes of flying but that was a no-go. rain was well pouring out of the sky. i snuck downstairs to pillage some breakfast from the buffet (were not allowed to take the food to our rooms) after stuffing my pockets with bagels and creamcheese I poured a rather large cup o joe, and snuck upstairs to cozy up and watch the macys day parade! it was a comfy and lazy morning as the rain pitapatted on my window. later in the day I treated myself to an IMAX adventure and watched the newest Harry Potter movie: whata cliffhanger!!!! I was content with my life as an aviatrix up to this point in the holiday, it was when my stomach growled for dinner and I drove for over a half hour looking for a nice diner to have a glass of wine and a hearty steak dinner. NOTHING was open! I wept just a lil, missing friends and family and so reluctantly went into the VERY EXPENSIVE hotel lobby store and sorrowfully paid for a stouffers frozen meal, some chips, a sprite and a reeses candy bar for desert. I swiped a movie from the front desk and curled up in my hotel suite. Joe called during my movie and I was happy to put it on pause and catch up. It put a smile on my face once I starting receiving all the "happy thanksgiving" texts from all of my wonderful friends. they are always with me in spirit!!! needless to say, I went to bed content, and ready to tackle another day-in-the-life of Aubrey...
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