Visibility: clouded by egg nog
Temperature: warm at heart
Location: under the Mistletoe
Equipment: christmas tree

Merry Christmas

2013 has been a fun flying year for yours truly. It started out with dual time in the 172. I trained radio navigation and passed the check ride “Controlled Visual Flight“. As soon as I had the new license in the mail, I used it to get lost on a short hop in bad weather.

My flying buddy started the season with his rocket ship “Kilo Tango” and I was fortunate enough to go with him a few times. I even ferried the beauty for him.

Speaking of beauties, I met another exciting lady. LISA is one of the airplanes that is operated by “Pilot & Flugzeug” magazine. She is available for rent and I liked her when I got checked out on her. We have not flown together all that much but I am looking forward to more trips in 2014.

My home base of EDAY must like the light sports crowd. That is the only explanation for the tower controllers presence at 4 o’clock in the morning. On the day of the shortest night, VFR pilots in Strausberg go nuts and embrace the sun with a flight into the sunrise. I can hardly wait to repeat this great experience this year!

I saw a few new airports this year. One of them I reached on the ground but got to know by air. I love having visitors. The one in July was an honor but also a bit of a nuisance. Another one seems to be here to stay and is quite exciting!

We saw a few technical problems on the blog this year. This got me thinking and as a first step, I have registeresd a new URL. aloft.aero is where you can find me in the future – wether it will be with blog.com or somewhere else (plus a .aero-domain is really cool!)

I love podcasts and there are a lot of them out there. In 2013, I gave feedback and made comments and this blog was featured a few times. In May, Captain Jeff of the Airplane Pilot Guy podcast linked me after I gave feedback and in November I had a question for him.  In October, I had a chance to sub for David Vanderhoof as the Airplane Geeks historian on the Airplane Geeks Podcast. I choose to write about the Mooney M20, as I am a bit of a Mooniac.

For 2014, I have great plans already. What would be a new year without a new rating! And my list for new destinations is getting longer almost daily.

I wish you all a great New Year. Have fun, be safe and go out and fly!

To be continued…

Courtesy of Jeppesen: North Pole Chart

 

(originally posted on December 25, 2013 by tilbo at aloft.blog.com/merry-christmas-2013/)