Last Minute Change O' Plans

I bit the bullet. Cooked the ham. Dug the ditch. Whatever other catchy phrase you can think of. I pulled myself out of going to Oshkosh to give myself more practice time. For the next two weeks the goal is simple. Kill it. “It” meaning the sequence; not myself or the airplane and any rogue seagull that may fly into my path. They get up high. 2500 feet? 3000 feet? Sure why not. Jerks.

I’ve been feeling rather guilty about the Osh trip for several weeks. Going out there, despite that being my favorite thing to do each year, would take away a week of practice time. Not just any week, the week right before the Kathy Jaffe in New Jersey. My goal for this year was to compete, not to gawk at Beech Staggerwings and Mustangs though I do love seeing them all lined up in the grass. Competition wins over gawking. I had an opportunity to rectify the situation and I took it. I feel great about my choice though it is not without some remorse.

That’s not all that happened today. The FAA makes the rules in aviation but the insurance companies are really the ones that run the show. If they say “no” you ain’t going. As it turns out, the insurance company said “no” to competitions. I don’t pretend to understand the rationale. I am allowed to fly acro to my heart’s content but bringing the Decathlon to a contest is somehow bad. I guess.

I went into crisis management mode and called Marc Nathanson at Executive Flyers. Marc graciously welcomed me to fly their airplane not only at the Kathy Jaffe Challenge but also this weekend at Keene, NH at a practice session. I’ll have to fly the airplane with a safety pilot on board because I don’t have time to do a normal rental checkout before the contest. This will make the airplane feel heavier than I am used to. Whatever, I’m not complaining. This will be cheaper and maybe even a little easier. It automatically injects me into a group of folks rather than being just me.

Fly tomorrow after work, maybe Friday and then of course Saturday. Game time folks.