happylife

Cypress Mountain

Cypress Mountain is one of the closest ski areas from Vancouver. Lots of people in Vancouver often go there to enjoy skiing, but it's not my business because I can't ski. When my friends came from Seattle and said they wanted to see mountains, we drove to Cypress Mountain. As we drove on the winding way, the view got bad because of a fog, and finally the road changed into a snow road. The snow was wet and like sherbet when I arrived at the ski area. As we had no gears and intention for skiing, we came down the same way. It was a less than one-hour round trip, but we could enjoy various scenery. If I could ski, Vancouver should have been more attractive city even in winters.

Partial

It was the day of my flight test. The weather was not good but not so bad as the day before yesterday. The test started at 10 o'clock as had been scheduled. There was no problem in the ground portion except for a little problem of my English conversation skill with the examiner. The examiner and I took off around 11:30. The upper air was not so good as I had expected before taking off and as the weather forecast had said. Soon after taking off I had to fly clubbing more than 20 degrees, which means flying against the wind to keep the planned track. Plus, there were so many clouds in my way that I couldn't climb to the planned altitude. To fly at the low altitude, I had to communicate with the ATC(Air Traffic Controller), which was a kind of extra procedure. In spite of all these happening, I could do the navigation successfully and there were few problems about my upper air works, but when the examiner closed the throttle and told me to do forced approach, I miss judged the wind direction and failed to make good landing. I was shocked because I had never failed in this subject for these weeks. I got a so called "partial failure" in my first flight test and I have to re-take a partial test again after a few more lessons with the instructor. I was disappointed in no small way. I need a few more weeks before getting the license and going back to Japan. Ahh!.

Canadian Geese

A lots of geese can be seen around Downtown. They are always resting or eating on the bank in front of my apartment. They are as big as a 16 inch TV set. I'm not sure but they should weigh around 20kg. They are so heavy that they are not good at flying. It looks very hard for them to take off; they need lots of wing strokes and long take-off distance which is far from smooth. If I could be born again as a bird, I would not like to be a goose. I prefer better designed birds such as seagulls or ducks.

Postponed

I got up at 6:00 this morning which is almost 6 hours earlier than usual. It was for taking the flight test. The sky was overcast and lots of gray clouds were flowing fast from south. I drove 30 km from Downtown to the airport seeing the sky was getting lighter. When I arrived at the airport, I cloud even see the partial blue sky although the wind was still strong. I prepared for the flight plan calculating the flight time and fuel based on the latest weather forecast. I was almost ready for the test, but it was postponed because of the weather. The blue sky was just temporary and the wind was too strong for the private flight test. It was almost 20 knots with gusting. The next flight test is scheduled this Thursday. It's rather tough to keep concentration on the test and to stay in such stressful mental situation.

A fireplace live

I came across this TV program when I was zapping through channels. A cozy looking fireplace was being broadcast live all the time. As I turned off all the room lights except for the TV set, it looked like a real fireplace in the darkness. I felt relaxed seeing the fire frame and hearing the crackling of twigs. I wonder what would happen when all the firewood burned itself out. Would anybody appear on the screen and change the firewood? Anyway, I wish I cloud live someday in a house with a cozy fireplace like this.

Private flying

It was a Christmas and the weather looked bad. As my flight test is scheduled on the day after tomorrow, I went to the airport. There was no one except for my instructor, the part-time airport manager and me in the airport terminal. Fortunately the weather was getting better enough to take a flight. I did the whole review in the sky with my instructor and while we were flying there was only one radio call by another pilot from other airport. Except for that, the tower and the airport was working only for us. It was just like a private airport and we made some special request which we can't do usually because of the permanent congestion of the airport. We climbed up to 1,500 feet which is the upper limit of the control zone and 700 feet higher than the usual circuit height over the mid field of the runway. My instructor cut the throttle and I glided down to land without power. This is called PFL, practice forced landing. The wind was strong and gusting, but I did this practice five times all successfully, which boosted my confidence.

Holiday is not a holly day

This is my first Christmas in Vancouver though I came here almost three years ago. I usually stay in Japan in this season, but this year, I'm still here in Vancouver and having my first Christmas. I think the Christmas is literally a holly day in Vancouver. Most people seem to take a vacation and live with their own family in their own home. I was surprised to see that even McDonald's was closed. The whole city is very quiet and filled with holy atmosphere. On the other hand in Japan, Christmas is used more in commercial way than in religious way. People spend lots of money for shopping, and cities get very noisy. When I was a student, Japan's economics was excessively good and people were excited about spending incredible money for the Christmas. Most gorgeous hotel rooms were reserved on Christmas Eve by young couples. They were so busy that some rooms were reserved almost one year before. It was incredible and it isn't so exciting now, but it is still noisy and I hate the Christmas in Japan. I'm happy to have such quiet Christmas.

The most hectic day

It's in the midst of a holiday season, but I'm leading hectic days. I feel myself to be most busy in this year now. I have to make some business documents and programs, and prepare for the flight lesson which is scheduled next Tuesday. The weather is bad but not so bad that I can't fly, so I keep flying almost every day so as not to forget the procedures and controlling feel for the flight test. When I come back from the flight lesson every day, I get tired but still have lots of things to do by the end of the day. It's a little bit hard and I often realize that I've been aged. My body does not accept an overwork which was accepted years ago. I think I should spend my limited energy and time according to plan.

Controller

This is the picture of the Cessna152's cockpit. The biggest black nob is the throttle which works just like accelerator of cars. We can adjust the friction by turning the silver dial located at the root. The red nob in the right of the throttle is the mixture controller which controls the ratio of air and fuel. If we fully pull it back the engine is cut off because of no fuel, but we can't always keep it pull in. As the airplane gets the altitude, the thickness of the air is getting thinner and we have to adjust the thickness of the fuel suitable for the air thickness. The upper left black nob is the carburettor heat which is used to prevent so called carburettor icing. As our Cessna152 has a carburettor instead of a fuel injection system, when the fuel is vaporized by Venturi effect, lots of heat is lost causing icing even in summer. This carburettor heat is used to stop such icing. The left big black dial is the trim which is the most basic but most difficult control in the Cessna152. We use it to neutralize the yoke pressure and if we can use it efficiently, the airplane becomes very stable. These controls are only parts of the whole aircraft controlling system. Flying an airplane is really a complicated task but I'm now ready for the flight test. I'm worrying only about the weather.

Parking at Safeway

As you know Safeway is a huge supermarket chain spreading all over North America. I can get any kinds of food except for special Japanese food just like natto (fermented soy beans) and umeboshi (sour pickled plums). I don't like this store so much as Saveonfood but I often visit there more than once a week because there are two Safeway stores in Downtown. Unfortunately Saveonfood is not in Downtown because it is a suburban type supermarket. The advantage of Safeway which I like best is that enough parking lots are prepared for free. As it is getting harder to find free parking space in Downtown, the parking lot of Safeway is very helpful.