Today marks the beginning of my official preparation for the CPA exam. I ordered and received my review materials from Gleim. Being a pilot, I just couldn’t go any other way. Gleim is so familiar!

From this vantage point (day #1), the road looks so damn long. One step at a time will keep it confrontable.

I spent some time planning and setting up guideposts to mark my progress. My hope is to take the 4 parts of the exam in this order on these dates:

Regulation: 7/6
Auditing: 8/10
FAR: 10/12
BEC: 11/23

All of these dates are Mondays. I figure I’ll be maximally rested from the weekend and will have had some uninterrupted review time leading into the exams.

This gives me 27 weeks of prep time. I’ve already done 13 study units in Gleim over the course of the last semester, so I am left with 67 remaining study units to tackle cold turkey. A quick number crunch shows me needing to average about 1 study unit every 2 days – assuming a 5 day week. That’s a tall order, but it can likely be done without too much of a problem. If I start running behind schedule, I’ll just realign the dates a bit, but that is only a last resort.

Assuming, this schedule and assuming I pass on the first go around, I’ll be done with EVERYTHING by mid Dec. That will give me about 2-3 weeks to rediscover the meaning of life, then I’ll figure out my next game for 2010.

Will I go work as a CPA or go back to professional aviation? Hmmmmmm…… Its a tough choice. I believe I know the answer, but I’ll hold my cards close in for now.

I learned to fly during 1998 and 1999 using a C172. I soloed in it, did all my training in it, and took my check ride in it. For the other ratings, I flew other airplanes. This airplane was personally owned by my flight instructor at the time.

Fast forward about 3.5 years, some goon crashes the airplane when landing between a valley of trees at a small airport (windshear caused the accident). No serious injuries, which is the good news, but the airplane was toast. Shortly after the accident, the aircraft was deregistered, freeing up the tail number.

I recently got it in my crawl to see if the tail number was free and it appeared to be. So, I dropped the nominal fee to reserve the tail number for an aircraft that I will own in the future and I just received confirmation that the tail number is now reserved in my name. Obviously, if an airplane I own has a good paint job, I am not going to mess it up by trying to affix this number. But, I figure if I ever repaint an aircraft that I own, it’d be a perfect time to utilize this tail number that sort of represents where it all started for me.

Kind of cool, eh?

Too freaking hilarious!

I haven’t been to a movie in the theater in a long while, but this one struck my attention when I saw the preview, so I decided to go see it. I am a fan of orchestral/chamber music and found a story about this to be interesting material.

I thought the acting was top notch. The movie setting involved depicting homeless people. I thought it did a great job of depicting the “stuck outflow” in communication you see with many of these people. Many of them have never really been acknowledged before, so they just talk and talk and talk. Quite a few interesting scenes depicting this characteristic.

The movie is not so much about music as it is about friendship. The reporter in the movie takes an interest in an homeless guy for his own personal reasons – to publish a newspaper column. But, begins to learn the details of his life and becomes personally involved with his well being and rediscovery of his passion.

There were many interesting messages in the movie. The power of friendship was one of the primary messages. However, the idea communicated to me the most was the idea that we all have different passions (felt to differing degrees in some than others – communicated in the movie as well). However, regardless of what we are each passionate about, we ought to find a way to maximally enjoy that thing(s). For its enhancement and value in our lives is truly incalculable.

The movie also seemed to take an anti psych drug stance on curing mental ailments, which I appreciated very much.

The move had a few weak points. First off, I believe that the move would have been enhanced had it contained an second go, successful this time, of a recital so that the cellist (Ayers) could have rediscovered his talent. Secondly, I thought it was a bit weak in telling the story as to what exactly happened in this childhood to infuse him with his schizophrenia.

I thoroughly enjoyed the movie and it takes a lot for me decide to write something about one, especially on a pilot blog. However, even though the movie utilizes music as the catalyst through which to communicate the message, it could easily be translated into the passion of aviation that so many of us possess.

I’d highly recommend the movie.

Here is another classical piece I’ve been working on. It is FAR from perfect, but for someone of my novice skill on guitar, it isn’t too horribly bad.

It was different this year. The feeling of it. I am not sure if it was merely the fact that the crowds were smaller, I cannot quite place my finger on it. However, I can say with surety that the numbers will be way down as compared to recent years. No doubt due to the economy, new found parking fees, cost of fuel, etc.

Otherwise, we did have a blast. My wife and I go every year, this is our 8th time going as a couple. We bought our tickets online, saving $10 between the two of us. You are supposed to have a pilot’s license (I do, she doesn’t) to take advantage of the rate. But, we risked it with her ticket and they didn’t even ask for support when we got there. We had packed our lunch (as we do every year) to save money and thoroughly enjoyed the break to sit down in the cushioned seat (car) and eat and listen to 1510AM Sun N Fun Radio. She makes a mean sandwich!

With no particular agenda or requirement to see it all, we did more or less see it all. We didn’t make it out to chopper town, but caught everything else.

The performance airshow was as it always is, but was enjoyed to a greater degree due to the fact that my wife’s father was there for a while with whom we visited during the show.

The highlight of the day was after the airshow. My wife and I went to the ultralight area to watch them fly for a while. After setting up our chairs, I was offered a ride in an Apollo Fox around the patch. I don’t know very much about the airplane except that it is not an ultralight, but rather a light sport aircraft. It was interesting to hear the Rotax engine running at some 5,500 RPM through a gear reduction, as opposed to the 2,400 RPM or so of your standard issue production airplane – quite a different sound. The best part was just getting up there, even for just a few minutes. 8 minutes of flying will do more for me than 10 hours on the ground gawking at airplanes – so it certainly added something new this year. Seeing the airport from the air during Sun N Fun is a sight to behold. I’ve flown into the show one time in the past, but it was a long time ago!

My wife and stayed for the night airshow and were driving out of the parking lot during the fireworks finale which put us ahead of the crowd and GONE!

We REALLY enjoyed it this year. But after 12 hours in the sun and on our feet, we were ready to crash!

As usual, we’ll be back next year in 2010. It is earlier next year than this year and falls between April 13th-18th.

Its Tuesday, the first day of Sun N Fun 2009. My schedule shows me going on Friday, but as I sit here at my desk in my Lakeland, FL home studying for finals, I can hear the airplanes flying overhead.

I am pretty confident that when all the dust clears, this year’s attendance is going to be way down. Even I am having a hard time with the idea of shelling out nearly $60 for a day at the event with my wife – AND they are charging for parking now! It is interesting to me that the organization that is Sun N Fun, Inc is in dire financial straits. They apparently lost their ass on last year’s event. Hiring the Air Force Thunderbirds couldn’t have been cheap. The original “pilot-friendly” concept has sort of been chiseled away over the years into an increasingly commercial venture. Most pilots that I know couldn’t care less about the airshow, but my guess is that that production encompasses most of their costs. Furthermore, the airshow is closing in on 5 hours in duration now, every day! But, as to costs, most everybody working the event is a volunteer and the vendors all pay to be there. I know their liability insurance has got to be through the roof. That probably accounts for most of the cost of the event.

I’ve lost count of how many Sun N Fun’s I’ve been to. I’ve been going ever since I can remember – I’ve been to at least twenty. Family photo albums contain pictures of me at five or six years old running around Sun N Fun with popsicles. Even now, I enjoy going every single year, but admittedly they are more or less the same every time. I do not have an agenda or to-do list when I go, I just like to go and enjoy the sunny day with my wife, look at some airplanes, and just soak it all in.

The negative side to it is that I do have a tendency to get jealous at the fly in. I am a pilot. As such, going to the fly in, in may ways, is like a young kid walking into a candy store and being told, “Just look, honey, don’t eat.” When I see all those war birds flying overhead, aerobatic airplanes galore, the sea of general aviation airplanes with tents pitched, immaculate Velocitys, and other airplanes, I can’t help but feel a bit “out of the loop” because I am not yet in a position to afford such fancy toys and didn’t take the military route where I would be able to fly the fighter jets or heavy lifts. However, as I get older, these feelings are subsiding. Not out of some overwhelming sense of apathy, but because I realize that nobody can do EVERYTHING, and furthermore, what I have done is considerable. At 27 years old, with nearly 1,900 hours TT, 1,000 hours of jet experience, and every airplane pilot rating the FAA can issue except for the ATP (could do it in two weeks if I wanted), isn’t a half bad accomplishment. Considering my youth and that all I know of aviation thus far has occurred in the last, really, 11 years, I’ve got another 40 years anyway (likely more) to continue to be involved with it in whatever capacity I so choose. It is through these eyes, that I am learning to shelf my feelings of inadequacy among so many giants at the fly-in and to embrace who I am, what I have done, and more importantly, what I will do with aviation throughout the rest of my life. Will I be able to do it ALL in the end? No. But I can do much of it and ENJOY myself along the way and it will have been worth it in the end.

Regardless of what political obstacles attempt to curtail aviation, user fees, class H, I, J, K, L airspace, etc, those who love it will figure out a way to keep doing it. However, I am of the opinion that as time goes on, it will become more and more a prerequisite that one be able to EARN LOTS OF MONEY, to be able to participate. I am in the midst of working on this last point right now!!

Its tax day today, the day that plagues the procrastinators out there who waited until the last minute and the day that accountants all around the country count down to for two and a half months in hopes of getting their lives back.

This semester is over two weeks from tomorrow. I’ve got a white dry erase board over my shoulder that contains my do-list for the next two weeks and it is PACKED with stuff. Reading, problems, projects, galore through to the end. The beauty of the thing is that I’ve worked so hard this semester that I am currently standing with straight A’s in all classes. Thus, even though its difficult to find any white space on my marker board, I could more and less erase everything right now and go fart and eat cheese puffs for the next two weeks and come up shining in the end.

Flying – since this is sort of a flying blog – is going as well as I can hope for considering my time demands. I’ve flown nearly fifty hours in the last four months. That is a drop in the bucket compared to the speed at which I was logging flight time last year, but considering my primary purpose at present has little to do with aviation, I am satisfied at the status quo. I’ve got two active students and potentially another coming on line within a month or so. One student is ready for solo, but we’re waiting for the right weather and mindset to actually do it. The other is on lesson five and is coming along nicely. The third is a student of mine whom I flew with a couple years ago (Hey, Harry – I know you read this!!) before the airline gig whisked me away. We are going to do his BFR in a couple weeks and get the instrument written DONE and see if we can’t finish up the rating before too long after.

Today, I soloed for the first time in a long time. I believe it had been over a year since I had last flown solo. As a flight instructor – turned first officer – turned flight instructor, actually sitting in the driver’s seat is a rare privilege. I headed up today for an hour to work on some maneuvers that I hadn’t had the opportunity to work on in a long time. As a flight instructor, I know what the maneuvers should look like, I know how to critique them, troubleshoot them, etc. But can I actually fly them? I didn’t do too badly actually. My chandelle left just a bit to be desired, but it was a solid B performance. However, my turns around a point were rock solid. Slow flight, stalls, and steep turns were all good. I decided to “challenge” things up a bit and did several consecutive 360′s in a 45 degree banked steep turn while transitioning airspeed from Va to right above the stall and back again a couple times. Holding that bank angle, altitude, re-trimming, changing power, keeping the ball in the middle, all simultaneously is a workout. I enjoy flying solo once in the blue moon, but I enjoy being able to share it with others much more. However, being able to use my own skills to fly instead of merely overseeing what the student is doing is a welcome change from time to time.

That’s all I’ve got for now. Next stop – two weeks from now!

I am not sure why.

Part of it could be that at this late stage in the semester, I am suffering something analogous to “senioritis”. Spring break has come and gone and it was everything I’d hoped it would be. Considering my lengthy to-do list going into the break, I did manage to pull off most of what needed to be done, renewal of my CFI, tax return, CPA test application, etc. Coming back from the break, however, things just haven’t been the same. I am finding it difficult to stay motivated to study, partly due the fact that my grades are all pretty rock solid due to significant study in the past. With the exception of my law class, I could more or less not crack a book in any other class for the remainder of the semester and still pull out acceptable scores. What motivation I do have is rooted in the fact that this stuff will be on the CPA exam in one form or another and considering that as my ultimate goal, I am still finding some desire to keep going. I am pretty sure this is just a temporary affliction.

I can register for Summer and Fall terms tomorrow (Friday). I plan on securing the remainder of my classes then. I have already sent out my application and fee to the Dept of Business and Professional Regulation to sit for the CPA exam. When this semester is over (1 month and change), I am going to take a much deserved break for about 10 days – sort of like spring break #2. My last final is on 4/30 and the first day of summer classes begins 5/11, the break being between these. I am going to work on my Jeep – I have decided to attempt to replace the rear main seal. It is a two piece seal, hence no need to remove the transmission. However, the oil pan will need to be dropped, etc. It will probably be a long job – but I hate to not do it just because I am scared to mess something up. My primary vehicle will be untouched and ready to rock as always. You learn by living, right? If that goes smoothly, I am going to replace the valve cover gasket as well. So, in the end, it should be leak free. Joanna (my wife) is going out of town for a few days during that time, so I will be able to spend considerable time in the garage working without feeling guilty in not spending time with her. It will just us bachelors hanging out – with the exception of Kaley (our female dog).

Anyway, direct CPA exam preparation will commence at the same time the summer term begins. Considering my goal with this entire chapter of my life is to pass the exam, the preparation for it will be the most “on purpose” I have been thus far. I will study during May, June, for the first part of the exam – I am assuming it will be the Regulation section. My hope is to sit for that in the first half of July. Then, I will study from then until the latter part of Aug and will sit for the second portion – likely Audit right before the close of the testing window at the end of August.

After that, I’ll study Sept for the BEC portion and take that in the beginning of Oct, then will study for the final (and most difficult) part – FAR – from there and will attempt to take that right before the close of the last testing window in Nov. If I miss that, I’ll just finish up in January. But I see no reason that it cannot ALL be completed and in the bag by January.

In December, I will relax and get my groove back. From there, I will need to decide where to go. I will need to make money for a good while. We will have been operating at a deficit for over a year at that point with some minor student loans in the wake as well. It has been a while since I’ve been paid a respectable paycheck. On the other hand, I left accounting for a reason – I didn’t really like it before – and need to find something else, a better situation than I left, if I am going to find happiness in the job. The ultimate goal, however, this time around is to open my own business. As to when I do it, that is completely up to me. And honestly, a part of me longs to go back to a flying job. Perhaps in time.

However, with that choice ahead of me, I will have arrived at exactly the place I was hoping for – many open doors with which to choose from.

A made a post a week or so ago about an up and coming flight school operation in Lakeland that will take the place of the one that went out of business a couple months ago. Needless to say, I was excited about another opportunity to stay in the air and keep teaching. Even though I make some lunch money through the effort, I am so very glad that I am not reliant on aviation for my livelihood right now.

About nine days ago, a lease was arranged on a Cherokee 140 through an arrangement with a couple guys that work out at the airport. The agreement at the airport stipulates that there must be a flight school on the field. The phrase “flight school” involves certain criteria: study space, airplanes, testing facility, weather center, etc. The lease was supposedly to be affiliated with the local FBO. As to additional details, I am in the dark.

The airplane arrived and I flew two flights in it with two different students. Since then, the FBO (managed by one of the guys involved with the lease), relocated to another part of the airport and many of the staff, including this manager were let go in an attempt to tighten the belt during these difficult times. My understanding was that the airplane lease operation would continue under the tutelage of the other guy who was involved, but it has become apparent that this guy didn’t have much of a hold on the situation in his individual capacity as it was largely managed by the guy who was let go during the FBO “cleaning”. As such, there arose some scheduling conflicts because there was no administration to this operation anymore, etc.

Last night, (nine days after we just got this airplane) I went out to the airport to fly with a student, to discover the news that the airplane had been sold over the weekend. THEY JUST ARRANGED A LEASE ON THIS THING A WEEK AGO!! I thought leases typically entail a lease term! The guy that I am still talking to about this situation had no idea and this represented the second time that some logistic has prevented me from flying with this same student. The entire operation looks like a circus right now.

I am taking the student over to the Winter Haven flight school to train. I am an adjunct instructor over there, so will utilize their infrastructure until the ducks are in a row over in Lakeland and then it will be up to the student as to whether to go back to Lakeland or stay in Winter Haven.

Right now, it seems that to secure anything at all – never mind even contemplating the idea of generating a livable wage – in the aviation field is just chasing rainbows. As soon as I think I am there and have grasped something, it vanishes.

Supposedly, there is some flying on the horizon for me in a non-instructor capacity through someone I’ve been working with at the airport. I am not sure the details right now, but am all ears.

However, I thank my lucky stars everyday that this is a hobby and not my bread and butter.

Someone posted this on the airline pilot forum.

Westlife home official video with lyrics

What a damn shame.

Lately, it seems an excessive number of airplanes are crashing. I don’t understand what is going on out there. I can think of four within the last month.

It’s very saddening.

To both souls on this recent one: Godspeed to you.

I need a break. With all the studying I’ve been doing, nearly seven days a week, I need to push “pause” for a little bit and get my groove back. Unfortunately, spring break will not really feel like much of a break because I have six things to do (all relatively time consuming) during the time. However, once spring break is over and I am back to the grindstone, there will only be one month left of this semester – the proverbial home stretch.

Tonight is business taxation test #2. I am walking into the test with an A in the class – an insurance policy of sorts to absorb any unforeseen problems. However, I have put in my due share of studying for this test and do believe that I will score on par with what I did last time – or certainly still within the upper range of the class spread. No matter what, however, it will be history by tonight and I cannot wait.

Tomorrow, I will prepare for government test #2 and will take that on Thursday. I scored the highest grade in the class last time – not sure if I can do a repeat performance. But, either way, I have a sizable buffer in that class to absorb any problems there.

When I get home Thursday, its SPRING BREAK TIME!

My do list over the break:

-Renew CFI
-Do taxes
-Send out CPA test application
-Study for yet another test coming after the break
-Two other assignments for various classes

A new opportunity has arisen for me to do some flying. It is sort of a continuation off the last gig I had that recently went out of business. These gigs seem to come and go like the breeze, so who knows how long this one will last. However, a couple of the guys at the airport arranged some leasebacks on some Pipers. I am one of four flight instructors who will be utilized and in all likelihood will be one of the most highly flown of all of them.

My first flight is tomorrow morning. I am doing a discovery flight for a lady (who originally scheduled through the school that went out of business. In other words, I would have flown with her anyway) in a Cherokee 140. I haven’t flown a Cherokee 140 in a long time, but do have considerable time in a Cherokee 180 and a Comanche, so am quite familiar with the platform and do not anticipate any problems.

I am itching to fly more. I have recently discovered my “inner CPA”, but have no illusions that flying isn’t what I need to be doing – even if not a primary career. That being said, I am thrilled at the opportunity to do more teaching (especially considering this economy). No matter how long it pays dividends, I will consider myself lucky to ride for as long as possible.

That being said, if the demand picks up, I may need to curtail how much I am willing to fly as doing well on this CPA is my primary goal. Flying is secondary. However, I can do quite a bit of juggling to fit as much as I can into any given day.

My goal is to make it all happen.

I am feeling pretty stoked at the moment. I went ahead a secured flightinstructorcentral.com as a new website venture. I am surprised that it was available. I frequent airlinepilotcentral.com quite a bit even still just to stay current on all the rumors and the latest and greatest of the airline industry. APC is a very busy website.

Right now, I am not in the business of running websites. My time is spent studying to become a CPA and as such, I do not plan on doing much with “FIC” for a little while, so I have forwarded it to PA for now.

However, I am dreaming of potentially great things for it in the future. Perhaps I can build a solid database of flight instructors around the country, resources for CFIs, and for students. Its a pipe dream for now, but I couldn’t hold back from securing a domain name this good!!!

Passionaviator has sort of evolved into a personal blog. However, once FIC is up and running, it will be entirely an informational/business website.