At last, we took our first cross-country flight. The flight was from Oshkosh to Green Bay to Merrill to Oshkosh. JR rode along. Of course the hop from Oshkosh to Green Bay was pretty quick. On the downwind for runway 24 you get a great view of that Wisconsin Mecca, Lambeau Field. The change of venue to class C airspace did throw me off a touch and T reminded me of the carburetor heat and the flaps. I’m not sure how much longer it would have taken for me to remember those but I expect I would have done. We stopped on the ground for a quick rest and to close our flight plan and continued thence to Merrill. The flight to Merrill was nice and smooth and seemed to run right along the border between the real north woods and the rest of Wisconsin. The ride back to Oshkosh was fairly turbulent and to make things more interesting, T put me under the hood. I flew under simulated instrument conditions for about 20 minutes and I think it went fairly well.
Month: April 2009
Earth Day Celebrations
AdventuresHow did you celebrate Earth Day? We celebrated ours by driving our “SUV” 180 miles to and from work at a paper company, and then changing her oil at the end of the day.
Flight 24 – Pre-Cross Country, New Holstein
AdventuresDuring flight number 24, T set me the task of flying around Lake Winnebago clockwise. While on the east side of the lake, I was to find Chilton, then New Holstein, and then the New Holstein Airport. All of this went quite smoothly: Communications with air traffic control, cruising at 3400′, finding landmarks (navigating by pilotage), finding my way back to Oshkosh. The turbulence was moderately high near the lake; it takes some getting used to. The landing process went tolerably well considering the variable and gusty winds, but after the solo flight I did not call T right away because my phone battery was nearly dead. Well of course I forgot to call him when I got home and he got nervous and had to call me. I was rightfully scolded.
The next flight (weather permitting and Lord willing) should be a dual cross-country.
Cameroon Part 6 – Fruit
AdventuresWe were also privileged to be able to witness many of the local people come to know Jesus as their Lord. Idol worship and witchcraft are common in those parts so in some cases these folks were saved directly out of those practices. Two of those people physically confirmed their faith in Christ by burning their idols immediately. It would be appropriate to point out here that idol worship and witchcraft are unfamiliar to Westerners and so they seem unreal. Well, being near these things brings a sense of reality to the spiritual realm, but it would be right and good for us to remember that the “more common” sins from which we have been saved are no milder than these. We all were dead in our sins, guilty of idol-worship and rebellion against God and so in need of a Saviour.
A special thing for me to see was the establishment of local churches in these bush villages. Felix, a young pastor, had recently moved to Olulu to become a local pastor. The last week we were there, 4 believers were baptised and several were added to the number of believers. These things were a major encouragement to me and I only hope that I played a small part in the harvest there.