It's obvious this blog has taken a back seat to Myspace and Facebook...I truly am a huge internet power nerd. No flying for me in the last 2 or 3 weeks.....They say airplanes need gas and oil to run...what they forget to include is that they also need a lot of money! Until the VA gets off their goverment butts, Matt's not flying anything. I only have my final stagecheck until my Inst. Checkride too...so I'm sitting on the ground losing proficiency. On the positve, I feel I was getting a bit worn out, so once I get back to flying, I'll be fresh and ready to git'r'done.

Just got back from a nice relaxing flight in an SR20 over the White Tank mountains and Lake Pleasant with a long time friend. Nice to be able to exercise the PPL priveleges...now I just need to get someone to start paying me to fly...then we'll be set. Cruised up to Deer Valley, nice little airport with 2 parrallel runways, very nice tower controllers as well I may add. Chalk another .9 in the logbook for the PIC time....it's not much, but it's something.

A few weeks ago in Glendale on the day I got my PPL.

One of my Cross Countrys. Marana airport north of Tucson, big boneyard with a lot of heavies. Apparently the first 767 testbed is here somewhere.

Been a while

So yeah, I'm still alive, living in Phoenix near Glendale...working for US Airways at Sky Harbor on the ramp....jut had my PPL Checkride this morning.....I'm a pilot baby!!!

 Well, finally another update to add on to the hectic schedule. SOO much has been going on in life. Where to start? Heather and I went to Phoenix August 21-24th, she was able to get 2 job interviews, and I toured a few flight schools. Heather just a few days ago got a phone call offering her a job at Arizona State Veterans Home, which she has accepted, so it's finally in stone, we're moving to Phoenix!!! The only catch is, they need her out there like, next week, so we're moving before the wedding, flying back for 3 weeks, than moving the rest of our stuff out to PHX later, after the honeymoon. I have decided to attend Air Safety Academy in Glendale, AZ. The school is based at the Glendale Municipal Airport, and flies a mixed fleet of Cessna, Beech, and Cirrus aircraft. They let me play with a Cirrus SR-20 for an hour, so that was awesome.

 Heather and I had a couples wedding shower a week ago, we got many nice presents from friends and family, so we are very thankful. We spent a couple of days up at the ranch helping out with Handicapped week, we had a great time. Wedding plans are trudging right along. Except for the Tuxedo place, someone's about to get their freakin head torn off if this BS keeps happening. Grrrrrrr.

Our flight out was pretty cool. We flew Southwest, and were on the airlines newest 737-700...it even smelled new!

The cockpit after we landed in PHX

I also go to play with a 737-700 advanced jet sim while touring flight schools, probably the highlight of the trip next to flying the Cirrus.

Heather and I's continued sightings of Shamu the airplane while in Phoenix together has also continued, we even saw Shamu the car....talk about your good omens (it's our thing...) Now if we could find Shamu cufflinks for the wedding, we'd be all set. The backstory here is that the first time Heather ever came out to AZ to visit me, we stayed in Phoenix, and while we were waiting for her return flight home, saw Southwest's Shamu aircraft landing at Skyharbor, so whenever we see it, it's exciting.

California 1

Arizona 1 in with it's sister aircraft at Sky Harbor

Heather and I on the way home...very late flight, didn't get home till 2 am.

Waiting for the plane to go home

Pictures from my solo back in July

The traditional shirt tail cut off