MLK day is actually being celebrated on…..MLK day! It is, actually his birthday on the day it is celebrated instead of kinda-sorta close to that day…..

Usually it is just whatever Monday is closest so that Government employees and leeches (but I repeat myself) get a three day weekend……Which always seemed to me to weaken the impact and import of the holiday and doesn’t really honor the person that the holiday is supposed to honor.

Pick the day, and celebrate it when it actually happens. Or not. But the holiday isn’t just another excuse for a three day weekend. 

That’s when I woke up and realized that today was the day that I solo;

First time in a week that I could fly (the eather in NW Indiana isn’t always cooperative in winter)
It was cold (-5 F) and calm. Like perfectly calm.

So at 7 AM they unlocked the doors and I preflighted the plane. The last user had overtightened the oil cap, but other than that, the plane was good. (I loosened it using a pair of pliers from my toolbox …oil level was good).

Then a quick flight check with the Chief Instructor. 2 stalls, some slow flight, an engine out procedure, and a landing…then another landing. First one was flat, second one was a go around (my choice) and then a really smooth landing. Touched down as the stall horn went off, exactly where I wanted.

Taxi back to the barn, turn around, he got out, and I taxied back to the hold short line for 18.

Now it REALLY got real. No one next to me. No safety net.

and I called for departure on 18 on CTAF, and warned everyone:

“Look out above,
Watch out below:
Y’all better be ready,
Here I go. “

and with that, I did my first ever solo takeoff .
Around the pattern….
And landing.

Was OK, the second landing was better than the first, and then a third one which was ok.

Then back to the barn and parked it.

Like most first times, it went too fast…

Maybe video later if I can get it off the camera.

ETA: Can’t seem to get any good clips from the GoPro, so none at this time.

And yes, I did transmit that. Figured I’d better warn everyone.

Everyone showed up to help with the move. Plus some brought their kids or whatever.

If it is possible to have too much help, today was that situation.

Moving an entire household took LESS than 3 hours.

We spent the rest of the time putting beds and such back together and unpacking shit.

Today is moving day for my brother.

Let us hope that all the 14 people that promised to help actually show up.

2 LARGE trailers, 1 medium. 10 miles.

If everyone shows up, maybe 3 hours. If not….

And I got a phase check tomorrow at 7 AM. If the weather holds, I will fly.

Hope I can walk…. 

They are, apparently, also totally STUPID.

Via Wirecutter:

This Sorority Girl Tried To Show Some School Spirit And Accidentally Pissed Off The TSA

Hassled, searched and reprimanded for a hand gesture. 

Help kick him over 14 million. 

Joe asks:

“We all know many of you who are now in the throes of vapor swoons over this comment secretly call those Third World shitholes…”shitholes”. 
Your outrage is that Trump said it.
No? How many of you are saving up your cash to take a dream vacation to Haiti or El Salvador or Uganda?

Make it worthwhile for a company to stay or return to the US, and they do…..

Fiat Chrysler will move Ram Heavy Duty truck manufacturing back to Michigan from Mexico.

“FCA CEO Sergio Marchionne says the company should adjust its manufacturing footprint to reflect “improvement in the U.S. business environment.””

MAGA and all that. But, at the end of it all, the economic policies make it worthwhile to bring that production back to the US.

A long time ago I did work for a subcontractor  that made wiring harness testers for Ford. The Ford folks hated the fact that they had production in Mexico….the workers sucked, the plant was shit and they wished they could afford to move the pant back. But they couldn’t, due to Clinton policies. Bush didn’t fix that, and neither did Clinton.

Economic policy dictates where Big Business (and the small businesses that supply and support them) locate.

Now, look what is happening. 

Puerto Rico was a shithole even before the hurricane devastated what they had.

And why half the island is still without power.

One wonders, were they planning on selling the supplies and equipment for profit?
(The Governor, of course,  is investigating )

Note that half the powerline workers are (or WERE) waiting on parts and pieces so they can get the job done.

The problem (as we see once again) with Puerto Rico is the Puerto Ricans….and their Government.

Via Elmtree Forge

Seems that the fainting flowers at CBS are afraid to use the word that President TheDonald used to describe some third world countries from which many immigrants are coming…..In particular African countries, El Salvador and Hati. “Shithole”…which adequately and somewhat accurately describes  portions of some of those countries….The thing that gets me is that that is exactly what they mean when they say “Third World” but when they can bias their coverage and (breathlessly) NOT say the word in order to twist what he said….

Note: he was asking WHY we should protect immigration numbers from these countries and not promote immigration from places like Norway….Which to their minds, means “White”, rather than “First World”.

And why shouldn’t we promote immigration from places where people are literate, clean, disease free, skilled and whose values closely approximate those of the US? Why should we “protect” immigration from places where the population hates OUR culture, where diseases are rampant, where there are few (or no) skills, where the immigrants fail to assimilate and dislike and do not want to learn the culture of the US?

The bias of the media becomes ever more plain.